http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianCivili...n/message/83283
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->From: Parama Karuna <xparamakaruna@...>
Date: Mon Dec 19, 2005Â 6:48 pm
Subject: How ISKCON got mixed up with Jesus xparamakaruna
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Dear Shiva Charan ji,
Namaskar and Hari Om!
Thank you very much for your kind reply.
Your question is indeed extremely interesting and important in the present
situation, also considering the dangers of the "Suicidal Hinduism" that has been
constantly sliding towards the Abrahamic mentality.
A complete answer would require a very long posting. I will try to keep it
short and simple, leaving the door open for more discussion in the future, also
in the private channel.
I believe I had mentioned already how Bhaktivinoda (the real founder of the
Hare Krsna movement in modern times) saw the need to "Christianize" Hinduism
thus making it more acceptable by the British rulers, the Western academics in
general and especially by the "brown sahibs" who formed the "educated class" or
Indian "intelligentsia" of the time.
Thus he transformed the pre-existing religious tradition of Gaudiya Vaisnavism
in a "package" that was eminently monotheistic, patriarchally-oriented, and
based on faith and devotion more than philosophy.
At the same time, Bhaktivinoda's "package" equally distanced itself from the
impersonal advaita philosophy (which had very little impact on the masses of
people) and from the "polytheist" character of temple worship (which had created
sectarianism under the influence of monotheism after the Muslim invasion).
He also anglicized the spelling of Sanskrit (as in "pooja" or "shree") or
translating Hindu concepts in English terms that could be considered equivalent
(as in monks, monasteries, pontiff, salvation, legends, incarnation, apostle,
mystic, sects, etc), a tendency that became very fashionable with all Hindu
writers in English language.
Basically, Bhaktivinoda proposed Vishnu as the Indian equivalent of the
Christian God, and Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the Indian equivalent of Jesus Christ.
In this way, he could discuss religion with the British rulers and scholars to
affirm the value of Sanatana Dharma on the same theological, ethical and
historical level of Christianity (which was then considered the "standard of
civilization").
In fact, Bhaktivinoda's theological/philosophical explanations tended to
present Krsna as the "intimate" aspect of Visnu, and the loving service to Krsna
as a form of religion that went much deeper than ordinary Christianity, to
attain levels that had been exhibited only by a small number of exceptional
"saints and mystics" in Christian history. These "great Christian mystics" had
also developed symptoms of ecstasy in a kind of "madhurya rasa" relationship
with God.
This was a very important step as until then, the British (and the
"modernized, secular, scientific, intellectual" brown sahibs) considered
Hinduism simply as a "bunch of superstitious legends, devils and fairies".
Under the inspiration and instruction of Bhaktivinoda, his son Bhaktisiddhanta
continued to adapt the package for the "consumption" of the intellectuals and
scholars, including the less-anglicized Hindus. Bhaktisiddhanta founded the
Gaudiya Matha (largely inspired by the respected Sankara Mathas), giving
prominence to practices and concepts that had not been characteristic of the
Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition in his times and his father's times (the strict
discipline of sannyasa and brahmacarya, establishment of temples and Deity
worship, organized preaching, book distribution etc).
At the same time, the simple philosophy of the Gaudiya Matha (based on bhakti)
became very popular with the general people especially in Bengal, where a mass
of non-qualified babajis and bhaktas often created scandals by exploiting their
followers and violating social and ethical norms for their own selfish
gratification.
In short, Bhaktisiddhanta presented the "Vedic religion" by separating it from
"Hinduism" (with its "polytheistic, folkloristic, tantric, impersonalistic,
smarta" values) and creating the "Indian counterpart" of Christianity - with the
equivalent of monks, monasteries, churches, regularly attended functions,
religious propaganda, rosary, monastic rules, ecclesiastic system, etc.
Of course, the entire thing was strictly in accordance to the genuine Vedic
knowledge - which also includes these aspects without the philosophical and
ethical deviations of Christian churches.
However, Bhaktisiddhanta's untimely disappearance left a void in the Gaudiya
Matha as his disciples lacked his vision and energy. So in general they just
maintained the externals, often succumbing to the inherent dangers of a
"church-like package": politicization, internal strife, trivialization,
sectarianism, ritualism, and creation of a "parasite class of monks/priests" who
developed (more or less subconsciously) envy, loathing and hatred for "ordinary
married people".
The most famous disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta, Bhaktivedanta, decided to drop
the Gaudiya Matha (plagued by fighting, confusion and ineffectiveness) and went
to USA to preach extensively to English-speaking people, according to the
instructions he had received from his guru.
In 1965 he started the International Society for Krsna Consciousness (ISKCon),
which was a totally different thing from the Gaudiya Matha - so much that his
godbrothers heavily criticized him for many years.
