They were all over the place back in the 70’s…on the streets of major cities, all the airports, etc,etc.
Now, they’ve disappeared, as the organization changed its focus and calmed down (after lots of lawsuits.)
Yes, I’ve read the wiki page…But for this thread,I’m interested in hearing about personal experiences.
Do you know any specific inidividuals who were once brainwashed into the scene, but then gave it up and returned to a normal life again?
In the 70’s, there were tens of thousands of fanatics, hanging around airports, with a shaved head and wearing robes, shaking down everybody they could for spare change. These people were always young, so today they must be about 60 years old.
Do you know any of them? How do they feel about their youthful [del]stupidity[/del] antics?
(note to mods: I suppose this thread may belong in IMHO, so you may want to move it)
I used to live just a couple of miles away from Bhaktivedanta Manor - their UK HQ in Watford. I used to see them around the town from time to time, but never saw them trying to convert anyone or anything like they used to.
I actually went to the Manor a couple of times - they used to hold occasional open days so people could go there and see what it was about. My (non-Krishna) friend dragged me up the first time and I was very much expecting the hard sell/cult brainwashing, but it never happened. What did happen was some very friendly (if a little weird) people gave us lots of free (and delicious) food and talked to us about all kinds of things - although admittedly, very spiritual. In this context, I hate to use the word, but it was quite enlightening.
Yes, I got the intro talk and a bit of ‘sales patter’ both times I went there, but it was more akin to what you’d get from a new car salesman than from someone trying to recruit you into a cult. And to be fair, that was at least partly what the open days were about anyway.
Overall, a friendly if slightly odd bunch, and really good food too.
As an undergrad student in the University of Florida, they used to have a free (now paid) vegan lunch, and I started to use it during my senior year (when I finally had free time when they had their food out). It was tasty, especially their pasta and desserts. They still tried to convert a bit, with the music and the pamphlets, and the posters saying why they were vegans/vegetarians, and the dangers of eating meat. I think they also had some sort of student housing just off campus.
One of my high school classmates got seriously involved. Went through conversion and even ended up living in the commune and getting married (to a much older man). She still had a job, and her income went towards the commune. She also travelled to their conventions and seems to have met new people that way and at least had some life outside the commune (she went to places I’d likely never go). She eventually divorced and moved out, although she is still somewhat practicing.
Where I live now, there are some Hare Krishnas, including a church. I can hear them some afternoons when I go to the main plaza. Seems nobody pays attention to them, but they’re tolerated. As conservative as Trinidad is, it is also surprisingly religiously tolerant.
I remember them in the 70’s. At bus stations. A very gentle people. They gave me a book. They spared no expense in the printing. Hard-bound with gold edges on the pages. Very beautiful!
Great OP. I had forgotten all about them. I hope they are happy today.
They’re still around - look up ISKON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness). I have a distant cousin who joined in the 70s and raised her children in the religion. They are all still very active. They don’t hang out at airports or anything, though. All the members of the family have standard professional lives and standard middle class lifestyles. They all have professions, though, in which they can freely express their religious beliefs (I’m trying not to get too specific, but think along the lines of a very religious Christian who runs a rehab clinic or who writes religious books).
ETA: missed your reference to the Wiki page…but the above acronym may be helpful to other people who are interested.
The only Hare Krishna follower I talked to seemed nice and happy, just another guy looking for spiritual enlightenment.
As far as I know “brainwashing” is when an authority uses a combination of torture and drugs to forcibly alter someones personality, and that seems an incredibly unfair accusation to levy against what seems to be a very harmless religion. As far as I can tell they are mostly about singing and making vegetarian food.
Someone trying to convince you of their faith is quite natural. They’ve found something that makes them feel safe and happy, and they want to share it. Either you check it out or you don’t.
They used to sell vegetarian lunches at Florida State a few years ago (and maybe still do). They lunches were good and affordable, and there wasn’t really any attempt at conversion beyond putting some pamphlets on a table. I talked to the guys running it a few times, they seemed like more or less normal folks. One guy was thinking of leaving and starting a restaurant, and was openly discussing his options with me along with the others, so there doesn’t seem to be much pressure on people who want to leave not to do so.
Last year we were doing a bit of house-hunting on the Big Island of Hawaii and were shown a spectacular property owned by a Hari Krishna. It was something like 40 acres of wilderness land with a small but very nice house, plus a free-standing “warehouse” that was actually like a small conference center - there were something like 12 bedrooms, a large communal area, and downstairs a commercially equipped kitchen next to a dining room big enough for several dozen people. It was all quite lovely.
The owner had planned to do Hari Krishna retreats and had bought the property and built the warehouse with that in mind. Alas, he neglected to TALK TO THE NEIGHBORS (duh) and it turned out that there is some sort of covenant in force that prevents people from holding events like what he had in mind without permission from the people living nearby. Unsurprisingly, the neighbors were not enthralled by the idea of the traffic and congestion that would result from 40-50 people at a time converging on his land, so that was that.
I was astonished that such an idea seemed feasible in the first place, even without taking the neighbors into account. It’s not cheap to fly to the Big Island. The fact that he was planning to hold ongoing retreats suggests that there is a fairly large population of HK who can afford that sort of thing.
Speaking as a Hindu, it is a fairly harmless religion. They allow people to visit, and they don’t cut you off from your family, in my experience. It is odd to convert to Hinduism - we don’t see the need to convert, all paths will take you to god, including not believing in god. God is a bit more complicated in our religion than just some old guy living in the clouds!
We kind of think of them as our slightly embarrassing cousins. They are extremely fervent in their devotion, much more than us, and it’s clear it’s mostly white people desperately seeking an identity. Still, I would be hard-pressed to call them brainwashed.
Funny you should say that, I see them also as a it of the harmless and happy but slightly dimwitted relatives of the Hindus.
I agree with you totally that from an absolute standpoint they (and everyone/everything) will of course reach “god” either way, I’m just not sure their methods are very effective in a relative sense. Are there any HK’s that have experienced Moksha yet?
And as a hindu you are definitely NOT allowed to make fun of “an old guy living in the clouds!”. I mean really… that’s like Jabba the Hut calling someone a fat slob.
While I have always thought well of the Hare Krishna and even have that album recorded by George Harrison, at this moment my heart swells with even more love and good will for them.
Obviously I consider all cults of this type to be “soilers of the street” and do wish for their peaceful annihilation not through force and persecution but through persuasion and deprogramming.
I’ve been to this place, you see a sign for it as you traverse West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle, guiding you to it from the interstate. I had a friend who had heard about it and really wanted to see it. It was kinda neat I guess, maybe not as spectacular as a you would expect a Palace of Gold to be.
