By Alex Ababio
Worshipers of Hare Krishna in Kumasi have joined the rest of the world to observe the Krishna Janmashtami festivity in the month of August .
Sri Krishna Janmashtami is the appearance day of Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The birth of Lord Krishna is one of the biggest celebrations of the year, celebrated all over the world.
Krishna means “the all-attractive one”. He is the cause of all causes, the Supreme personality of the entire creation, both material and spiritual. He is the God of all gods, and the Lord within everything and separate from everything at the same time.
The Worshipers and other devotees celebrate His beautiful pastimes, His presence in their lives, taking time to remember their eternal loving relationship with Him and His presence within all of their hearts.
Worshipers from every Conner of Kumasi converged at temple at Boadi to observe the day .
Speaking to the Ghanaian Watch on the sideline of the occasion, the President of Kumasi temple of Hare Krishna at Boadi, Caitanya Bhagavat Das expressed concerned about the level of bad leadership across every facet of the economy in the country.
He quickly indicated that it was as a result of lack of quality moral lessons and positive consciousness society failed to impact its citizens right from infancy.
He noted that until Ghanaians particular parents and guardians strenuously committed themselves to training of their wards right from home, the situation could never change and the nation would continue to witness bad leaders .
“Leadership begins from home .The kind of consciousness and impact we give to our children or the way we train our children is the same consciousness and mindset they take up, grow with it and live with it. So, if we really want to change this consciousness of bad and incompetent leaders to give us the basic necessities of life, then we should train our children with the right consciousness and positive mindset right from home ”.
Caitanya Bhagavat Das urged Ghanaians to stop pointing accusing fingers at one another and refrain from blame game and begin to accept the fact that there was the need to correct and train children right from infancy in their various homes
” Its not enough to point accusing fingers at one another ,saying that this person has done that and other person has done that.We have to make the impact ourselves.Whatever ,we are doing will affect everyone of us. We have to start from somewhere as we decide to make an impact .The journey of thousand miles begins with a step. We have to make a conscious effort on our own to make sure that we make an impact in any smallest way possible.
He encouraged every Ghanaian to strive harder to acknowledge the fact that everyone has potential from God to make a difference in their lives and to build the economy of the country .
” We should try right from the beginning to see every person as an instrument of God’s power ,that everyone of us is connected one way or the other to God .And we are all brothers and sisters .If you have that consciousness and even if someone is your perceived enemy you will treat that person with clear mindset .
“If your brother or sister does something to you ,you wouldn’t at that instance judge the person wrongly .You will have to take time to analyze and may be give them time to rectify their mistakes.”, he stressed
Caitanya Bhagavat Das reiterated that before Ghanaians could experience good leaders there was the need for them to start nurturing their children with good morals principles right from home .
“Look at our home, we are training our children with so many bad consciousness, and corrupt moral values . You will hear Christians telling their children these are Muslims don’t go close to them. The same way we hear Muslims telling their children to avoid Christians.You hear others say this is Hare Krishna he is an idol worshiper. if you go close to him you also become like them.” This is not the way we should be training our children. We should train them with love and respect.
An elder of Hare Krishna at Kumasi Temple ,Arun Kumaru Sahu
pledged his commitment to convert a lot of residents of kumasi to Hare Krishna to ensure they experience the super natural gift and power of Hare Krishna .He explained that this will position them to love God and their fellow human beings to avoid any form of violent confrontations they unleash to their fellows .
” Anytime i come from India i bring a lot of Krishna teachings and books and we try to attract Ghanaians locally.We believe that when they embrace this culture into their lives they would be extremely happy. ”