Temple at New Vrindaban
New Vrindaban, West Virginia
October 17, 2014
Autumn leaves at their dazzling yellow peak. Backroads of West Virginia, foothills of the mountains. Appalachia. Ascending on a steep, curving, packed-gravel road, past fracking camps and vistas of marble-sized pumpkins of the fields below...
Then, out of the forest, the sky opens up over New Vrindaban, a Hare Krishna community at the peak of a mountain. A small lake adorned by a swan boat and with two huge statues upon the shore. Peacocks everywhere. And a cow pasture. A vegetarian restaurant.
A temple with incense and a family kneeling and bowed on prayer mats, devoting to deities set in a mulitude of lavish, gilded niches.
The centerpiece of New Vrindaban is the Palace of Gold, built by disciples as the home of Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. After his passing in 1977, it became a memorial shrine to him - many of its amenities, like the kitchen, study, and bathroom, are maintained in their original form - some with wax statues depicting his likeness in various states of divine activity.
No photography is allowed in the Palace - but the Indian style architecture within is extravagant beyond belief, considering what part of the world it is in. It is especially jarring considering the gap between the vast expense of materials, and the free labor performed by resident disciples who have eschewed worldly possessions. The explanation of the tour guide was that all is transitory in this world, and so such adornment was irrelevant beyond creative pursuit.
New Vrindaban has had a checkered history filled with the general controversies associated with the Krishna Consciousness movement, and the darker 1980's allegations of child abuse and murder conspiracy against an expelled guru.
It would take more than one visit to begin to understand the tangle of severe spirituality, non-chalant worldliness, social isolation, and natural beauty that exist here.
Temple at New Vrindaban
New Vrindaban, West Virginia
October 17, 2014
Autumn leaves at their dazzling yellow peak. Backroads of West Virginia, foothills of the mountains. Appalachia. Ascending on a steep, curving, packed-gravel road, past fracking camps and vistas of marble-sized pumpkins of the fields below...
Then, out of the forest, the sky opens up over New Vrindaban, a Hare Krishna community at the peak of a mountain. A small lake adorned by a swan boat and with two huge statues upon the shore. Peacocks everywhere. And a cow pasture. A vegetarian restaurant.
A temple with incense and a family kneeling and bowed on prayer mats, devoting to deities set in a mulitude of lavish, gilded niches.
The centerpiece of New Vrindaban is the Palace of Gold, built by disciples as the home of Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. After his passing in 1977, it became a memorial shrine to him - many of its amenities, like the kitchen, study, and bathroom, are maintained in their original form - some with wax statues depicting his likeness in various states of divine activity.
No photography is allowed in the Palace - but the Indian style architecture within is extravagant beyond belief, considering what part of the world it is in. It is especially jarring considering the gap between the vast expense of materials, and the free labor performed by resident disciples who have eschewed worldly possessions. The explanation of the tour guide was that all is transitory in this world, and so such adornment was irrelevant beyond creative pursuit.
New Vrindaban has had a checkered history filled with the general controversies associated with the Krishna Consciousness movement, and the darker 1980's allegations of child abuse and murder conspiracy against an expelled guru.
It would take more than one visit to begin to understand the tangle of severe spirituality, non-chalant worldliness, social isolation, and natural beauty that exist here.