大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Shaunaka Rishi Das

Good morning.

My friend Rev Kenneth Cracknell died this year. Kenneth was one of the pioneers of interfaith in this country, encouraging people of different faiths to speak with each other. He wasn鈥檛 into shaky-handy-kissy-baby interfaith. It was people of strong faith meeting people of strong faith.

As a young Hare Krishna, Kenneth took me under his wing, at a time when Krishnas were considered a bit out there, and introduced me to a world of broadminded, open hearted respect and friendship across traditions. He was an advocate of understanding God鈥檚 love without borders. A real gentleman, and a good friend.

Once I arranged a visit of 19 Krishna priests to Cambridge for a seminar with Kenneth. He, and his wife Susan, insisted on cooking for us and asked for our dietary requirements to make sure they got it right. One of the restrictions was 鈥� no onions 鈥� don鈥檛 ask. On the day itself we had a great seminar and afterwards gathered around pots of steaming food with our plates. Kenneth asked us to serve ourselves as he retreated to the kitchen for something.

One of the priests, serving himself some vegetables said, 鈥渢here are onions鈥�. Silence. Then another said, 鈥淣o, there are no onions鈥�. 鈥淵es, there are onions鈥�, said the first. 鈥淣o there are no onions,鈥� said another emphatically 鈥� and he was at the back of the queue, and couldn鈥檛 see the pot. And then a chorus of, 鈥渢here are no onions鈥�, and 19 priests, some of whom hadn鈥檛 eaten an onion in their lives, agreed, and ate the dish 鈥� because it was offered with love.

Lord, my friends are sparks of your kindness. Like me, none are perfect but all are sincere. May I recognise their love and forgive their faults, as I hope they will do to me.

Hare Krishna