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Hare Kirshna Temple In Britain (reply to Campin)
(Atten sysop - editor: I posted this as a reply to a message
from Jack Campin regarding his comments about ISKCON,
I also posted a copy to Mr Dutta at U of Iowa who advised
me to send a copy to be posted in the alt.hindu forum.
Thank you).
To Jack Campin
I'm sure your getting quite a few responses from members of
ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) in regards
to your response to Mr Dutta about the temple contraversy there in
England. An e-mail letter you sent to Mr Dutta at the U of Iowa was
posted on ISKCON's network.
I have been a member of ISKCON for 22 years. I am white and born
American and my wife of 14 years is an India Indian (Hindu).
Your comments on this topic are rash, unsubstantiated and do not
reflect very well on a person who is supposed to be educated. The
subject is obviously something you know very little about.
The Founder - Acharya (Spiritual Preceptor) of ISKCON is His Divine
Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, who is my spiritual
master. He came to America in 1965 as a representative of the
Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya (disciplic succession).
He was not a self-made so-called modern guru, but is a genuine
acharya from a bona-fied disciplic succession. The Vedic lituratures
state that there are 4 authorized Sampradayas or disciplic lines;
Brahma, Rudra (Shiva), Sri (Laxmi) and Kumara. Our line is from
Brahma.
We are the followers of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who appeared
in Bengal 509 years ago. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu revived Vedic
culture all over the subcontinent of India and instigated the Hare Nam
Sankirtan, the congregational chanting of the Holy Names of God
(dancing and chanting Hare Krishna in the public in a large party with
drums and hand cymbals). In various Vedic scriptures it is stated
that this Hare Nam Sankirtan is the prescribed method for achieving
spiritual enlightenment and worship of God in this age of Kali Yuga.
Hare Nam Hare Nam Hare Nam eva kevalum
Kalau nasty-eva nastya-eva nasty-eva gatir anyatha
This is a verse from the Brhad Naradiya Purana which states that in
this age of kali yuga there is no other way (repeated 3 times, 'no
other way, no other way, no other way') to achieve the goals of
spiritual life then by the chanting of the Holy Name, the Holy Name,
the Holy Name (Hare Nama).
In the early decades of this century the teacher of my spiritual
teacher, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, instructed his disciples, and
especially he instructed Bhaktivedanta Swami, to go to the West
and spread this Sankirtan Movement, to teach this prescibed
method of worship all over the world, especially to the English
speaking world. Before this, in the late 1800's Bhaktivinode,
another teacher in our line, predicted that soon a devotee would
come who would preach this Sankirtan culture all over the world
and that the day would come when American's, Britisher's,
German's, people from all over the world, would stand side-by-side
engaged in the chanting of Hare Krishna. And even before this,
500 years ago, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu also predicted that this
Sankirtan worship, the public chanting of Hare Krishna
accompanied by dance and drums, will spread to every town and
village all over the world.
The fact that Westerners have now taken up this worship of God is
not a sign that what we are doing is unorthodox, but it is in fact a
fulfillment of prophecy.
And what is it that you are trying to say? That because white people
are engaging in worship of Krishna that it automatically becomes
some off-beat cult? That only people born with brown skin in a
'Hindu' family can live by the Vedic injunctions? Does this mean
that brown skinned Indians who operate Christian Churches in India
are also to be seen as off-beat cults because most of the members
are local brown people and with few or no white skinned
congregation? Would you say that the only real Christian Churches
in India are those whose members are white skinned and of foreign
Christian descent? Your logic is flawed.
As far as our members being mostly white Anglo-Americans, that is
true in America and England. In South and Central America nearly
all of our members are of Spanish-Portugese-Mayan descent, in
Japan most of our members are Japanese, in Kenya most are of
black tribal descent, and in India, our temples are practically all
Indian. I visited Bangalore last year where we are building a very
large temple and cultural center. All the members there are local
college graduates, the large congregation is entirely local Hindus.
I was the only foreigner there. In Delhi, Bombay, Amhadabad, etc.,
nearly all the members are Hindu. Americans, Europeans are only
a small minority. All over the world most of our temples have
large congregations from the local Hindu population.
