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Humans of SOAS

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How long have you been giving out food for?

I’ve been doing this for like fifteen years.

What made you start doing it?

We try to present healthy food and it’s also helping the students and the people. We usually feed a thousand people every day, from the universities and homeless people.

How did you get into Hare Krishna?

I was born in a very small country, it’s called Croatia. There are different religions there, more like Roman Catholic. But something happened in my country, a war that maybe you remember, in Yugoslavia there was war. But I was dissatisfied by all this war. We should not fight, it is better to live together. We are all human beings. But in my country all these divisions, like Catholic and Orthodox in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Islam as well…people are divided and it’s not good. If you are hungry for example everybody feels the same. If you cut your finger or something, it’s all the same. And we try to see in that way the universal humanity in life.

In these circumstances many people would turn towards the religion they’ve grown up around, so what made you go towards Hare Krishna?

Then I started reading books and I liked Hare Krishna explaining the soul. The soul is beyond this external material of the body, some people are black or white, or man or woman, or rich or poor. This is all external, but internally you can see (we are all alike in philosophy?). But similar, Jesus also teaches the same with respect. If somebody hits you, you don’t need hit to back. It means forgiveness. And Karma, we believe in Karma. If

somebody hits you, naturally you want to hit him, it’s called Karma. If someone helps you, naturally you want to help him or others in that way. For every action there is a reaction.

Do you think Karma is a force of the universe?

Yes, even science understands it, Newton, every action there is the same reaction. Whatever action you’re doing. Similar, if you are negative towards some person then he may be negative towards others in that way. Similar, ifyou are positive you are creating a circle. One day that circle may come back to you. That’s why it’s called the cycle of Karma.

Photography by Uswa Ahmed.

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