I left home to join the Hare Krishna movement. AMA

[cakedup]

Left home at 18 to move into a temple and lived there as a full time Hare Krishna devotee for 6 years.

I'm now in my late 40s.

About 44 years ago I opened my purse to make a donation to the movement and the person, I assume it was a monk, put his hand in my purse and took out a 5 pound note. It was way more than I could afford and I’m hoping you can ask him if I can have it back. It was a cowardly and absolutely beastly thing to do to a 16 year old.

I agree that was an awful thing to do. But I have as much chance of tracking him down as you have of tracking down the non-monk person who snatched my portable Sony Walkman cassette player 34 years ago.

Oh this is fascinating! So meditation minimum 1.5 hr plus a morning programme? What else did you do in your typical day? Did you get bored? Did you do any good works or contribute to society/community?

See upthread for typical day. I don't ever remember really getting bored with the lifestyle. There were boring moments - for example, if someone gave a boring class. But there were always people around to talk to and always something to do. Even if it was chanting and reading more. Or in my case, chatting more.

We had (they still have) a Food For Life programme. Every evening we would load up a van full of food and distribute to homeless people in London.

Have you raised your children in Hare Krishna/sent them to the schools or just left them to sort themselves out?

DS (13) has just gone to mainstream school and his upbringing has not been any different due to my involvement, except that he has visited the temple with me numerous times. He knows about it, has some understanding of it but doesn't know an awful lot about it to be honest. It did come up in RE class the other day when the teacher asked what religion they feel most familiar with and he said Hinduism. No-one believed him as he is very obviously not Indian!

What was you favourite thing about Hare Krisgns and which was your least favourite?

That's a hard one, without narrowing it down! My favourite - the songs. I've heard and sang to some of the most beautiful and timeless melodies ever. Also my spiritual master (guru). I think he is the most amazing person I have ever met.

Least favourite - The movement felt very male dominated and I felt the women were sometimes restricted. A lot of terrible things have happened within the movement - none that I experienced first hand (except for some sexism but that's rife more or less everywhere). There was one guy at the temple who was a senior devotee and well respected, very charismatic and intellectual etc but he was so fucking rude and a bully. Especially to women. Yet it seemed to go unchallenged. I'm always hoping I'll bump into him one day and give him a piece of my mind.

Do you get the sense that, reading the purport in the baghavad gita, that they have completely missed the point/don't actually understand the metaphysics or do you just see the 'atomic soul' etc as more of an allegory?

The Bhagavad-Gita is meant to be a true story (Krishna on a battlefield with his devotee) but I do have a hard time getting my head around that to be honest. However all the teachings in the purports about the identity of the soul etc. are to be taken literally and much of that I can accept. Not sure if I've understood and/or answered your question?

Thanks for the interesting thread! I assume as a devotte you are vegetarian. What do you feel about veganism and how do other devotees / the general ISCKON body feel about it? I don't think there's any way we can regularly drink milk / eat dairy in a way that doesn't involve the torture and death of animals. Do they use purely "ahimsa" milk in the temple? If not how can they justify it? Why do they not encourage a vegan diet as opposed to a vegetarian diet?

PS if my assumption about vegetarianism for yourself is wrong, apologies. Just curious as to the opinion of the temple / ISKCON as to veganism and consumption of dairy and how they can justify it.

Well! I'm also a (current) Hare Krishna, this is a great thread, thanks for starting it. I'll be back here tomorrow as it's late now, and I'll link to a website showing live streaming from some temples if anyone would like that.

Can you explain it in a nutshell? Apologies, I've seen HK round Oxford St etc but never fully understood it. Are the ones who go round London the ones who live at the temple? Can you be a HK but not dedicate your life to it? Sorry if any of that is ignorant.

Interesting questions, none of them ignorant!

I would say most of the ones you've seen in London singing/dancing/preaching in saffron robes/saris do live at the temple, but not necessarily. It's only really the single monks/nuns that live in the temple. Families living outside may follow just as strictly but have normal jobs but visit and volunteer at the temple, a few might have paid jobs within the temple. To live in the temple you have to abide by the regulations: No meat/fish/eggs, no intoxication (alcohol etc) no illicit sex and no gambling. And you have to chant a minimum of 16 rounds a day. If you're not living at the temple then it's down to the individual really. These regulations are always recommended but anyone can visit the temple and be involved as much as they want.

In my case, as many do after a period of time of living a the temple, I took a vow to follow these regulations. Which I then broke several years later . But my spiritual master was just like, don't worry, it's not easy to keep it up, do your best.

In a nutshell? Blimey. OK, I'll try: Krishna is God. They believe there is one God (the same God that is worshipped in all other religions but known by different names, Allah, Jehovah etc). We are spirit souls originating from the spiritual world where we reside with Krishna. But as we have free will, some of us have decided to take birth in the material world. The aim of the Hare Krishnas is to go back to Godhead and stop reincarnating in the material world.

Was that too nutshelly? Feel free to ask any other questions but do bear in mind I'm a bit rusty!

Thanks cakedup your parade always made me smile and I have been known to join in!

I assume as a devotte you are vegetarian. What do you feel about veganism and how do other devotees / the general ISCKON body feel about it? I don't think there's any way we can regularly drink milk / eat dairy in a way that doesn't involve the torture and death of animals. Do they use purely "ahimsa" milk in the temple? If not how can they justify it? Why do they not encourage a vegan diet as opposed to a vegetarian diet?

I've been vegetarian since the age of 12 and became vegan about five years ago. I'm aware that many Hare Krishna members have also become vegan recently. I think there are some mixed opinions and feelings within the movement.

Ahimsa milk, i.e. milk derived from a cow without cruelty, is used in some temples, where they have cows and therefore easy access to it. Otherwise, any milk (or any food/drink product) used in the temple is always offered to Krishna first using a specific offering prayer, and the food then become 'blessed' and 'purified'. I would think that devotees justify it this way, believing the blessing would be passed on to the cow (or rather the soul of that cow) and therefore benefit in the long run.

IAmAHareKrishnaToo Hare Krishna! Welcome, please feel free to chip in and answer any of the questions, I'd be interested to hear of your experiences too.

choppolata that's so nice to hear. It's believed to have great spiritual benefit to hear the parade, even more so to join in! Which is why no-one minded even when people did it to make fun.

mayapur.tv

This link goes to a website showing live streaming in some temples. So like cakedup was saying, the morning programme starts at 4.30am, goes until 5.15ish, then chanting by oneself, then again from 7am till 7.30, then class until 8.30am. Then there are other events through the day but these are the main ones. Some e.g. Sydney and Mayapur stream 24 hours, and others e.g. Soho st London stream only when they are worshipping.

So you can see what happens at 4.30am, without having to get up at 4.30am!