Wedding of Alfred Ford (Ambrisa dasa) Australia December 1984

it's almost like a blueprint do you feel that you feel all those requirements i think she's very modest very modest she's very that's a major point to what degree does love play a part in the marriage to a great degree i think uh the the difference is that uh is that uh the couple shares a mutual love for krishna first and then uh love for each other comes second because that That's the love that's going to keep them together, their love for Krishna. Is that so, rather than the man-to-woman love? Because Krishna is at the center of the marriage. Well, where does your life go from here?

Do you go back to America? Well, Sharmila has some work to finish up for her PhD, and then she's coming to America later on next summer. We're going to be living in New York. I guess a lot of people, and I thought of this when I first was told about the interview, how do you rationalize wealth and Krishna well of course Krishna is the wealthiest person anywhere of course got it as a proprietor of everything so it's just like the only difference between like say myself my position being born in a very wealthy family and being born in say Ethiopia into a starving family is is my karma you know it's simply work that's been done as Shirley MacLaine was talking about in past lifetimes so uh this wealth that i've been given by krishna i i choose to utilize in his service because it belongs to him anyway so i don't i don't see any there's no conflict in my life at all so presumably you inject large funds into religion right how how does that govern do you have a control on that or is that completely relinquished to the religion no i i i tend to try to take a personal role in how the money is being spent which projects is being spent on.

It's like we just finished a huge cultural exhibition in Detroit, and we're also working on one here in Australia. So I tend to oversee where I spend my money. I like to see how it's spent and where it's spent. As a youth, you were anything but a religious man, rather wild and woolly to say the least.

What occurred to change your life so dramatically? Well, I think I've always been religious, but I've never been very disciplined. And I think also that was another characteristic I was looking for in a wife as someone who had some religious discipline, you know, was regulated in their activities. But I think I've always believed in God.

It's just that I was just not brought up to be, to have sort of a regulated, disciplined life. I was rather wild and had the facilities to do whatever I wanted to do. Sure. How does your family feel about the whole arrangement?

Well, they've seen the changes that I've been through since I became a devotee and they're very pleased about it. And Sharmila, what about your family? They're happy because they couldn't have found a better son-in-law who's following the true Vedic tradition. Well, look, I hope it goes well for you both.

One thing I might get you to do just before you go is describe what the ceremony will be like on Boxing Day. I'm going to get and you do it. Is it going to be a Christian ceremony? Yes, it's going to be a true Vedic ceremony.

A true Vedic ceremony. which is the culture of ancient India. So we have a fire sacrifice, and in the presence of the guru and Krishna, the man and the wife accept each other as husband and wife, and we chant Sanskrit mantras, and we go around the fire seven times. And that's basically it. There's a huge vegetarian feast afterwards with Indian music and dances and whatever.

Are you open to people coming along to have a look? Yeah, definitely. Would you mind if we brought our cameras down? No, I wish you would.

It would be great. I think we'll do that and have a look at it sometime between Christmas and New Year. Thank you for joining us this morning. I appreciate it, Alfred and Sharmilla.

Thank you for joining us and congratulations. Thank you. Hope everything goes well. Well, that's Sharmilla and Alfred Ford who will be getting married in a Krishna ceremony on Boxing Day just west of Sydney.

We'll be back with more of Good Morning Australia in just a moment. Welcome back to Good Morning Australia. A wedding is always a great time for the whole family and friends to get together and celebrate the love of two people. Yesterday, Good Morning Australia went to a wedding with a difference.

It was conducted in the traditional Hare Krishna fashion and Good Morning Australia reporter Sheridan Jobbins joined in the festivities. For 5,000 years, people from India have been married in traditional Krishna ceremonies, Krishna being a forerunner to the more familiar Hinduism. In the ceremony, mantras are chanted, the couple's spiritual master makes a speech about marriage, the couple exchange vows, and the marriage is consecrated in a ceremony which involved the bride walking around the groom seven times while rice is thrown over them. The master utters more mantras, and a fire representing Lord Krishna burns as a witness to the ceremony.

Then the husband paints a red dot or line on the bride's forehead, and her sari is tied with his dhoti. The couple are now married. For the Krishna movement, this wedding has been of special significance because it's been between two of their more highly respected devotees, Shyamala Bhattacharya, a Sydney doctor, and Amarish Das, otherwise known as Mr. Alfred Ford, the great-grandson and heir to the car magnate Henry Ford's estate.

No matter if I own the whole world, you know, maybe for 60, 70 years, then you die, then where do you go? You know, of course you need religion. And you never know how long you're going to be here. I could walk out the door today and get run over by a truck.

Wealth, it really doesn't mean anything, you know. It doesn't matter how much or how little you have, you still have to face death. And what would great-grandfather make of all of this? He was into some pretty avant-garde things.

Could you explain that? Pure power. I think he was into reincarnation, I know, then vegetarianism. I think he would have liked to travel, liked exotic things.

After the sharing of vows, the throwing of rice, What wedding would be complete without breaking some bread with friends and family? What a feast. The only other traditional similarity is the sense of relief when the whole thing's over. I'm glad it's over.

