By Thomas Haribol
The famous Cedars of Lebanon have been prized for thousands of years for their resiliency and strength. Most famously, they were used in the building of ancient houses of worship (temples). Today, the modern republic of Lebanon, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and Syria, is home to nearly four million people, including a pioneering devotee family who moved there in 2010. Like the Cedars of Lebanon, their service to Krishna has shown great resilience and strength through many difficult circumstances.
Prema Dhana Das, Lebanese by birth, moved back to his homeland after living in Canada for several years to help with a family business. His wife, Tulasi Bhava Devi Dasi, born and raised in Montreal, joined him in the adventure. Both became devotees while in Canada and attended the ISKCON Temple in Montreal.
“After arriving in Lebanon, by a ‘Krishna miracle,’ we met another devotee originally from Ukraine who was married to a Lebanese man, and we started having small kirtan programs together in our homes,” said Tulasi Bhava. Nearby, there was even a small Hindu Temple with altars to many deities and demigods, which they would sometimes visit to perform kirtan. One of the Indian worshippers soon joined them for kirtan regularly. Eventually, a Lebanese local became interested and introduced them to the Beirut yoga scene. “Through this connection, we slowly started having kirtans at various yoga events and even participated in Lebanon’s first-ever yoga festival in 2015,” said Prema Dhana. “It was from this yoga festival that we decided to start calling ourselves “Bhakti Beirut” and began our social media presence with Facebook.”
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/devotee-family-shares-the-challenges-and-joys-of-spreading-bhakti-in-beirut/
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