Please accept my humble obeisances!
That's how we members of the Hare Krishna movement often greet each other, especially when writing letters, being introduced, or meeting each other after a long time apart. In this case, I'd like to introduce myself to you -- and explain a bit about my background, and that of the Krsna (Krishna) Consciousness movement to which I belong. To those of you who feel like the first parts of this post are a little dry, I apologize; I've included a (really teeny) bit of background history on Krsna Consciousness because I find it interesting and I expect that some of you will, too -- and the end of Part 2 ought to be juicy enough for any of you! ;)
Many people would consider us a Hindu group, but although there's an obvious relationship between our path and what is today known as Hinduism, our official position is to disagree with that designation. Although some scholars claim that the word "Hindu" is found in the Vedas -- the ancient scriptures that Hindus (and we) hold sacred -- and offer a few obscure examples, nevertheless the word is certainly not as well-known or widely used as other terms in Vedic literature for India, the Indian people, and the religion practiced by them. So we consider "Hinduism" to not be the best, most correct term to use to refer to any native Indian religion. Some say the word "Hindu" was coined by the Persians, to denote "those who lived on the other side of the River Sindhu" from them, which would indicate that in origin, the word basically just meant "Indian" and had no religious connotation at all. Nor is its meaning in relation to religion very clear or specific today, either. Saying that someone is a Hindu communicates only a vague idea of their beliefs: they most likely respect the Vedic scriptures and the various deities spoken of therein, and believe in karma and reincarnation, but their ideas about God, the identity of the soul, and what salvation entails and how best to attain it differ enormously. So we don't like to use such an unclear label for ourselves; and even as regards other "Hindus", I for one would like it if they too would give preference to the clearer and more specific Vedic terms for their various sects. Terms like "Vaisnava" (pronounced "VYE-shnuh-vuh"), which means a worshipper of Visnu (VISH-nu), or "Sakta" (SHOCK-tuh), which denotes a worshipper of Sakti (SHUCK-tee), i.e. the universal feminine energy of the Lord, or "Advaita-vadi", which means a person who believes that ultimately we are all one, give a much clearer picture of the beliefs of an individual "Hindu".
For more on the background and usage of the word "Hindu", see this article.
Our own path is technically called Gaudiya Vaisnavism (GO-dee-yuh VYE-shnuh-vism). West Bengal, a state in northeastern India, used to be called Gauda-desa (pronounced "Goda-desh" or "-daysh"); so, Gaudiya means Bengali. Gaudiya Vaisnavism, as we use the term, is that form of Vaisnavism that was founded and propagated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (Shree Chay-TUN-yuh Muh-HA-pruh-bhoo) and His followers from the 1500s A.D. onwards. It was brought to the U.S.A. in 1965 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896 - 1977), whom his followers refer to as Srila Prabhupada (SHREE-luh PRUH-bhoo-pod). He founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which subsequently spread to all corners of the globe. My own parents joined this movement in the early 1970s in California, and after they met and married, I was born there in 1984. My father named me Kamalini devi dasi, which means "Maidservant (dasi) of the goddess (devi) who is holding (ini) a lotus flower (kamala)."
I lived in California until I was 12 years old; then, in 1997, my parents (John and Francie McLeod, initiated in Krishna Consciousness as Haripada dasa & Phalini devi dasi) and I and my younger brother Nitai Pran dasa (age 9 at the time) moved to Prabhupada Village, a Hare Krishna farming community in North Carolina.
In 2004, I was engaged to Krsna Nam dasa, a Polish disciple of Trivikrama Swami. Trivikrama Swami is my parents' Godbrother (i.e., he's a direct disciple of Srila Prabhupada, like they are) and an old family friend of ours. My wedding took place on January 2nd, 2005, at the home of some other dear family friends, Udayananda Prabhu and Mother Rasesvari (their names are pronounced oo-dye-ON-un-duh, ross-AY-shwuh-ree). After that began my travels to Poland to visit my husband's friends and family, and to India, where my husband and I stayed in Sridhama Mayapura, the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in West Bengal, for 4 1/2 months. We had hoped to live in Mayapura permanently, but it didn't work out, so we came back to Prabhupada Village and lived here together until 2009. That's when I got pregnant.
Continued in Part 2.
