An Evening with the Hari Krishnas

Marcello

This is my flatmate, Marcello, age 35. He's a theoretical physicist from Italy specializing in gravity. More importantly, as a flatmate, he's a good guy.

We had heard about the half-price nightly specials at Govinda, the restaurant near our flat run by the Hari Krishnas. We decided to check it out.

The Hari Krishna bakery
next door to the restaurant

Govinda does a nice lunch business.

Every night from 5:30-6:00 p.m.
they offer what's left on the menu
for half price.

You can click on my title
to go to their web page.

The smell of incense
wafts out from the gift shop.

It's a good thing we arrived at 5:25
because every single table filled up quickly.

Diners go up to the counter to pick up their food.
We didn't have to select what to eat.
This was a good thing, because we had no idea
what it was. After we started eating it became clear.

Our plate of food cost $2. That's probably with the Czech Value Added Tax of 20% added in. I ordered strawberry lassi (yogurt drink) and Marcello ordered freshly-squeezed carrot juice which added another $2 each to our meals. We had lentil soup, raita with beets (that's the refreshing pink yogurt salad), sweet tomato chutney (I could taste cinnamon), rice and a tasty amalgamation of broccoli, carrots, potatoes and possibly zucchini to go with the rice. It was good and filling.

You don't have to sit at a table.
These three Hari Krishna ladies enjoyed
the lower tables with floor cushions.

The clay on their noses
is from the Ganges River.
They wear it to signify that
they recognize their bodies as
spiritual temples
not just physical
flesh and blood.

A Hari Krishna lady had confided in me
weeks before in the bakery that the best thing
about these outfits is they hide
every possible figure flaw.

Inside the gift shop and cultural center

When I was a kid, the Hari Krishna movement seemed very threatening. During the 70s, a common fear of American parents was that their young adult children would run off and join the Hari Krishnas or the Moonies, two religious movements considered cults at that time. Anytime you went to an American airport in those days, flyers had to avoid aggressive supporters of a Libertarian guy named Lyndon LaRouche and orange-bedecked Hari Krishnas that would encircle you with what seemed like wild drumming and chanting.

This encounter, so far, hadn't been anything like that. After dinner, Marcello had to head out to English class. I had time to pop into the gift shop and cultural center. Lo and behold, a program was about to begin. Being an empty nester, I didn't have to be somewhere at a certain time. I could be spontaneous and stay! And having no fear at this age in life that I would "run off and join the Hari Krishnas" staying to learn more about their life seemed more interesting than threatening.

Every Wednesday night, after the restaurant closes at 6 p.m., the Hari Krishnas hold a congregational chant. Tonight was going to be even more informative, because a young man who graduated from a Hari Krishna all-male secondary school in India was going to give a slide presentation on the school. I was lucky to sit down next to a very nice young woman named Christine who offered to translate and explain everything to me.

I love singing. It's 100% non-cynical. I have done solitary meditation but this was going to be my first group meditation or chanting. The room was standing room only with approximately 70 people in it wearing a mixture of saris, regular Western casual clothes, and even one suit and tie. Many people came straight from work.

The chant was led by three men. The chant leader played the harmonium, another man and Christine rhythmically clanged finger cymbals, and the young man who would the evening's speaker played a drum that reminded me of a conga drum.

It was beautiful. The entire room focused on the chant and it truly was like a transcendental spiritual vibration could be felt. The number of people, the rhythm, the sounds of the drums, keyboards, and clanging cymbals all added up to a sum greater than it's parts. The leader later told me that doing it together is what helps prevent boredom and mind flicker (what the Buddhists call "monkey mind.")

Before the program began

I wish I had taken a picture of the young man who shared his slides that night. He emanated a deep spiritual nature. It's not easily described. I just know it when I feel it. He was 20 years old. Hari Krishnas from all over the world send their children to this school with a Krishna curriculum. It didn't occur to my skeptical Western mind until the next day to ask if the school was accredited by an outside agency, but I did ask where the girl's school was (1 km away), how many teachers and students were native to India and how many weren't.

The speaker's English was "native" because so many Americans and Aussies attend the school. He said the boys were raised with austerity and taught to be celibate until age 25. If they reach 25 without breaking their celibacy, they have a good chance of making it as a good "householder." He said "you only have to look out in society to see what happens when the boy doesn't keep this celibacy. He will never keep it and he will likely be part of regular society's 50% divorce rate."

I had asked Christine why there were so many men there that night and she told me the Hari Krishna movement is about 2/3 male. She has no idea why. We giggled about the odds.

