Credo: Ananda Vrindavan

A small and elderly Indian woman, wrapped in white, tries with all her might to sound a note from a large seashell, but her efforts, dedicated to the elaborate golden statues before her, only produce sputtering. “She usually blows a really good conch,” Ananda Vrindavan says with a slight smile, watching. Vrindivan is the president of the D.C. community of Hare Krishna, or the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which has a temple and 12 acres in Potomac. Raised as a Catholic in Ireland, Vrindavan came to the United States and converted to Hare Krishna as a young woman. She now offers her life in devotion to Krishna, believing he accepts all love-filled gifts, large or small, loud or sputtering.