Bhaktivedanta could see that Sanatana Dharma could be transplanted in Western
countries (as desired by Bhaktisiddhanta and Bhaktivinoda), but it needed to
become much "easier" and "Westernized" because the people there could not
understand Vedic philosophy and sometimes even the basic concepts of common
sense. However, he insisted that his followers should carefully read all his
books, where he had clearly and repeatedly discussed about the importance of the
original Vedic knowledge.
Bhaktivedanta wrote a great number of books, translating and commenting Gita,
Bhagavatam, Isopanisad, Caitanya Caritamrta (an esoteric biography of Caitanya),
and philosophical works written by Caitanya's followers, such as Bhakti rasamrta
sindhu and Upadesamrta. He also wrote a number of introductory booklets that
summarized important Vedic concepts, making them easily understandable for
Westerners.
The other, very important, task he undertook was to organize a spiritual
society where the members could remain engaged in karma yoga, bhakti yoga and
jnana yoga according to their tendencies and needs, as a "sapling" of a genuine
varnasrama system in contrast with the degenerate mess of Hindu society (based
on birth right).
Since Caitanya had focused on the distribution of the Hari nama and prasada as
easy methods for preaching to the masses, Bhaktivedanta organized sankirtana
parties in Western cities (this is why his movement came to be known as the
"Hare Krsna movement"), and Sunday feasts at all centers (with free distribution
of first quality prasadam) open to all.
Since his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta, had extolled the superior effect of the brhat
mrdanga (the printing press for religious works, that could amplify the
"chanting of the Divine glories" and make it accessible to thousands of people
without limitations of space and time), Bhaktivedanta established the
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and produced a great number of books and publications,
including the magazine "Back to Godhead", also encouraging his followers to
write and express their own spiritual realizations from the specific angle of
perspective that each one of them had, due to their guna and karma.
The prasadam distribution program became very popular with the Western people,
and this developed the idea of opening vegetarian prasadam restaurants in
several cities.
Such "Hare Krsna restaurants" offered a number of benefits:
1. giving a legal protection to the prasadam distribution in Western countries
(where food production and distribution is strictly controlled by health and
trade organizations)
2. organizing the distribution in specific places and times, without
disrupting the other activities of the temple
3. creating a source of income for the society, that could support the temple
worship and other programs.
Bhaktivedanta established at least 100 temples with Deities of Radha Krsna and
Jagannatha (with an excellent worship standard), introduced the Ratha Yatra
festival in many big cities, and initiated thousands of disciples into the
tradition of Gaudiya vaisnavism, requiring a very strict discipline (minimum
number of mantra japa every day, strict vegetarian diet, no intoxication, no
illicit sex, no gambling etc).
Not one single follower/disciple was allowed to remain idle and live a
parasitic life in the name of "religiousness". Everybody had to work, and
Bhaktivedanta himself gave the example - from cooking and washing the pots, to
translating and producing books etc.
Bhaktivedanta's revolutionary vision of the varnasrama system also included
the establishment of self-sufficient farms and other enterprises (such as the
Spiritual Sky incense products etc), religious gift shops, gurukula schools, and
media (records, videos, etc) including musical and dramatic performances.
The philosophy presented by Bhaktivedanta in his books and lectures is
tailored in very simple terms for his Western followers so that they could grasp
the basic meaning of Sanatana Dharma.
The majority of those followers were largely under-qualified in regard to
education and intelligence, as well as practical abilities: they were mostly
collected among the hippie generation during the short span of 12 years (from
1965 to 1977).
The youngsters of that generation (generally born in USA in the period from
1945 to 1950) craved for new values and spiritual engagement, a paternal figure
and an alternative to the American society. Many had their brains burned by LSD
or other psychotropic substances, many had dropped out from school and family,
and had been living on the streets in protest against the Establishment.
At some point, Bhaktivedanta even said that some ill-motivated people had
infiltrated the movement because it was successfully challenging the "American
values".
Some of his disciples committed heavy blunders and went awry in many ways, and
each time Bhaktivedanta patiently corrected them (as long as he was present),
sometimes getting angry and disgusted at them, but never kicking anybody out
(which in my personal opinion might have been a mistake).
In any case, Bhaktivedanta died in 1977 without leaving any qualified
successor, and his half-baked disciples deviated in many ways from the vision of
the founder of Iskcon, mostly falling back into their cultural traps.
Kirtanananda immediately started by completely "Christianizing" his area,
having devotees dressed up like Christian monks, changing the Sanskrit prayers
into English translations, introducing a lavish personal worship of
Bhaktivedanta's image in the style of the Christian worship of Jesus (with
crowns etc), writing books about "Christ and Krsna". It seems he also absorbed
much of the Christian "ethic values" since intimidation and violence (up to
killing) was amply used against "dissidents". Kirtanananda was convicted of
murder (corpses were found in the foundations of some buildings at New
Vrindavan) and to my knowledge, he is still in US jail at present.