The young man didn't have pictures of the girl's school. He said it was not as austere as the boy's school since girls are more tenderhearted and needed to be raised with more opulence (who can disagree with that???).

When he asked who in the audience would like to send their children to his school, about 5-10 people raised their hand. I didn't feel an ounce of proselytizing that night. The people in the audience seemed like regular people.

Christine, a gifted translator,
and poised young Czech woman.

Thank you, Christine, for sharing
your faith with me!

I sooooo don't understand parlimentary politics

Mirek Topolanek, Czech Prime Minister
speaking at the EU today

Yesterday, the Czech government "fell" in a vote of no confidence. The vote was 101-96. As I understand it, what that does is make the prime minister a "lame duck" without any visible replacement. In other words, it robs him of legitimacy governing yet no one else has been given some.

Yikes! To an American used to a Presidential system that sounds like no one is in charge. And it seems even weirder when the Czechs are in charge of the EU yet the party in power representing the Czech government doesn't have "the confidence" of the people of the Czech Republic according to their representatives. How is the EU supposed to have confidence in the Czechs then?

A friend schooled in the way of European systems calmly shrugged and said "it's usually some sort of blackmail when this happens. That's how people get what they want in parliamentary systems. They trade stuff." Now that's a system I'm familiar with. It sounds an awfully lot like "Yes, I'll vote for your multi-trillion dollar (Iraq war/stimulus package/insert anything else here) if you give me my $5 million earmark so I can prove to my district back home that I"m looking out for their interests and bringing home the bacon."

But it all seems weird if you want the American President to listen to you and he's coming in two weeks but you have no confidence in the guy who's supposed to be listening. Please Czech people, explain this all to me! Why would you lessen the power of the person representing you right before company comes?

And then when it comes to the EU, who is supposed to be listening? Sometimes I see the Prime Minister representing the EU Presidency, sometimes the foreign minister, sometimes a different minister, yet another time the Czech President. Who exactly is the "face" of the EU Czech Presidency? I don't get it. I am a willing student so please explain away.

Today, the prime minister went before the EU and said "the United States stimulus is 'the road to hell.' Uhhh, OK. Gee, welcome to Prague, Mr. Obama.

Click on my title to read the full story.

A Hip Hotel in Smichov

Right after I finished my TEFL certificate in December, I realized I hadn't seen anything in Smichov, the neighborhood where my English school was located. I had pretty much beat a path from the metro to the school front door every day. Finishing our certificate was like coming up for air and seeing Prague again for the first time.

I set out to explore what else was in the neighborhood and happened upon this very cool hotel. I loved seeing that what captures my imagination about American culture captures Czech imagination about my culture. Jazz! How fantastic!

The big inviting front windows

The world's all time favorite jazz musician -
Satchmo!

It's hip! It's happy!
It's Herbie Hancock!

On the way to the dining room through the lobby.
Don't you love those light fixtures?

Lounge under Lionel
on his vibes

Some hotel lobby bars empty out.
Other people seem to respond
to this one as much as I do.
This is midafternoon!

Surprisingly, with all of this great jazz memorabilia,
the Angelo Hotel doesn't have live music.
But the incredibly helpful front desk manager
got out a map and showed me every place in Prague
with great live jazz.

The jazz wall behind the front desk

Ray Charles and Miles Davis
serenade the dining room in black and white

The dining room in midafternoon
ready for that night's business.

You can click on my title to reach
the Angelo Hotel's web page.

A Weather First

The weather in Prague today was interesting because it was changed character all day long. First, there were big, fun snowflakes. Midday, the sun came out and shone brightly.

Around 4 p.m., I was in Prague's tallest building. Two days ago, I could see mountains that were 80 miles away. Today, I could only see white. A thick fog, that covered everything with a heavy blanket of opaqueness had rolled in.

Finally, on the walk home, it was snowing and sleeting with thunder overhead. I don't ever remember walking under snow and hearing thunder at the same time. That was cool.

"The Flip Side of Fear is Understanding"

European travel entrepreneur, Rick Steves gave a powerful interview to Salon.com asking his fellow Americans to get out and see the world so they can "get over themselves." I promise you there is something, probably many things, in this article that will make you think. It's worth your attention.

My favorite part of the whole article is when he talks about how Americans and Iranians are letting their fears trump their values.

He even might have taken a swipe at David Cerny's infamous Turkish toilets depicted in the sculpture Entropa. Here's a smidgen of what Rick had to say:

Interviewer: What's the most important thing people can learn from traveling?

