Couple Has Peace, New Life In Krishna
This article "Couple Has Peace, New Life In Krishna," was published in Fort Lauderdale News, May 30, 1971, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
By PATRICIA McCORMACK
NEW YORK. (UPI) - When she was a student at George Washington University in the nation's capital, Ernestine Griep from Quincy, Ill., thought her life's course was set when Robert Corens proposed and she accepted.
By the time they were married three years, their lives shifted into a direction neither anticipated. For nearly four years now she, her husband, and their son, now 6, have been initiated disciples of the international Krishna movement. It is one of the yoga sects. Krishna means God. And yoga means developing a connecting link with God.
Three live in commune
It has meant changes in their style of life (now communal), in their hairstyles, in what they wear and in an odering of their life - a process of high thinking and plain living.
To start they stopped using their legal names, indicating their becoming new persons dedicated to preaching and teaching Krishna consciousness.
George Harrison, of the Beatles, is a devotee of the movement. And Robert Corens, 31, who has adopted a new name as part of his conversion, recently contributed his chanting talents to a new record cut by Apple Records in London. It is titled "The Radha Krishna Temple."
Coren's new name is Rupanuga Dasa (the Dasa means service) but neither his new name nor his old one appears as a credit on the record. The Krishna people aren't me-firsters and, in fact, believe in developing humility.
Mrs. Coren's new name is Kalinda Dasi. Twenty-eight, she is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Ernst Griep. Dr. Griep is a general practitioner. The little boy is called Ekendra Dasa.
Kalinda believes her parents aren't very enthusiastic about her being in the fast-growing international movement. Rupanuga, stepson of Allen Berlinsky, a retired government worker, of Washington, D.C., said both his mother, who married Berlinsky when she was widowed, and Berlinsky are enthusiastic about his involvement in the Krishna movement.
He is one of 12 zonal secretaries of the movement. One of 12 in the world, one of four in the United States.
"I am in charge of development in northeastern United States," Rupanuga said. He prefers to be called by his new name but keeps the old one for legal reasons.
He was a social worker employed by the New York City Welfare Department when one day, four years ago, he was drawn to a city park - attracted by rhythmic chanting, gentle clapping and cheerful sounds of small cymbals clashing.
There he met His Divine Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who left India in 1965 to spread the Krishna movement to people of the English-speaking world. There now are 55 temples, ranging from Salt Lake City to Washington, D.C., and including those in Pittsburgh, Pa., Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, Pa. - and practically every other major city.
Movement has young support
The success of the movement, its rapid spread is easy to explain, according to Rupanuga.
"Young people like it," he said. "It is an alternative to drugs and speculative philosophy. Dropouts from life are frustrated. Here there is a rebirth into a life filled with spiritual strengths. Krishna consciousness is a high taste, a spiritual life."
"I was really looking for something when I found my husband," Kalinda said. "Then we were both looking for something else. Everyone's looking. We found the way to peace and happiness."
The family now lives in a temple in Brooklyn. Actually it used to be a monastery. There are 15 children in the group of 100. All share material things.
"As initiated devotees we follow the regulated principles of living - we must," Kalinda said.
"The rules are these - no intoxicants of any kind and no coffee, tea or cigarettes; no illicit sex; no gambling; no meat, fish or eggs."
"Everything we eat is first offered to Krishna. In offering it becomes spiritual food and it affects the body, purifies the body and mind and consciousness."
The movement believes in Karma. That is, good is rewarded with good and bad is rewarded with bad. In other words, you have some kind of control over what kind of a deal you get in life by the quality of the life you lead.
The father and son had a Sika haircut - shaved except for a lock of uncut hair at the back of the head.
"This is said to be a handle by which the supreme Lord grabs us out of the material ocean in which we swim," Rapanuga said. They all wear neck beads, a little purse on a sling around their necks. The purse contains beads used to number the chants - 90 minutes of it is daily required.
Women accept domestic role
The women make the clothes, do the cooking (special foods), raise the children and assist their husbands. The women wear the sari (yellow for married women, any color but preferably saffron for unmarried ones). Their hair is supposed not to be cut. Many wear long braids, one or two knot their hair.
The men wear a dhoti - six yards of material draped over a shirt and wrapped around to look like a version of harem pants.
"The women sew, wash, clean and raise the children, doing what comes naturally," Rupanuga said. "What could be nicer than that."
The little boy brought me three roses in a pretty bouquet as a gift when he arrived for the interview. They had been offered in the temple and were to cast good wishes, peace, happiness.
The family also brought a shopping bag full of lunch - prepared in big kettles at the temple earlier in the morning. We used paper plates as we ate in a conference room.
"With more than 100 to serve three times a day, we must use paper plates in the temple," Kalinda said. "It's healthier that way."
The food included burfy - a confection made of sugar, milk, butter and dates; apple chutney with raisins and dates; eggplant with cazine (fresh cheese curd) and a mixture of homemade yogurt, potatoes and cabbage.
On Sundays the temple in Brooklyn, as do those worldwide, has a love feast. The food we had at our picnic lunch was considered sparse - it was a fast day.
At the Sunday love feast, which includes chanting, dancing and feasting, there are 30 courses.
The Krishnas also sell incense. The movement's incense plants are in London, and Pittsburgh, Pa. It is "flavored." That is, when it is burned some kind of scent is emitted.
"The most popular worldwide is essence of strawberry."
Photo: HARE KRISHNA family, the mother, Kalinda Dasi, 28, with her husband, Rupanuga Dasa, 31, and their son, Ekendra Dasa, 6, chant as they stroll in Manhattan. They are initiated disciples of the movement.