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Hare Krishna Temple Brings East to the West (Llama Ranch Honored at Festival Held in Spanish Fork)
By Nesreen Khashan

The following article appeared Saturday July 14, in the Ogden Standard Examiner, Utah

Hare Krishna Temple brings East to the West (Llama Ranch honored at festival held in Spanish Fork) by Nesreen Khashan

Spanish Fork-In a splendid blending of the opulent east and the pragmatic West, the Hare Krishna temple sits atop a hillside adjacent to a llama ranch that provides a source of income for the faith’s followers. The llamas, a South American import not associated with the east Indian faith, have over the past decade earned local Krishna worshippers thousands of dollars in revenue that helped build their palatial house of worship. Today, the two hoofed herbivores will be honored during the temple’s seventh annual Llama Festival, which will run from 4 pm through twilight. It will be the first such celebratory event held on temple grounds since the Krishna followers hosted the building’s grand opening in late June. The June 23 opening of the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple drew thousands of people from all faiths and backgrounds. Equally, last year’s Llama festival, held while the temple was still under construction, drew an estimated 4, 000 people from around the state. Caru Das, who along with his wife Vaibhavi Dasi, made his vision of building the 15, 000 square foot building come to fruition, said the temple’s location is a testament to pluralism in America. But Das said by building the first Krishna temple of its kind in the United States from the ground up, the consecrated building also symbolizes the tenacity and will of the faith’s deity, Krishna, who last walked the earth some 5, 400 years ago.

“He wanted a magnificent temple in what many would consider an unlikely location,” Das said.

“He showed the world that He could do it.” Indeed, Das and his wife are unmatched nationwide in creating a Krishna temple that captures the exquisite details of true Indian architecture. And that it exists here in this rustic Utah County setting, where 90 per cent of the population are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints makes it all the more remarkable. Ironically, it was the support of the state’s dominant religious group that helped make the temple a reality. Last year the LDS Church donated $25, 000 toward construction costs, and many of its members pitched in time toward building the structure. Sweeping verandahs on the temple’s top floor overlook the soft folds of the nearby mountains, and the reflection of the multiple domes, topped with a golden spire, shimmer off the waters of a pond located on the site. On the exterior of the temple’s ground floor, an arcade of arches with floral carvings adorns the building. Inside, inlaid white quartz and marble tiles from India cover the floors. The triumph of the $1 million structure is the main dome area on the second floor, where the shrine is located. At this shrine, marble statues of Krishna, carved from black stone, and Radha, from white, don traditional Hindu dress, while Krishna, wearing a peacock feather, blissfully plays a flute.

“The Lord is not viewed as an old man in the sky with a beard,” explained Das. “He is a fresh young 16-year-old cowherd boy,” he said, referring to Krishna’s childhood spent around cow pastures. The bovines are a sacred animal to Hindus. Although the public is free to view the the second floor, the honor of making offerings to the gods-whether those gifts are flowers, incense or food-is reserved for followers of the faith. Followers must abstain from illicit sex, gambling, intoxication, including coffee, tea or cigarettes. They must also be vegetarians. After a year of observing these precepts, Krishna worshippers become Brahmin priests, worthy of undertaking the sacred rituals, including the chanting of ancient Sanskrit mantras, the bathing of the marble deities, and the offering of gifts and food to the gods. Krishna worship, of course, can be conducted anywhere, points out one faithful observer, Weber State university english professor and Ogden resident, Neila Seshachari. But she stressed that the temple’s presence in her life, and in the lives of the other 3, 500 Indian Americans residing in Utah cannot be understated.

“The first Indians arrived in Utah in the 20th century as share croppers to the region,” Seshachari said.

“You can imagine how significant this temple is to the people of India. They settled here 100 years ago and this is the first temple to have ever been built for them.”

© CHAKRA 29-Nov-2003

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