Montgazette, Vol. 06, No. 08, 1972-02-18

              County
Community
College
Jfflontgautte
OWHTY<&,
196*
VOL 6, No. i
Blue  Bell,  Pennsylvania
FEBRUARY 18, 1912
The Hare Krishna's
k Persona! Experience
Living By The Philosophy
1116 lOllOW6iS in
The International Society
For Krishna Consciousness
by James Hayes
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,
Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama
Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna . . . and into
infinity. This chant, or montra,
is the cement which holds the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness together. Devotees of the movement profess
that continual chanting of the
montra is the only and necessary path to the acquisition of
supreme knowledge and self-
realization through an unbounded relationship with the living
entity, Krishna.
And so you see them; on city
streets, suburban sidewalks,
crowded plazas, and college
c ampuse s. In loving devotion to
Krishna they have shaved their
heads and cleansed their minds
and hearts by depriving themselves of material possessions,
which only afford an illusion of
tion) "Back To Godhead," the
magazine of the Krishna Consciousness movement. If you
dare to venture close enough,
they will hand you a pink card
which is an invitation to their
Sunday feast, held weekly inthe
Sri-Sri Radha Temple, 641 E.
Chelton ave., Philadelphia, Pa.
For me, that's where it all
began. With a distant gleam in
his eye a devotee named Trilo-
can bade me Hare Krishna and
welcomed me into the hall. After
removing my coat, I was instructed to shed my shoes and
enter the large room adjoining the temple area. In all, I
counted about 25 ether people to
whom this was also a new
experience. Somehow that made
me feel better.
The service had not yet begun,
and I noticed the other newcomers were grouped around a bowl
of what looked like mud, into
which they were dipping their
fingers.  Hmmm. With the mud,
"temporary sense gratification." The donning of robes,
wearing of sandals, and shaving
of head is not necessary for an
awareness of Krishna but is
done in all sincerity by those
who wish to be openly associated
with the Society. As you watch
them, they are involved in an
activity called Sanskirtan, an
important part of their day during which they chant publicly and
distribute (for a small contribu-
or tilak, they struck a verticle
line running straight up the
middle of their forehead, between their two eyes. Mine
ended up about two inches off
center. Oh well, it's the thought
that counts.
I entered the temped area and
chose a spot on the far wall,
which is brilliantly ornamented
with brass and colorful, mystical pictures. The room itself is
about the size of a classroom
FROM:    Donald Keith Seitz
Editor-in-Chief
TO: All Students, Faculty, and Administrators.
Due to the almost total lack of cooperation on the part of
most of the students, faculty, and administrators I am
forced to announce that the Montgazette will be published
on a monthly rather than bi-monthly basis for the duration
of the semester. The only way this can be changed is if I
start receiving more cooperation from everyone. It will
be up to you to change this policy.
and is painted in bright colors
with a criss-crossing open
beam ceiling. The musty smell
of burning incense gave me the
feeling that I was somewhere
far, far away. Everyone was
sitting in the squatted yoga
position and their voices were
hushed and muffled. Some were
staring straight ahead as if
awaiting a signal of some sort.
It came when Milhiladhisa, a
rather short fellow, began the
rhythm of the montra by tapping
on both ends of a leather covered drum called a Scrimdanga.
My eyes shifted from the floor
to the faces of the people around
me. It was catching on. I
glanced over at the couple next
to me who were really getting
excited about the whole thing,
I guessed them to be my parent's age. My eyes blinked and
I looked again. No way, I thought
to myself and joined in the fun.
After the first fifteen minutes
it was hard to pick out who had
come to "observe" the service.
The noise slowly continued to
swell into a pulsating frenzy
with many people dancing, clapping, and shouting over and over
those 16 words. At the psak of
the crescendo, on signal from
Milhiladhisa, the montra a-
bruptly halted. The devotees
slumped to the floor and lowered
their heads towards the altar.
We had been chanting for a full
halfnour. The walls seemed to
ring. The silence was like an
audio orgasm.
The service then took the
form of an informal lecture,
with everyone grouped about
Rabinda Suarrup who is president of the Sri-Sri temple.
