By Damodar Nityananda Dasa
Zarina Mukanova was born in 1983 in the city of Taraz, a 2000 year old city in Southern Kazakhstan. In those days Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union and anyone practicing any religion was persecuted. In spite of that, Kazakhstan was not devoid of theists. Zarina’s grandparents were Muslims. In fact, her paternal grandfather was a descendant of Arabian preachers who moved to central Asia in the seventh-eighth century and assimilated with the locals, but were regarded as spiritual mentors. Zarina says, “This tradition is still prevalent and if you say that you are descendants of Khodja, people inevitably respect you.”
Zarina describes her background, “I have limited recollection of my grandfather as he passed away when I was only five. He was one of ten sons and received traditional education. He prayed five times daily and chanted Allah’s names on beads. He maintained superb cleanliness. He never had food in the same dress he wore outside. He had a very old copy of the holy Qur’an – a large one in Arabic with a very prominent smell. His youngest son, my father, lived with and took care of him in his last days. He left behind panoply of his writings, especially on Islam. My grandmother was also Muslim but not as intense. Till her last days she also chanted on beads. On the maternal side, my grandparents were Arabic teachers and the family had been teaching Arabic for generations. After she became a widow, my maternal grandmother found solace in Islam, in her late 60s. She zealously preached in and around her village and organized the construction of a mosque. She distributed pamphlets as people sought refuge in religion after the Soviet Union crumbled. My parents are not religious, but follow some traditional rules – Islamic and otherwise. My mother believes in Allah and prays for us. We avoid household chores on Fridays.”
She describes her foray into bhakti-yoga, “As a child, I appreciated the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, primarily the pictures in the middle. A devotee must have handed it over to my mother, but she does not recall how she got it. When we moved to Almaty, the largest and the capital city until 1997 which despite losing that status to Astana, remains a major commercial and cultural center of Kazakhstan, I joined the University to study Philosophy and Cultural Anthropology. I had a course on Ancient Eastern Philosophy in which we studied about India. I loved it! My mother was a voracious reader on History and Culture and had many books on such topics. I used her books and the “familiar book” Bhagavad-gita in that course. I resolved that one day I would delve deeper into these topics. Years of search in religion, mountains, “pleasures”, drugs, and so called “love” followed, and by the time I was 26 years old, I hated myself for the decisions and the failed relationships. My health was in tatters and I had difficulty to even eat. I did not wish to live.”
In our relationship with the Supreme Lord, there is the possibility of real love and the attempts at deriving love in mundane relationships are only the perverted reflections of that love. Transcendental love is achieved when love is aligned to the supreme lovable object—Krsna. In his commentary on Teachings of Lord Kapila, the Son of Devahuti, Srila Prabhupada writes, “If one performs even modest devotional service, it is not lost. One may render some service and after a while fall. However, whatever service has been rendered is to one’s eternal credit. When one begins again, the journey towards perfection begins from the point where one had left off.” Zarina’s venture into the “familiar book” years ago remained in her interminable credit. When the Supersoul observes the inclination in the soul, He gradually directs, purifies, and provides the association of the Lord’s devotees.
Zarina was distressed, but she had the inkling that happiness is not achievable in material goals. She explains, “Mired in despair, I turned to the Bhagavad-gita. The copy at home was not to be found. I searched online and sure enough, there were many editions and translations. My eyes caught the familiar sight of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I understood very little. Days later as I passed by a second-hand bookseller, I saw this book again and also some Cantos of Srimad-Bhagavatam. I read these books for over a year before I made it to my first Sunday program and became a vegetarian. I gradually began to follow the four regulations and chant 16 rounds. Prasada was delicious and I was happy not to eat meat and incur sins, but my parents were upset. My father felt vegetarians cannot survive and my mother told me that I would not have normal children due to poor diet. In a few months, they realized that while they were always grumpy and tired, I was in bliss and healthier. Gradually they accepted my spiritual orientation and food habits.”
