http://www.rickross.com/gr
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
MOST IMPORTANT LINK TO HAVE A LOOK AT TO SEE WHY MY BLOG IS SO AGAINST ISKCON..SEE FOR URSELF
THIS LINK BELOW IS FROM RICK A. ROSS WEBSITE AND IT REVEALS THE WHOLE BAD RECORD THAT ISKCON HAS BEEN HIDING...THE TRUTH IS BOUND TO COME OUT AND THANKS TO RICK'S DEEP RESEARCH IN ISKCON HE BRINGS OUT ALL THE RECORDS IN THIS LINK...ISKCON IS THE FIRST RELIGIOUS ORGANISATION WHICH CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS A MAFIA ORGANISATION WITH ALL THE LIST OF LINKS IN THE LINK BELOW!! TIME TO REVEAL THE TRUTH ABOUT ISKCON!!
http://www.rickross.com/groups/krishna.html
http://www.rickross.com/gr
The various Bogus Teachings Of ISKCON!!
SOME OF THE BOGUS TEACHINGS OF ISKCON REVEALED BY THE SHRI KRISHNA MATH
3.4 The Unknown `Panchama Purushârtha'
3.5 Four Correct Traditions?
There are also some beliefs peculiar to ISKCON which are not shared by any of the three major Vedânta schools. These are:
4.1 Identification of their Founder Sri Krishna Chaitanya with Lord Krishna
3. Other Doctrinal digressions
3.1 Differences in the manifestations of the forms of the Lord.
- The two-handed from of the Lord Krishna is superior to all other forms of the lord such as Narayana, Vishnu, etc. This is based on a statement in the Bhâgavata (1.3.28) -- kR^ishhNastu bhagavAn.h svayam.h. According to Jîva Goswami this shloka indicates the primal position of Sri Krishna and all other statements which indicate otherwise should be interpreted to sustain this position. The other text used by ISKCON is ahaM sarvasya prabhavo (Bhagavad Gita 10.8), where `sarva' is interpreted to include other forms of God like Nârâyana. Though it is admitted that the forms are identical in terms of `tattva' (essence), they differ in `rasa' or more complete manifestation of the capabilities. All these concepts are not only totally against Tattvavâda, but are classified as major sins (`nava-vidha dveshha' -- indicating the nine forms of hatred of the Supreme Being, by denying His unique greatness and freedom from all defects and limitations) which lead to eternal hell. The texts used by ISKCON are perfectly capable of being correctly interpreted to support the doctrine of total identity in all the forms of the Lord and indeed have been done so by Achârya Madhva in his compositions. Incidentally, ISKCON claims identity of the two-handed form Krishna with their founder Sri Krishna Chaitanya.
- ISKCON also believes that there are three different features of the Lord and realization of Him by the soul will be higher for Bhagavan than for Brahman or Paramathma. The same quote from Bhâgavata mentioned earlier is used to "prove" this. Tattvavâda makes no distinction of any such kind as realization of the Supreme being is essentially based on the Swaroopa of the soul and its Jnana, Karma, etc. In his AnuBhâshya, Achârya Madhva clearly enunciates:
sachchidAnanda Atmeti mAnushhaistu sureshvaraiH |
yathAkramaM bahuguNaIH brahmaNA tvakhilairguNaiH |
upAsyaH sarvavedaishcha... ||The auspicious qualities of the Lord are infinite in number & extent and cannot be visualized or even understood by anyone else. Mukti Yogya souls are required to understand and worship Him as Sat, Chit, and Ananda as well as Atma (their own inner controller). Superior souls with higher Svarupa abilities will worship gradually increasing numbers of the qualities, while Chaturmukha Brahma has the intrinsic capacity to worship all the infinite auspicious qualities of the Lord.
The manifested forms of the Lord do not yield different results depending on which one is worshipped.
3.2 Jîvas a part of the Supreme Being?On the other hand, ISKCON accepts that the living entities are part and parcel of the Lord. Their concepts are based on a totally different interpretation of the Gîtâ text mentioned earlier, the matter not being fully cleared among themselves. But Sri Prabhupada translates the Gîtâ text XV-7 as follows :
The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmented parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling with the six senses, which include the mind. In his purport for that verse, which begins with, "In this verse, the identity of the living being is clearly given. The living entity is the fragmented part of the Supreme Lord -- eternally.
This concept is entirely unacceptable to Tattvavâda because it is against the Shruti Pramânas and others considered in the Brahma Sûtras.
3.3 A Question of GradationvR^iddhihrAsabhAktvamantarbhAvAt.h ubhayasAmaJNjasyAdevam.h
tAratamyaM tato j~neyaM sarvochchattvaM harestathA |
etadvinA na kasyApi vimuktiH syAt.h kathaJNchana ||
3.4 The Unknown `Panchama Purushârtha'
na moxasadR^ishaM kiJNchid.h adhikaM vA sukhaM kvachit.h |
R^ite vaishhNavamAnandaM vAN^mano.agocharaM mahat.h ||
-- ityAdeshcha brahmAdipadAdapyadhikatamaM sukhaM cha mokSha,
iti siddham.h ||
3.5 Four Correct Traditions?
atah kalau bhavisyanti catvarah sampradayinah |
sri-brahma-rudra-sanaka vaisnavah ksiti-pavanah ||
ramanujam srih svcakre madhvacaryam caturmukhah |
sri-visnu-svaminam rudro nimbadityam catuhsanah ||
Tattvavâda does not accept the validity of this shloka, which seems to hold that different Vedânta schools which have been arguing over the correct interpretation of Vedânta Shrutis since their inception are all valid -- in spite of essential differences. The same confused approach of ISKCON is also seen in their acceptance of the Bhâgavata Bhâshya by Sridhara Swamin, which tends to interpret many texts according to Advaitic tenets, while they claim to follow Dvaita school whenever it's convenient. According to Tattvavâda, the only correct school is that of Achârya Madhva -- ante siddhastu siddhAnto madhvasyAgama eva hi in the words of the revered saint -- Sri Vâdirâja.
4 Peculiar views of tradition
There are also some beliefs peculiar to ISKCON which are not shared by any of the three major Vedânta schools. These are:
4.1 Identification of their Founder Sri Krishna Chaitanya with Lord Krishna
- They interpret the Bhâgavata text -- kR^ishhNavarNaM kalau kR^ishhNaM ... yajanti hi sumedhasaH as showing Chaitanya (a.k.a. Chaitanya Mahâprabhu) as an incarnation of Vishnu. This interpretation is baseless. No Avatar of the lord in Kaliyuga is stipulated by authorized compositions like Purânas, etc., composed by Sri Veda Vyâsa.
- There are also basically untrue and fanciful stories in some "historical" works written much after him about Sri Krishna Chaitanya giving assurances to Achârya Madhva of following him and preaching the correct doctrines. Madhva's authentic biography Sumadhvavijaya, composed immediately after Achârya Madhva, and his tradition do not report any such events. Since they are not mentioned, there is no ground for such stories.
- Even the Vishnu Sahasranâma, known to depict the thousand names of Vishnu, is quoted in support by ISKCON -- suvarNavarNa hemAN^go varAN^gashchandanAN^gadI, etc., which are all used to refer to only one form of the Lord in the original -- to refer to Sri Krishna Chaitanya! Tattvavâda does not accept these or any such interpretations with no valid basis, which even prima facie appear to fail the test of consistency with valid scriptural statements.
- A work called Chaitanya Charitâmrta also elaborates an entirely fanciful account of the visit of Sri Krishna Chaitanya to Udupi and his "defeating" the Tattvavâdi ascetics there. Needless to say, the account has no basis of reality, since it was composed much later with no record of any discussions being preserved. It also, in the words of Mm. B.N.K. Sharma, grossly misunderstands the Tattvavâda position on "the relative positions of karma, j~nâna and bhakti in the scheme of the sâdhana-s". It should also be noted that the fictitious Tattvavâda Achârya in the Chaitanya Charitâmrta is not allowed a single quotation from scripture in favor of his position, while his opponent offers several. Also to be noted is that Chaitanya propounds a "fifth purushârtha" entirely without support from scripture, but is not challenged upon the point by the Tattvavâda teacher, which is incredible. These and other such bogus accounts appear to be embellishments thought up in the recent past by illiterates.
