Page - 62 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 4/2018

62 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 4 2o18 Debora Baldelli | Parading in the city’s public space I propose to discuss how participatory performance can become fundamental to creating a sense of belonging to a very diverse group of immigrants in the city of Lisbon. In order to do that, I focus on how identities and the sense of belonging are experienced by the Hare Krishna devotees and the Hindu community through their collective mantras, singing and dancing activities in Lisbon’s public space. The Hare Krishna Movement was created from a Hindu tradition, which does not neces- sarily imply that the spiritual practice is part of Hinduism. Hare Krishna “Movement” is how devotees refer to the spiritual practice to which they belong. When the religious practice was registered in 1966 in the United States as ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Cons- ciousness), Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuphada, its founder, defined the practice as a “spiritual movement”. Among devotees of Lisbon, the Hare Krishna Movement is more commonly refer- red to as a “cultural movement”. The adoption of the term “movement” is also associated with the movement (motion) of its founder from India to the United States for the propagation of their spiritual practice and sending devotees to other countries to spread Krishna’s teachings. So, the Movement has always been “in movement” and transnational since its creation. The term “movement” is used in different areas such as the arts, sciences and philosophy to denote something new; a paradigm shift in a particular field; a desire to move to a new “place”; a change from one time to another. “Movement” can also be the same as “organisation” or a “collective”, a group of people. I propose to look at the Hare Krishna movement as a “cultural and spiritual movement” due to its dialogue with popular culture, especially with music, which can be seen in its expressive practices in temples and city streets. The Hare Krishna Movement activities in the temple and the public space of the city are attended by devotees and regular visitors of many nationalities mainly from countries such as Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Nepal, India, and Portuguese citizens from the former African colo- nies, especially Angola and Mozambique. In this article, I discuss how the Hare Krishna Move- ment provides migrants and participants of Hare Krishna Movement activities, different ways of belonging to the city through collective musical practices. I intend to discuss how the city’s dynamics influence these experiences and are influenced by it. I will also reflect on how the Hare Krishna Movement in Lisbon is increasingly bringing its “community” to the city’s public space of festivalization, by treating religious practice as a public spectacle (Rasmussen 2010: 125). Collective musical practices among Hare Krishna devotees Sankirtana is the most important devotional practice of the Hare Krishna Movement. The word has a double meaning, indicated by two distinct translations of its root. The Sanskrit verb “kirt”, from which derives the word kirtana, means, on one hand, to “praise” or “glorify” and, on the other, to “Call”. The prefix “san” means “all together” or “congregationally”. Thus, the act of Kirtana is the praise or glorification of God and an invitation for people to participate in this glorification. Therefore, sankirtana expresses that, when kirtana is performed congre- gationally, the glorification and submission to God is perfect or complete (Indradyunna s/d). The development of Krishna consciousness proposed by Caitanya Mahaprabhu and fol- lowed by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuphada focuses on the practice of sankirtana, which means “chanting the holy names”. In the sixteenth century, sankirtana created a real “commu-