Sunday, 15 March 2020

Exposing The Hare Krishna Cult



A good Iskconite friend of mine ( now an ex-Iskconite ) once asked in verbatim : 

' Why some are saying that Iskcon devotees are very rude and fanatics ?? I'm not like that, isn't it ?? Clarify please '

Foremostly, what do I love about Iskcon? This includes the eminent standard of deity worship they hold and their dharma towards Bhakti-yoga. I love their gośālā-s. The way they spread the Lord's name with saṃkīrtanam is phenomenal. I would never deny the fact that a great spiritual wave which engulfs the planet has a huge contribution from Iskcon.

Image: Pic I captured during a Ratha-Yātra in Penang.

I have even made a video on the meaning and commentary on the  Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣat of the Yajur Veda which reveals the 'hare kṛṣṇa' mantra, as shown below : 


Nevertheless, Iskconites in large really do get on my nerves when it gets personal and I guess that's a mutual emotion everyone who labels Iskcon as a fanatical organisation share.

Image: My opinion is mutual to myriads of Hindus in Malaysia

Iskconites and their taunts 

Experience speaks. I have to quote incidents in order to justify my views. So here goes the list. Though these experiences are personal, they still come in agreeable terms with what a lot of other Hindus go through in this country.

(1) Looking down on those from a different sampradaya / belief

This was arou
nd 2017. I was in my 2nd year of medicine when of my seniors invited me to a kīrtana in a house of an Iskconite. I enjoyed the kīrtana and ārati but things turned ugly after that.

A lecturer ( not my department ) who was also there, told me to remove my rudrākṣa mālā to have it replaced with Tulasi when we sat down for Japa. I have not known of any vaiṣṇavite text which tallies with his command. In fact, the texts glorify rudrākṣa as a potent bead.

Picture below is taken from a website ( sivapurana.blogspot.com ). This is a sharing of someone who has experienced a similar cult harassment.


The lecturer's feat did not end there. As we partook prasāda after the prayers, he approached me and spoke on his apparent experience of 'realising the true path' - the typical tale of them worshiping 'false deities' until arriving at Kṛṣṇa to have their standards heightened to a degree superior to mere mortals.

He went on to insult the deities I worship. I
n a grotesque attempt convince me, he claimed to have studied the entire spectrum of Hindu scriptures for years to realise this truth - which he is now mercifully sharing with me in hope that I come to light.

It was simply a sugar-coated version of ' worship the ONLY ONE or rot in hell, imbecile '. It felt so abrahamic to a point I anticipated a rice-bag to be offered soon enough.

What truly pissed me at that point in time was that this lad had led the recitation of nṛsiḿha-kavacaḿ earlier with corrupted pronunciations and is now proudly talking about his scriptural venture. How did he venture so much into scriptures without knowing samskṛta? Actually, what he meant by 'going through the scriptures' was reading a handful biased Iskcon authored - English Translated books on selected Paurāṇic scriptures. Even the Bhagavad Gīta they read is the Iskcon version.

Image result for iskcon fanatic

(2) Modifying Sanskrit Terms To Support Their Opinions

Iskconites love using the term 'demigod' which does not tally with the Vedic vocab. The term devata does not mean 'demigod'. Demigod comes from Greek Mythology. But this is how scriptures are modified in Iskcon to favour viṣṇu-tattva. 

भगवान् ( bhagavān ) is translated to 'supreme personality of Godhead' to give an impression that it is only applicable to Kṛṣṇa, when it is clearly not.

देवता ( devata ) is translated to demigod.

Bhagavān is actually a term used for One who has Bhaga. Bhaga constitutes 6 guṇa-s: 
aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśaśaś śriyaha । jnāna vairāgya yoścaiva ṣaṇṇam bhaga itīraṇa

This is the definition as per Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47

This is also why you don't find any other sampradāya equating the term bhagavān to a fa
ncy 'supreme personality of Godhead'.

Devata means - the One who ''shines''.The root sound is 'div' which means 'to shine. It simply means a 'divine state'. How is demigod a translation to 'devata'?s  Devata simply mea
ns deity. Even if you want to translate 'devata' as demigod, this label is then very applicable to lord Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa who are also referred to as 'devata-s' in scriptures.

In fact, the term bhagavān is widely used across our culture to denote enlightened masters, deities and saints. That means, the fancy term ' supreme personality of Godhead' is verily applicable to many other deities as well.