4.3 False attribution of Madhva's Authorship
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
ISKCON''s CLAIM THAT ITS NOT HINDU & CLAIMS THAT ALLAH & KRISHNA ARE THE SAME!!
There is a misconception," wrote His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1977 in Science of Self Realization, "that the Krishna consciousness movement represents the Hindu religion. Sometimes Indians both inside and outside of India think that we are preaching the Hindu religion, but actually we are not." In chapter three of the book [available from Bhaktivedanta Archives, P.O. Box 255, Sandy Ridge, North Carolina 27046 USA], this startling point is made several times: "The Krishna consciousness movement has nothing to do with the Hindu religion or any system of religion.... One should clearly understand that the Krishna consciousness movement is not preaching the so-called Hindu religion."
Often Srila Prabhupada would simply deny the existence of a religion called "Hinduism."In his April, 1967, New York lectures he remarked, "Although posing as great scholars, ascetics, householders and swamis, the so-called followers of the Hindu religion are all useless, dried-up branches of the Vedic religion." ISKCON, he believed, was the only true exponent of the Vedic faith today. So you can imagine ISKCON's view of Hinduism in the very own words of its creator "Srila Prabupadha"...!!
ISCKON denies it is a Hindu sect when the going is good. It, however, asked for money from Hindus when it faced a court judgement in the US ordering auction of its temples to pay for child molestation. At that time it told Hindus about the threat to the Hindu temples.
This also raises another question. Why should ISCKON worry about Vivekananda's misportrayal of Hindu dharma when ISCKON is not a Hindu sect?
Another issue is their attitude to other religions, for example they preach that Allah and Krishna are the same:
http://krishna.org/Articles/2000/10/00184.html
Now this is false to the core. Let's just examine what Allah promises to his followers in heaven:
"This is the similitude of Paradise,
which the Godfearing have been promised:
Therein are rivers of water unstaling,
rivers of milk unchanging in flavour,
and rivers of wine - a delight to the drinkers,
rivers too, of honey purified;
and therein for them is every fruit "
(Muhammad XLVII: 15)
" for them (the Muslims) is reserved a definite
provision, fruit and a great honour in the Gardens of
Bliss reclining upon couches arranged face to face,
a cup from a fountain being passed round
to them, white, a pleasure to the drinkers .....
and with them wide-eyed maidens flexing
their glances as if they were slightly
concealed pearls." ( The Rangers 40: 45 )
"Surely for the God-fearing
awaits a place of security,
gardens and vineyards
and maidens with swelling bosoms."
( The Tidings 30 )
http://islamreview.org/AnwarShaikh/sexviolence/chapter5.html
Infact the belief is that a Muslim man get's 72 beautiful houris in heaven and all the above seems to be purely materialistic rewards. Now Krishna on the other hand preached Karma Yoga (doing works without expecting rewards), on the ohter hand the only thing Allah seems to be saying is that he will give his followers materialistic things, so how can they be the same.
It seems that while they have no problem with ridiculing Vivekananda for his fascination with Buddhism they themselves seem to not follow what they preach. They seem to have no problem with sucking upto Muslims by preaching false truths like the above one.
Also if Allah and Krishna are the same then what is the whole point of Krishna Conciousness movement among Muslims if they already worship him under the name Allah.
Sometimes it also says how Christ and Krishna are also one and the only...If u have a thorough look at the bible you will know!! First off, Jesus - if he existed - was not addressing a barbaric crowd. If you quote one message from the Old testament- Matthew 10:34 where Jesus is supposed to have said, " Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."(10:34-36), I will reserve this and other thoughts on Christianity for a different thread. Suffice to say bible is not all goody-goody and so is ISKCON claiming Krishna & Jesus are the same......!!
Often Srila Prabhupada would simply deny the existence of a religion called "Hinduism."In his April, 1967, New York lectures he remarked, "Although posing as great scholars, ascetics, householders and swamis, the so-called followers of the Hindu religion are all useless, dried-up branches of the Vedic religion." ISKCON, he believed, was the only true exponent of the Vedic faith today. So you can imagine ISKCON's view of Hinduism in the very own words of its creator "Srila Prabupadha"...!!
ISCKON denies it is a Hindu sect when the going is good. It, however, asked for money from Hindus when it faced a court judgement in the US ordering auction of its temples to pay for child molestation. At that time it told Hindus about the threat to the Hindu temples.
This also raises another question. Why should ISCKON worry about Vivekananda's misportrayal of Hindu dharma when ISCKON is not a Hindu sect?
Another issue is their attitude to other religions, for example they preach that Allah and Krishna are the same:
http://krishna.org/Articles/2000/10/00184.html
Now this is false to the core. Let's just examine what Allah promises to his followers in heaven:
"This is the similitude of Paradise,
which the Godfearing have been promised:
Therein are rivers of water unstaling,
rivers of milk unchanging in flavour,
and rivers of wine - a delight to the drinkers,
rivers too, of honey purified;
and therein for them is every fruit "
(Muhammad XLVII: 15)
" for them (the Muslims) is reserved a definite
provision, fruit and a great honour in the Gardens of
Bliss reclining upon couches arranged face to face,
a cup from a fountain being passed round
to them, white, a pleasure to the drinkers .....
and with them wide-eyed maidens flexing
their glances as if they were slightly
concealed pearls." ( The Rangers 40: 45 )
"Surely for the God-fearing
awaits a place of security,
gardens and vineyards
and maidens with swelling bosoms."
( The Tidings 30 )
http://islamreview.org/AnwarShaikh/sexviolence/chapter5.html
Infact the belief is that a Muslim man get's 72 beautiful houris in heaven and all the above seems to be purely materialistic rewards. Now Krishna on the other hand preached Karma Yoga (doing works without expecting rewards), on the ohter hand the only thing Allah seems to be saying is that he will give his followers materialistic things, so how can they be the same.
It seems that while they have no problem with ridiculing Vivekananda for his fascination with Buddhism they themselves seem to not follow what they preach. They seem to have no problem with sucking upto Muslims by preaching false truths like the above one.
Also if Allah and Krishna are the same then what is the whole point of Krishna Conciousness movement among Muslims if they already worship him under the name Allah.
Sometimes it also says how Christ and Krishna are also one and the only...If u have a thorough look at the bible you will know!! First off, Jesus - if he existed - was not addressing a barbaric crowd. If you quote one message from the Old testament- Matthew 10:34 where Jesus is supposed to have said, " Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."(10:34-36), I will reserve this and other thoughts on Christianity for a different thread. Suffice to say bible is not all goody-goody and so is ISKCON claiming Krishna & Jesus are the same......!!
Monday, November 3, 2008
ABOUT ISKCON - ITS HISTORY AND STRUCTURE!!
International Society for Krishna Consciousness!!
http://www.answers.com/topic/intern
International Society for Krishna Consciousness / The highlighted Red Lines in the course of this extract shows how Impure ISKCON is....!!
By Jason Barker
Founder: Abhay Charan De Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Date: 1966
Official Publications: Scripture and central teachings include Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Caitanya-caritamrta, Nectar of Devotion, Nectar of Instruction and Sri Isopanisad. Periodicals include Journal of Vaishnava Studies and Back to Godhead.
Structure: Governed by the Governing Body Council (GBC) of thirty devotees, who meet annually to elect secretaries to govern geographic zones. Temples, preaching centers, and smaller operations are individually-governed units.
BEFORE COMMENTING ABOUT THE CORRUPTION, CRIME ... THAT LURKS AROUND I.S.K.C.O.N.....ITS BETTER TO GET SOME OVERVIEW OF ITS HISTORY & STRUCTURE TO GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING........!!
