The Indian Weekender, Friday 8 July 2022

6
NEW ZEALAND
Friday, July 08, 2022
Journey starts in China and ends
at Krishna's feet in Aotearoa
Read online www.iwk.co.nz
VENU MENON
When Lu wling left her
home in the coastal
Shandong province of
China to study in New Zealand,
she had no idea that she would
one day wake up an ardent
devotee of Lord Krishna.
Twenty-two years on,
Manisha, as she is now known
at the ISKCON Centre in
Newlands, Wellington, is a
full-fledged Krishna sevak
weaving floral garlands and
helping with chores, along
with other volunteers.
This setting marks the end
of a long spiritual quest that
took Manisha from her early
Buddhist influence under her Tai
Chi instructor father through
her years as a church-going
Christian before finally ending
up in Krishna consciousness.
But Manisha, the name given
by her mother-in-law after she
married an Indian whom she
met while at the University of
Canterbury in Christchurch, is
yet to be initiated as a Hare
Krishna bhakta.
Manisha must wait for a
spiritual master or guru to
bestow a name after initiation,
which takes several years of
temple service to Lord Krishna.
“I have a spiritual master in
mind,” Manisha says. “But he is
in Malaysia. I am waiting in line
for the day he will initiate me.”
To qualify for initiation,
a volunteer must be
recommended by the president
of the ISKCON Centre.
The prospective candidate
for initiation must, among
other things, be proficient and
steadfast in the daily chanting
of the Lord’s name with beads.
Manisha describes the
chanting ritual as “easy
and hard.”
“You need to focus your mind
on chanting the mantra for 16
rounds each day. You can’t
miss a day,” Manisha explains.
For how long must the
chanting exercise go on before
a volunteer qualifies to be
initiated? “Forever,” Manisha
replies, hyperbolically.
Clearly, the process of initiation
into the Hare Krishna fold is
long drawn and strenuous.
Before she met her
husband Mahesh, Manisha
was a regular churchgoer.
“My experience with the
church was very good.
Christians were very helpful,”
she reminisces.
I come every
Saturday to
this temple to
do garland seva for
Krishna, as well as
on other days if I am
needed. In return for
this small service,
Krishna bestows his
blessing, which I feel
deep within myself.”
But when the time came to
be baptised, she backed out.
“There were too
many
unanswered
questions in my heart.”
A fundamental question
that troubled her was the
Christian belief that “you
either went to heaven or to
hell after you died.”
Manisha was not convinced
by that belief.
When she and Mahesh
attended “kirtan” sessions
organised by Hare Krishna
devotees in Christchurch,
Manisha had her moment of
spiritual awakening.
“From that day, I became a
fulltime volunteer at the Hare
Krishna temple in Christchurch.
“Krishna has brought so
much peace into my life,”
Manisha says.
“I come every Saturday to
this temple to do garland seva
for Krishna, as well as on other
days if I am needed. In return
for this small service, Krishna
bestows his blessing, which I
feel deep within myself.”
For Manisha and Mahesh,
Krishna consciousness
translates into a simple code
of living that involves “keeping
Krishna at the centre of
everything you do.”
“Things you can’t say to
Krishna, things you can’t
do to Krishna, you can’t
say or do to another.”
For Manisha, the Krishna
temple is her home.
“Every day, I come to the
temple with only one prayer to
Lord Krishna: Please keep me
always in your service.”
The journey that began
on the shores of China
over two decades ago has
ended at the feet of Lord
Krishna in Aotearoa.
• Continued on Page 3
So, now, when the travel has
resumed I invite NZ business
people to come to India
see for themselves the new
opportunities that India is
offering under the concept
of Atmanirbhar Bharat,
which is not in any way
protectionist policy.
Some of the Indian
community have been very
successful, and can contribute
through investing in India
in certain sectors, whether
it’s the hospitality sector
or restaurants or in agriprocessing.
I have been told that
geographical conditions
in the Northeast of
India is very suitable for
cultivation of say kiwifruit.
The other day I was speaking
to Zespri that they should go
and see the Northeast whether
kiwifruit could be introducing
them region. These are the
new opportunities.
On the way forward for India-
NZ trade relations:
I’m very happy that after a
gap of more than 10 years,
for the first time a joint trade
committee has met in New
Delhi in the last week of June.
The joint trade committee was
formed some 30 years ago,
during the visit of the Prime
Minister, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, so
there was a trade agreement
signed between and to
implement the objectives of the
trade agreement, a joint trade
committee was set up, how
does it work, the committee
looks at complementarities,
looks at regulatory framework
of each other, and also market
access issues.
So they have met recently in
Delhi, and I’m sure they would
have discussed roadmap,
how to take our business
partnership forward.
It is true that RCEP
did not happen for India,
we did not participate.
But India has signed up a
bilateral economic cooperation
agreement with Australia,
there are some FTA signed
I think the
contribution of the
people of Indian origin
in the development
of India NZ relations
is commendable. We
have seen during last
two, three decades,
and that’s also part
of diaspora policy
to create synergy
with the diaspora,
and work towards
furtherance of
interests and values
of India.
with UAE.
It is possible that such a deal
might happen with NZ. If it was
not possible, it would not have
happened with Australia.
Now what had happened
with Australia provides a
template for study by both
sides. So if there are economic
think tanks here.
This should be an important
task for INZBC to study what
has happened between India
and Australia, take ideas from
there, and at least pretend
to the government that the
complementary aspects in our
business partnership. So a lot
of work has to be done.
While officials remain
engaged, the business
community at the same
time should give ideas
after studying the India,
Australia, partnership.
On his experience in NZ:
NZ is a beautiful country and
people are so friendly and nice.
We never had any sense of
friction at either the level of
diplomatic relations or even
the people to people level.
So working and living in a
country like NZ is always a
pleasant experience.
So we are going back with
happy memories but twothree
things which we’ll
always remember: I think the
contribution of the people of
Indian origin in the development
of India NZ relations is
commendable. We have seen
during last two, three decades,
and that’s also part of diaspora
policy to create synergy with
the diaspora, and work towards
furtherance of interests and
values of India.
In NZ, our community
is well integrated,
they are law abiding.
And I find many examples
of success, they are
contributing to national GDP.
And we did a common study,
where it had been shown
that the people of Indian
origin are contributing $10
billion to the economy.
So their contributions will
always remain in the back of our
mind. And during the Covid-19.
The High Commission team
struggled a lot.
While they were several
lockdowns in the country, we
did not slow down even for a
single day.
So I’m going back with a great
sense of personal satisfaction,
that in spite of all these
challenges, our team remains
resolute and united to deliver
something like the president,
the high commission, so I will
always have a very happy
memory of the fact that we
could create this against the
backdrop of the Covid-19.