I follow Hare Krishna philosophy. AMA

[HareKrishna123]

Do you have any questions about the philosophy or anything else? AMA

This is a really interesting thread, OP - thank you! What is the particular Hindu philosophy that you describe growing up with called? The belief that God is a light/energy and the Hindu Deities are metaphors for God's love? Or does that broadly describe all Hindu philosophies?

Thanks for asking!

Advaita is the philosophy that there is no difference between us and God, we all merge together/into the 'light'

Dvaita is the philosophy that there is a distinction between the individual soul and God

"Hindu" was actually a name given by Greeks meaning "those who live East of the Indus river" and became an "ism" much later..it encapsulates a lot of beliefs and practices which look similar on first glance but have differences

This is fascinating because a Hindu friend told me that Hare Krishnas were simply people who had converted to Hinduism (and that you could only be truly Hindu if born into the faith).

So I'm back at square one!

Oh! Sorry 🙈 Having been born Hindu and now Hare Krishna I'd have to disagree with both statements 🙈
But I wonder whether there were particular rules in her family which got extrapolated as the rules of the religion or something

What do you think of yoga… my nan did yoga all her life and often played tapes of hare krishna chanting, I have such warm safe memories and associations, but I don’t know if there’s any connection between yoga and hare krishna except my nan!!

Haribol! Great thread, and love your thoughtful responses too 🙌🏽

Aww that's so lovely. It's actually all from the same scripture! The "stretchy yoga" type stuff we see in yoga studios is to keep the body healthy and balanced so that when we're meditating we can focus without thinking "ow my back" for example. It's a really good form of exercise in that it emphasises listening to your body, tuning in, the stretches stimulate different internal organs to squeeze toxins out etc.
Mantra meditation can also be called mantra yoga, and it's focusing the mind on the object of meditation to free it from anxieties
Bhakti yoga or the yoga of love is what we can do in service to God.

Yoga means "to connect" and with each type we're trying to connect to our true identity

Haribol! Thank you :)

I had a flatmate at uni who was Hare Krishna. He used to go out Road the Tottenham Court Road and kind of dance/sing down the pavement in a group. I can’t remember exactly what they were doing as it was over 20 years ago but there was def some chanting going on. What was that all about?

I used to buy food from a German Hare Krishna at a farmers’ market in Galway. The food was beautiful, and he glowed with inner peace. I know very little about HK, but he was the best possible advertisement I have ever seen for a way of life.

This is so interesting. What were the qualities of Hare Krishna that drew you in?

Ah good question. They still do it now :)
Mantra meditation can take 3 forms...spoken quietly to yourself, sung together in a group, or out on the streets. We sing on the streets so that people can hear the mantra and ask us about it if they so feel inspired.

Ah that's such a nice thing to hear. The vegetables would certainly have been grown with love!

A quiet conviction in what they were doing. A genuine concern and compassion. A service attitude...always helping. A lack of "hierarchy" eg men and women all cook and clean (which is not what I saw growing up). Being very ambitious, and actually achieving their ambitions. Ultimately, answering every question and doubt I had, big or small. Never being told a question was too controversial.

Thanks for helping me meditate on this!

That's a really different form of Hinduism than any I know about. We generally believe that the different deities represent different strengths and needs. We believe obviously that we have an identity separate from God otherwise how can we ever reach Nirvana?

The cooking and cleaning and lack of hierarchy is cultural not religious

Ah that's interesting. That's the thing, different Hindus have different philosophies and you have to dig a little deeper.

Yeh good point!

You're right to say Hinduism is a vast umbrella of traditions and philosophies—but what you're describing aligns most closely with Advaita Vedanta, not necessarily "Hinduism" as a whole.
Advaita (non-dualism) holds that Brahman (ultimate reality) is pure, formless consciousness, and the individual self (Atman) is not separate from it. In this view, gods and goddesses are indeed symbolic or didactic, helping the limited human mind grasp the infinite — as you put it. The ultimate goal is to realise that the self is Brahman, and the sense of separateness is due to ignorance (avidya).
But this is just one school among many. Dvaita (dualism) and Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism), for example, do believe in a permanent distinction between individual souls and God, often personified as Vishnu or Shiva. In those paths, the deities aren't just symbolic — they're real and accessible.
So yes, theologies and metaphysics differ substantially across schools. But there are traditions that see them as divinely real.
What you're describing is Advaita-inspired universalism, not a catch-all for non-Hare Krishna Hinduism.

An interesting thread.

Can you describe the daily routine of someone who lives at ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor Watford?

Do they live there full time? Or come to the temple early every day and spend the day there?

Yes we used to have a group in our town centre who'd do this every weekend, dancing around, little mini cymbal things. They always looked really spaced out and on something.
OP what does the HK philosophy say about drug use? Also, is their a hierarchy within the temple? Eg a priest who is an authority? For some reason I have the impression the HK are like Quakers, with no leadership/authority and everyone is equal?
Also there are HK schools for children? In what way are they different from mainstream?
Can you wear 'ordinary' clothes or does it have to be gown type things? The group in my town were always in flowy gown things.

AHH yes I see exactly what you mean. Things get muddled in my mind because when I was growing up I went to a Hinduism school at the weekend and we learned the philosophy I previously outlined, labelled as "Hindu beliefs" with no information on the texts those beliefs had come from or that there were other Hindu beliefs. We even sat GCSEs and A levels and those were the "correct answers". Of course as an adult I understand it's more nuanced and there are lots of different philosophies but it's easy for me to get confused with the terminology I'm using. In case I didn't make it clear, yes Hare Krishna would come under the umbrella of Hinduism but I find the word Hinduism unhelpful because it captures lots of different beliefs, much in the same way I suppose Christianity captures Anglical/Methodist/CofE/ etc

Thanks so much for sharing this.

There are some who live in the temple full time (monks or single people) and some who live nearby and spend the day there (families and others who there isn't space for on site).

Morning worship starts early, at 4.20am.
I don't know exactly what the routine would be, but I imagine it's something like:

Get up at 4am and have a speedy shower and get ready
4.20am morning worship
5am meditation
7am greeting the deities (images of God)
8am class
845am breakfast

The rest of the day is probably spent in service ...cooking, tending to the grounds, creating courses, cleaning, farming, looking after the congregation etc

There are other times of worship...1230pm, 420pm, 7pm, 920pm. I am not sure how many of those they attend.

Some would wake up even earlier than 4am if they need to do some service to get things ready for morning worship, or if they like to meditate before.

Bedtime would be early!

They have courses where you can "be a monk" for a few days/a week etc and try it out.

(Monks can be male or female and it isn't necessarily a lifelong commitment)