The Krishna consciousness movement can be traced back to Chaitanya (1486-1534?), an Indian who was introduced by Isvara Puri to kirtan, chanting the names of God (this includes the Hare Krishna mantra, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare") (Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, p. 232). ISKCON members believe Chaitanya was the avatar, or physical incarnation, of the god Krishna from the Vedic scripture Bhagavad-gita ("As It Is") (ISKCON: What is That? <http://www.iskcon.org/main/iskcon/what.htm>). The movement declined after Chaitanya's disappearance in 1534, but experienced revivals in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries (Encyclopedic Handbook, p. 233).
One of the central movements of the nineteenth century revival was the Gaudiya Vaishnava Mission (Ibid.). The second leader of the Gaudiya Mission, Sri Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Goswami, became the guru of a pharmaceutical manager named Abhay Charan De in 1922 (Ibid.). Initiated into the Guadiya Mission in 1933 and charged by Goswami to spread Krishna consciousness to the west (Ibid.), Charan De was given the name Abhay Charnaravinda ("One who fearlessly takes shelter at the feet of the Lord") (Biographical Dictionary of American Cult and Sect Leaders, p. 223). In 1956, after a third vision of Goswami sending him to evangelize, Charnaravinda renounced family and possessions to spend his life in Krishna devotions; he then took the name A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Ibid.). Prabhupada emigrated to the United States in 1965 at age 70 (Encyclopedic Handbook, p. 234). He was first noticed chanting in Tompkins Park in New York City; in 1966 he opened a storefront center and revived his religious magazine, Back to Godhead (initially printed in India during WWII, in 1952, and 1956) (Ibid.). This marked the beginning of ISKCON in the United States.
The death of Prabhupada in 1977 generated an internal crisis in ISKCON; with no legitimate heir or power structure, the movement was quickly torn with inner conflict. While Prabhupada appointed eleven gurus to lead ISKCON several months before his death, the Governing Body Council was almost immediately in conflict with the gurus (Ibid., pp. 222-24). Legal and doctrinal conflicts led the GBC to suspend three gurus for one year, but these suspensions were soon lifted (Ibid. 230-34).The veneration of gurus began to decline after the GBC moved to ensure that the majority of initiating gurus would be appointed by the GBC (Encyclopedic Handbook, p. 240).
The first serious internal crisis was generated by Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada, leader of ISKCON of West Virginia and founder of the New Vrindaban community. Bhaktipada was attacked in 1985 by a former member; during his recovery, another former member who blamed Bhaktipada for the dissolution of his marriage was killed in Los Angeles (this individual had previously brought a pistol to West Virginia and threatened Bhaktipada) (Ibid., p. 246). During this period Thomas Dresher, a member of New Vrindaban, participated in the murder of a former member in St. Louis; Dresher was given a life sentence (he was also later convicted of racketeering) (Ibid.). Bhaktipada was excommunicated by the GBC in 1987 after a federal investigation, and after child molestation charges against two New Vrindaban teachers (Ibid.). He was sentenced in 1991 to twenty years in prison for racketeering for amassing millions of dollars through a fund raising scam, and conspiring to murder two followers in 1983 and 1986; the sentence was reduced in 1997 to 12 years due to his failing health ("Bad Karma." One World 12.31, 1997). The GBC recently readmitted New Vrindaban, subject to an annual review for two year ("New Vrindavana Rejoins ISKCON." Hare Krishna World, July-August 1998, p. 1).
ISKCON is currently undergoing another serious internal crisis. E. Burke Rochford, Jr., a sociologist who studies the organization, recently published a study in Krishna exploring instances of child abuse at ISKCON gurukalas (boarding schools) in the 1970s and 1980s. ISKCON was forced to confront the situation in 1996 when ten former Krishna students testified that they had been beaten, sexually molested, and denied medical care while boarding at ISKCON schools ("Hare Krishna Faith Details Past Abuse at Boarding Schools," New York Times, October 9, 1998). The most serious abuse allegedly occurred in Dallas, Seattle, and New Vrindaban (Ibid.). ISKCON communications director Anuttama Dasa states that the organization is currently working to "repair the damage to the kids and show them we do care as a religious society" But that is just a bunch of lies coz ISKCON is full of Sex Obsessed. Pedophile Gurus who take advantage of vulnerable children Under the name of "Hare Krishna" that is the main reason why ISKCON no longer operates gurukalas in the United States !!
ISKCON has also endured several serious external crises. The most significant involves the 1983 case of George v ISKCON. Robin George, a former member, filed suit against ISKCON in 1977, alleging that she had been brainwashed by the group (International Society for Krishna Consciousness <http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~jkh8x/soc257/nrms/hare.html>); the suit followed a period in which she was moved from temple to temple to avoid being deprogrammed (Encyclopedic Handbook, p. 240). George was initially awarded $32.5 million by the jury; the judge cut the amount to $9.7 million, and an appeals court further reduced it to $3 million in 1987. The Supreme Court further reduced the damages to $75,000 (International Society for Krishna Consciousness <http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~jkh8x/soc257/nrms/hare.html>).
The second major external crisis was ISKCON's loss in the ISKCON v. Lee case. The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that airports are not public facilities, and ISKCON members can thus be prohibited by port authorities from soliciting donations. See How Money Minded they are!! (International Society for Krishna Consciousness v Lee, 505 U.S. 672 (1992)).
Godhead: ISKCON denies the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. They also do not hope for union with Brahma or give devotion to Vishnu or Shiva, referred to by some Christians as "the Hindu 'trinity'" (The Hare Krishnas Today, p. 3). The Hindus' gods are simply expansions or forms of Krishna, the "Supreme Personality, the Lord, the complete whole.the Absolute Truth" (Ibid.). ISKCON even teaches that Brahma contains only 78 percent of the attributes of the personal god Krishna (Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, p. 13).
There are three aspects to godhead in ISKCON thought: 1) Krishna, the ultimate personality, 2) the localized Krishna in the heart of all creation, and 3) the impersonal spirit Brahman (Confronting Religions from the East, Part Four: Hare Krishnas, p. 3). The contradiction of an ultimate personality, Krishna, and the impersonal entity Brahman (union with which is the goal of classical Hinduism) is not problematic for ISKCON believers. The Bhagavad-gita teaches: "Contradictory traits in Krishna's person are not at all surprising; one should not consider the characteristics of Krishna, the supreme personality of Godhead, to be actually contradictory. One should try to understand how these characteristics are employed by the supreme will of the Lord" (Bhagavad-gita, p. 203).
One of the ways in which Krishna employs these seemingly contradictory characteristics is through creation. Krishna is the creator of all that exists; even the gods worshipped in other religions (including Hinduism) are simply "plenary expansions or parts of [Krishna]" (Srimad Bhagavatam, First Canto, Part Three, p. 28)the creative act is ongoing because Krishna dwells in all creation. The Bhagavad-gita says of Krishna, "The Lord is all-pervading by the expansion of His partial representation, the Supersoul, who enters into everything that is" (Bhagavad-gita, p. 538). Everything is thus "part and parcel of the Supreme Lord" (Ibid., p. 704).
Jesus Christ: ISKCON teaches that Jesus, rather than being the eternal God, is instead one of the demi-god manifestations of Krishna (Ibid., p. 261). In fact, "Jesus is the son, and Krishna the Father, and Jesus is Krishna's son" (Jesus Loves Krsna, p. 26). Contrary to Christian doctrine, ISKCON teaches that Jesus only intended to serve as a guide to 1st-century Palestine:
God sent Jesus to be the spiritual master of particular people in a particular time and place.he did not claim (as others claim today) that He was the only Representative Agent of the Supreme Person ever to walk the earth in the past or future (Ibid., p. 44).
Instead, because Jesus is merely the manifestation (son) of Krishna (the father), Jesus worshipped Krishna (The Deceivers, p. 195-96.
