Druze Trip Report 2
By Vijnana Dasa Vanacari

All glories to Lord Jagannatha and Lord Caitanya by whose mercy Prataparudra Maharaja and his descendents become Vaisnava lovers of the Lord and preach the holy names. All glories to Jagannatha Puri where the Lord rides mercifully delivering all types of lost souls.

"Religion is one. It is not two, and it is not many. There is only one religion for the soul. That religion is called the Vaisnava religion. There is no reason why religion should be different from different languages, countries and peoples. The religion of the soul may be called by different names, but it is not possible that there can be different religions. The religion of the soul is the pure love the atomic spiritual entity bears for the supreme spiritual entity. Because of differing material conceptions, some spirit souls have distorted that original religion and given it a variety of different shapes. The pure and original form of the soul's religion is the Vaisnava religion. Other so-called religions are merely distorted forms of the Vaisnava religion. Other religions are pure to the degree that they are like the Vaisnava religion." (Jaiva Dharma; Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura)

March 11th.

Today we left Mayapur at 5.30 am for Calcutta where we would catch a plane to Bhubhaneswar. His Holiness Jayapataka Swami was traveling on the same flight. We arrived in Bhubhanesvara around 12am. Bhaktarupa Prabhu was waiting at the airport along with Vanamali Prabhu. A doctor Patrani, who is a Member of Parliament, was also there to greet Jayapataka Maharaja. He thus had the opportunity to meet the Druze also, who in turn took the opportunity to have their photograph taken with the MP. Bhaktarupa had cars ready to take us to Puri and we left immediately. I was in a vehicle with Gopa Kumar and one of the elder Druze Sheiks, Fuad Aburukun. He was not that happy about the driving, as most of the Druze. They keep telling the drivers to slow down. One would have more success if he asked an elepahant to dance lead in Swan Lake. But the point is that we started talking via Gopa Kumar and ended up having a very long discussion about the Vedic culture... kings, family life, the duties of the husband, of the wife. We finally started exchanging stories... I was telling some Gopal Bhan stories that Prabhupada had told and he was telling his. It was a wonderful experience. Almost like traveling with another devotee and discussing the principles of Krishna consciousness and becoming enlivened by one another’s realizations. Fuad is generally very quiet and hardly ever says anything. But he was very enlivened and happy during this trip.

We arrived in Puri at about 2pm. At 7pm we went to meet the King of Puri. He was in his place with a few important citizens from Puri. After the introductions the King began asking Sheik Hussein questions about the Druze. I jotted down some of the discussion in a small notebook. Here is a rough transcription:

Sheik Hussein: Thank you for spiritual qualities and we thank the great scholars in this palace. I would like to call attention to the great service you're doing for the temple. We are small in Middle East and we are only 10 percent of total population in Israel. But we are rich in faith and from this principle we came so that our cultures can meet. We know that we exist in the universe from the time of creation and from that time which is more than 100 million years we know that many incarnations have come and we came to India searching for this. Since the last incarnation we are known as Druze. We know that there are spiritual practitioners everywhere. When we were visiting various temples we saw that there are many symptoms similar to our own culture and thus we are convinced that we are part of this spiritual family. We are also coming from a holy land where many prophets came. In our culture the grandmother says to the children that I hope I may live long enough to come to the gate of heaven. So in order to fulfill the desires of our ancestors we have come to India to find the gate to heaven. Although we are not kings we request your Majesty to come down to our level and to visit our humble community. We wish to maintain this great brotherhood that we have started.

Gajapati Maharaja (GM): What is the connection between the Druze and the Christians Jews and Muslims?

SH: Our belief is that all the processes to reach the absolute truth are the same. So in this sense there is some affinity. Religions are like the appetite. All give some knowledge of God but some give more, according to the capacity of the persons.

GM: Did the Druze tradition exist before Christ?

SH: Long before. Under different names.

GM: What indications do you have that the roots are from India?

SH: The duty of all Druze is to accept that the universe is at least 340 million years old. We also believe that the cosmic manifestation has existed longer than that. We have seen that the Scriptures of India are the closest to our conception....

Unfortunately the notebook ran out at this point. But from memory an important point that Sheik Hussein made was regarding the deities. He said that although in their religion Deity worship is forbidden they can understand that it may be due to time place and circumstance and they are willing to accept that the process itself may be suitable in another time place or circumstance. This point had also come up in discussions with Jayapataka Maharaja. Maharaja had explained the nine processes of devotional service and they admitted that Deity worship had to be included as one of the ways of approaching the supreme.

They are definitely very broadminded and eager to learn more and more about the philosophy.

The meeting went on till about 10.30 pm. About half way through his Holiness Japapataka Swami arrived with a few disciples. This was even more enlivening. I had to leave in order to arrange Jagannatha Prasadam for the evening so I missed part of the discussions. But some disciples of Maharaja were video taping the whole thing from the time they arrived. Also the Druze were taping it.

At the end Gajapati Maharaja made a wonderful presentation about the predicament of the soul implicated in material affairs. He guided them step by step through the development of the souls desire to re unite with the Supreme and the Supreme’s assistance via avatars and His representatives. He concluded by presenting them with copies of the Bhagavad-Gita as the essence of Vedic literature. They were all totally blissful upon receiving the gifts. They later commented that they really liked his final presentation.

The other day I was discussing with a group of them who were asking the meaning of the Maha Mantra. I explained Krishna as the all attractive, Rama as the source of all pleasure and Hare as the energy of the Lord. And the mantra meaning that "Oh energy of the Lord, please help me to engage in the service of the Lord.” They loved the explanation and asked that it be written down for them to take with them. It is interesting to note that a few of them are very attentively taking notes at all the meetings.

The 12th was a day of rest as the trip has been quite hectic since arriving in India. In the evening Cittesvara came to visit them and they received an introduction into Tantra etc.

Tusti Mohan Krishna Prabhu, Jayapataka Maharaja's secretary, has also been invaluable. He is a Druze also and speaks fluent Arabic. His family is from Venezuela but he spent time in Lebanon. He is very philosophical and knows a lot about the Druze philosophy. All the sheiks like him very much. He is here with us in Puri and will be staying with us for the 13th also. Even though Maharaja left.

Your servant,

Vijnana dasa Vanacari

© CHAKRA 19 March 2001

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