ISKCON temple in Northern Ireland becomes sanctuary for devotees fleeing Ukraine
Hare Krishna followers in Northern Ireland
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, a Hare Krishna temple, nestled among the reeds of Northern Ireland's Lough Erne, the wooded island of Inish Rath has become a sanctuary for devotees fleeing the city of Mariupol, which fell to Russian troops after a brutal siege in May, as reported by AFP.
"We left Mariupol because it is completely burned down," Ruskin Khabibullin, a leading member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Ukraine. "They bombed the buildings, bombed our apartment and office," he added.
Since April, Inish Rath's temple, located in a 19th-century hunting lodge reachable only by boat, has been home to Khabibullin, 48, his wife Tatiana and their 14-year-old son Nikita. In the peace of the island where deer and peacocks roam, Khabibullin said the family are starting to recover from the horrors of the devastated port city.
ISKCON, which is known commonly as the Hare Krishna movement, was founded in the 1960s and is an offshoot of a historic line of Hinduism. The movement, which claims to have one million members worldwide, expanded rapidly into eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Its purchase of the island in 1982 was inspired, in part, by the tradition of Irish Catholic monks secluding themselves on islands and in other hermitages for spiritual reflection. Tulasi Priyal, a 67-year-old member originally from Dublin, said the island temple had become a "focal point" for Hare Krishna followers and other Hindus across Ireland.
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Even if the future is uncertain, Khabibullin said his faith will remain constant. "It's impossible to predict, to think about returning or not because it is unknown what's going to happen with Ukraine when the war will be over," he said, as reported by AFP.
"We will stay with devotees in any case and keep practising, whether that be in Ireland, in Ukraine, or somewhere else in the world," he added.
(with inputs from agencies)
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