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Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 9, 1986

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Outside the Detroit Bhaktivedanta
Cultural Center, Apurva-das
playfully tosses Keshava into the
air. A love for Lord Krishna and a
love for each other is abundant in
Hare Krishna families.

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Sw EVEN-YEAR-old Pancha-Tattva will be
married by the time she is 16. She can
expect to lead a life devoted to achieving
a loving harmony with her -God, Lord
Krishna; a life of chanting, dancing, and work in
an effort to become spiritually free.
The Hare Krishna movement began in the
United States in 1966, and today the first
generation of children are coming to the age
when they will begin their own families. Pancha-
Tattva's marriage will be arranged by her
parents, with the ideal husband being a
spiritually stable devotee at least six years
older.
Except for the purpose of producing children,
sex is forbidden to devotees, because they feel
that it will divert their energies from praising
God. As Pancha-Tattva will learn, families of the
Hare Krishna movement live lives that conflict
with Western values, but are happy and content
just the same.
Pancha-Tattva's parents, Kamalini-dasi and
Apurva-das, have been married for 10 years, af-
ter meeting at a New York City Hare Krishna
temple. Their goals as parents are to raise their
children with respect and love for Krishna and to
be pure in a world they consider tainted by
greed, violence, and sex. They refute claims that
their children are raised isolated from society.
By teaching them about the evils and dangers of
Western society, they protect them from the con-
sequences of a Western lifestyle. The children go
to special schools that teach love for each other
and for Krishna and where the expectations of
growing up to be a pure devotee are placed
ahead of academic studies. Kamalini-dasi says
"We discipline with love, explaining -why
something isn't good to do." Hare Krishna
families are not different from many others in
that respect, and exhibit the same love and af-
fection for each other that is found in traditional
Western families.

Photostory by Pete Ross
While his parents were traveling in India, Keshava Best spent three communal aspects of Hare Krishna life include cooking, child care, and
weeks living as a member of Apurva-das and Kamalini-dasi's family. The working to serve humanity and Lord Krishna together.
The Hare Krishna Movement
11 --Family Life

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