Zarina is thankful for this rare benediction of Krsna consciousness. She does not venture to speak about it to Muslims, but whenever she sees anyone with faith in God, she is drawn towards them. She is happy to have got answers to her queries and solace in bhakti-yoga and shares her realizations with anyone receptive to it. As Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita 7.19, bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate — “after many births and deaths, one in actual knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.” This is the culmination of cultivation of knowledge.
She lives about three hours drive away from the nearest Krsna temple and so is able to make it there only on Sundays. She makes garlands for deities and dresses Giriraj by making His turbans. She desires to be a pujari (priest). She also assists her spiritual master and other devotees in transcribing English lectures into Russian. Zarina avers, “In the Vedic tradition, allegiance, money, and for that matter, everything is rendered unto the Supreme Lord Krsna, and this is defined as spiritual communism”. Sri Isopanisad (Mantra 1) says: isavasyam idam sarvam yat kinca jagatyam jagat tena tyaktena bhunjitha ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam — “everything animate or inanimate within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should accept only those things which are set aside as one’s quota, and not endeavor for the rest.”
In the spring of 2010 in a Sunday feast program, Zarina was pleasantly surprised to meet her friend Nuriya after ten years. They were close friends at school, then lost contact for years and again their roads crossed as devotees of Krsna. Nuriya’s coming to Krsna Consciousness is equally inspiring. On the 14th of March, 2006 — the appearance day of Lord Caitanya, Nuriya’s life changed. In association of devotees, she could not stop dancing in happiness that day. Prior to that, she had met devotees who presented to her Srila Prabhupada’s books — The Science of Self Realization and Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Nuriya reveals, “Since then, these books are my favorites and every time I read, I get new spiritual insights.”
At that time, aged 23, Nuriya was working in a bank in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where out of a hundred people working there, ten were devotees of Krsna and one of them, Radha-bhava devi dasi worked in the same department as hers. Nuriya ruminates, “Her exemplary qualities and lifestyle and the fact that she was “not like the rest” inspired me gradually, although at first all her practices seemed strange to me. But after some time of associating with her, tasting prasada andgetting answers to the questions kindled by the books she had given me, I realized that there was something very valuable in those books which may otherwise take lives to understand even after reading them several times. I kept reading while praying to the Lord, so that I might understand Prabhupada’s message. I was very happy to learn that God is the Supreme person. I knew, as far as spiritual path was concerned, “This was it!” Krsna’s sweet pastimes and learning that one may approach Him in devotional service satiated me.”
She describes her background: “I was born in an Islamic family influenced by communism; my parents were not strict Muslims, but followed some practices like Kurban Ait, visiting a mosque on Fridays and distributing donations, cooking seven shelpeks (flat cakes) every Friday morning to honor ancestors and so on. My grandparents were not educated but wise by nature and very strict practitioners who read the Qur’an, performed Namaz every day, and celebrated Oraza ait (also called as Eid al-Fitr in Arabic). My father who was a journalist, poet, professor of Philosophy, Social and Political science and my mother who worked in a telecommunications company were always busy working. My mother passed away when I was only thirteen, prompting me to ponder about life and death. Since my childhood, I was surrounded by friends and neighbors of different nationalities and religious views and that kept me open minded.” Being a Muslim, she had never smoked, drank alcohol or took intoxicants, but after meeting devotees, she became a vegetarian and a new life dawned.
In 2007, Nuriya first met her spiritual master when he was delivering a lecture on the Bhagavad-gita in the yoga center. Whatever Nuriya had learnt about karma, reincarnation and the holy name from Srila Prabhupada’s books were reinforced with relevant recent examples. After the lecture when he started kirtan, her eyes welled up in what she calls “an outrageous unexplainable event.” She says, “In Barsana, by Srimati Radharani’s mercy, I was initiated into the Gaudiya sampradaya and named Bhanumati devi dasi. I recall how as a ten year old, I had seen Srila Gurudeva lead a group of people, in singing and dancing in the street. My parents grabbed me by the hand and took me away, thinking it to be a “weird act”. Later, when over dinner, my elder cousin narrated how his friend whom we all knew had become a “Hare Krsna”, they exclaimed, “O Allah, save us!” God’s name is so powerful! My father has slowly had a change of heart.”
