07/11/98 - 1906

Lord Jagannatha Liberates Taoist

USA (VNN) - by Caitanya dasi

On July 4th, the devotees participated in the Washington DC parade. Although ISKCON was the very last group to march, (save the best for last) Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balarama and Lady Subhadra's smiling faces benedicted the hundreds of thousands of people who lined the street. An ecstatic kirtan, led by the melodious singer, Vaiyasaki dasa, enlivened the Harer Nama party as they danced down the street in parade formation. At the end of the parade, devotees dispersed to make their way back to the festival sight, which was a good mile or more away. Being thoroughly exhausted by the blazing sun and fatigue of chanting and dancing, I was amazed to see an Asian-looking young man standing on the corner.

A devotee had given him a small paper-back book, "Yoga of Perfection", by Srila Prabhupada. I approached him, asked him where he was from, "China", he said. He spoke Mandarin, but also good English and is currently doing his last year of graduate studies at Old Dominion University in Virginia. I invited him to walk back to the festival site. As we walked, we discussed religion, philosophy, our lives. As we stopped to get some cold drinks, he wanted to know more about Hare Krsna. "What does it mean?", he asked. I opened the book, and found a page with the maha mantra. He repeated each word perfectly and said he had been walking towards his car, when he heard the chanting. The sound made his heart flutter, and he turned to find out where the music was coming from. Yang Lin was raised as a Taoist.

Believing that life comes from nothing and returns to zero. However, he has been searching for truths in all religions. He is getting his M.A. in fine arts and wishes to do cross-cultural presentations of art depicting world religions. When we finally arrived at the festival sight, we took prasadam, and then engaged in participating in an ecstatic kirtan. Yang chanted, and danced with joy. He told me, "This is like one big happy family. My heart is filled with much happiness." I introduced my "new bhakta" to many of my old godbrothers and sisters. Yang even came up on stage and chanted and played my karatals. He stayed well into the late hours and I invited him to attend the Sunday feast the next day at the Potomac temple.

When I arrived at the temple, Yang was sitting attentively listening to a lecture by Ravindra Swarupa. When aratik began, he asked permission to film the aratik ceremony. Then as the kirtana began to build, I offered to capture him on film, so he could relish his memories of chanting and dancing. An introduction to Mukunda Maharaja proved to be very rewarding, as Yang proceeded into the bookstore, bought a book and cassette tape. More prasadam, and an exchange of addresses. Yang is returning to Bejing in one year. Srila Prabhupada once commented that the Chinese would be the last to come to Krsna consciousness, but they would make the best devotees. A Chinese fortune teller once told Yang that he was a monk in his previous life, I told him that I believe that meant he was a Krsna devotee, because he immediately took up the practice of sravanam and kirtanam. If anyone knows how to obtain a Bhagavat-Gita in Chinese, could they please contact me? Also, any devotees who have knowledge of preaching activites in China, please send information. All glories to Lord Caitanya's sankirtana movement and the mercy of Lord Jagannatha.

Your servant,
Caitanya dasi.
email: linda@healthyandwealthy.com