Hare Krishna Devotee Credits Religion for Surviving Farmer's Market Crash in Los Angeles

July 26, 2003

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=la-me-religkrishna26jul26&section=/printstory

On July 26, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "[Marine] Farina had joined the Radha Krishna Temple in Venice. After experiencing the scale of carnage and human suffering wrought by the crash [in the Los Angeles' Farmer's Market], he might seem like a prime candidate for a crisis of faith... Instead, the crash seems only to have increased Farina's devotion to what followers say is the oldest system of religious belief on earth. He is happy, he said during an interview at the temple, that his reflexes didn't kick in quickly enough for him to avoid being hit... 'If they had, I would be giving the credit to my military training,' he said... Instead, being struck by the car and surviving with nothing more than a bruised hip has convinced Farina that he was protected by the tilaka paste that Hare Krishna devotees daub on their bodies, that he was fortified by chanting God's name in the minutes before the crash and that he was spared because of his devotion."