Customer Reviews

Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life behind the Headlines of the Hare Krishna Movement

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am an iniated member of ISKCON - have been for the last 10 years or so. Still, I rate this book with 5 stars. Why? Because I know that what Nori writes is the sad truth. And we need more books like this. Readers who do not know ISKCON (the hare-krsna-movement)should and just read this book in order get their prejudices confirmed should keep one thing in mind: We are a young movement in the West, and yes, we make all kind of mistakes. Yet - we talk about it. Many ISKCON-members: leaders, rank-and-file-devotees, friends are trying to change ISKCON, to make it, as Srila Prabhupada put it: a house where the whole world can live in. Nori's book is wonderful; I like the style, I like her personal realizations about ISKCON, and I can only congratulate her. There is one sad part to it, though: We need people like Nori *in* ISKCON, not out of it. On the other hand - who if not people like her will make things happen? Thanks, Nori, I love your book! Hare Krsna!

I loved Nori Muster's book, "Betrayal of the Spirit". It took me back to the old days in Los Angeles when I lived near the Hare Krishna Temple with my ex husband, guitarist John Fahey. John loved this book so much that he has bought it twice (after losing it once on the road). I remember John taking me over to the temple, to what he called "Little India" and introducing me to the chanting, drumming, and the free vegetarian Sunday feasts. We were given the royal treatment, with tours and (I'm sure) people assigned to us to try to convert us. Although neither of us ever became devotees we were always made welcome at the temple and I bought John a drum and he bought me a sari.

"Betrayal of the Spirit" has all of the color and drama of a vivid memory. I could smell the incense, hear the music, feel the emotions of the devotees. The costumes, the makeup, the deities in the temple, they were all there. Even an elephant. What more could a seeker after the exotic want? Nori's intimate description of the inside workings of ISKON satisfied quite a bit of my curiosity about how the organization was run in those days and I found that she portrayed the characters with an attention to detail that really brought them to life for me. I was able to appreciate the conflicts not only between various factions within ISKON, but within each individual. The goal of spirituality was often endangered by the temptation of power.

One of the themes that ran throughout the book was the relationship between father and daughter, and how Nori managed within the context of ISKON to follow in her father's footsteps by becoming a Public Relations worker. Her father's advice and support throughout despite her choice of a very different way of life was touching, and Nori's acceptance of his terminal illness was proof of her spiritual outlook.

"Betrayal of the Spirit" is an illuminating picture of a young woman's struggle to find peace, fulfillment, and structure in a materialistic world where "woman's place" has not yet been decided and men (and women) often long for enlightenment, but settle for money.

--Melody Fahey

Nori J. Muster joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) - the Hare Krishnas - in 1978. She lived in the Krishnas' western world headquarters in Los Angeles and worked for 10 years as a public relations secretary and editor of the organization's newspaper, the ISKCON World Review.

Her book, Betrayal of the Spirit, discusses international drug smuggling, arms caches, airport fundraising, child abuse, and assassinations within the mysterious group, as well as the dynamics that forced most of the grou's original members to leave.

Muster's book is about the public relations nightmare of the decade following Founder Swami Prabhupada's death. Disillusioned over continuing internal strife, in 1988 Muster left the world of saris, brass cymbals and institutional male chauvinism to come back into mainstream American life.

Her story reads like a non-fiction suspense novel while she shows how an organization can quickly fall into dishonesty, deceit and hypocrisy. Her story is intensely personal, touching - and a great read.

Publisher's Weekly called it "nothing less than mesmerizing." I enjoyed reading it.

-Paula Hassler, Tempe, Arizona

This book is an account of what happens when those who claim to follow the world's oldest scriptures (the Veda's) are actually acting to the contrary. I am sure there are many good Hare Krishna and other Hindu devotees who are sincere, but in all religions there seem to be a group of people who are hypocrites. No religion should be condemmed because of these people, or all religions would be victims. The book tells about those who are good and strict devotees who don't strive to do sinful things and also accounts those who don't exemplify a real Hare Krishna and are not following the Vedic scripture, but just claim to be. This is account that could be applied to all religious paths and their followers. It draws a picture of both sides of a coin and looks at what scholars call the "world's oldest religion" and what other people call a "cult".

