My return to Singapore also saw my
return to the Singapore Hare Krsna Temple in Little India.
Steve's mum Debbie had never been to
Little India so a girls day out was arranged theoretically to do some
window shopping and for me to pay my respects as we passed the Krsna
temple.
On the final leg of the MRT we were
approached by a girl in her 20s who enquired where we were from.
Two ladies, one with natural red
pigtails and the other with blue hair HAD to be worth talking to she
laughed once we had made our introductions.
Having chatted and
discovering she was studying theatre, we decided to join her for a
fresh coconut drink in the local wet market not far from the train.
Our new friend chose our coconuts,
pointing out the good green ones from the older brown ones and we
spent a very pleasant half our chatting as life raced past us in the
busy market.
Eventually she departed to meet up with her friends and
Debbie and I went shopping.
We stopped briefly at the Sri
Veeramakaliamman Temple,
wandering past the variety of deities
as I tried my best to explain who they were.
We were invited to enjoy the mid day
prasadam, dining with other devotees in the upstairs dining room that
looked down on the temples courtyard.
Filled with food, sated with coconut we
at last entered the streets of Little India to look at the shops!
The theoretical window shop turned into
a four carrier bag haul and an hour in the incredible Mustafa 24 hour
multi floored no walled shopping Mall!
If you can imagine every shop in an
average shopping mall squeezed into an area roughly the size of the
average Lidl store, with aisles the width of the amazing place I
found in KL, you will get some idea of what the inside of the Mustafa
is like.
Floor to ceiling shelves with enough
room for a single person to walk between are filled to overflowing
with goods.
Bags are checked and sealed before you enter, payment is
made at one of two check out areas on each floor and again sealed.
This place does not waste space on things not needed!
Yet it does boast some of the greatest
selections of clothes, jewellery, food, electrical, camera, souvenir
and other stock I have ever seen but at a price.
Shopping under one
roof meant that prices were sometimes double what we had seen on the
smaller street shops but it did save a lot of leg work!
Having already filled various bags with
shopping from our walk through the main street, we wandered the
various floors just looking and enjoying the sights until I found the
fabric area!!
Sari's of every hue and fabric lined walls and shelves
that reached up to the roof.
Petticoats, tops, scarves, Indian
clothing, Muslim clothing all crammed into an area the size of small
swimming pool. I was in heaven!
One sari with matching petticoat later
Debbie and I returned to the streets for a well earned drink in one
of the many cafés that line the road.
We stopped briefly at the Hare Krsna
Temple on Cuff Street and were invited to attend an initiation
ceremony the next day. With a new sari in my bag I was delighted to
attend
and early Sunday morning, dressed for the occasion, I walked to
the MRT and caught the train back to Little India.
When a person first comes to Krsna
Consciousness they are welcomed and any offences through lack of
knowledge are accepted.
If one wishes however to embrace the faith so
to speak, one is advised to take instruction from a Guru. One who has
studied the scriptures and can help one on their path to
enlightenment.
An initiation ceremony takes place one
year after a devotee has found a Guru they can follow.
At this point
the Guru takes complete responsibility for any offences their student
might make.
The student in return takes shelter at the feet of the
Guru and strives to study and please his Guru by following
instruction given by said Guru.
It is a very important step of faith, a
bit like baptism or christening in Christianity.
During initiation
you are given a spiritual name, new chanting beads and perform an
amazing fire sacrifice along with all your god brothers and sisters
who are being initiated at the same time.
I entered the decorated hall as morning
kirtan was finishing
I paid my obediences and took my place
on the floor for the mornings class.
In the middle of the floor a fire place
had been built on top of a piece of board.
Bricks had been positioned
to build a retaining wall and the base had been filled with sand.
Various flowers, fruits, spices and
powders had been places in particular places while 20 x 20 inch
square banana leaves had been lain on the floor.
Each piece of leaf
held a small banana, a pile of various grains, a ring woven from a
stem of grass and a container of water.
Bundles of wood had been sorted into
various sizes and huge container of ghee stood to one side.
After class each of the initiates
approached Guru Marharaji sitting on the dais, making their commitment
known not onlly to Guru but to all the assembled devotees.
Guru Maharaji in turn
accepted their promise, gave them their new name and beads until each
of the twenty had been heard.
At this point the fire was lit while
the newly accepted devotees picked up their banana leaf and sat
around it.
As prayers were recited and mantras were repeated the
grains were thrown a handful at a tie onto the ghee soaked twigs
burning happily in the fire pit.
Smoke filled the room and more than one
person nervously looked up at the sprinkler system in the roof to
confirm they had indeed been turned off!
Smoke now billowed upwards until it hit
the roof and descended again only to be whirled around by the huge
fans. More and more handfuls of grain were thrown, more and more ghee
wood was added.
The room became incredibly hot and even
though most of us were not taking initiation that day we too were
bathed in the cleansing smoke, we too chanted the mantras until with
the final offerings of the bananas each of the new initiates circled
the fire three times.
Kirtan started by the stage while the
watching audience also circled the smoking fire and were given gifts
of flowers, fruit and sweets.
I have taken part in and witnessed many
joyful kirtans but this one was by far the most enthusiastic! People
were picked up and swung, they spun and they jumped, they raced from
one end of the hall to the other and they sang!
For over an hour everyone danced while
drums beat out a rhythm and cartels chimed in unison.
Bit by bit the smoke cleared, the fire
pit was dismantled as prasadam was served down stairs and slowly a
calmness returned to the temple.
I left the temple full of joy and
food.
Flowers swung in my hair, wood smoke clung to my clothes.
It
had been an amazing experience plus I had been invited to a wedding
on February 14th!
I briefly returned to the Mustafa
Shopping Mall where I bought two more saris.
(I also bought 6 silk ones, each a
different colour of the rainbow but that is another story!!)
Happy I returning to the apartment with
my arms once more bulging with shopping bags!
Little India is a dangerous place for a
girl with an excuse to shop!!
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