Bhagavati Stotra:

जय भगवति देवि नमो वरदे जय पापविनाशिनि बहुफलदे ।
jaya bhagavati devi namo varade jaya pāpavināśini bahuphalade ।

The same Veda Vyasa who authored Śrīmad Bhāgavatam also authored the Bhagavati Stotra which refers to Devi as "Bhagavati" ( feminine term of bhagavan')

Iskonites contradicting themselves



The above verse from Gīta Māhātmya is commonly used by Iskconite-s for obvious reasons.

Funny enough, this verse quotes Devaki Putra ( Lord Kṛṣṇa ) as a devata ( eko devaḥ). Iskonites can call Lord Śiva and Gaṇapati 'demigods' because according to them, deva = demigod.

Then why is Kṛṣna not called a demigod as per this verse?

As you can see, they cunningly manipulate scriptures and use fancy English terms to suit their philosophy.

Image result for bhagavan ramana

Nothing wrong with following what your guru has chosen to enlighten you with. But don't go around shoving your ideology into people from other paths and lineages. That's when you get labeled.

And you cannot avoid them stressing non-Viṣṇu-tattva deities as 'demigods'. For example, they can never say Śiva or Gauri. They gotta use 'demigod Śiva'. They cannot live without a hierarchy where they place Gods they have never experienced in an order - highest to lowest.


Image: Bagaimana acuan begitulah kuihnya...

Malaysian Iskconites use disgusting jargons among themselves. Non-devotees are referred to as karmi-s ( sinners). They are also fond of terming other deities as dummy gods ( demigod ridiculed as dummy god ).

Image: This is how they treat my friend who had once dedicated her entire life for ISKCON. Karmi is a term equivalent to sinner/infidel used to denote non-iskconites

It's like they get high by insulting deities they dislike. It is as though they earn merits for every insult so they have enough points to get an express train to Goloka.

Pic: Iskconites and their ego. You fellas edit shit into these pictures and expect tolerance?

The problem is these closed minded people understand Vedic terms in a biased English translation which fuels nothing but fanaticism. This fanaticism assumes a crude form when they believe themselves to be scripturally enlightened enough to dictate.

Try replacing every ' supreme personality of godhead' in their books with simply 'bhagavan' and every 'demigod' into 'devata' and you will see how different the very books appear.



Rudra is referred to as Bhagavān in the Yajur Veda. Agni is halted supreme in the ṛg Veda. But you don't see Vaidika-s going around calling Rudra as the 'supreme personality of Godhead' and demeaning Viṣṇu-tattva deities as demigods like there's no tomorrow. They could if they wanted. The same applies to every path.

(3) Refusal to Quote Vedas as Source of Reference

Though Iskconites claim to represent the Vedic tradition, they never take reference or quote verses from the Vedas which stand as the highest authority of Hinduism. This is because no part of the Vedas proclaim Lord Kṛṣṇa as the only true God. The Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣat proclaims Kṛṣṇa as an incarnation of the absolute, in the same manner in which the Gaṇapati Upaniṣat  extols Gaṇapati as the absolute or the Rudra praśna which declares Rudra as the all-pervading absolute reality. 

We are not following an Abrahamic religion. If you follow the Hindu scriptures, you cannot submit to a philosophy of worshiping the only one true god. 

Iskconites cunningly claim to quote the Vedas but whatever they say comes from buffeted Vaiṣṇavite Purānic scriptures ( typically Śrīmad bhāgavatam ).

(3) Forcing Others to Leave their Sadhana and stick to the 'maha-mantra'

You will find Iskconites giving you free initiations into their version of the best 'mantra-sādhana'. I was told by many Iskconite-s to stop reciting the Vedas or to teach them. Yes, you heard me right. I was told to instead resort to their 'Hare Kṛṣṇa' mantra and nothing else. The reasoning they have is that the only worthy mantra is what they preach and that is the only key towards enlightenment. PFFFTTT !

I have had many contacts from Iskcon in the past ( surprisingly all of them have left the cult today...) and it is common to see them ridicule people who have meditation, yoga or any non-bhakti oriented sadhana as their focus. To them, anything other than the 'Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra' and their form of 'bhakti-sādhana' is filth.

Grab the Mahābhārata and look at the anuśāsana parva- where Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself declares that His daily sadhana was to worship Lord Śiva with the recitation of Rudra praśna. This occurs in a conversion between Lord Kṛṣṇa and King Yudhiṣṭhira.

But Iskconites will never speak about this. To them, Vedic scriptures are a buffet - you pick what you like and suits your ideology and pretend like everything else is non-existent.

It's like they need this daily dosage of roasting other sects to convince them they are on the best path. This actually heavily resembles insecurity. So insecure about your belief that you gotta constantly put other deities and lineages down.