Nori's book at times brought tears and at others, buried rage, because I lived it too. She speaks the truth about the lies and corruption that tore away at a spiritual movement when the founder passed away. Only time will tell if the truth and inner purity of this ancient yoga system will be reborn

Nori Muster had great spirit when she entered a life as a Hari Krishna devotee and that spirit was obviously broken by the betrayal of the sect's leadership. Cults and indeed any religion that sitfles thoughts and freedom tends to destroy the follower. In looking at other customer comments I could see that some followers wrote disparaging remarks and for me, a non devotee, I think that illustrates some of the walls that Nori encountered. We are creatures of God and not simple possessions of religious leaders. This is a very good book and an important one for anyone who wants to abandon themselves to the total control of other human beings. I wish she could have said more about what drives Americans to such zeal and submission.

Ms. Muster takes us into a world we never see, much the way Jim Bouton once took us behind baseball, and others have taken us into political campaigns, cinema and many other "businesses" that can only be seen from the inside.

The true hero of the book, and the constant voice of reason and fairness, is her father. Ms. Muster allows us to travel the twists and turns of a true believer becoming disillusioned, and she lets us lean on her father,s strength during those confusing days just as she did. To my reading, this is the most touching part of the story.

This well-written book provides a good account of how a religious organization can become increasingly corrupt yet seek to conceal and deny this corruption at every turn. Muster recounts her own role in this deception. For much of her time in ISKCON, she was an editor and writer for a sect newspaper that tried to balance journalism with its purpose to put a positive spin on whatever was happening within the organization. Finally, the evidence of corrupt behavior became too great to ignore, and when Muster attempted to publish interviews and stories that mildly touched upon controversial events, she was thwarted by the cult authorities. Eventually, Muster had no choice but to leave the group. In the author's view, ISKCON's problems began with the death of the supreme guru, Srila Prabhupada, in 1977. This resulted in the devolution of authority to eleven "zonal gurus" who lacked the charisma and Vedic scholarship of the cult's founder. Inevitably, some of these gurus went completely overboard, spurred on by the cult's practice of worshipping -- in effect, deifying -- them. The new introduction to the book, written later than the original introduction by Larry Shinn, implies that the author no longer categorically rejects the mind control/manipulation model that Shinn seems so eager to discard. While this book offers a good overview of the decline of ISKCON in America, it does not provide a lot of insight into the lifestyle of ordinary members of ISKCON, such as those who went to airports tirelessly for years to raise money for the cult. I found myself wanting to know more about the private thoughts and feelings of the person Nori Muster and not just about the series of scandals that swept through the cult in the 1980s.

Betrayal of the Spirit was a riveting, well written look at the Krishna movement. I enjoyed the way the author wove the history of the movement with her own personal experience as a Krishna. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Krishna movement.

Nori Muster's book, Betrayal of The Spirit, can help other people to understand their own journey better. Throughout, she has acknowledged what happened when certain souls took free rein with C & M, control and manipulation, and the high prices paid by the many when these abuses took place. The fact that she was able to grow in relationship with her father during this time is a tribute to them both, and those parts of her story make the reading well worth the price of the book. For anyone who ever wonders about life in ANY heirarchal spiritual organization, PLEASE read this book. You will gain information to help you keep both your eyes and hearts open for the rest of your days. Whilst some people will do darn near anything in the name of adoration and their own glorification, we also learn about the deep essential goodness which other souls will always support. Thank you, Ms. Muster, for doing this world a favor and bringing this book to life. The seeds which you have planted will reap a strong harvest on the side of Truth for long, long time to come.