At $4, the food is affordable, healthy and all-you-can-eat.
And according to Nama Kirtan das, who brings the tubs of rice,
soup, vegetables and dessert to campus Mondays and Tuesdays, it
also brings you closer to God.
Nama Kirtan das, 32, is a monk of the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness, often referred to as the Hare Krishna
movement.
He serves lunch to students and others at UCLA twice a week, as
he has for the past three years. When believers prepare a meal,
they offer plates to Krishna, another name for God, before serving
others.
“The intention is to please God,” Nama Kirtan das
said. “We’re making it for Krishna first. … Anyone
that partakes in the food makes spiritual advancement.”
Filling paper plates with Indian cuisine ladled from large
plastic containers one afternoon, Nama Kirtan das stood in the
shade of trees tucked between the Young Research Library and
Dickson Art Center.
Mohit Lad, a computer science graduate student, and three
friends were among about a dozen people eating on nearby
benches.
Lad says he first made the trek to “extreme North
Campus” to dine outdoors about a year ago, and tries to come
each week depending on his class schedule.
One time he brought Amy Lee, a graduate student in epidemiology,
who also frequents the site now.
“It’s an economical option and the food is
delicious,” Lee said, taking a break from mouthfuls of daal
““ a thick, dark yellow soup made from lentils. “And
I’m a vegetarian. They don’t have much vegetarian
options in Ackerman and other places on campus.”
Krishna believers consume dairy but do not eat meat or eggs.
Neither Nama Kirtan das nor other followers who accompany him to
UCLA talk about Hare Krishna to those who show no interest, Lad
said. Instead of aggressively seeking converts, they simply display
informational pamphlets along with the food.
“They tell you all about the stuff that’s going on,
but they’ve never really pushed anyone,” Lad says.
Lad and Lee have also visited the Hare Krishna restaurant on
Watseka Avenue, north of Venice Boulevard, where patrons of all
ages piled salad, pasta and other selections onto plates one recent
evening. The eatery, a buffet of international dishes, is adjacent
to the Hare Krishna temple where Nama Kirtan das lives.
Other than for their cooking, believers are known for the way
they chant “Hare Krishna,” which means, roughly,
“Oh Lord God.”
“When chanting the names of God, you get closer to
God,” Nama Kirtan das said. “We say it purifies the
mind.”
According to some translations, Krishna, the name of a Hindu
deity, means “all-attractive.” Though the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness was founded in 1966 and is often
considered a new religion, many of its beliefs originated in India
centuries ago.
The movement, with an estimated 100,000 followers in North
America, made headlines in 2005 after leaders admitted there had
been widespread sexual and physical abuse of children in Hare
Krishna boarding schools.
The society began paying $9.5 million last June to alleged
victims, attorneys and others connected with the case.
At the same time, believers work on humanitarian aid projects
around the world, feeding thousands of hungry people in Africa and
Latin America, Nama Kirtan das said.
While Los Angeles is home to one of the movement’s North
American headquarters, Krishna believers across the country sponsor
food programs similar to the one at UCLA. At the University of
Florida in Gainesville, where Nama Kirtan das first learned of the
movement a decade ago, followers serve three hundred to four
hundred students a day, he said. At UCLA the usual crowd only
numbers two dozen or so.
“Students go to universities to learn things about
life,” Nama Kirtan das said.
That’s why he said he likes coming to UCLA twice a week.
He said he hopes that, besides leaving with a full stomach,
students will walk away with some knowledge about the faith to
which he devotes his life.
Krishna Lunch, sponsored by UCLA’s Bhakti Yoga Club,
takes place Mondays and Tuesdays from noon to 1:30 p.m. on the road
between Young Research Library and Dickson Art Center.