(4)  Hypocrisy and Pseudo-humility

See, Iskconites know that they have a bad reputation among the Hindus in Malaysia because of their uncouth and pesty behaviour in the name of merciful preaching. So they adopt silly methods in an attempt to debunk the fanatical label.

You will them having typical quotes to approve their apparent 'respect' the deities they called 'demigods' - to demonstrate that they are not fanatical but merely quoting the scriptures. 

For instance, you can hear them revering Śiva as the greatest Vaiṣṇavite as their texts say so.

वैष्णवानां यथा शम्भु: 
vaiṣṇavānā yathā śambhuḥ

( Among the vaiṣṇavites it is śambuḥ  )

Next, you have the typical milk to yogurt analogy where they give an impression of their reverence towards Śiva ( Milk can become yogurt but yogurt can never become milk - Kṛṣṇa can become Śiva but Śiva can never become Kṛṣṇa )

These are the typical pickup lines they mug and parrot in public to mask their fanaticism.

Again, a screenshot from ' sivapurana.blogspot.com


Firstly, these texts ( used by Iskconites as reference ) are Purāṇoktam and not from the Vedas.

Purāṇa-s are always biased to a particular principle. Take Liga
 purāṇa and you will find Śiva being glorified as Supreme. Take the Brahmāṇḍa purāṇa and you will find Devi being glorified as Supreme.

So simply picking up a verse from your desired text and claiming it to be the only right truth is never applicable to our culture - which is overly rich with literature and scriptures.

Iskconites have awareness on this and they make huge attempts to prevent Hindus from venturing into any scripture which doesn't suit their ideology.


Image: Hypocrisy - they will call themselves the servant of servants but will boss you on what you should read.

If you want to talk about scriptures - talk about all of them, not pick what you like. This ain't a buffet.

Many paths exist to accommodate people from different backgrounds who have an affinity toward a particular sadhana that leads to their enlightenment. So stick to yours and stop poking your nose into the sampradaya of others.

Image result for hindu puranas

Any śaivite, saura or śākta can do the same by picking a verse that glorifies His or Her preferred deity as supreme. But you don't find that often.

Iskconites do it like drinking water - and that's why the label.

Image result for vibhuti
(5) Demonising Bhasma - The Sacred Ash of Hindu Tradition

Once, an acquaintance from Iskcon pled me ( like literally begged me ) to refrain from using bhasma ( holy ash ) as the Agni purāṇa apparently classifies bhasma ( ash ) as dirt. Apparently he was taught in Iskcon that bhasma is filth.

( No worries, in this context the Agni purāṇa is perfectly authentic, non-tamasic for Iskconites. It only becomes inauthentic when one quotes a verse which glorifies deities other than Viṣṇu )

I showed Him another reference from Śiva purāṇa which glorifies the same vibhūti. But again, they have a typical answer to that. Any scripture which does not agree to their belief is termed 'tāmasic' - hence inauthentic. Any philosophy that does not tally with their belief system is classified as 'māyāvadi philosophy'.

Firstly, these nutcases need to realise that vibhūti or bhasma is not about just smearing random street dust on your body. The Kāmika āgama gives a very detailed instruction on bhasma preparation. It which involves usage of ash from the remains of a Śiva agni. So the ash described in Agni purāna is not in reference to the sacred bhasma Śaivites use. Śaivites use consecrated bhasma, just like how Iskconites worship consecrated deities and not stones.

(6) Iskconites who Traumatise temple visitors

This always happens when I visit the Śri Rādha Kṛṣṇa Kaṇṇaiyā Temple of Penang.

Image result for penang iskcon temple

Iskconites never fail to disrupt my inner peace in that awesome temple. I can barely appreciate the beauty of the deity alaṃkāra before getting ambushed by a hardcore preacher.


It is fine to share what your sampradāya has to say - but do it in a socially acceptable way. You should especially have some courtesy when I have my own guru and path.

This is how they ambush visitors verbally:

'' So, when are you gonna get the Tulasi mālā around your neck ? ''

'' Do you know Hinduism? You should start reading our books. I was also worshiping demigods like Śiva and Kāli before learning Hinduism. Finally, truth dawned by the grace of Kṛṣṇa and I am here''

'' Even the Bāla Muruga who resides beside this temple is a servant of Kṛṣṇa. He is a Vaiṣṇava, a demigod. Yet, people do not visit our temple and they pray to the servant of Kṛṣṇa''

Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself quotes His state of Oneness with Skanda by proclaiming Himself to be 'Skanda among the Lord of Wars' in the Bhagavad Gīta. And here we have a joker who insults Muruga, the deity who is a breath to  Tamiḻs.

