The religion or sect that is called Hare Krishna or International Society for Krishna Consciousness is a movement that is steeped in Hindusitic thought. It is not original in all of its views as it borrows its influence and origins from its mother religion. Of course, there are differences in regards to what is believed but the face of the Hare Krishna can be clearly identified as the offspring of its mother religion of Vishnuism. This cultus was birthed as a way to personalize and popularize the concept of god unlike its Hindu counterpart which depicts their deities as being aloof.
When I lived in Dallas Texas we would go to the portion of the city which was called Deep Ellum and this was my first experience with ISKCON. Me being from rural Kansas this was quite a shock to see these bald, colorful and openly demonstrative people who were playing drums, chanting and dancing. At the time I did not not understand what all of this meant but now I realize that it has real significance to their religious ideologies.
This rhythmic style of worship is to be realized as a form of liberation due to chanting the mantra of its religious anthem in conveying the name of God as a magical component to somehow mysteriously and mindlessly release the inner knowledge of God. Its as if the words alone contain the magic to transform the ignorance of the person who is uttering them. Of course there is more to the equation than this but nevertheless this is a vital expression and a necessary component to their religious practices so much so that ideally they are to chant this mantra 108 times a day by using a type of rosary(japa mala) as a means of focusing in order to accomplish their goal. Even a stranger on the street could join in this mantra without any knowledge of Krishna and benefit from the life transforming power of these incomprehensible words.
All this however is very occultic in nature by which a person controls and manipulates words to satisfy the religious expression based on the joining of sounds, syllables, and phrases. It appears that through the endless repetitions that it could become almost trance like and monotone obtaining a hypnotic state that after a while the mouth is no longer conjoined with the sincerity of the heart of the worshipper . Although it is claimed that this response is not some form of artificial imposition on the mind I am skeptical as seeing it as just a tedious and endless vocative procedure. So what about a person who doesn’t have all of their mental or physical faculties and can not join into this devotional ritual to Krishna or how about someone who is handicapped and are not able to dance and clap their sins away? Does some one deem these incapacitated individuals as the product of bad karma and that they should just be given over to fate and hopefully with their next earthly assignment or rebirth they will be able to participate and benefit from this essential part of these religious expressions of faith?
This brings me to another controversial position which is common among the Eastern religions and that is the belief of samsara or reincarnation which is a central tenet to their religious views even though their seems to be no real evidence verifying this phenomena other than either personal deception or perhaps the influence of demonic inspiration upon the minds of those who hold to this concept.
Science is beginning to research this phenomena of life after death by means of gathering data through the testimonies of others to verify experiences that are beyond their ability as a terminal patient to control the death environment. I have blogged on life after death as based on near death and clinical death experiences and some have come back to tell their stories and much of what is being reported globally have concepts that relate more to a biblical view of life after death versus being reborn into another body only to go around again.
jesusandjews.com/wordpress/2009/10/29/is-hell-real/
I think one of the major philosophical arguments against this position is how can a person be reformed when they would be ignorant of the sins committed in the previous life? Also how do you know if you have done enough to be released from the cycle and therefore since you don’t have the confidence of knowing where you came from or where you are going on this spiritual plane it would just lead to the fearful expectation of life and subsequent death or perhaps to a nihilistic view of living.
Also regarding the belief in the eternality of the soul, which conflicts with the notions of the empirical evidence of causality, how could this process be initiated since it would require a beginning point in time versus a timeless function and how would it be facilitated due to the temporal existence of the origins of the universe as seen through the telescopes and calculators of modern science?
Anyway in moving on I would like to discuss the contradictory nature of their views of God which on one hand are said to be monotheistic and yet on the other they uphold to the views of monism. They in essence do not see the idealized self or the one who attains Mukhti as a separate entity apart from their chief deity and once an individual reaches this elated spiritual state they are somehow reunited or absorbed back into the unity of the godhead. Yet I’m not for sure how god was originally divisible to begin with?
Paradoxically His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada says that if anyone claims to be god then that person is a dog and yet essentially that is what this doctrine upholds. If this is the case then what of the supposed incarnation of god that was manifestly represented in the person of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu?