Squatted in the center of the
room, Rabinda spoke about the
principles of Krishna Consciousness. He explained that
the reason for all unhappiness,
frustrations, and anxiety is that
we have simply covered oyer
our relationship with Krishna
Miss And Mr. Montco
Festivities Scheduled
Student Government
Elections Also Planned
Nominations for Mis sand Mr.
Montco will open on Monday,
February 14, and will close on
Friday, March 17. Nomination
blanks will be available on posters around the school, or in
room 13 of College Hall.
Any part-time or full-time
students are eligible for nominations. Each club or organization may sponsor one girl and
one guy. Individual entries
must be accompanied by twenty
five signatures.
Entries may be made as a
pair, but individual entries are
encouraged.
The ten semi-finalists will be
announced, after being selected
on Thursday and Friday, March
(Krishna means God, or "all
attractive") with temporary
material items and selfish desires which are but a perverted
illusion of true happiness. "All
sources of material happiness
is temporary," explained Rabinda, "Cars will break, houses
will burn, children will die or
go away, and countries will
eventually fall apart." Our
true, factual situation cannot be
realized until cur Rossa (relationship with Krishna) has been
e stablished. People view themselves as attractive, unattractive, popular, unpopular . .. We
realize ourselves only as a
material body, and because of
this we cannot relish any external relationship." I'm not
certain if it was because what
he was saying seemed to make
sense or if it was his commanding voice that was holding
everyone's attention. All eyes
were focused on his. "We are
spirit-souls and Krishna is a
part of all of us, as he is a part
of everything. Krishna is inthe
rain, but watch what happens.
The rain comes from the sky
pure, but when it hits the ground
it becomes money. It becomes
shadowed by a world of material
contamination. Krishna is absolute and he is present in the
vibrations of the montra."
Rabinda went on to define the
four regulations of Krishna
Consciousness. They are: (1)
No eating of meat, fish or eggs.
This food is unnecessary and
impure. (2) No gambling whatsoever. This is a form of mental
speculation and fogs the mind of
Krishna's presence. (3) There
can be no consumption of any
intoxifications. These include
cigarettes, tea, coffee, alcohol,
drugs, soda, and suprisingly
enough, chocolate. And it's too
bad for you music fans.  Music
23 and 24.
The final election for Miss
and Mr. Montco will be held on
April 12 and 13.
All semi-finalists are required to attend the Spring Formal, which will be held on the
15th or 22nd of April. All final
decisions will be announced
here.
Mr. and Miss Montco will
each receive a fifty dollar gift
certificate. Each runner-up
will receive a twenty-five dollar
gift certificate. Other prizes
will be awarded also.
Student Government elections
for the 1971 to 1972 school year
will be held on Thursday and
Friday, April 20 and 21.
Nominations will open on
Monday, March 20, and will
close on April 17, for all executive committee offices, as well
as ten sophomore assembly
openings. Nomination blanks
will be available at the student
activities office, room 13, College Hall, or on posters in all
buildings.
The Executive Committee
consists of president, vice
president, secretary, and
treasurer. Students running for
these offices must have a 2.5
G.P.A. or better, and be a full-
time sophomore. Recipients of
these offices will receive a full
scholarship, as well as partial
payment for books.
Nominees for Sophomore Assembly must have a G.P.A. of
2.0 or better, and must be a
full-time sophomore, These
are the voting members of Student Government.
Only freshman students and
returning sophomores will be
voting in these elections, since
the officers will be serving only
these persons.
Bahama
Vacation
Planned
This spring vacationget out of
the cold and into the warmth of
the Bahamas. For only$185.90
you can spend the week of March
31 - April 7 in Freeport sunning
it up.
Included in the trip are your
(continued on page 7)
is also considered an intoxifica-
tion. (4) There can be no sex
at all outside of marriage, and
even during marriage it can only
be done for the sole purpose of
having children. These rules
are rigorously supported by all
those living within the temple.
After speaking for forty-five
minutes, Rabinda arose and it
was announced that the feast was
about to begin. Everyone filed
out of the worship area and entered the adjoining rooms.
Along the wall were five large
tubs of food called prassdam.
Prassdam is made from fresh
foods including vegetables,
(continued on page 3}