They do this shit and expect the public to love them? Dude, you are insulting a deity who is celebrated by millions of Hindus here. Stop being a nitwit!

They should really consider stand-up comedy. They can put the clowns of the London Royal Circus to shame.

Kṛṣṇa Kaṇṇaiyā  temple, Penang: I captured their image as they captured my heart

However, what I witnessed during one of my visits disturbed me deeply. It was a Saturday morning in 2017 and I saw a simple nuclear Indian family - Father, mother and a kid visit the temple. It was their first time there and they wanted to experience a temple that appeared a little different from the norm of Śaiva āgama based temples in Malaysia

They could barely pray as they wanted before getting ambushed. A preacher traumatised them by throwing insults. And mind you, these were very simple people who worshiped all deities with a pure heart. They clearly did not like arguing over scriptures and supremacy.

This went on for an hour. The preacher was giving a verbal diarrhea out of his sheer ego. He eve
n resorted to telling them that they were wasting their lives without worshiping the 'only true one'. He then went on to promote some Iskcon-translated scriptures to them.

Image: Iskcon has destroyed many families by robbing of their ancestral values.

With a huge dosage of verbal abuse, the wearied family left with the totally unasked lecture and I took the chance to have a word with them. They actually practice a form of meditation where they contemplate upon God as jyoti ( light ). In addition, they visit all temples without any bias for a particular form.

They looked pretty hurt and expressed their horrid experience. I tried my best to convince them not to hate Vaiṣṇavism because of these jokers. It didn't seem to work and they left with an oath to never foot into the temple again. I will never forget the tears in their eyes when they left the temple.

And you can ask the world as to why Iskcon is getting labeled as a fanatic association?

I was actually instructed not to 'waste' time in the  Bāla Subrahmaṇya temple adjacent to Kaṇṇaiyā  and if this is not fanaticism, I do not know what else defines it.



Images: The Bāla Subrahmaṇya temple adjacent to the ISKCON Kaṇṇaiyā temple

For now, I have a new method to get rid of such pests - just ask them to recite the śloka of reference they use to validate their philosophy. If they fail to recite it with perfect pronunciations or at least give the individual meanings for each word without parroting the presented English translation, they are in no authority to dictate. 

The last debate I recall is having a heated argument with a staff who used to work in Bangsar Rāmaligeśvara temple. He was not happy with me teaching Rudram in the temple and tried to convince me to teach the Bhagavad Gīta instead. He forced me into a debate to convince that I should worship His lord instead of Rudra ( but it is perfectly okay for him to find his rice bowl from the revenue they give in a Śiva temple ). The fun ended when this chap started to hop around while shouting ' māyāvadi.. māyāvadi...' around the perimeter of the temple.

If you have experienced similar trauma, warn any preacher who starts harassing you. Remember- no one has the right to dictate over which Guru, lineage and deity you should adhere to.

Prabhupada: Women enjoy rape! It is after-all an itching sensation

Watch the video above in Youtube. You can listen to the actual recording of the old man's discourses. He claims that women have an itching sensation and enjoy rape. He also says that blacks should be made slaves.

And you think he is enlightened to decipher and give commentaries on what a pūrṇa avatāra spoke?







19 comments:

  1. Thanks bro, I have encountered them a few myself and yes they seem to be arrogant and not following their own philosophy properly.

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    1. Yes.They are simply an abrahamic version of Hinduism now.It's all about 'believe in the only One or rot in hell'.To convince themselves that they are on the right path,they constantly insult other deities and gurus.

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  2. Any mention of words like Hell indicates abrahamic religion.

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  3. If we were to follow the Hindu scriptures by upholding the supremacy of shastras beginning from Vedas, Tantras and even Itihasas and Puranas, then the HK movement can be classified as a deviant cult. They are not even considered as a valid school of Vaishnava sampradaya even though they branched out from Gaudinya Vaishnavam. The reason is because all valid sampradayas must adhere to the principles of the Vedas and Tantras. HKs will even go to the extend of claiming that Krishna is the supreme personality although Krishna is a human who was equated as an avatar of Vishnu. When the valid sampradayas agree that all forms of devata leads back to the same source of Parabrahma, HKs will go in the reverse direction and claim that all leads back to Krishna. They will never quote from the Vedas and Tantras because they know that those scripture will expose their cult.

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    1. yes I agree as someone who has been in this cult ( not able to leave till now ) for 18 years. The brainwashing is heavy and Iskcon is nothing but the projection of Prabhupada's ideology , nothing to do with Krishna. Haribol

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  4. Hi guys i am an ex-devotee of iskcon and i can say that fanaticism is very thick in the organisations. Actually most malaysians who join iskcon join to look and appear like brahmins. most of these guys are b40 pariahs who want to look like higher class by dressing up like gopis.

