By Phumelele Mkhonta
EmaSwati have been presented with a chance to get life insights from a monk’s perspective.
Eswatini-born Krishna Bhakti Monk, Sibusiso Nhlabatsi, also known as Savya The Monk, will be hosting a unique day-time luncheon this coming Saturday.
Titled ‘Ask a Monk- Q&A with Savya The Monk’ the event will be held at Bahle Gallery in Mbabane from 1 pm. Entry to the one-of-a-kind session will be free, however, keen attendees will be expected to have lunch at the venue.
When asked what motivated him to host the session for emaSwati, Nhlabatsi said during his recent trip to Eswatini,
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he noticed that more people were curious about what perspectives a monk could give for the betterment of their own lives and society in general.
“My profound wish is to facilitate that. I want to instigate this conversation and connect with people,” explained Nhlabatsi.
When asked about the desired outcomes of the ‘Ask a Monk’ session, he went on to say he hoped to share some perspectives that assist people in becoming better human beings and therefore better citizens.
“I hope to clear some misconceptions that people might have about who and what a monk is and give them a “from the horse’s mouth experience”.
Ultimately, it’s about making good friends in this journey of life (verbatim),” said the monk.
Describing the life of a Krishna Bhakti Monk, the Britannica website states that they are believers who devote their lives to serving Krishna and spend several hours each day chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.
They are vegetarians, and they renounce the use of alcohol and drugs. Sex is allowed only for procreation within marriage.
Male devotees shave their heads, leaving only a small tuft of hair called a sikha, a sign of surrender to their teacher.
Each morning male and female believers mark their foreheads with clay as a reminder that their bodies are temples of Krishna.
Narrating his faith, Nhlabatsi said he came across Krishna consciousness whilst studying Information Technology at Pretoria Technikon in February of 2002 and this is where he subsequently joined a local Hare Krishna Temple in Pretoria towards the end of that year.
“I was raised as Catholic in Primary school and Lutheran in high school. I discovered the Rastafarian lifestyle through the music of Bob Marley and subsequently my search for meaning and release from the system of Godless materialism began in earnest.
“Initially I researched the history of Africans and colonialism, the global financial and political systems.
My discoveries led me to understand that the education system, like many other systems, was designed to oppress the masses while a select elite group profited from their inability to control their destinies,” Nhlabatsi first told his journey on how he became a monk.
The monk further narrated that by great good fortune, he met the Krishna Consciousness Society on campus through a poster.
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“When I attended their session, I found that the philosophy made sense of all my previous research and introduced God in a concrete, thorough and personal way into my life. I began the revolutionary journey of chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra henceforth.”
Nhlabatsi now travels and teaches what he has learnt in Southern Africa and the world, and he emphasises that knowledge,
and especially spiritual knowledge, removed the darkness of ignorance and the fear of things unknown like the sun in the darkness of night.
