In2-MeC
newly discovered entries of In2-DeepFreeze First Generation Animations
26 June, 2003
At 15:00 today Murari Krsna Prabhu drove Vidyagati and I south down to Romania's southern border. We crossed into Yugoslavia without incident. I haven't visited this country for a minimum of ten years. Back when Premier Jozef Broz Tito was still in his body, Yugoslavia was a pleasant drive-through from Timisoara to Sofia. I used to stop off in the Belgrade temple for a day or two. Then Premier Tito had an appointment with the Yamadutas, and Yugoslavia veered into political instability. Regions of long-simmering discontent like Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia declared their independence. A civil war broke out in various places; the fighting was nastiest in Bosnia. Overland transit through Yugoslavia was impossible. To get to Sofia I had to drive 5 hours from Timisoara to the Danube town of Calafat, where I would cross the river by ferry to Vidin in Bulgaria. From there it's another 5 hours drive to Sofia. I need a whole day of rest after that. Anyway, even after the war in Bosnia simmered down, it was still very difficult for Americans to get a visa for Yugoslavia. I remember trying at the Yugoslavian embassy in Rome. The officials there rudely dismissed us. "You want visa to Yugoslavia, apply in your own country." Then there was another war over the Kosovo region of Yugoslavia. NATO got involved. American planes dropped bombs on military positions. The Yugos shot down an F-117 and danced on the wreckage. Hope they enjoyed themselves for that little while, because they lost. The government changed. Now the country isn't called Yugoslavia any more, it's Serbia and Montenegro. Wartime Serbian Premier Milosovic was charged with crimes against humanity.
Sic semper transit gloria. Today at the border the Yugos were quite humble when they saw my American passport.
So what. In my mind I often compare being an American and a Krishna devotee to being a Christian citizen of Rome 2000 years ago. Like St. Paul of Tarsus. Not that I compare myself as a person to Paul; my point is, even though he belonged to a weird cult that worshiped a carpenter, he was respected in the provinces of the empire because he had a Roman "passport." I belong to a weird cult that worships a cowherd boy. I get respect in places like Yugoslavia because of the blue and gold US passport I carry. But poor St. Paul: when he arrived in Italy from his preaching tour in other parts of the Mediterranean world, he was crucified. Crucified upside down.
America is crazier than a banyan tree full of bats, owls and monkeys. Individually there are a lot of nice people there, but the collective karma of that country gets more grotesque by the minute. Returning to America one day, I may also be imprisoned or worse for my religion. It's not beyond reason at all. Nazi Germany persecuted and annihilated millions of Jews. As a result of that, now people look upon the Germans as potential butchers. This past May I had a discussion with some devotees in the Netherlands on that country's Day of Memorium, which marks the last day of Nazi occupation of that country. So, you know, these are devotees who know that people are not their bodies; but still they were musing that "These Germans can't be trusted. They'll do it again if they get the chance. Everybody in Holland knows it." But a hundred years ago Germany had a completely different reputation in the world. It was seen as a land of thinkers, poets, musicians, and scientists. The typical caricature of a German that one might see on, for example, a London theater stage was an absent-minded professor. At the same time it was the British who were the perveyors of force majeure throughout the world. The Boer War, which the British waged against Dutch settlers in South Africa, was the controversial Vietnam War of that period of history. The difference was that the British won it. Sic semper transit gloria. Anyway, the nation of absent-minded professors is now the nation of untrustworthy Hunnish hordes; the only reason the Wehrmacht isn't camped in your back yard right now is because the Germans are scared of being H-bombed back into the stone age. At least that's what a lot of Germany's present-day neighbors believe in their heart of hearts. So why won't the same thing happen to America? Sic semper transit gloria. The American Fuehrer will be called Ghetto Whomper B-Cool. He'll wear a baseball cap and talk street rap. He'll call the devotees "tilok-haids" and put them to work building an Egyptian-style sphinx featuring his own face. The sphinx will be constructed in the middle of the top-secret restricted zone of the Nevada desert called Area 51. (It's a real place that exists right now.)
But maybe not. Lord Krsna is in charge of whatever happens. He is always in charge, but especially in these last almost 40 years of ISKCON's existence. Srila Prabhupada appreciated America's firm opposition to atheistic communism. Now communism is hardly more than a memory. America had a lot to do with that.
The new enemy since September 11, 2001 is Islam. Oh, sure, officially the enemy is terrorism which (let's say it together) "doesn't represent the true Islamic religion." But the other day I was reading some columns by Ann Coulter on the Internet. Who is Ann Coulter? She is a wild one. A good-looking young blonde lawyer, Ann does political commentary on the Internet and in the print and broadcast media. She's published several best-selling books too. In her political stance she is somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun. Annie really seems to enjoy herself being a sex symbol for President Bush's war against terrorism. In her view, the USA should invade Islamic nations of the world and convert them to Christianity. [www.fantasticforum.com/archive_2/911/14sep01_coulter.pdf] Maybe she'll be the American Fuehrer(in). Oh, she'd be perfect. And what about that Air Force Captain Kim "K.C." Campbell, a blonde California girl, dropping bombs on Baghdad from her jet plane? Her plane got all shot up but she flew it to her home base and became an instant media heroine. Reporters asked her what "K.C." stands for. "Killer Chick," she smiled. [www.palletmastersworkshop.com/campbell.html] Anyway: until recently it's been hard to imagine how Krishna consciousness could ever spread to the conservative Muslim countries of the Middle East. These places needed to be shaken up first. It seems Krsna has empowered America to do that. Shyamasundra Prabhu, speaking in the Srila Prabhupada Memories video series, recalls a discussion between Srila Prabhupada and the historian Sir Arthur Toynbee. Toynbee predicted the demise of Soviet communism. He said the Soviet Union was like Sparta of ancient Greece, and the USA was like Athens. Sparta was a warrior state but had no culture. After a brief period of military glory it dried up and became historically irrelevant. European civilization is still based on Athenian values. And Toynbee pointed out that cosmopolitan Athens became the entry point in Europe for Eastern religious ideas. Even Buddhism came to Athens. Buddhist influence is evident in the Gnostic Christian sect founded by Mani. Known as the Manicheans, the teachings of this sect were the background of the later Bogomil and Cathar movements. So it could very well be that America could be in Krishna's plan to become the Athens of a new world civilization. Hmm. Maybe.
Anyway, here I am sitting on the 3rd floor of an apartment building on Milana Uzelca Street in Belgrade, having all these geopolitical-historical-spiritual thoughts. There's no ISKCON temple here any more. But
there are devotees here, very nice devotees, and they continue to preach and distribute books in this city.
Which goes to show that there is an "invisible ISKCON." Or even a better name, the "Invisible Indivisible ISKCON" (I.I.I.). It doesn't depend on temples, on properties, on tentacles of management. It exists as a pure expression of spiritual faith and enthusiasm. Even if in the year 2101 the personality of Kali says, "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" (i.e. all ISKCON temples and properties, the bases of Krsna consciousness in the world, are under Kali's control), the I.I.I. will continue. Want to know more?
Go to: www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~pyang/base/allyourbase.swf
Today I received a brief e-mail from my old friend Jayatirtha Caran Prabhu of New Zealand. Attached to the e-mail was a .jpg photofile. JCTP said the photo showed a new mudra that has revolutionized his puja. "Very interesting," I thought to myself. I downloaded the attached file and this is what was made manifest before my eyes:
--Aristotle