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  5. The HK movement is like a frog in a well trying to explain ocean it has never seen before

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    1. Based on the words of an octogenarian who claims to be the *only* bonafide guru

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  6. In orissaa we never entertain the HK. Even vrindavana doesnt' welcome this cult.

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  7. Prabhupada challenged the position of the Sun and the moon in our solar system, claiming that the moon is beyond the sun. He even said that women enjoys being raped. That sick minded person need not be taken seriously.

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    1. Yes. Prabhupada claims that the Sun is between the Earth and Moon... Lol

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  8. Haribol ji! You really got the guts to talk about this! Let me share my part also. I have been serving in Iskcon for 18 years, so I can tell you what I know. Hopefully krishna grace people can be saved from this cult from my sharing.

    First thing first, Iskcon in Asia is very fanatic, especialyl Malaysia. Singapore even ban Iskcon. Your stories shocked me a bit, but I can accept them because, from what I know, Malaysian Iskcon also very fanatic.
    I was brought up in iskcon family and I admit we use to think we all superior than everyone else. We even have a term for non-believers, we call them "karmi." This is very true, and I agree with u, we are actually seeing Prabhupada as Krishna’s voice. Whatever he says is the truth, no mistakes.
    But over time, I grew up, made friends from other belief and started to see the cult in this organisation. It hit me when i noticed christian missionaries forcing their belief. And iasked myself, am I not doing that also?? So that's when I got depressed and started research on Iskcon.
    Let me tell you one secret about Iskcon and the founder. Iskcon is not actually about Krishna. That is just the surface. The real thing is, it’s all about spreading Prabhupada’s propaganda to create one big rich organisation. If you look properly, they actually worship Prabhupada like he’s Krishna.
    Prabhupada’s ideology:
    (1) All other gurus are fake. He’s the only right one. This is to prevent you from getting other philosophy in hinduism
    (2) Don't read scripturs and question. Just read the ones Prabhupada wrote. Only his interpretation of scripture is real. This brainwashing will make sure people only expose themself to the purport of prabhupada
    (3) Don’t mix with non-Iskcon people. We are taught to see them like kaffir concept. Unless, of course, you need their money to build temples. Thats when we start begging them to donate. So its cult building. concept of karmi, demigod worship all not relevant when money comes into topic. so are they worshiping krishna or kubera? i don't know.
    (4) The only way to reach Krishna is through the Mahamantra. If people do anything else, they won’t reach Krishna. This again to prevent you from attaining experience from other path. For example, if you try yoga and accidentally experience krishna bhakti, you might leave iskcon because u realise u can reach krishna thru many path.
    (5) Everything else is just demigods and useless. Only Krishna is important. Throw away your family gods.

    But if you notice, Krishna never says any of this. In the Bagavad Gita, he says there are many paths to reach him. Prabhupada just made his own version. These things really bothered me because as I matured, I realised how brainwashed i was. This was until I did my own research on the Gaudiya tradition (you know, Iskcon branched out from Gaudiya Vaisnavism). That’s when I learnt the true story of Prabhupada, and it all started to make sense.

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  9. You see, Prabhupada was part of the Gaudiya Mutt. He had brother disciples, but he wanted to outshine them and wanted power. He was power crazy, so he decided to create his own religion. He opposed his brother disciples and went on to create this Hare Krishna movement, bringing in his own philosophies and ideologies, and covered it all by saying these were the right interpretations or "hidden truths, deeper meaning" of scriptures. He used Krishna to do his plot brainwashed people into thinking he represented Krishna. A lot of us even started worshipping Prabhupada in our minds. Whatever he said was taken as the words of Krishna. This was how Prabhupada mentally brainwashed the entire cult. If Krishna says three words, Prabhupada expands it to three pages and talks as if he’s speaking on Krishna’s behalf. And we’re forced to take it as divine words, no matter the doubts we have, because, oh, we don’t want to do Vaisnava aparadha (offense)!

    The whole cult is all about mind control, brainwashing, and it’s centered on Prabhupada. You will see Prabhupada’s face in Iskcon more than Krishna’s. Just mark my words, in time, Iskcon will slowly start to say that Prabhupada is none other than Krishna. Just like how Christ, as the son of God, became God himself over time, this old man will also become the same.

    I haven’t left Iskcon yet because the mind control is still in me, even though I realise it. Also, the devotees will start harassing me and stop talking. My huge circle is from iskcon and i am not prepared to make enemies with them. I just hope I can leave this cult one day and find my true devotion to Krishna (instead of being told what devotion is by this old man).