The mediator between God (Krishna) and humanity is Prabhupada. Only Prabhupada is referred to as "His Divine Grace" (The Strange World of the Hare Krishnas, p. 45), and it is even said of him that "Prabhupada was a world-genius, greater than Jesus" (Ibid., p. 69). He "is the ultimate standard of Krishna consciousness.[people] must give him the honor due to God, because the guru is the transparent via media or representative of God and is distributing unalloyed love of God" ("The Hare Krishna Movement." Religious Movements in Contemporary America, p. 469). Prabhupada is thus worshipped by devotees; guru paja involves offering flower petals to a wax likeness of the master (new members offer petals to a picture of Prabhupada) (Hare Krishna in America, pp. 17-8).
Scripture: ISKCON accepts as scripture all the Vedic literature of Hinduism, giving special preeminence to the Bhagavad-gita (which was translated into English by Prabhupada). ISKCON is widely considered to be a fundamentalist branch of Hinduism because they interpret the stories in scripture as literal historical facts (Hare Krishna / ISKCON, p. 4).
Prabhupada, when asked if it is acceptable to follow the Bible instead of Vedic literature, states, "There is no use arguing the merits of the Bible over Vedic literature. Both the Bible and the Vedic literature are scripture, and therefore they are in agreement not opposition. The only difference is that the Vedic literature contains much more specific information about God than you'll find in the Bible" ("Declaring Our Dependence on God." Back to Godhead 11.7, 1976, p. 5).
Salvation: The central problem facing humanity is lust for temporal pleasures rather than love for Krishna. This lust keeps humanity trapped in the material world (Bhagavad-gita, p. 209), rather than pursuing salvation through Krishna consciousness (Ibid., p. 287).
Salvation is dependent upon the Hindu concept of karma, the universal law in which good deeds must atone for bad deeds. Just as in classical Hinduism, living entities undergo reincarnation in response to karma; it is possible to be reincarnated as many as 8,400,000 times (Confronting Religions from the East, p. 7). The caste system is thus integral to ISKCON - Krishna created the caste system (Ibid., p. 11), and an individual's current position in life is a direct result of actions in past lives: "If we're saintly, we'll get a saintly body next time, but if we're doggish, we'd better prepare ourselves for a dog's life after this one. This is the law of karma, which states that for every action we perform, either good or bad, there is an appropriate reaction to be reaped either in this life or in a future life" ("Reincarnation." Back to Godhead, 11.1, 1976, p. 8).
Salvation, i.e., escape from the cycle of reincarnation, is attained only through following the spiritual disciplines of ISKCON. If a devotee properly follows the disciplines, Krishna takes the individual's sins upon himself and thus atones for the negative karma (Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, p. 12). Prabhupad claims, "Krsna says, 'Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear'" (quoted in Matras, Sikhas & KRSNA, p. 2). Rarandhar, who served as Western Guru, elaborates, "There is not even an alternative. Alternative means you have a choice. There is no choice. Either Krishna consciousness or finished. That's all" (Ibid.).
Salvation in ISKCON depends entirely upon the efforts of the individual to follow the spiritual practices of the religion. The Bhagavad-gita states, "Everything depends on one's performance of duties in an effort to control the senses and conquer the influence of desire and anger" (Bhagavad-gita, p. 305). These spiritual disciplines include:
Chanting: Chanting the "Hare Krishna" mantra is the central devotional activity of ISKCON. "In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way" (Ibid., p. 320). Devotees use a string of 108 prayer beads to assist in counting the number of times they have completed the chant; they are to chant sixteen rounds of the beads, spending an average of 1 ½ to 2 hours each day chanting (Hare Krishna in America, p. 17). Chanting the sixteen rounds amounts to 1,728 chants per day, and 630,720 chants per year. Devotees can often be seen chanting publicly, practicing what ISKCON calls sankirtan (ISKCON: The Means <http://www.iskcon.org/main/twohk/iskcon/means.htm>). Arguably the most famous instance of sankirtan in the West occurs in the George Harrison song "My Sweet Lord."
Four Rules: The four rules of ISKCON are prohibitions against four degrading activities that cause humanity to submit to lustful materialism. These rules prohibit 1) gambling, 2) intoxication (prohibiting not only alcohol and drugs, but also caffeine and nicotine), 3) sexual activity outside marriage (and for any purpose other than procreation), and 4) animal slaughter (ISKCON is strictly vegetarian) (Confronting Religions from the East, pp. 20-1). ISKCON adds 64 regulative principles to the four rules, including visits to a Vishnu temple, offering items to the deity, and accepting the jurisdiction of the ISKCON spiritual masters (Ibid., pp. 21-22).
Sankirtan: Sankirtan involves more than public chanting; it also involves distributing ISKCON literature. Distributing ISKCON literature is essential in the spiritual life of most member (Christ and the New Consciousness, p. 37). Members are taught that receiving ISKCON literature can result in the salvation of both member and recipient (Ibid.). The distribution of Back to Godhead magazine is so significant that the editor claims, "Talking about BTG is as good as talking about Krsna" ("Sharing Good Fortune." Back to Godhead, 28.1, 1994, p. 3).
There is only one true God (Isaiah 43:10), who is distinct from His creation (Romans 1:20-23). Jesus Christ is also God, existing from eternity (John 1:1; 5:18; 20:28). Jesus, who humbled himself and took on human nature (Philippians 2:1-11), is not the son of Krishna.
Salvation is not earned by erasing karma through reincarnation; instead, humans live only once, and then face judgment from God (Hebrews 9:27). Repetition of a mantra will not result in salvation (Matthew 6:7), nor will following an extensive list of rules and rituals. Salvation is an act of God's grace, and cannot be earned through any human action (Ephesians 2:8-10).
A Guide to Cults and New Religions, by Ronald Enroth, et al, InterVarsity Press. The essays in this volume include a chapter on ISKCON. 215 pages - $12.
The Kingdom of the Cults, Thirtieth Anniversary Edition, by Walter Martin and edited by Hank Hanegraaff, Bethany House Publishers. Contains a chapter on Eastern religions (including ISKCON). Comes with a CD-ROM for cross-referencing. 703 pages - $33.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The Darker Side of ISKCON
ICSA E-Newsletter, Vol. 5, No. 1, February 2006
Myth and Themes of Ex-Membership
Abstract
A researcher and ex-member of ISKCON, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, offers an inside view of what it’s like to be an ex-cult member. She identifies post-traumatic stress and identity crisis as the two most common themes of ex-membership. At the root of post-traumatic stress are the themes justice, stigma, and perspective; at the root of identity crisis are the themes home, personal belief system, and storytelling. She offers literary examples that serve as myths to illustrate the ex-member experience. The stories are drawn from American literature, the Vedas, and popular culture.
In 1978 the Hare Krishnas told me that if I followed them for the rest of my life, then I’d go back to Godhead with them. To follow, I had to move into a temple, wear Indian clothing, learn hundreds of customs and taboos, and cut myself off from the outside world. They forbade commercial media and criticized outside relationships, unless the outsiders might join, donate, or do service. They said that anyone who left ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, would fall back into the material ocean and be lost. They called it “blooping,” the sound a rock makes when it hits the water and sinks. I blooped in December 1988.
I was just one of many who left disillusioned. In the dozen years following the death of ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada,([1]) ninety percent of members left.([2]) ISKCON turned into an organization with many more ex-members than current, full-time members. One ex-ISKCON member shared his thoughts about ex-membership in his essay, “On Leaving ISKCON.”([3]) Steven J. Gelberg, known in ISKCON as Subhananda, explained what the decision was like for him:
It’s hard to imagine an experience more wrenching, more potentially disorienting, than leaving a spiritual community or tradition to which one has devoted years of one’s life. To lose faith in a comprehensive system of ideas that have shaped one’s consciousness and guided one’s actions, to leave a community that has constituted one’s social world and defined one’s social identity, to renounce a way of life that is an entire mode of being, is an experience of momentous implications.([4])
Gelberg identified the things that he saw in ISKCON that made him decide to leave. Here is a brief summary: practical and ethical failures, intellectual dishonesty, disrespect for followers, hypocrisy in the demand for celibacy, condescending attitude toward women, and scriptural fundamentalism.([5]) Gelberg believed that many others shared a common experience of ISKCON’s problems, so he addressed “On Leaving ISKCON” to his “brothers and sisters who have shared the ISKCON/Krishna consciousness experience.” Gelberg described the exodus out of ISKCON and said, “There exists, therefore, a substantial and growing body of people who share what can only be described as a traumatic experience.”([6])
Although the details differ for each individual, and some ex-members claim to feel no stress after leaving, the dominant psychological issues for most ex-members are post-traumatic stress and identity crisis. The same themes play out in myth and story, and there are many parallels to be drawn between the ex-member experience and characters who go through similar trials under different circumstances.
