Pretoria: Harinama Account

By Gaura Das

Saturday 4 November 2006. Hatfield Pretoria.

After a wonderful program at the temple 18 devotees including 6 women and 3 children went on our regular and festive procession into Hatfield’s vibrant nightlife. Our mission is to sing loudly the names of God; “Hare, Krishna, Hare, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare, Rama, Hare, Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare”. According to scripture and our own personal experience this singing awakens dormant feelings of love, for God and all other living beings. It is the pivotal practice of the Hare Krishna movement.

As the mood went from good to better to amazing, the devotees felt elated and became more enthusiastic to go from one side of Hatfield to the other, singing and dancing. We went in front of some restaurants, onlookers gathered, some smiling, some curious and some joining in dancing and clapping.

At the entrance to Hatfield Square I directed our group in, knowing full and well that we were about to enter an area where there are several night clubs and bars. I knew that there would be intoxicated youngsters and security guards. On previous processions we went through the square drumming and singing. The security had stopped us a few times, we went through a few times and we sang and danced in the middle a few times. But not this time.

As we went into the centre we passed two guards. They didn’t seem to protest so we carried on. Then another guard in all-black uniform approached me and grabbed my arm. I immediately stopped playing the drum and the singing. What could I do, the message was pretty clear, so I tried to direct the group to the nearest side exit.

Unfortunately when I stopped singing, others from our group started. I tried to get their attention to move out but some were confronted with other guards. Some were already leaving, there was a lot of confusion. I felt that we should get out as soon as possible and so I headed out with a few devotees following. I managed to look back and I saw that some tension was building up. All of a sudden from where I was standing past the exit I saw that all hell was breaking loose. The father of the 3 kids was standing holding his eyes in agony (he had just been sprayed with tear gas), a younger member of our group was running and right at the entrance of a restaurant at the exit a fight broke out, even chairs were being swung and the whole atmosphere was filled with terror. I immediately thought of the young girls, the eldest came running, crying and I couldn’t see where the others were. I was expecting to face danger myself and in that chaotic state I felt helpless and simply prayed that all would be over soon.

Those few seconds seemed like a few hours but luckily we were all out. There was still a lot of terror and confusion. Two guys were now dealing with the excruciating pain of the pepper spray. The young girls were hysterical. One of the girls had been hit in the face and was cut. They were clinging to their mother who had also been badly hit in the arm. We bought water to rinse their eyes, but it didn’t seem to help.

I ran back to the temple on Church Street to get a vehicle. Three trips and we were back in the safety of the temple property. There were a lot of mixed feelings. We ended off the evening at the police station, opening a case and trying to counsel each other and figure out what to do next.

All we can say is that it was a very unfortunate and terrifying experience. We pray that it never happens again. All we want is to share with people the pure and simple joy of what we call “Hari-naam sankirtan” or ‘the congregational chanting of the Lord’s holy names’. We will definitely go out again. We need support and guidance from all those who are our well wishers.

Thank you for reading this report. I have tried my best to write it from an un-biased point of view as I personally saw things unfold. I do feel however that even if we were pushing our luck going to a night club zone with quite a culture-shock presentation, even if we didn’t have permission to be there we were still dealt with in an unnecessarily violent way. I admit that we need to be more organized and intelligent, but, at the end of the day, all we were doing is singing and dancing.

Yours sincerely

Gaura Das (Gary Forsthofer)