Isolated From the World: Hare Krishna Children
This article, "Isolated From the World: Hare Krishna Children," was published in The South Bend Tribune, February 16, 1975, in South Bend, Indiana.
By William Toms
FOR 100 CHILDREN in East Dallas, Texas, life is so different from other children that their life-style is difficult for most persons to comprehend.
The children of Hare Krishna followers, they have been sent to Dallas by their parents to attend the Gurukula, a commune school for the children of Lord Krishna.
Ranging in age from 3 to 11, the children are taught from the Bhagvadgita, a Hindu spiritual text, and live cut off from the outside world in an monkish atmosphere colored by Eastern mysticism.
The school, located in an old church building In Dallas, is funded by the Los Angeles-based International Society for Krishna Consciousness, founded in 1965 by a retired Indian businessman, A. C. Raktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The movement's members have become a familiar sight in most large U.S. cities. They wear saffron robes, daub their foreheads with paste and hop up and down chanting "Hare Knshna."
The young boys' heads are shaved, except for a top knot, so Krishna can yank them into heaven at the proper time. The boys wear dhotis, the orange wrap-around. The single goal of the Gurukula is to make priests of the boys. At age 10, most of them go to a farm in West Virginia.
Girls in the school are encouraged to be submissive. They wear ankle length saris and keep their heads covered to discourage men. Many of the girls wear rings in their noses, the holes made with sewing needles, as a mark of chastity.
The children's day begins at 4 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m. when, segregated by sex and age, they go to sleep on mats in a damp church basement. The typical day in the school includes two or three showers during the day, numerous religious services, and six daily offerings of food to Krishna.
Photo 1: A. C. BAKTIVEDANTA Swami Prabhupada, founder of the International Society for Krishna, talks to a young boy member of the group.
Photo 2: A YOUNG BOY appears deep in meditation as he offers a prayer of thanks-giving to Lord Krishna.
Photo 3: ONE YOUNG HARE KRISHNA devotee prostrates himself on the wooden floor of an old church in homage to Lord Krishna.