Carl Jung said that story and myth link the inner and outer human experience. He said myth was metaphor, containing symbols and archetypes. Ironically, another meaning for "myth" refers to something that is false. Rollo May, one of the founders of the Humanist Movement and author of The Cry for Myth, said, “There can be no stronger proof of the impoverishment of our contemporary culture than the popular—though profoundly mistaken—definition of myth as falsehood.” He explained that the themes in our myths are "like the beams in a house: not exposed to outside view, they are the structure which holds the house together so people can live in it.”([7])
I will show you the mythical beams that form the structure of the ex-member experience,([8]) offering examples from American literature, the Hindu Vedas, and popular culture. As a subject, or participant observer, and ex-ISKCON member myself, I will also offer stories from my own experience.
Although I have tried to identify universal themes for ex-ISKCON members, there are several notable exceptions. First, people who left because they were deprogrammed may have more complex issues. Their themes would depend on whether they feel grateful or resentful that someone else made the decision for them. They are tangled in themes of self-determination that are outside the scope of this paper. In addition, deprogrammed individuals are much more likely to reject all aspects of their ISKCON experience. Thus, their identity crisis is different and more complex than the issues described in this paper.
Second, people who perpetrated abuse inside the organization probably will not be able to relate to the themes presented here. Abuse perpetrators often have psychopathic, or sociopathic disorders. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV), abuse perpetrators may be diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder, Conduct Disorder, or any number of pathologies.([9]) Since perpetrators generally have diagnosable disorders, they would need to go into treatment and reach the stage of recovery before they could comprehend the issues under discussion here.
This paper applies to ex-members who joined as adults and who were never physically or sexually abused in ISKCON. In my other series of essays, “Story Matters,”([10]) I have identified stories that illustrate the common themes of abuse victims. Even though the current paper does not address overt abuse, survivors may still glean insights about ex-membership from the issues presented here. It might help children of cult members understand their parents who have left their cults.
Post-traumatic Stress
According to the DSM-IV, post-traumatic stress may progress to a diagnosable disorder:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating condition that follows a terrifying event. Often, people with PTSD have persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their ordeal and feel emotionally numb.([11])
Post-traumatic stress follows an experience of intense fear, horror, or helplessness. The onset may occur at the time of the event or it may develop months, or even years after the event.
Many ex-ISKCON members witnessed abuse that could have traumatized them. Not all would warrant the DSM diagnosis, but they may suffer from lesser degrees of stress. Most of the stress in the organization came from the top down, especially the hierarchy’s power struggles in the years following the death of Srila Prabhupada. The leaders struggled over money and property, and there were several murders, as well as untold incidents of emotional and physical abuse. Anyone closely involved with the hierarchy during those years probably left with emotional scars of betrayal, grief, anger, frustration, and a loss of trust in authority figures, especially religious authorities.
Stress spread throughout the organization, so that everyone, not just those involved with the hierarchy, felt it. Devotees clashed over moral, ethical, and practical issues. For example, people fought each other for apartments, control of temples, and for positions in the organization. Women and children were victimized and some people were involved in crimes like drug smuggling or petty theft. Armed guards called kshatriyas caused some devotees to fear for their lives.([12])
The organization also practiced psychological manipulation to discourage members from leaving. In the days when I joined, the leaders taught us to see the outside world as a place of misery. They said people who left would never make it to the Godhead on their own, because maya (illusion) would drag them down to “repeated birth and death” in the material world. Insiders used unflattering labels like “snake” and “prostitute” to describe ex-members. They said that people who blooped would turn into drug addicts, end up poverty stricken, or die of a horrible, degenerative disease. These fears became self-fulfilling prophecy for some ex-members.
Further programming held that the “material world” was “dry” because there was “nothing out there” but illusion. People who left would become lonely and come back to the organization seeking “association.” Ex-members who still came around admitted that they were “fallen” and that everything the leaders said was true. Broken ex-members work in the hierarchy’s favor, as long as they remain broken. It was a form of brainwashing or terrorism that left many with lasting scars.
ISKCON also programmed members to be ashamed to work for non-devotees, since that would make them less than sudras, the lowest rung of the caste system. This notion increased the probability that ex-members would experience stress upon re-entering the work force.
The first three themes, justice, stigma, and perspective, explain the underlying issues of an ex-member’s post-traumatic stress.
Theme One: Justice
Justice is another word for karma. It’s the law of equilibrium, where every action has an equal reaction. The law says that people get what they deserve for the deeds they perform. It may take a long time, but the sword of justice eventually falls. This holds true throughout the material world, even in ISKCON. Joining up did not make anyone immune from karma. The organization had plenty of bad karma that may still haunt the people who leave.
Members learn to see their gurus as “pure devotees” who can do no wrong. The chief paradox of life in ISKCON was to watch supposed pure devotee gurus and other dishonest leaders carry out incredible follies. Some leaders participated in criminal activity, while their cronies enjoyed special favors for their complicity. Many of us spent a great deal of energy fuming over the leaders’ constant displays of hypocrisy.
One of the big items on the list of injustices (that most members denied) was the gurukula system. During the 1970s and 1980s, the ISKCON schools allowed the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of hundreds of children. One of the worst things for ex-gurukula victims is the injustice of seeing their perpetrators honored as esteemed elders. The victims know otherwise, of course, but abuse perpetrators in ISKCON portray themselves as Vedic scholars, gurus, and important leaders. It’s part of their disguise. Who would ever suspect a holy man of abuse? For many years, the victims’ accusations went unheard.
Things changed once the victims entered adulthood. Beginning in 1990, former victims started to talk about the gurukula abuse and expose what happened. The organization itself acknowledged the abuse in 1998, when it published a study by Professor Burke Rochford, Child Abuse in the Hare Krishna Movement: 1971-1986.([13]) However, the victims felt the organization was non-responsive to the gravity of the charges, so they filed Children of ISKCON vs. ISKCON, in 2000.([14]) In May 2005, the lawsuit ended when ISKCON went bankrupt to set up a multi-million dollar trust fund for approximately five hundred ex-students abused in their schools.([15])
In the defense of justice, ex-members may note that most of the original eleven gurus got the consequences for their particular deviations. The guru who ran a gun and car smuggling operation in Northern California was expelled. The guru who got away with sexual deviations and violence against children was expelled. Although he’s back, a lot of people see him as a hypocrite. The guru who participated in kidnapping, conspiracy to murder, and conspiracy to commit fraud, spent a dozen years in prison. The arrogant twosome, the L.A. guru and the guru from Western Europe, are defrocked and out of the organization. The guru responsible for institutionalizing chauvinism and the zonal guru system, and allegedly a conspiracy to murder the founder, died in a tragic car accident in India in 2002. Although these individuals still have their defenders, they all suffered consequences for their crimes, alleged or otherwise.
I am grateful for the spectacle, because I can transfer what I learned to everyday life. I still get upset when I see news stories about people who think they are “getting away with” their arrogance and conflicts of interest. However, I have learned from experience that there is a good chance they’ll eventually have to account for their actions. Witnessing the karmic cycle in ISKCON over the course of three decades taught me that justice is real, although sometimes it takes decades to play out.
Another aspect of justice is to learn the difference between a healthy need for truth and unhealthy intrusion into someone else’s privacy. In ISKCON, members were obsessed with each other’s finances, sex lives, chanting habits, and attendance at the morning programs. Judging one another was a hostile, unfriendly, and embarrassing constant of ISKCON life. It was merely a symptom of the controlling atmosphere.