As far as your statement that >'Traditional Hindusim doesn't
recognize the possibility of conversion to it [Hare Krishna]", that
doesn't make a bit of sense. Krishna Bhakti, Krishna
consciousness, IS traditional Vedic culture. Most modern
Hindus are not strictly Vedic or traditional in the orthodox
Vedantic sense.
Actually, it is a fact that Krishna Consciousness is not Hinduism.
We do not refer to ourselves as Hindus. We are Bhakti Vedantists.
Vaishnavas, Krishna Bhaktas (devotees), and we practice Sanatan
Dharma (the Eternal Religion) as taught by the Vedic scriptures.
The word 'Hindu' is not Sanskrit and is not found in the Vedic
scriptures. Many years ago when the Persians were trading with
India they had to cross the Sindhu river. They could not pronounce
the 'S' at the begining of the word so well, so they pronounced it as
the Hindu river. And they refered to the people on the other side
of the river as Hindus. The Europeans learned it from them and it
has stuck since. but we don't use the word Hindu to describe our
practice of the Vedic or Sanatan Dharma religion. We do use the
term in a loose sense to describe people who follow some aspect of
Vedic culture.
You are gravely mistaken when you refer to the Hare Krishna's as a
modern Western cult and the modern 'Hindu' temples as being
'Traditioinal Hindu' temples. What do you know of what is a real
Vedic temple and what is not?
In many (not all) of the modern 'Hindu' temples I have seen that
there is a lack of worship or understanding of a one Supreme
God. Rather many 'Hindus' worship many 'gods'. Typically a
Hindu temple will have Deities (statues) of Shiva, Ganesh,
Sarasvati, and Durga etc., as well as Laksmi (often by Herself,
without Narayan), and they may also include Krishna. Some will
say that it doesn't matter which form one worships or whose
name you praise, they are all equal, they are all gods. But, this
is not Vedanta, it is not what is taught in the Vedic literatures.
Rather, it is clearly outlined in scripture that there is only one
Supreme Godhead. All of the others are demi-gods. They are
God's assistants for managing the affairs of this material universe,
but they are not God, nor are they at all equal to God.
Ishvara Parama Krishna, Sac Cid Ananda Vigraha
Anadir Adir Govinda, Sarva Karana Akaranam.
The Brahma Samhita states that Krishna is the Supreme
Godhead, the Supreme Controller (Ishvara Parama). His Form
is Eternal, full of all Knowledge and Bliss. He is the Original
Cause of Everything, but for Himself, there is no other cause.
In the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7, Verse 20, Lord Krishna says,
"Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires
surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and
regulations of worship according to their own natures." But, He says
(Bhg Gita 10.8) that the truely intelligent surrender unto Him alone,
knowing Krishna to be the source of everything. Many 'Hindus'
worship demigods because they want some material benefit.
Krishna says that the desire for material satisfaction steals away
the intelligence, and thus people wind up worshiping demigods
rather then directly worshiping the Supreme Godhead Himself. In
ISKCON we worship only the Supreme Godhead, Krishna, in
accordance with His instructions in the Bhagavad Gita.
And our standards of temple Deity worship has been recognized
by many major temples and Sampradayas in India as being of
very high Vedic standards. In Vrndaban, the place of Krishna's
birth, our ISKCON temple is one of the more popular temples and our
standards of Deity worship are concidered among the highest.
The Tirupati temple in South India, the oldest, and one of the largest
and most popular temples in all of India, have even asked our
members to take over some of their smaller satellite temples and
assist them raising the standards of worship at those temples and to
help assist them in setting up schools to teach the youth. This
is not an iscolated case.
As far as your 'Hindu' friend who refered to the Hare Krishna people
as 'devil-worshippers', all I can say is that you had better be more
careful in choosing who you concider are your actual friends. There
are almost 1 billion people in India, most of them don't know very
much about the actual Vedanta, the conclusion of the Vedic
scriptures. Similarily most of them don't know so much about
ISKCON. Yet, practically all of them will think they are experts in both
fields. And with that many people it is not hard to find many envious
people who will create any reason at all to find fault with something
they really don't know anything about.
Ameyatma das
Internet address: ameyatma.acbsp@iskcon.com
Compuserve: 72644,732
