Hare Krishna?

I know it's all about spiritual enlightenment and stuff but is anyone here a Hare Krishna themself? I'd like to know more about it other than people telling me that the Hare Krishnas are "nuts."

 

hi!

they are definitely not nuts. it's just a branch of hinduism, called gaudiya vaishnava. they believe krishna is the source of everything, where other branches might say it's vishnu, or focus more on other demigods, or have other goals. the purpose of life is bhakti, which is selfless devotion to krishna. krishna came to earth as a cowherd boy in vrindavan, india, 5000 years ago. he is considered the all-attractive supreme personality of godhead because he has all these qualities in full: beauty, wealth, fame, power, knowledge, and renunciation. he spoke the bhagavad gita, which is like the bible of hinduism. he lives in the spiritual universe, and everything. the four-armed form, vishnu, is in everyone's heart, and krishna is even in the atom.

the basic ideas are that human life is a rare opportunity, life is meant for understanding reality, that an absolute reality exists, that god is personal and you can have a relationship with him/her (krishna's female counterpart, radha, is held with maybe even more affection and love than krishna by most monks i've met), that sound is transcendental, everything can be spiritualized, and all happiness comes from krishna. we are eternal souls. there is no eternal hell. our lives now are the result of our karma. accepting a guru is a very important part of enlightenment.

the movement was started by chaitanya mahaprabu, as the sankirtan movement, which means they would go out and sing the names of god. they believe everything emerged from sound (OM) and sound, especially the hare krishna maha mantra (hare krishna, hare krishna, krishna krishna, hare hare, hare rama, hare rama, rama rama, hare hare, which is a transcendental vibration) is the quickest way to enlightenment in this age. the world goes through different ages, and though going into the woods to practice yoga and meditate worked in one age, we're now in the last age, the age of kali. life is too chaotic and people are too scattered and messed up, so krishna gave us mantras as an easy way.

the monks chant 16 rounds of the maha mantra every day. one round is saying the maha mantra 108 times. they use japa beads to count. they usually do this really early in the morning.

the monks are all vegetarian, and practice the four regulative principles: no meat eating, celibacy, no intoxication, no gambling. they wake up at four in the morning to worship the deities and sing songs. most that i've met are amazing musicians, and amazing cooks. they offer everything they eat to krishna at the altar, and say that once it is offered it becomes spiritualized and is "prasadam", which means mercy. they're amazing people, full of talent, character, kindness, selflessness, and life.

they are very clean, and most are always clean shaven. they've got incredible self control and discipline. but they don't look down on anyone. they accept people of all religions. it's not about converting anyone to their god, it's just about strengthening whatever spirituallity you have. there are monks i know that have absolutely no problem sitting down with someone frying on acid and talking about the nature of reality from every angle. they love freaks of all kinds . they really love all people and all things. you can see how beautiful krishna is in how beautiful his devotees are.

there is a lot more information on wikipedia and krishna.com

hope i helped, and hope i didn't blab too much!

 

Back in the 70's, you couldn't go through many airports without encountering them. Always had something to sell. Books usually.

This one dude flashed me a nice looking holy book for a "donation".

I offered $2, he offered a smaller book.

Capitalist.



x

 

way to judge without knowing what you're talking about

in the 70's they had barely any money. prabhupada (who started the movement) came to america with, i believe, the equivalent to $7.

they try to at least cover the printing costs for the books they sell, and the bigger books usually cost at least $4 to print.

none of them "work" (they're extremely hard workers, but none get paid), and they all have to eat/feed hundreds of other people. although a lot of them spend long periods of time fasting, and just cook for others. most i know will gladly give away a book to someone who is interested but really doesn't have enough money, but they know if they gave them all out for free nobody would value them. plus, they believe if you give money to krishna, you get it back three times as much karmically.

nobody makes any money off the book sales, it all goes right to the temple.

 

No, I know what I'm talking about. I was there. I watched Hare Krishna come out of nowhere and into the mainstream conciousness. As I follower eastern disciplines myself, I was already aware of them before they came to the US.

The whole concept of a "donation" is that of a gift. Whatever is freely given. This young gentleman that approached me in the airport didn't understand that and wanted to haggle. It was bait and switch. It had strings attached.

That does not qualify as a donation in my book.

I take a dim view of ANY religious organization that has something to sell. Not so much 30 years ago, but today, I have no mercy.

God doesn't cost money.



x

 

i am a practicing gaudiya vaisnava brahmana (a hare krsna since childhood) my function in the society is as a pujari- which means i worship the deities- and perform the rituals -puja in the temple necessary for the community and have read most of the threads on hippyland regarding iskcon and prabhupada and have often met with many prejudiced points of view.

ppl tend to lump us all together, but we are as variegated as any belief system. i myself am someone who is very liberal and often considered controversial when it comes to fanatics. i am allergic to fanaticism of any kind, especially within my tradition. i believe that it is possible to practice and implement strictures on ourselves all the while functioning in society. balance of our spirituality and material necessities. it is akin to racism when ppl say all hare krsnas are like this or like that etc.... weshould be careful not to generalize. not all jews are cheap or all african american men gangstA s lol. when we generalize, this type of stereotype becomes the norm.

if u should have any specific questions i would be glad to answer them and hopefully dispell any misconceptions alluded to by others.

as for the airports, well that was more the other generation, we dont do that much, our outreach is of a much different nature now.

with love,

hare krsna

 

I remember that... My parents know it too... We went to the Hare Krishna Temple (UK) and they sung it...