    I’m really sorry for all the nonsesne I did in the name of this cult - making people leave their kula deivam, making them oppose their family for Iskcon, telling them to leave their original guru, telling them to abandon the gods they originally worshipped, and forcing them to accept Krishna. I was so stupid to see that I was part of a horrible cult and missionary. I just hope for Krishna’s forgiveness.

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  10. The main problem with ISKCON is Prabhupadism - the messiah syndrome. Prabhupada's word is the supreme arbiter and Prabhupada's opinion is always perfect and unquestionable. That in itself is very toxic. Many of the problems would go away if ISKCON acknowledged that Prabhupada was a good and wise man, but still an ordinary person who made mistakes, came out of a cultural environment where he had adopted patterns of thought and behavior that needed to be rethought.

    Many of my Gaudiya Vaishnava friends say that all problems in iskcon stem from human failure. They claim that if devotees followed Prabhupada and Chaitanya's teachings, serious problems would not occur. Actually, the opposite is true. Most of the problems in this movement come from people who strictly follow Prabhupada's instructions and fully share all of Prabhupada's world views. These people often have problems with emotional stability. Conversely, devotees who filter out the harmful aspects of Prabhupada's teachings do not exhibit as much fanaticism, are happier, and have better relationships with those around them.

    The question is, what does it mean to filter out or reject certain aspects of Prabhupada's teachings? Many devotees don't want to give up their belief that Prabhupada is a special entity sent by Krishna, but at the same time they are not willing to allow certain aspects of the doctrine into their lives. How to reconcile this? Simple. We see this in practically every religion. Believers simply filter these things at the level of the unconscious; it's just that the defense mechanism of the human psyche naturally rejects what is harmful to it without necessarily rationalizing it.

    That's what I perceive to be most harmful in ISKCON:

    Misogynistic attitudes
    Objectification of non-believers. The division of the world into us and them. In ISKCON it goes to such an extreme that it's not even enough to be a Vaishnava, you need to be a Vaishnava of a particular tradition. Even that is often not enough, you need to be a member of a particular institution in a particular tradition. ISKCON criticizes not only those Vaishnava traditions that deviate from the Bhaktivinoda-Bhaktisiddhanta-Bhaktivedanta doctrine, but even Gaudiya Math traditions that deviate from Prabhupada on some points.
    There is more emphasis on doctrine than on the spiritual development of the individual. This has brought ISKCON to the level of a mainstream religion. Spiritual life also means living in uncertainty, uncovering the truth gradually, step by step. Religions, by contrast, give answers to all the big questions, but at the same time religion gives no room to question those answers. This is the case with ISKCON. It is a vicious circle.
    Spiritual bypassing. Each member will tell you what the spiritual world looks like, but they don't know how to treat their partner. They don't know how to relate to themselves and the people around them.
    Pride. The feeling that this movement has a special relationship with God that is not found anywhere else. That this movement is chosen by God and is the bearer of the deepest knowledge. This is the typical religious ego extension. The member considers himself humble, but at the same time is able to claim that his acharyas are the most spiritual people in the world. This is nothing but a masking of the ego which the person delegates to another person.
    Regulative Principle. Sex for the sole purpose of procreating a child is enforced celibacy for most people. As far as I know, most devotees do not follow this principle. However, it is taboo. It is not talked about openly. Many devotees have psychological problems, low self-esteem, just because they blame themselves for not being able to fully observe this principle. All this creates a great deal of hypocrisy in the movement. This regulative principle is very harmful and unnecessary, and it has no support in Vaisnavism or the Vedas.

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  11. I was an ISKCON temple going devotee for 7 years of my life and have been to their two major temples in Mumbai, and as a kid was amazed with people (especially kids) wearing dhoti kurtas, foreigner women in saree were a must watch sight in the ISKCON temple I visited all the time

    Introduced to ISKCON temple in the most toughest phase of life back then, I had accepted the congregation of devotees I met as my second family

    My family initially didn't like me running often to the temples, Like who does go to a temple ten train stations away on a early morning wearing dhoti kurta carrying not but some chanting beads in a bag?

