On April 12, the Bakersfield College campus was visited by traveling Hare Krishna devotees looking to spread their message to anyone interested.
“We’re here at Bakersfield College meeting the students and professors, sharing the spirituality of India, like a mission I guess you would call it,” said Zeke Berger, who prefers to go by his spiritual name, Gauranga Das, given to him by his guru.
Das and his three other companions have been traveling to different schools in their RV in an effort to share their message with those looking for an alternative point of view. They were previously visiting Fresno City College before coming to BC.
According to Das, most students that they have spoken with have been willing to listen to what they have to say.
“We’re happy to meet the students and generally people are open to the ideas,” said Das.
“We meet a few people, maybe one out of every 10 or 15, that say they’re Christians and don’t want to explore other spiritualities, which is OK. We’re kind of trying to show the universal spiritual application of these teachings but if certain people have certain faiths, we’re not trying to convert people. Mainly we’re trying to inspire people to look deeper into what life’s about and be more introspective.”
Das and his companions were handing out literature that detailed their religious beliefs to anyone who wanted to learn more. They also asked for a donation in any amount from students, too. Das said that the donations help cover the printing and travel costs, but if a student is not able to donate, it’s OK.
“The main books we pass are titled ‘The Journey of Self Discovery’ and ‘The Science of Self-Realization,'” said Das.
They are also passing out a book titled “The Bhagavad Gita.”
“‘The Bhagavad Gita’ is Sanskrit literature,” said Das, who added, “Bhagavad means ‘God’ or the possessor of all opulence and Gita means ‘song.’ So the book’s called, ‘The Song of God.’ This is a book that’s kind of like the Bible of India.”
Das briefly outlined the Hare Krishna teachings and the meaning of Krishna.
“The basic principle is that the original teachings of India share that real life means that we’re not the changing body, but the soul. That the body may be changing from childhood to adult to old age, but who we are as a person, essentially the consciousness, carries on after death. And according to our consciousness and activities, at the exact moment of death will determine our next life, like reincarnation, and karma is part of reincarnation. Karma means, basically, what we do has a reaction.
“We have a relationship with the supreme conscious person in Sanskrit, the name for God is Krishna. Krishna means all attractive,” said Das.
Followers of the Hare Krishna movement are well known for their public displays and musical performances. Das explained the meaning behind those presentations and what they do.
“Usually, we do public demonstrations with musical instruments and singing ‘Hare Krishna’ and glorifying His Holy names and dancing,” he said.
“The self-discovery is to realize that our true spiritual nature, our personality, our eternal form and realize our loving relationship with the supreme personality of God – of Krishna,” said Das who began to chant a sample of what they sing.
“The main way we do that is chanting: Hare Krishna/ Hare Krishna/ Krishna Krishna/ Hare Hare. those are names of God, and according to most traditions and the teachings of India, God’s name is non-different from His personality, so all the powers of God are there when you say God’s Holy name. So the main way that we connect with God in these times is to glorify Him by singing His Holy name.”
Das and the others did not perform on campus, though. Their intentions were only to introduce themselves to students and discuss their philosophies.
“We’re just meeting with the people one-on-one, we were unprepared with our instruments and everything,” Das said.
Das further explained that their travels are as much about their own spiritual experiences as it is about spreading their message to others.
“Whether we think we’re already religious or think we’re philosophical or spiritual, we can all usually increase our spiritual experience,” Das said. “We’re also doing it for our own spiritual experience. We’re out here meeting people. We have to talk about ideas and it makes us get contemplative about our own existence and try to be instrumental ultimately in God’s hands to help ourselves and help others achieve the goal of life, which is to revive our original, dormant relationship with God, or Krishna.”
According to Patti Rapp, an administrative assistant in the student activities office, campus visitors must check in and have any literature approved before it can be presented to the student body. The process is not meant to censor but make the school aware of what is on campus.
Das did not get permission from BC before meeting with the students on campus.