Peace as a Context

Lasting and true peace only emerges within the context of “Krishna is in Control”

During the protest in Wellington last year, I had an interaction I'll never forget.

I went to the admin tent to fetch some more colorful clothing to match the festival energy of the event. When I asked for what I was looking for, I was met with what I could only describe as a completely opposite vibe. I won't say this older lady killed my vibe because she didn't, but she certainly didn't share my vibe, at least not at first.

She said, 'Do you think this is a festival? We are grieving here!' I replied, 'But we are sharing so much love.'

At that moment, another lady approached me and said, 'Muchukunda, you won't remember me, but I met you in Melbourne in an alley when you were painting graffiti. I had been suggested to meet you by a friend when I left Hamilton, but I had no way of contacting you, so I wasn't sure it would happen. But it did, and you told me about Krishna consciousness. Since then, I have often wondered if I'll see you again, and here you are.' She was one of the admins at the protest, and the older lady witnessed this exchange and said to me, 'You know what, your chanting of Krishna is not only healing the grieving from what's happening now, but you're also healing the grief from what your ancestors did to our ancestors.'"

Then she said, "Please take what you need; it's all free." In that moment, I found what I came for and grabbed it—a nice scarf.

I left and saw her again a few hours later when she came right up to our temple tent, where we were performing kirtan non-stop during the 21-day event. She held a bunch of tie-dye shirts and other colorful items, including "dresses for the sisters."

I accepted her gift with honor and saw her again a couple of hours later at our Hare Krishna food tent. She was in line for prasad, and I asked her, "Is this the thing you were wearing when I met you?" I held up the green scarf I put on from the bunch of stuff she had just brought us before. She said, "Yes, I want you to have it."

Our peace was contagious at this event, and I've been reflecting on how and why we had the peace that we did and how it spread.

Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita, "One who is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind nor steady intelligence, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?"

Prabhupada expands on this by pointing to another verse in the Gita where Krishna says, "The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries." So basically, we got our peace from knowing Krishna is in control, that he is enjoying our activities, and he cares about all of us. Acting in that knowledge by engaging our senses in his service gave us peace, and it turns out peace is as infectious as COVID.

People there called our tent the heart chakra of the village.

Speaking of which, Sitapati is doing a podcast about this next week!

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Krishna's Name in Every Town and on Every Wall

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