Rick: A broader perspective. They can see themselves as part of a family of humankind. It's just quite an adjustment to find out that the people who sit on toilets on this planet are the odd ones. Most people squat. You're raised thinking this is the civilized way to go to the bathroom. But it's not. It's the Western way to go to the bathroom. But it's not more civilized than somebody who squats. A man in Afghanistan once told me that a third of this planet eats with spoons and forks, and a third of the planet eats with chopsticks, and a third eats with their fingers. And they're all just as civilized as one another.

Click on my title to read the full article.

A Day at the National Museum

An iconic symbol of the Czech Republic -
the National Museum on Wenceslas Square

St. Wenceslas stands guard out front
of the National Museum on his horse

Inside, the interiors are so beautiful
it instantly creates daydreaming.
I'm surprised Hollywood
hasn't discovered this building.
These stairs demand gala ball gowns!

Czech pride isn't usually displayed
with the same nationalistic fervor
as American pride -
but here we find an exception.
And why not, it's the National Museum!

My friend Sher shows off the mezzanine.
She had been here once before.

Her then fiance, now husband, Jirick,
had brought her here a classical concert.
Listeners are given red velvet cushions to sit
on the stairs to enjoy a chamber music quartet
set up on the mezzanine.

The very day we were there,
the Museum would be showcasing a
performance of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"
later in the evening.

Four famous Czech castles
are featured in beautiful murals.
The most famous of these castles is
Karlstejn.

Sher specifically wanted to see the exhibit
on pre-Czech tribal peoples.
I'm glad we had English-language audioguides,
otherwise I wouldn't have known what I was looking at.
It was interesting to know that multitudes of people
have been moving through these lands for centuries.

The permanent exhibits
at the Museum are all science
(without entertainment added
like more up-to-date museums).
They were created when science was
supposed to be enough!

The most sacred space in the Museum
for Czechs is called the Pantheon.
What a room of indescribable beauty!
Again, it demanded top hats and tails,
ball gowns and baubles.
I don't think it's used that way though.
It's where Czech heros and heads of state
lie in state.

Out the balcony
was Wenceslas Square -
where Czechs assembled
when they were overthrowing their government.

We giggled as we imagined ourselves flinging open
the windows and 'addressing the Czechs.'
Unfortunately, no words of wisdom
that would live on videotape
for generations came to mind.
I'm sure my new President will do better
when he comes to speak next month!

The Czech National symbol is the lion.

I love superb craftsmanship.
Look at the detail on these hand-carved doors.
Note that the bottom door says 1885.
It's partner door had a date a couple years later.

The marble floor of the Pantheon.
No pictures do this room justice.

An architectural model of the museum dome.
Can you believe it?
We spent six hours here that day.

We saw two temporary exhibits as well.
One was on the First Republic,
a short twenty-year period of democracy
that occurred here in the early 20th century.
The second exhibit was photos
of the Warsaw Pact Invasion and
Occupation during the Prague Spring.

"The Restoration of Order: The Normalization of Czechoslovakia" by Milan Simecka

People read George Orwell's "1984" to imagine the kind of inhuman state where individuals don't matter and the state's right to control all is paramount. Orwell's "1984" is fiction. Milan Simecka, a Czechoslovak dissident writing in the early 1980's explains for history what happened in Czechoslovakia following the people's attempt to "put a human face" on socialism.

How was the totalitarian country able to reinstitute a Stalinist-style state without violence after the Prague Spring in 1968? How did the government eliminate dissent in less than two years? In chilling detail, Simecka shows how the State used it's power over people's income, jobs, friendships, even their children's future to control each citizen's every move.

Approximately 10-20% of the Czech population still votes for the Communist Party. My Czech friends tell me that the people still voting for the Communist party look back with nostalgia at getting a job from the state, getting a flat from the state, and cheap bread. With everything "provided" life had "no worries."

Today's young people, especially, may not know the horrors of that time, because the Czechs are so sick of that period there hasn't yet been a national curriculum developed to teach young people what happened. Czechs want to let it go and move on (hence, they think we Americans are obsessed with it all!)

I recommend this book for every reader of any country who wants to understand the communist totalitarian period. It would be a great book for any Czech/Slovak or political book club. I also think it would be especially useful for every Czech and Slovak high school student to understand the choices their parents and grandparents had to make to survive.

Like "The Diary of Ann Frank," which most American kids read sometime during their education, this book makes the choices presented by the times very personal and imaginable.


You may be interested in another book about governmental abuse of power:

Understanding Iran: The Power of One Graphic Novel called 'Persepolis'