She first visited Sri Vrndavana dham in 2010 and surprisingly found everything familiar as if she had been wandering elsewhere and was now home. Bhanumati recalls, “Radha-bhava mataji had prepared me in advance such that I would not see the material side of things and make offenses. I remembered a lecture wherein Srila Prabhupada states that in Vrndavana there was always an opportunity to hear Krsna-katha. One gets absorbed in the Lord’s pastimes during parikramas of Govardhana, Syama-kund and Radha-kund. Not just the vraja-vasis, the stones, trees, absolutely everything seems to ooze out Krsna’s names. In Bhagavad-gita 10.25, Lord Krsna says: yajnanam japa-yajno ‘smi sthavaranam himalayah — “of sacrifices I am the chanting of the holy names [japa], and of immovable things I am the Himalayas.” I had a remarkable experience chanting the Lord’s holy names in Rishikesh amidst the merciful Ganges, in the backdrop of the mighty Himalayas. A trip to Jaipur with my spiritual master and other devotees followed where we had darsana of Radha-Govinda. In March 2012 I visited Sridham Mayapur and Ekachakra dham by the mercy of Gaura-Nitai.”
Bhanumati says, “Zarina and I are attempting to serve together as sisters under the gentle care of Sri Hari.” She shudders to imagine life without Krsna’s devotees and Srila Prabhupada’s books, wherein one is unaware of who one is, what one is doing and why. She says, “I thank Prabhupada for the knowhow that changed my life. I pray for his and Srila Gurudeva’s blessings to remain in the association of devotees and serve perpetually.” Presently, she is engaged in organization of festivals and supports pujaris in altar maintenance.
She says, “Dissipating Lord Caitanya’s message in Kazakhstan is challenging. The devotees faced hurdles as in 2007, when envy and anger overcame the local governors who destroyed houses at the farm where the devotees lived and wanted to destroy the temple as well. Under the Lord’s protection, diplomacy and wisdom of Srila Gurudeva and other leaders and the support of devotees worldwide, Krsna consciousness is thriving in Kazakhstan. There is a big summer tent for festivals, goshala (cow farm), a wonderful lake revered as the local Radha-kund and a beautiful garden with apple trees and flowers. There is an institute of Applied Spiritual Technologies to teach Vedic philosophy apart from other sciences. Those who love healthy and tasty food visit the Govinda’s restaurant. Yoga centers teach bhakti-yoga and their doors are open to all. Brave Sankirtana soldiers distribute Prabhupada’s books, despite hindrances from the civic authorities.”
Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.23.56 states: neha yat karma dharmaya na viragaya kalpate na tirtha-pada-sevayai jivann api mrto hi sah — “anyone whose work does not elevate him to religious life, whose ritualistic chores do not bring about detachment, and whose renunciation does not lead to devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is deemed dead, although breathing.”Bhanumati is thankful that bhakti-yoga provides her an inclusive and non-sectarian path. She says, “Anyone can practice Krsna consciousness without relinquishing one’s religion. One may not grasp some details in the beginning and everything may seem unusual, but if the desire to grasp the philosophy is sincere, Krsna reveals Himself through His devotees.”
Nuriya begs, “If someone offers you a book of Srila Prabhupada in the streets or elsewhere, please do not pass by, thinking that these books are not for Muslims, Christians, Kazakhs, Russian or Americans. In reality, these are for everyone.” “Who knows when the next opportunity may come?” Zarina triumphantly interjects as we bid adieu with Haribol!