The Scarlet Letter (1850), by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a nineteenth century glimpse into the judgmental attitudes among the Puritans of seventeenth century Boston. The protagonist, Hester Prynne, commits adultery and must embroider the letter “A” on her blouse as part of her punishment. Note how Hawthorne describes one woman who stands in judgment of Hester:
What do we talk of marks and brands, whether on the bodice of her gown, or the flesh of her forehead?” cried another female, the ugliest as well as the most pitiless of these self-constituted judges. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die.([16])
Hawthorne offers a similar negative portrayal of Hester Pryne’s husband, Dr. Roger Chillingworth, referring to him a “satanic analyst.” Chillingworth is insanely jealous of the town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, whom he suspects is the father of his wife’s illegitimate child. Rev. Dimmesdale is the father, but he keeps this fact concealed. In the course of the story, Chillingworth does everything he can to bring the secret out. One of the questions this classic story explores is whether it is worse to have a secret, or to try to wring a secret out of someone else.
In the final scene, Chillingworth rips the minister’s shirt off and it appears that he has a red “A” blistered on his skin:
Most of the spectators testified to having seen, on the breast of the unhappy minister, a SCARLET LETTER -- the very semblance of that worn by Hester Prynne -- imprinted in the flesh. As regarded its origin, there were various explanations.([17])
Some of them say that Dimmesdale gave himself the mark at the same time Hester had to embroider the “ignominious badge” on her clothes. Others speculated that Dr. Chillingworth, as a “potent necromancer,” gave Dimmsdale the mark “through the agency of magic and poisonous drugs.” Others said it was a result of the guilt Dimmesdale carried inside, and appeared as a “wonderful operation of his spirit upon the body.” Whatever the explanation, the “A” on Dimmsdale’s chest was a symbol to show that he bore the same shame as Hester, but kept it secret.
Dimmesdale’s shame made him a more animated preacher. However, it ate away at him until it finally overcame him. In the end, he dies in Hester’s arms. The angry Roger Chillingworth dies within a year. Hawthorne explains that Chillingworth went to hell because: “This unhappy man had made the very principle of his life to consist in the pursuit and systematic exercise of revenge.”([18])
Letting go of grudges and placing faith in the process of justice may help ex-members get over their compulsive need to punish the ISKCON gurus and others from the organization who may have hurt them. Ex-ISKCON members need to take note of any puritanical tendencies in themselves and learn to feel compassion for their enemies instead of hatred. Being the scrutinizer is an unhealthy way to live because it binds an ex-member to the narrow-minded fundamentalism he or she wishes to leave behind.
Theme Two: Stigma
You can’t always tell ex-ISKCON members by how they look, but most of us carry an invisible stigma. For me, stigma is the most prominent theme behind my post-traumatic stress. I investigated ISKCON’s crimes for ten years to write my book, Betrayal of the Spirit,([19]) so I am acutely aware of the history. In the early 1990s when I started my research, I began to feel extremely guilty. I had participated in many cover-ups as a member of the organization’s P.R. office. Writing my book helped assuage my guilt. The book was a catharsis that gave me a chance to process ISKCON’s history and my role in it. The way I see it, the truth needs to come out and stay out in the open to prevent similar situations from happening again.
I may not have been up to the brim of my hat in crime like some others, but I was definitely part of the problem. It’s a chore to have to admit that I did P.R. for ISKCON. It’s not the first thing I tell people about myself, but it has the potential to completely change people’s opinion of me once they find out. It has happened many times. For example, in 2002 I contacted an old high school friend. She was enthusiastic to hear from me, since we had traveled in Europe together in 1973 and had not talked since that time. However, when I told her about the child abuse in ISKCON, she quickly terminated the conversation. Apart from a few emails, we have not spoken since. I didn’t abuse children. I helped expose the child abuse, but some people would say I’m guilty by association.
At times it feels like the weight of ISKCON’s crimes hangs like an albatross around my neck. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, written in 1798 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the bird is a good omen.
At length did cross an Albatross,
Through the fog it came ;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.
The bird flew ahead of the ship, guiding it through fog and floating ice. Unfortunately, the ancient Mariner killed it.
God save thee, ancient Mariner !
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!--
Why look’st thou so ?’--With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
When the bird died, the winds died too and the boat stopped moving. As punishment, the ship’s crew hung the dead bird around the ancient Mariner’s neck. To atone for his sin, the Mariner had to search his soul and do penance. It took more introspection than he thought it would, but at the end of his meditations, the ancient Mariner’s consciousness changed:
A spring of love gushed from my heart . . .
The self-same moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.
This breakthrough was his return to humanity, humbleness, and gratitude. The wind picked up and the ship sailed to safety. Ex-members may identify with the ancient Mariner’s struggle. It takes more than wishful thinking and denial to throw off the burden of stigma. An ex-devotee who suffers from guilt must go through a transition of emotional healing.
Theme Three: Perspective
When people leave a cloistered ISKCON community, they might feel confused and frightened because of what they’ve been told to expect. They might wonder if they risk going to hell for leaving, or if their “offenses” against the “pure devotees” drove them out. Besides blaming themselves, ex-members are programmed to fear personal failure, a world war, and ultimate demise of society as we know it. At the time of leaving, ex-members might wonder if it was a good decision, but as time passes, they put their superstitions to rest and the past falls into perspective. Everything that may have seemed wrong eventually becomes all right.
Positive thinking author Og (Augustine) Mandino wrote several stories to illustrate how perspective works.([20]) His first bestseller was The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968). The story takes place in the ancient holy land, where the main character, the young Hafid, gets the opportunity to become a salesman. His mentor, the merchant Pathros, gives him a beautiful red robe to sell in Bethlehem. After four days of trying to sell it, Hafid feels discouraged and decides he cannot afford to stay in the inn another night. He goes to a cave behind the inn and sees the Nativity. Since the baby doesn’t have a proper blanket, Hafid wraps the red robe around him, then walks home by the light of a star.
The whole way, he worries that he will get in trouble for giving away the robe after failing to sell it. He feels like a complete failure, but instead of being angry, Pathros sees the bright star above Bethelem as a sign that Hafid is to become his successor. Hafid becomes the greatest salesman in the world.
Although we feared the ISKCON leaders’ warnings about the outside world, we followed our intuition and left. Things turned out okay. Instead of a mistake, we now see our leaving as an act of courage. Perspective changes everything, as it did for Hafid, or it may simply make it easier for us to live with what happened.
Perspective also puts anger to rest. When I left ISKCON I was filled with rage thinking that the organization had victimized me. It took about ten years to finally realize that I was not a victim. Through publishing my book and talking about it, I realized that I was an assistant perpetrator in ISKCON; more a Leni Riefenstahl than a victim. It was a shocking perspective that I never expected, but it has helped me heal. Realizing my culpability in a dishonest hierarchy made me understand why I felt so much guilt. When I saw the situation for what it was, my attitude changed.
Victims get perspective when they realize that what happened to them was wrong. When they finally accept the fact of their victimization, they can stop blaming themselves and start to heal. Perpetrators get perspective when they finally feel people’s disapproval. When they realize that their behavior was wrong and take responsibility, then they can begin to recover. Most ex-cult members have issues in one or both areas.
Identity Crisis
Identity crisis is a diagnosable psychiatric disorder if it progresses to the level of Dissociative Identity Disorder or Multiple Personality Disorder.([21]) Dissociative disorders are pathological conditions where the ego splinters into parts, due to trauma. It’s possible that some ex-ISKCON members suffer from dissociative disorders, especially those who suffered physical or sexual abuse. However, most ex-ISKCON members only suffer an existential identity crisis in the sense that it becomes difficult to answer the question, “Who am I?” It could be part of an individual’s mid-life crisis, especially for those who left the cult in middle age.
Ex-members must come to terms with their identity inside the group and their identity before joining. Most members received a new name in the group, so they have to decide whether to continue using it or go back to their birth name. The leaders told us we were “dogs” before we met our gurus, and that our life before ISKCON was worthless. We must go back and reclaim our early years, along with our value as human beings outside the organization. Ex-members must also rework their views about gender and sexuality, because ISKCON offered a set of values that are out of step with the mainstream culture. There are hundreds of customs, taboos, and superstitions to unlearn once a person leaves.
