Seated in the Martin Luther King Commons, surrounded by several copies of the Bhagavad Gita, sat Ganapati Swami, a Chicago based Hare Krishna.

Swami spoke Wednesday to instructor Jack King’s sociology class here at NIU. While at NIU, he decided to stay and talk to “DeKalbians” passing by.

Flyers in hand and raisin brownies on the table, Swami spoke on reincarnation and the essence of being.

“As a Hare Krishna, we believe in the essential principles of spirituality. It is a spiritual culture,” Swami said.

It is important to address essential questions such as “Who Am I?” which is what being a Krishna is all about, Swami said.

“Obviously young people driving by, shooting, have no respect for life. Ultimately, our education is not instilling that in them,” Swami said.

Students passed by to check out the artwork displayed, a half-man, half-cow awaiting the steel knife of a vengeful human.

When asked what this symbolized, Swami replied by explaining the mechanics of Karma and how hurtful actions subsequently come back to hurt the doer in one way or another.

“There are different levels of consciousness in beings. If that being is living to eat instead of eating to live, their main focus is eating. A hog’s body is better suited for this purpose than a human body. The being will be reincarnated in the hog body which is a lower species of life,” Swami said.

John Seaton, a junior engineering major, spoke one on one with Swami. “They’re dwelling on themselves through their own introspection. To convert that to others is conflicting because of the basic difference between you or I,” Seaton said.

“I bought a book yesterday and since then I’ve gained vast enlightenment to my intrinsic self. Now I’m determined to eternally help others,” Craig Allen, a junior philosophy major said.

“I don’t think I will ever kill another mosquito again,” Allen said.

For further information, contact Ganapati Swami at 1760 W. Lunt Ave., Rogers Park, Chicago, IL.