At each new generation of disciples (from 1977 to date) the deviations have
become more serious, and at present the situation is disastrous.
Most of the original disciples who had some realization and/or good sense have
been driven out from the organization, and many have joined various Gaudiya
mathas or started their own Missions. An effort to bring back the "Hare Krsna
movement" to the original vision of Bhaktivedanta is being made mostly by IRM
(Iskcon Reform Movement) and by the Prabhupada Society (headed by Kapindra Swami
and the "Prabhupadanugas").
However, the real problem (that seems so difficult to understand) is the lack
of vision - specifically, of the great picture.
The "vision" (drasta, darsana etc) of the great picture is exactly what
characterizes Sanatana Dharma.
The Abrahamic concept of Churches or sects (as in the various Protestant,
Orthodox and Catholic sects of Christianity, or the Shiite and Sunni Muslim
sects) is exactly the opposite of the vision of the Greater Picture.
It simply insists on denying the concept itself of a greater picture and gets
fractured more and more, in endless bickering over who has the "only absolute
truth" -- which for them is not the Greater Picture that encompasses and
reconciles all the relative truths, but the "best and only truth" that
successfully contradicts all other truths: usually by physically destroying
those who believe in such "rival truths".
It is also possible that infiltrated agents have actively steered the movement
into becoming a "Church" by taking advantage of the cultural tendencies and lack
of sastric knowledge of the mass of followers.
In any case, we observe today that Iskcon, like the Church(es), votes on
philosophical issues to decide the "official siddhanta" and then enforces it
with material means of control on its followers (like the Church Councils),
thunders against all other "heretics and enemies" and actively persecutes them,
papers up the huge ethical and criminal sins of their authorities, consistently
protects evil-doers and deviators by further victimizing their victims (see the
child sex abuse scandals), negates the importance of the individual relationship
with God (i.e. one can reach the Divine only through the priest system),
financially exploits its followers utilizing the funds to provide extravagant
luxury and material power to "renunciates", elects the gurus and controls them
(suspending or removing them if they fail to satisfy the central management
policies), and has an ecclesiastic hierarchy based on material power and
obedience. And political agendas, of course.
Originally Bhaktivedanta preached that "Lord Jesus was the son of God" because
he wanted his Christian American followers to listen to him and relate his
teachings to "religion".
However, he said (and wrote) very clearly that the Christians were not
following Jesus' teachings (something that could also be easily accepted by the
people he was talking to) and therefore instead of listening to the nonsense
propounded by the Christians, people should instead read Gita and Bhagavatam and
follow Krsna's instructions.
Unfortunately, many of his followers are/were overly attached to their
Christian background, and they tend(ed) to pick only what they like (i.e.
attachment to Jesus) and just forget the rest. Since there is no genuine
spiritual teacher around to correct the situation, things keep rolling down the
drain.
So what we can respect is not the present Iskcon, but the original vision
established by its founder, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Mixing up the two is
a huge mistake.
In conclusion:
Bhaktivinoda, Bhaktisiddhanta and Bhaktivedanta, like all other genuine
spiritual teachers, present the eternal and all-encompassing Truth of Vedic
knowledge according to the specific desa, kala and patra they are dealing with,
and to the specific "need of the hour".
Bogus teachers simply remain attached to the past and keep "fighting wars that
have long ended", when in fact they could simply open their eyes and have a look
around for a reality check, to find out where the battle really is.
Today, the Dharmic fight we must fight is against the aggression of the
evangelists and their "secular" supporters.
We now need to do exactly the opposite of what Bhaktivinoda did: we need to
DE-CHRISTIANIZE Hinduism.
Today India has no British rulers, and in Western countries millions of people
avidly read Gita and practice some Hindu sadhana. And they are getting so fed up
with the Churches that they are ready to embrace the "religion of the Yedi
knights" or Harry Potter or anything else.
This is having a profound and powerful impact on the academic and cultural
world, too (unfortunately, Indian intelligentsia seems not to be noticing as
they will remain the "last bastion" of Max Muller's opera omnia and the
Christian propaganda).
We need to bring back the Message to the Vedic roots, eliminating the
superfluous trappings that have been used to decorate it in the past. Like old
flower garlands, such decorations have wilted and rotten, and have become a
source of disgust rather than beautification.
What we need to do first of all is understanding which is decoration and which
is the basis - the structure - that needs to remain.
PKD
---- Original Message ----
How did ISKCON get mixed up with Jesus? Also why do they border on
being
monotheistic? I have a deep regard for ISKCON but this certainly
baffles me.
Regards
Siva Charan<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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