Another conflict to this movement is their supposed upholding of moral attributes which are commendable constituents in and of themselves yet they have been demonstrably lacking by its leaders and adherents as contrary to the essential nature of their salvific message of good works.
This movement has been shrouded in controversy and unlike the heyday of the 60‘s and 70‘s there seems to be less visibility to the spotlight that was once placed on its claim to fame. Some of this unholy exposure occurred after the death of their prestigious guru Prabhupada. It was at this point that the scandals of its leadership where brought into the light due to the inner power struggles culminating in the resignation of numerous leaders which led to the indictment and conviction of various leaders from such things as tax evasion, drug dealing and even murder. Ironically these men were to be committed to leading exemplar lives of holiness in the avoidance of wordily attachments and yet this cream of the crop was full of rotten apples.
Also the most surprising and disturbing aspect to this whole ordeal is that the chief diety Krishna is said to be able to participate in the pleasures of sin such as intoxication and fornication and yet the devotees are to restrain their indulgences which are consequential to their future state of being . This is untenable to have this kind of philosophy of do what I say and not as I do. The worshipper is to abstain from these things through devotion(Bhakti) in order to obtain liberation and then if they obtain the liberation or Mukhti then essentially they no longer need to abstain having been returned to the godhood and yet this all seems like some weird twist to logic which is incoherent and contradictory at best and at worst it is a lie which has cost the souls of many precious people who are caught up in the web of deception even at the price of renouncing their name and family affliation.
Finally Hare Krishna movement like other Indian religious groups relegate a sense of oneness to varied religious expressions. Yet practically speaking they have maintained exclusivity in their beliefs as a unique expression of faith versus a conglomeration of various religious views. Yet their portrayal of God as being represented as Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, etc. is antithetical in nature and if you were to study these other varied world religions you would see that their doctrine of theology is incompatible to one another.
Lastly Jesus is regarded by the observants of the Hare Krishna movement as the Son of Krishna and I would like to share with you Jesus’ words as taken from his disciples.
To begin with Jesus never saw that mankind was solely self sufficient in being able to achieve for himself the dimension of moral perfection outside of the intervention of God. We see an example of this from the biblical witness of the rich young man in Matthew 19 who in summary was moralistic in his behavior more so than your average Holy Joe which left even Jesus touched and yet he failed the test because of his riches which led his disciples to question then how is it possible for someone to be saved and Jesus replied with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible.
The rich young man perhaps approached Jesus with a sense of self confidence much like sometimes we do when we compare our actions with others and perhaps we become like the religious zealots of Jesus day who would rehearse in prayer all of their righteous deeds before God and never realize their failures and sins and yet it was the despised and socially outcast tax collector who in his humility cried out in mercy to God to save him and therefore it was him who walked away justified that day, Luke 18.
Jesus came to liberate and save us by forgiving us of our sins and restoring us into a proper relationship with God(Matthew 1:21) and He also has caused us to be born again which is not to be confused with rebirth the former has to do with changing and transforming our internal nature while the latter has to do with reconstructing the molecular structure of the outwardly physical exterior. One was a change of hearts and the other is only a change of parts, John 3.
Regarding prayer Jesus says in Matthew 6:5-8 5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
He also declares John 8:36 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
I know that I have said many challenging and hard things in my post and my desire is to never intentionally offend anyone. Yet my primary contention is with the institution even though I know the institution is personal as it is managed by people. I suppose from this perspective the points that I made can not be handled in some kind of impersonal vacuum and therefore it appears hostile and critical not just from a managerial position but from the heart of every practitioner to whom these concerns are regarded as sacred. I want to reassure you that my intention is altruistic and all I ask is for you to perhaps rethink or review your position from a objective view versus a subjective experience. To look beyond your religious culture and to pursue truth wherever it may lead you. If you are open I would like to share with you from my religious perspective as I have included other related links in communicating to you my thoughts. May God bless you in this endeavor.
How to know God
Hare Krishna Resources
“From the Handbook of World Religions,published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Used by permission.”