    Somehow and some time later, My parents came around to accept my lifestyle as a ISKCON temple going devotee and supported me to pursue bhakti

    But at some point, the devotees I met online and at the temple were not like they seemed, I could deduce that even though their lips chanted the names of Krishna, the mind still had some amount of malice for others, The arrogance of being a seasoned devotee and having contacts with more senior devotees across seemed to display on the devotee faces

    Being in the community for seven years and volunteering for one big youth project later, I realised I was just another outsider at the temple with the way devotees behaved with me, people joining after me got initiated and so on and so forth while I had no sign of a initiation coming to me

    For ISKCON, I was just another unpaid volunteer indirectly serving Krishna, So frustrated I was with their devotees' behaviour that I began avoiding going to their temples or associating with their so-called genuine devotees who bashed everyone on the Internet

    I decided to leave ISKCON because

    I was just another volunteer at the end of the day who worked under devotee direction but pleased Lord Krishna
    The toxic behaviour of the so-called devotees on the internet and their negative attitude towards other sects of Dharma and calling out gods like Shiva, Durga and Ganesha as below to Krishna
    I was done following four regulative principles that lead me to nowhere but a dark abyss of bad health
    I left because the ISKCON devotees on the Internet had grown a spine to control my life and my choices, they didn't like me also worshipping Swami Samarth, Sai Baba and began abusing those great saints calling them rascals
    I learnt that to get initiated in ISKCON you need the influence of a senior devotee to reach a Guru and you have to keep licking his feet or become his dog till he directs you to a Guru, In this case, I refused to lick a senior devotee's feet hence I was deferred from getting an chance for initiation
    Well enough I decided, it was best to leave ISKCON forever because Krishna being a magnificent god can be pleased anyhow but to please the devils in the garb of a devotee was impossible, After leaving some other devotees tried coaxing me to come back but I was firm on my decision to not come back

    If I may rot and suffer in the material world, so be it I said, Lord Krishna very well knows about and I will only surrender to his will alone

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  12. Long time ago, I along with my friend visited ISKON temple in Delhi . My friend always used to praise this society for spreading Hinduism all over world and probably I too was inspired

    Perhaps, this was the reason we decided to have our first visit. Temple was very neatly maintained and everything seemed to attract us towards them.

    There was a huge Lord Vishnu sleeping posture statue along with Maa Lakshmi towards the Lord feet kept in some other chamber. There were 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu written on the side wall. But wait! Lord Krishna name is not mentioned in the list of the avatars.

    We asked the ISKON main person in that temple about why Krishna name is not mentioned in the list of Lord Vishnu avatars and I was perplexed by his reply. According to ISKON, Lord Krishna is the supreme GOD and else all are demi god's. I and my friend both got agitated by his response and asked him from which holy scriptures they found this.He gave us Bhagwad Geeta and said it's written in this book. We counter questioned him that it's the book which they have manipulated from the original one and now he was saying this book is the supreme in all the Geeta.

    Lastly, seeing us unconvinced , he took us to some another main guru who just arrived at the temple and all followers were around him. This main guru started out by saying that since God is only one, all other deity which we have in Hinduism are demi God's. I counter attacked him by saying from where he got the concept of demi god at first instant. No scriptures said that one particular deity is more powerful than other. Infact, comparing the Deity is considered a sin if we reference it from Devi Bhagwatam or Markandya Puran.

    I took out an example to make him understand that when Maa MahishasurMardini is about to attack Mahishasur with Trisul, he says that I am alone and you are 9 in numbers. All of you coming simultaneously to attack me is not fair. In response Maa laughed and took/imbibed all of her 9 forms within herself and answered that she was always one but took different form for different purposes. Likewise, God is one, but takes different form for different purpose. The way Lord Rama lead his life teaches us to have principles and its importance in one's life. Lord Krishna teaches us to stand for dharma and what is dharma at first . Both have their own importance. Unless you don't have principles(from Lord Rama),you can distinguish which one is right to keep(Lord Krishna). In fact understanding the Bhagwan is complex and may be outside of our superficial knowledge. But bluntly saying that all other are demi god isn't acceptable.

    The main guru had no proper answer but wasn't accepting this. This was the first and last time I visited any ISKON temple.

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  13. Many points have already been made, but firstly I must confess to having had a long association with ISKCON and have been involved in a number of their temple consecrations and ceremonies. I have always admired their high standard of worship and their prasadam is exceptional. I have a great admiration for the food for life programs that they have and also their zeal at spreading their religion - I wish they’d intensify their efforts and outreach to those marginalised groups that are the prey of Christian missionaries.