Some ex-members choose to retain their insider identity and set up a lifestyle outside of ISKCON to accommodate it. Nowadays there are many shades of gray between inside and outside. Some former members joined groups that resemble ISKCON in every respect, minus flagrant corruption in the hierarchy. In other words, splinter groups offer an “ISKCON-lite” for some ex-members.
Most who left ISKCON had to tone down their group personalities to enter conventional careers. The longer and more intense the insider experience, the harder it could be to adjust to life in the outside world. Some ex-members made ISKCON look like a company they worked for; others left ISKCON off the resume and invented a fictitious personal history. Some were lucky to find good jobs for bosses who appreciated their history in ISKCON, but most of us went through a period of hiding our history.
When I moved to Oregon after leaving the temple, I lived a double life. I didn’t even tell my new next door neighbors what I did in Los Angeles. I had to be vigilant to know when it was safe to talk about my past and how much to say. I felt like I might as well have been a convict who just got out of prison, because there was a ten year gap in my history that I couldn’t talk about. A few of us around that time used the nickname “ex-cons” to refer to ourselves as ex-ISKCON members.
The last three themes, home, personal belief system, and storytelling, are the underlying issues of ex-members’ search for identity.
Theme Four: Home
Many people who joined ISKCON in the 1960s – 1970s were looking for a spiritual family and home. ISKCON may have provided a sense of home, but upon leaving, the ex-member has to start this journey again. When I left the temple in 1988, I spent six months living in my father’s house. It definitely felt like home, since he had lived there the last seventeen years of his life. He died the week after I moved in with him, following a two and a half year battle with cancer. I remained in my father’s house as long as I could before the attorneys sold it and I had to leave.
Sometimes I have dreams that I call my dad on the phone. He invites me over to the house and I say I’ll be there soon. Then I hang up and remember that he’s dead and the house is sold. About five years after my father died, I had the following dream:
I go home on a bus. It drops me off at the bottom of Skylark Lane [my father’s street] with all my luggage. Two parakeets keep getting out of their cage. I realize I don’t live there anymore. Dad is dead. I’m alone with nowhere to go.([22])
On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna and Krishna talked about the fate of an unsuccessful yogi. Arjuna asked,
Does not such a man, being deviated from the path of Transcendence, perish like a riven cloud, with no position in any sphere?([23])
ISKCON members may feel there is no place for them inside the organization or out. This feeling of being homeless is the crux of the ex-member identity crisis.
The search for home is a universal theme echoed in the world’s literature. One of the greatest of these stories is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. Running away from an alcoholic and abusive father, Huck Finn was the archetypal orphan. He and the runaway slave Jim were both like orphans, looking for a home they found on the river:
It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened. Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened; I judged it would have took too long to MAKE so many. Jim said the moon could a LAID them; well, that looked kind of reasonable, so I didn't say nothing against it, because I've seen a frog lay most as many, so of course it could be done. We used to watch the stars that fell, too, and see them streak down. Jim allowed they'd got spoiled and was hove out of the nest.([24])
Getting “hove out of the nest” is a metaphor for what happens to an orphan and is also a good way to describe an identity crisis. The search for home is the story of the resolution of the crisis.
Theme Five: Personal Belief System
ISKCON offered its members a mandatory philosophical system of theology, morality, and notions about what it means to be religious. Upon leaving ISKCON, ex-members face an identity crisis in the area of faith. Therefore, reestablishing a personal belief system is another common theme of ex-membership. Some people return to their family religion or a philosophy they held dear before joining. Others integrate parts of the ISKCON (Vedic, Hindu) faith into their new belief system. Some discard religion altogether, or go headlong into a new alternative religious path.
In ISKCON, the people I knew liked to chant in front of the deities. It was a good way to commune with Krishna and I thought I’d really miss it. Then, a few weeks after my father died, I inherited a numinous deity that he had brought back from his own trip to India in 1978. Although the deity stood in his office the whole time I was an ISKCON member, I thought it was the Goddess Maya. Soon after I inherited it, a devotee priest identified the deity as Mohini.([25])
The Hindu scriptures tell this story about the Mohini avatar, an incarnation of Vishnu, or Krishna. The demon Bhasmasura received a special power from the god Shiva to burn people to ashes, simply by touching their head. This power made the demon arrogant and he used it to terrorize the universe. Finally Mohini appeared as a beautiful dancer. She started a dance called Muktanritya, where the final step is to touch the head with the left hand while standing on the right foot. When Bhasmasura followed her, he touched his own head and was burned to ashes.([26]) Mohini was also present at the churning of the Milk Ocean, where she helped the demigods get the amrita (elixir of immortality) away from the demons.([27]) In another pastime, she attracted the attention of Lord Shiva and a son was born.([28])
I love these stories because Mohini was a trickster. She fooled Bhasmasura and distracted the demons. I love it that Vishnu incarnates as a woman who was so convincing that she even fooled Lord Shiva. For me, having this deity overturns all the chauvinism I was forced to endure in ISKCON. I love this deity because she came through my family, not through ISKCON. Having her with me provides the connection to God that I crave, without binding me to any organizations or rules that I don’t like.
Although connecting with a deity helped me resolve my ex-member existential identity crisis, other ex-members will build their personal belief systems in their own ways. The common experience is that after ISKCON, the search for faith, God, and the meaning of life continues in a new form.
Theme Six: Storytelling
The theme of storytelling does not just mean fiction writing. It can also refer to history, to cultural stories, and the stories of one’s own life. To heal identity crisis, an ex-member must know his or her own story. Telling one’s own story can heal trauma and set the course for recovery. Story must ring true, so storytelling is an art.
Every culture has its stories and therefore its storytellers. In Vedic culture one storyteller was Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata. It is said that he dictated it while Ganesh (the elephant god) wrote it down. Great literary authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mark Twain knew how to tell a story with just the right nuance to capture the imagination of their audience. The Vedas were also steeped in nuance. The more you know about the Vedic stories, the more fascinating they seem. For example, if you know the story of Krishna driving Arjuna’s chariot on the battlefield of Kurukshetra,([29]) then you might find it intriguing to learn that Krishna and Arjuna also fought each other on one occasion.([30]) It might also be a surprise that the god Maha-vishnu had three wives, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and Ganga, who became jealous and had a fistfight.([31])
Storytellers do a disservice if they try to whitewash their characters to uphold a certain worldview. For example, it would be a mistake to try to portray Krishna as a saint who never lost his temper, or Vishnu’s consorts as prim and proper Victorian ladies.
A storyteller knows that a story must turn on a plot. To have a plot, the characters must have unfinished business. If everything is already perfectly resolved, then there’s no story. On the other hand, leaving things undone calls for more story because people want to find out how it all turns out. If the story ends with major plot points unresolved, then the storyteller missed the mark.
Of recent movies, one that left the plot unresolved was Mulholland Drive, by David Lynch. Maybe there was a deep, hidden meaning, but it’s not apparent. Few people claimed to “get” whatever meaning Lynch may have intended for his spooky and confusing piece. Maybe it just wasn’t there. Mulholland Drive started out as a pilot, but the TV series did not fly and Lynch had to condense it into a feature film. Perhaps he simply couldn’t tell the whole story he had in mind in a two-hour format.
It was the opposite in another recent movie, Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan. The story takes place in reverse sequence, alternating between color and black and white scenes, and the main character has short-term memory loss. The ending leaves viewers with the “Huh?” feeling, but everything makes sense as one flashback after another. Watching the movie a second time reveals the genius of its storytelling.
