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The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant

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This is a truly impressive, academic study of ISKCON, a religious group that remains, after so many years, one of the most fascinating NRM's (New Religious Movements) of the 20th century. The book has an excellent range and variety of material--everything from first-hand accounts of ex- and current members to serious academic studies of various aspects of the movement. This book stands as the definitive study of ISKCON.

This work is a compilation of essays written by several authors. The book is described in three sections; an introduction to the historical development of Krishna Consciousness, the doctrinal controversies, and social issues & reformation of bhakti movement.

Hare Krishna movement grew rapidly in sixties during anti-war movement. The popular hippie counter-culture that was into drugs, alcohol and carefree-sex entered the Krishna movement. Some of them were seeking for directions in life but very few were looking for long term solace. The strict adherence to the rigid practices of Hindu tradition of no meat, no alcohol, no drug, no sex outside marriage, no gambling, and daily religious practices that starts from 4 AM; and public chanting and selling literature at airports was too much for many followers. Many entered this life without giving much thought, but soon got disillusioned, and the old habits of doing drugs kept creeping back in the minds of some followers which may have contributed to some of the problems encountered by the author Nori Muster. Most non-traditional religious groups have undergone persecution because of their beliefs and practices; perhaps they were controversial to conventionally oriented population. There were three major reasons for the conflict of ISKCON with American way of life. Fundamentally the religious beliefs were too different. For one, the traditional Christian belief is that Jesus is the son of God who died for our sins and we must accept him as our savior so that we can spend the rest of existence in eternity in heaven. Those who don't accept Jesus as their savior will remain in hell. ISKCON followers contrasted this thought by worshipping God Krishna. Secondly, the basic notion in Christian life is that a person has only one life to live in this world. The Hindu (and ISKCON) belief is that an individual is born and reborn in a cycle of birth and death according to his karma, and through bhakti and pure devotion to Lord Krishna an individual releases himself from this cycle and reaches salvation. Finally the belief in following a guru or a spiritual master who has attained near perfection in life will lead others in achieving the salvation. These were the main source of irritation and intolerance towards Hare Krishna movement. The appearance in orange robe, shaven head, chanting of Krishna's mantras, women in saris, etc., did not help good community relations either.

It is also not uncommon to for a disillusioned follower such as Nori Muster to do an "expose" that sounds like the ranting of a confused follower who doesn't know what she is looking for in life. Why did it take 10 years for her get out of ashram life in ISKCON if she experienced widespread abuse of power and authority against women? Her comments that Hindu scriptures were anti-woman are ludicrous. The "facts" she has provided about of illegal activities by ISKCON followers is hearsay evidence. Examples include; "her male Sankirtana leader would drop the women off at bars, where they would wait by the exit and offer to do anything a man wanted in exchange for money." "I once saw her grab money out of a traveler's wallet, stash it in her bag,..." "Another woman told me that when she was a new bhaktin they trained her shoplift for the deity department." "She and an older woman would go on shopping sprees where they stole beaded saris, jewelry, and other expensive items to decorate the altars." "The culture of wife beating was widespread in ISKCON,.." No other devotees have come forward to corroborate these stories. How do we know the authenticities of stories she heard from other women in ISKCON is a fact and not fiction? It is understandable that some men and women having come from hippie culture went back to that life, and certainly the ISKCON movement has nothing to do with that. It is unfortunate that some pedophiles also made their way into this movement which brought considerable shame to the ISKCON organization. The spousal abuse and denigration of women have occurred among hippies. I attend temple services at Watseka Avenue (New Dwaraka) when I am in Los Angeles, and I also worship at New Vrindaban, I have not heard from any long term residents of any widespread abuse against women.

There are many other essays which are far more interesting. Steven Rose's "Who is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu" is a short but beautifully written article about the life of Lord Chaitanya. William Deadwyler's article entitled; "Cleaning house and cleaning hearts: reform and renewal in ISKCON," is a very well written article that describes the shortcomings of a fast growing religious movement when no devotee is ready to take over leadership responsibilities at a temple. "Fifteen years later: A critique of gurukula by Gabriel Deadwyler (Yudhisthira Das) is one of the best articles. You get to see through the eyes of a child growing up in the gurukula system and the immense amount of harm it brought to many young ISKCON children. "But somehow demons got involved and abused some of the children, and that is why we gurukula alumni are not full time devotees, and why some of us have even become antagonistic toward ISKCON." This reflects on the state of affairs in some of the schools operated by ISKCON. It was also harmful for young adolescents, some as old as 15 years old not have any communication with opposite sex virtually separating the kids from their peers. These children's were not prepared to interact with the rest of the world. A strict code of authoritarianism compounded with physical and sexual abuse was tragic. The two "revaluation" stories under the title "On leaving ISKCON: personal story" by Steven Gelberg, and "On staying in ISKCON: personal story" by Mukunda Goswami and Anuttama Das Adhikari is a little more scholarly and illuminating.

Anyone who attends the temple services regularly at a Krishna temple comes to a conclusion that ISKCON is not a cult but a devotional (bhakti) movement from Hindu tradition, brought into Western culture immersed in materialism, by a devout Krishna follower.

1. ISKCON in the 70s
2. Iskcon in the 1970s: Diaries
3. Belief Transformations: Some Aspects of the Relation between Science and Religion in Transcendental Meditation (TM) and the International Society for Krishna ... (ISKCON) (RENNER Studies on New Religions)
4. ISKCON: International Society and Krishna Consciousness
5. Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life behind the Headlines of the Hare Krishna Movement
6. Hare Krishna in America