Do you know that it's part of their tradition to have 100 courses at a wedding breakfast at a Hare Krishna wedding? My goodness. That could take you most of the day. And evening and the next day and the breakfast as well.

It was funny, when he was in here talking to us last week about the wedding, he was so confident of the changes that have made in his life a lot of people still treat the Hare Krishna well they call it a religion I suppose it is as being a little odd but certainly he thinks it's done wonders for his life. Oh it's nice to know it's all faith and tradition really so as long as it keeps you happy I guess that's the main thing On Boxing Day we covered the beautiful Hare Krishna wedding of Alfred Ford and Sharmila Bhattacharya. We got so much response from viewers who were very curious about the Krishna lifestyle that we decided to invite Sharmila back on the show to tell us more. Good morning and thank you for the garland.

It smells beautiful. It's the best I've smelled all morning. Sharmila, most people only have a superficial view of Hare Krishna, the brow paint and the robes. What does it mean to adopt the lifestyle?

Well, the main thing is to chant Hare Krishna regularly every morning and following the four regulative principles which involve no meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication and no illicit sex when you're married I believe even then there is very specific rules about sexual relations we only engage in sex in order to have children even in marriage wouldn't that reduce the intimacy of a couple and their ability to just be close to each other no it doesn't because in Krishna consciousness we develop a higher taste and we have so many things to share that it doesn't take away any intimacy from a married couple. So the only point then is to have children? That's right. Is that sexist?

No. The whole purpose of sex life is meant for procreation. And since it involves, in order to progress in spiritual life, you have to get away from this concept of being. Yes.

So that's why in order to accentuate the role of the soul, which we really are, we are spirits, souls, eternal parts and parcels of God, Krishna. So that helps us with the understanding that we are not these bodies. And the more you engage in sex, you're actually relating body rather than the soul. I know that Krishna marriages are arranged.

Was yours arranged with Alfred? They're not always arranged because we have people who are already married when they join Krishna Consciousness. There are often boyfriend and girlfriends who join Krishna Consciousness. And like the spiritual master helps if you don't have anyone in mind.

He can help find someone who will suit your particular nature. But it's not always arranged. Like in my case, it wasn't arranged. Can you divorce?

Well, not really. No. It's not at all encouraged. So when you decide on marriage, it's a very big step.

And you should have thought about all the pros and cons before you get into it. Now, what were you doing before you joined Krishna? And give us an idea now of the day you lead. Right.

Well, I was a student at Melbourne University when I joined the Krishna Consciousness Movement. I was doing a master's. and now I'm doing a PhD and my routine day for me involves getting up no later than 4 in the morning chanting Hare Krishna for about a couple of hours and offering the foodstuffs to Krishna before breakfast and then go off to the hospital for a full day of research and coming back home to read some of the nice books I have here Why does a woman, obviously of great intelligence, offer foodstuffs to an ethereal being? Oh, Krishna is not an ethereal being. He's God.

He's the supreme personality of God. But he can't eat those cakes. Huh? But he can't eat the cakes.

What's so wonderful about Krishna is that he does eat them, but he still leaves everything for you to have after he's spiritualized the food. what's so important about offering the food to Krishna is that he takes away all the karma from the food that's involved like you incur so many sinful reactions by lighting a fire to cook you kill so many living entities so you're sinning at every point so when you have prepared your food you offer it to Krishna he takes away all the karma for the sinful reactions you incur and he spiritualizes the food and you just have to take it and enjoy it do you eat it obviously you eat it afterwards yes of course do you spend much time with your husband if he was here i would but he's away in the united states right now because he has business to take care of and i have a very hectic schedule was there any reluctance to marry him because of the ford name and the empire that he comes from? No, because he doesn't really involve himself so much with the family business.

Your own feelings about the future of your life, if you'd never come across Krishna, wouldn't you have been happy in yourself and satisfied? No, I would have missed out on a great deal because I think every person in their own lifetime comes across this question in their mind that, who am i what isn't there more to life than just what i'm doing right now where did i come from every morning at 5 a.m i know exactly what you're talking about but everyone what the hell am i doing but everyone shelves that question because there is no answer to it but when i came to krishna consciousness and read these books i found the answers to these questions and they they've provided a definite goal in life and i can see everything in the proper perspective right now So I think my life would have been incomplete without Krishna Consciousness.

And you can get up at 4.30 a.m. and smile? Yes, we all smile and dance. Give me the book. I must read this book.

We've got to leave it there. Thank you very much for coming in. People are fascinated about your lifestyle. And I would like, first of all, to thank you, Shamila, for sharing more of your time.

And I don't know about the diet, but certainly how to do it positively. Oh, this has some vegetarian recipes, but it's different from any other vegetarian cookbook because it tells you how to spiritualize your food. This is just a little paperback about reincarnation. All right.

And this is a biography on the founder of our movement, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I won't repeat that. We've got to leave it there.

Thank you very much for coming in. Thank you. We'll be back with more of Good Morning Australia and more peace of mind after this short break.