Haight-Ashbury, 1967
.
by Nava-yauvana das
_________________
It was the darkest of darkness,
the flower childrens' dreams:
hallucinated hopes, LSD-gods,
aimless, lost chemically-induced lovers.
Then unexpected, univited, Swamiji entered.
Swamiji, the courageous:
opening a temple in a battlefield
where it was most needed.
Swamiji, the genuinely humble:
"I am nobody's guru,
I am everybody's servant."
Swamiji, the wise:
"Krishna Consciousness resolves everything.
Nothing else is needed."
Swamiji, the compassionate:
"I have no other medicine.
Please chant this Hare Krishna.
I have no other explanation. I have no other answer."
Swamiji, the beloved:
minister to the hippies,
preaching to the poverty of their souls.
Swamiji, the aloof:
looking not at bodies, looking at their souls.
Swamiji, the grandfather, friend, teacher,
guide, naughty child, pure devotee.
Swamiji, the kind:
chanting, dancing, watching,
leading, encouraging, sheltering, nourishing.
Swamiji, the deliverer:
from hedonism to Krishna-ism.
Swamiji, the innovator:
turning hippie sex-life to Vedic wedding rites,
be-ins to love-feasts, street scene to Ratha-yatra.
Swamiji, the Real Person:
serene, stately, grave, humorous,
un-pretentious, accessible, unhurried, undisturbed,
right there with everybody,
totally right there.
