ISKCON fest showcases philosophy of Vedas
Festival of India inspires Indians and Westerners to embrace the Vedas through dance, music, puppetry.
At first glance the 64- year- old Indradyumna Swami comes across as just another devotee of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and not as the founder of Festival of India, a cultural presentation of over 50 dancers, actors, yoga performers, acrobats, musicians and techies belonging to 15 countries. The extravaganza aims to showcase the philosophy of the Vedas through dance, music, puppetry, plays, etc., and inspire both Indians and westerners to embrace the ancient message of the Vedas. The festival stages over 40 shows in Poland every summer to an audience of over 5,000 people a night. They are also regulars at various international festivals. Recently, they also performed in Gujarat. They presented a three- day Krishna Fest at Jamnabai Narsee School Ground at Mumbai’s Juhu on 15-16 February.
Born as Brian Tibbitts in California, US, it was the death of Indradyumna’s 12 friends in the Vietnam War that prompted him to explore other avenues of existence. “I was in the Marine Corps and we were a thick group of 12 boys. I was only 19 and had to stay back to train a platoon while my friends had to go to war. All of them died in an attack, which devastated me,” he says. Although born in a conservative family of devout Christians, he soon started reading the Quran, Buddhist scriptures and other religious books to try and understand the meaning of life.
“The 1960s was the hippie period and there was a different kind of movement altogether. Someone once handed me the Bhagwad Gita and the 700 verses in them changed my life. I came across some ISKCON members chanting ‘ Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ in Detroit and I eventually joined them in their temple.” He was initiated into the movement by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1971.
“I eventually ended up giving lectures on the Gita,” he says. His family was unhappy when he told them that he was giving up Christianity for Lord Krishna. “I came from an affluent family. They were shocked at my decision. I turned vegetarian, gave up alcohol, gambling and illicit sex.” But his father eventually accepted him when he heard his lectures. “He thought I had a good knowledge of science and religion and that I was doing a good job explaining the connection between the two.”
Indradyumna says that the decision to start the Festival of India group was made in 1979 and their first show was held in France. He is the only remaining founder of the group which initially began with four members and has now grown to be a family of 200. “There have been new members who have joined, while the older ones have moved on,” he says, adding that he was always fascinated by Indian art and culture and believed that the only way to preserve it was to present it to the world. “The decision to rope in westerners was deliberate as that makes people sit up and take note.”
“The generation in India today is attached to materialistic goods and is aping the West. The West in fact has realised that India is where the spiritual superpower lies and which is why many westerners want to be a part of the Indian culture. It is sad that Indians today have lost touch with their culture and are aiming to be something that they are not,” he laments.
The members of the troupe are mostly westerners and ISKCON devotees. “We have only one Indian who performs as a magician while the rest are westerners. Most of them travel to India to learn the dance forms as well as preparation of Indian food and return to the Polish Baltic coast where the festival is based.” When Communism fell in Eastern Europe and Russia, the show travelled there too.
21-year-old Vrinda Rani Dasi, an Odissi dancer who has been part of the troupe since the age of seven, says in chaste Hindi, “My parents were devotees of ISKCON. I too was born here. People especially Indians are often amazed to see me dance Odissi,” she says in chaste Hindi.