Sometimes directors make up several endings for a movie if the original doesn’t work. Two movies where the director rewrote and reworked the endings were Being John Malcovich and Adaptation, written by Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman himself admitted that he struggled over the endings and said he is not sure whether he got it right in either case.([32])
One of the most controversial endings in the history of American literature was in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, discussed earlier. Instead of resolving the plot, the book ends with what scholars refer to as “an elaborate burlesque farce.”([33]) The characters act out a charade where Huckleberry Finn meets some of Tom Sawyer’s relatives and pretends to be Tom Sawyer; Tom Sawyer shows up and to play along, he pretends to be his own brother. Further, the Civil War ends and Jim is a free man, but nobody tells him. It appears racist and cruel. Scholars speculate that perhaps Twain’s ending was a satire about the failure of the Reconstruction era following the Civil War. Twain started the book in 1876, the one hundred year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He finished the book seven years later in 1883, at a time when scholars say “thousands of African Americans were effectively re-enslaved through such means as share-cropping, lynchings, and the convict-lease system.”([34])
Another story with a mysterious ending is the story of the Ramayana. Lord Rama, the rightful king of Ayodya, was banished to the forest with his wife Sita and brother Laksmana. While the men were chasing a deer, the evil King Ravana kidnapped Sita. Rama then waged a war to kill Ravana and free his wife. When Sita and Rama returned to Ayodya, Sita proved her purity by passing through a ring of fire. In this symbolic act, the fire god returned the real Sita to Rama.
Even after the test of fire, subjects in the kingdom gossiped about Sita, saying that Rama had broken the religious principles by accepting his wife after she had been touched by another man. To quell the controversy, Rama sent Sita back to the forest, even though she was pregnant with his child. She wandered until she reached the hermitage of the sage Valmiki (author of the Ramayana), who gave her shelter. The fact that Sita could never regain her chastity. and that she was cast out of Lord Rama's palace, is perhaps the most paradoxical and depressing ending of any story in the Vedic literature. There are cultural reasons it had to end that way, but the explanation is even more enigmatic than Twain’s ending to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.([35])
Aside from these famous examples, most good stories have a satisfying ending that flows naturally from the characters. In a story about unqualified and illegitimate gurus, it only follows that key characters will deviate from their vows and chaos will ensue. A good storyteller knows this because that’s how life works.
When you have a story about bad leaders, there are several possible endings. In the first scenario, a hero with good common sense persuades them to voluntarily admit their follies and step down. Their resignation clears the way for a more egalitarian system. This leads to a satisfying resolution, because it follows the archetypal hero’s journey outline.
In the second scenario, the opposite happens: nothing and nobody can stop the bad leaders. Each one plays out his maniacal plot to its end. This plot is common in horror and science fiction.
The third scenario is a compromise between the first two, where at least one of the bad leaders is stopped. The point of the story is to see which bad leaders will be exposed and brought to justice.
Although plot scenarios two and three are no fun for the people who must live through them in real life, it makes good material for a story. Outside observers say things like, “You’re kidding! A guru did that?” and “Did he ever get caught?” People naturally want bad leaders to get their come-uppance.
I’m grateful that ISKCON gave me so much story material. I got to see the gears grind to pull false heroes off their pedestals and watch them crash like proud plaster busts on a cold marble floor. I have first-hand experience of the hunger a listener feels to find out what happens to demagogues to finally put them in their place.
In a good story, people want to see the punishment fit the crime. If the villain only makes a mistake or acts foolishly, that may be easily forgiven. Nobody wants to see a character suffer great hardship over a mistake. However, if a character makes a mistake and then covers it up, that is a big offense. Cover-up makes the character unsympathetic, especially if innocent people suffer. Story lovers instinctively know that life involves learning. Part of that is learning to come to terms with one’s own behavior. Life offers plenty of opportunities to own up. If a character refuses opportunity after opportunity, he condemns himself.
Another sub-plot of the bad guru story involves the characters who ignore the corruption at the top. They remain unsympathetic until they decide to reveal what they have seen. When I was in ISKCON, I ignored corruption and followed all the rules and regulations. However, perhaps due to the hypocrisy I lived with, I became frail, sore, and developed a limp. I’m sure it was psychological due to always having to deny my feelings, while the gurus got away with murder. They told us our desires were evil, so my shoulders hunched forward and I was always tired. It wasn’t just me; ashram devotees in those days were a sickly bunch.
Imagine where the story would go with a cast of characters who try to be ascetic but loose their souls in the hypocritical environment. Scenario one, a peaceful solution, would be impossible. If all the followers are hunched over with poor self-esteem, who will confront the arrogant leaders? The pathetic repressed followers would have to wait for an outside hero to come along and fix everything. An ending like that would not prove satisfying, because the resolution must come from the people who are repressed. The people who can blow the whistle must get the courage to do it.
If the people are unable to stand up for themselves, then Scenario Two is more likely. Then the challenge will be whether anyone can do anything. Thus, you look to Scenario Three, for hope that at least one of the menacing characters gets what he deserves, perhaps by inflicting consequences on himself.
There is a novel that follows the worst possible scenario: Kalki, by Gore Vidal (1978). Lord Kalki is the incarnation of Vishnu who comes at the time of dissolution to end the human race. In the novel, an arrogant ex-Marine calls himself Kalki and uses a biological agent to exterminate everyone on earth except himself and five followers.
The narrator, one of the survivors, recalls a TV spot from the night before everyone in the world dies:
There was a small smile on Walter Cronkite’s face as he read: “Tomorrow the Hindu messiah from New Orleans, James J. Kelly, sometimes known as Kalki or Vishun or Siva, will appear at noon Eastern Standard Time on a barge in the Hudson River just off the Battery in downtown Manhattan and, as the god Siva, Mr. Kelly will begin what he calls ‘the dance of eternity.’ According to the ancient Hindus, when Siva does this dance all worlds will be annihilated. So the big question is this: is Jim Kelly of New Orleans really the god Siva? If he is, then tomorrow is the end of the world.” Walter Cronkite allowed one eyebrow to lift. Had it not lifted, there would have been a national panic.([36])
Gore Vidal allows Kalki to play out his diabolical plot to its conclusion and nobody stops him. The narrator, Teddy Ottinger, describes the world after Kalki kills everyone:
Last July the weather was uncommonly good in New York. By good, I mean traditional. There were no freak storms. The climatic anomalies of the last decade seemed to have stopped. Has the Ice Age (or Greenhouse Age) gone into reverse now that man-made fumes have ceased to pollute the air? Too soon to answer. But skies are bright now, and the weather of the northern hemisphere appears to be changing for the better.([37])
The last sixty-four pages of the novel describe the end of the world. Kalki’s followers die off one by one over forty-three years. The last entry in the book is written by Kalki himself. Although he has exterminated the human race, he still thinks he’s a god.
I am the last as I was the first. Lakshmi dropped her human body twenty-one years ago. Since the death of Teddy Ottinger sixteen years ago, Geraldine and I have been happy together. This, too, was intended from the beginning. Last night, Geraldine died. To the extent that I am human, I am sad that she is gone. Yet there was no real point for her to remain another day in the human state. Our work is complete. Presently, I shall join them all in Vaikuntha.([38])
He proclaims himself to be Shiva and that’s how the book ends. Even though the evil guru is never brought to justice, it’s a satisfying, if disturbing, ending. The reader closes the book contemplating the horrible power of fanatics. Reading the story would be a catharsis for former ISKCON members who know how power can drive a guru to do horrible things.
If an ex-member can get the insight of a storyteller, then everything that happened in ISKCON makes sense. All the elements were there: arrogant leaders surrounded by lame followers too brainwashed to question them. It only makes sense that everything happened just the way it did. In a cosmic sense, maybe we were drawn to witness the ISKCON story so that we would learn something about the need for heroism. It takes courage to stand up for what’s right. It is all too easy to hold back and wait for someone else to do it. Every experience in life offers something to learn about maturity and personal responsibility. When ex-members can finally look back on their experiences and see the beginning, middle, and end of a grand story, then the identity crisis is resolved.
Conclusion
This paper offers a look at the themes of ex-membership and stories that act as metaphors to illustrate those themes. Individual ex-members will find their own myths to illustrate these themes, and they may explore additional themes relevant to their unique situations. I offer this collection of literary metaphors with the hope that they will help scholars and others understand the ex-member experience.
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