Yeah my ma told me about that too... lol bt we're not Hare Krishnas... It did make me sad tho... She also told me about the drowning of the world and that people will get shorter and shorter and the aubergines plants and the ladders etc all that stuff...


And Xexon and Prismatism, I'd think that even if they were trying to sell books - so what? Yes they were trying to make money and yes they shouldn't but they need to eat too and the temple needs money as well, or if he was really trying to haggle for some cash then well no ones perfect. Especially not an organization, people make mistakes, maybe he was desperate for some money, you dont know... Then again neither do i and you know maybe he was a bad seed...

You cant blame the whole organization for it...

 

xenon, i'm sorry i insulted you. it was rude.

one monk does not represent the entire society. i think it's pretty silly to make a judgment about an entire society off of an interaction with one monk...

the idea is they are giving out books for donations, but they still need to cover the printing costs. the monks i know would have given you the bigger book for free if you showed a real interest in it. they would only tell you what the printing cost is, and ask you to give what you can to cover it. there are some monks that operate differently. the ones i know, will give a hardcover bhagavad gita to someone for five cents (they ask for even the smallest amount, just so the person gets the karmic benefit) and five minutes later accept $20 from someone for a small paperback, depending on each individual experience.

you're right that god does not cost money. but people in this culture only value what they pay for, regardless of it's inherent quality.

how long do you hold on to the little paper pamphlets christian evangelicals hand out for free? i keep mine, but whenever i see someone with them, ten feet away i see one on the ground. isn't it really the same message?

 

Sweety, at your age, you can't insult me.

I don't punish a whole group for the faults of one individual, but I do have a problem with religions in general and this is where I'm coming from. I've outgrown them, and until you have, its very difficult to see them for what they are. Children's stories for young souls.

Hare Krishna is in the same boat as other religions. They follow a dead master.

With a few exceptions, masters do not accept new disciples after their death. If the master has not appointed a qualified successor, the teachings will become corrupted because those who attemp to carry these teachings forward do not possess the inner light themselves.

Look at the sorry state of Christianity. The teachings of Jesus have become blurred to the point of being worthless.

All by well meaning people who think they're doing the right thing.




x

 

Hare Krishna!

All very beautiful posts. Thanks to all of you.

Xexon has valid points which have been very nicely answered by 'devoted', 'prismatism' and 'Iluvmusic'. More informations can be had from the other Hare Krishna thread started long back by Sleeping Jiva.

When we criticize and generalise we often forget that it hurts some true bhaktas and aspirants. We can clearly feel that after reading the post from Devoted. I sincerely feel sorry about it.

Our biggest and most difficult problem is shifting of our focus from God to the Organizations. If we can strictly stick to our purpose of concentrating on God alone and nothing else, then probably we could avoid running after finding faults with the organizations and all these arguments. These do not take us anywhere forward rather it makes us run from one door to another in quest of God.

Love,

Kumar.

 

please tell me more about this part, it sounds amazing...aubergines?

 

Well (my ma summerised what she could remember) said that in the Scripts or Vedas (sorry,it was a while ago and shes out so i cant ask again,) it was predicted that people would get shorter and shorter till they were soo short that they need ladders to collect the aubergines once they had grown from the plant. Cos they couldnt reach.

She also said that it was written the world would drown in water. I think.

 

ok...thanks for your info. i will investigate more, you have awoken my interest

 

not to sound rude but i think that's bull...aren't people getting taller as time goes on? just something i remember reading.

 

hey its your opinion, and besides i never said that the end of the world was now...

 

i'm sorry.
but, a domineering attitude does not actually make you seem more advanced, even if you are. it just makes you sound condescending. i feel like you're looking down your nose at me, and whether or not you are at a higher stage of spiritual development than i am, it's not a very effective way of communicating. i don't think someone who was really spiritually superior would use that fact to make someone else feel inferior.

i still don't think the individual was at fault. you might disagree, but that doesn't mean they are wrong and you are right. it just means that you disagree.

there is nothing wrong with any religion. a religion is just an idea. really, there is nothing "wrong" with anything, but that's a big concept.

it's easy to say "look at christianity!" as if it's just a big mess and nothing else. but there will be "bad" people and "good" people with or without religion. everyone does what is right in their own paradigm, everyone is doing their best at every moment, and it's only your judgment that calls it right or wrong. the only law there is is karma, cause and effect.

i think there is so much truth and beauty in religion, it's silly to denounce and ignore it all just because it has in your opinion been misinterpreted and corrupted. it's just as silly to be completely controlled by someone else's opinion as opposed to your own experience. it's like saying "so and so ate this food and was a bad person, so i won't eat it. i already know i don't like it, because eating it means you are a bad person".

if your truth can't stand up to exposure to all dynamics, it's not worth putting any faith in.

and remember what krishna says at the end of the bhagavad gita...
"abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto me"

it's all just means to the same end. you miss out on a lot when you're quick to judge.

 

amen prismatism

 

Prismatism is always so nice to read you, you get another amen from me

 

aw thank you <3 <3

 

"Surrender unto me".The interminable call of control as always and forever.