The journey devotees of Hare Krishna will take on Wednesday, Sept. 24, mirrors the journey the founder of the movement took when he first visited the U.S more than 60 years earlier.

The group will travel from the Butler Cubs hall, where A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami stayed for a night after first arriving, to the Sterling Apartments, where a “sympathetic couple” took him in for a few weeks, and then back to Butler’s Grand Ballroom.

The parade is a celebration — Hare Krishna devotees will be chanting along the way — but also an open invitation for people to learn more about the movement and the practice of Bhakti Yoga, which Swami planned to bring to the U.S.

John Sherman, who took up the spiritual name Kripamaya Das, said the Hare Krishna devotees have visited Butler on significant anniversaries of Swami’s visit as a way to continue sharing his message.

“We’re not here to convert people or change people,” Sherman said on Thursday, Sept. 4. “What we are hoping is that people will increase their love for God.”

Swami, known as Srila Prabhupada to his followers, taught a practice of meditative yoga as a way to honor God. The practice — which, Sherman said, is not about body contortion and stretching, but mindfulness and being calm — will be a feature of the event on Sept. 24.

Sherman emphasized that practicing the Hare Krishna mantra is not about worshipping a particular God — Krishna practices and worship can be applied to other religions as well.

“We don’t want to just make it in-house. We’re trying to make it as many people as have time and interest,” Sherman said. “Krishna is another word for God. It can help a Christian become a better Christian, help a Jew become a better Jew, help a Muslim become a better Muslim. God doesn't care which church you go to. He cares about the love in your heart.”

Sherman and another Hare Krishna devotee, known as Visvaharma Das, are organizing the Butler celebration Sept. 24. Both are members of New Vrindaban, a temple in Moundsville, W.Va.

While Krishna events are not common in the Butler area, Visvaharma Das said there are regular Bhakti Yoga sessions in Pittsburgh where people can learn about the practice and perform it in a group.

After the parade in Butler, the ensuing yoga session will be a demonstration of chanting and meditation. Visvaharma Das said the practices of Bhakti Yoga aim to help humans try to interact with God.

“It’s chanting God’s name, accompanied by other members and musical instruments,” Visvaharma Das said. “It’s very difficult to understand God, but he brought different aspects of him — which is chanting, honoring food, worship and the way that we dress — there's a reason for it.”

The purpose of chanting is to become closer to God, Visvaharma Das said. Devotees of Krishna look at themselves as servants of God, and their main purpose as trying “to reconnect with him.”

Sherman said the aspects of the Krishna mantra are all aimed at this thinking — devotion to trying to understand God through connecting with other people.

“He used to say knowledge without devotion is just dry speculation, and devotion without knowledge is just sentiment,” Sherman said. “What’s commonly known as yoga right now is making the mind more peaceful and increasing body health. There is a spiritual aspect to it, connecting to God.”

Swami stayed in Butler in September 1965 with the Agarwal family, Gopal and Sally, who brought him into their home on a bit of a whim, according to an article on back2godhead.com, “the magazine of the Hare Krishna movement.”

The article goes into detail about how the Agarwals housed Swami for six weeks and introduced him to the Butler community by taking him to the YMCA as well as the Butler Eagle.

Sherman said many Butler residents probably don’t realize that the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness started his U.S. journey in their home.

“Butler, PA, is not just the home of the Jeep, it’s the home of the Hare Krishna movement,” Sherman said.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, also known as the Hare Krishna movement, includes 500 major centers, temples and rural communities; nearly 100 affiliated vegetarian restaurants; thousands of namahattas, or local meeting groups; a wide variety of community projects and millions of congregational members worldwide. Devotees promote Krishna Consciousness through festivals, the performing arts, yoga seminars, public chanting and the distribution of the society’s literature, according to the society’s website.

A presentation at the Krishna celebration Sept. 24 will cover Swami’s journey before his visit and during his visit to the U.S. Visvaharma Das said this presentation should be interesting to people even if they aren’t compelled to practice Bhakti Yoga with the group that day.

Visvaharma Das said, however, the practice may help people to find coping mechanisms when going through difficult times. The practice teaches mindfulness, after all.

“At some point in time in life you’ll have some sort of distress and you’re looking for happiness, and that’s the whole purpose of why Prabhupada came, to bring happiness to us,” Visvaharma Das said, “to show us how to worship and serve God, reconnect to him.”

In addition to the parade and Krishna practices of the day, there will be a vegetarian lunch served and more lessons on Hare Krishna and Bhakti Yoga shared throughout the day.

Sherman said anyone is welcome to attend the event and he hopes people approach it and the group assembled with an open mind.

“It’s a very celebratory community. It’s about learning to come together, learning to work with each other, even though we’re all individuals,” Sherman said. “What we are hoping is that people will increase their love for God.”

From Butler to the World begins at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at the Butler Cubs, 113 S. McKean St., before traveling to the Sterling Apartments, 415 N. Main St., and concluding at Butler’s Grand Ballroom, 201 S. Main St.

For more information, visit its Facebook event page.