    My personal observations are:–

    I wish they’d stop saying that the Srimad Bhagavatam is “Vedic” — it is not, it is Paurānik. “Vedic” literature means Samhitā, Araṇyaka, Brāhmaṇa and Upaṇiṣad only.
    Their entire theology is based on the Bhagavatam - much of which is not corroborated by the true Vedic literature.
    I wish they’d stop calling the Devas “demi-gods” - a Greek term – why not just use the original term DEVA - it is actually found in the English dictionary.
    Their most disagreeable quality is their fanaticism and triumphalism. Instead of debating with opponents in good faith and respectfully, they resort to shouting and personally abusing them. It started with their guru who regularly called Advaita-vāda achāryas “demons” and “rascals” including the great Shankaracharya. This is called argumentum ad hominem and is most reprehensible in Vedantic circles.
    Rāmānuja Ācārya was a staunch critic of Advaita-vāda - and he composed long polemics refuting some of their tenets, but never once in any of his writing, did he ever mention Shankaracharya by name or insult him even indirectly.

    He took each and every one of their positions he disagreed with and refuted them using logic and reason and evidence from Shastra. Likewise all the Srivaishnava acharyas that followed never attacked their opponents personally - they only ever addressed their arguments.

    ISKCON walas prefer personal abuse and insult to dealing with the actual philosophical issues - this is completely against the etiquette of Tarka Viddhi. “Argument against the person” is always a sign of being unable to address the argument itself.

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  14. (1) once i saw a video of amog lila prabhu on YouTube in which he was saying that - in the beginnings of creation, even demons used to make urdhapundrak on their forhead like the devtas, therefore whenever lord vishnu used to hurl his sudarshan chakra at the demons with the intention of killing them, then suradarshan chakra would fail in that and the demons would remain alive. So to come out of this problem lord vishnu ordered shiva, to make tripund on his forehead rather than urdhapundrak. Since lord shiva was the one, who was followed by the demons so lord vishnu knew that if shiva would start making tripund on his forehead then all the demons would also do the same thus, sudarshan chakra will be able to kill them. So here amog lila prabhu clearly said that tripund actually symbolizes the bad and is actually associated with demons while urdhapundrak alone symbolizes the good and is always associated with divine personalities.

    (2) They always quote verses from bramha samhita and will name it vedic verses. Any book cannot be considered authentic until it is not authorized by vedvyas and there is only one way in which vedvyas authorizes something and that is by authoring it or writing it down. It is such a book which is limited to a particular sampradya and that sampradya is gaudiya vaishnavisim. Even the “adi keshaba peruaml” temple, where this book is considered to be found or discovered can't vouch for its authenticity till today. It also does not come under the list of agamas (there are 28 saiva agams, 77 shakta agams and 128 vaishnav agamas)

    (3) Its been only a few years that isckon has been giving a bit respect to lord shiva by saying that shiva is a bhakt avatr of vishnu and has his own category which is know as “Shiva tatva” whic is in between “jiva tatva” and “bhagvat tatva”. Before this they used to call and even now many of them call shiva, the head of all the demigods whose connection to vishnu is much more closer than other devtas or demi gods.

    (4) they call adi shankaracharya a mayabadi and address his philosophy as mayabad.

    (5) they call ramkrishna paramahamsa a sexist, and fool, who had relationships with many girls before marriage, therefore after his marriage with maa sarda he became impotent and that's why he was unable to give birth to a child with his wife and foolish people call it his selflessness because of wich he willingly didn't become anyone's biological father. This was first said by their own prabhupad.

    (6) we all know that Vivekananda being a Bengali was a non-vegiterian by birth but later on after getting initiated into sannyas he left meat eating but yes he said that if anybody goes through such a physical disease that can be cured only by consuming meat then that person can eat meat but only for that particular purpose. Even after knowing this prabhupad addressed him as a meat eater who destroyed hindusim.

    (7)they call mother durga a jailer. They also say that except vaishnavisim all other paths are not bonafide.

    (8) their mool guru Madhvacharya personally attacked adi shankara, his doctrine and its followers by calling adi shankara maniman daitya and by addressing his philosophy as an illusionary philosophy and its followers as demons.

    (9) they believe that from vidyaranya to appaya dikshta, all the advita scholars were defeated by the followers of madhavacharya, known as davita vadis.

    (8) in madhva vijaya, the way adi shankaracharya has been addressed shouldn't be even spoken.if you read madhva vijaya then you will known what i am saying.

    (9)they say that vishnu was capable of swallowing the halahal poison but he made lord shiva do it only to glorify him

    (10) their way of interpreting the scriptures for proving chaitanya mahaprabu as god is the worst way, i have ever seen. I personally belive chaitanya was krishna but that doesn't mean i will go, saying that chaitanya is mentioned in the scriptures. Sri vaishnavas strictly follow the Vedas, therefore if Chaitanya was mentioned in the Vedas then by now even Sri vaishnav should also be worshipping him, isn't it???? 🙏

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