05-21-2005, 05:17 AM
My very limited experiences with ISKCON have so far been on the positive side. I like the books and the paintings etc. ISKCON has done great work in making Vaishnava litearture available all over the world in nicely edited and illustrated form.
I had a curious interaction once. One of the pretty intellectual (high degrees in CS) swami type from ISKCON gave a series of lectures on science and spirituality. First two lectures were pretty good. The scientific spirit was there to see. But the 3rd lecture left me reeling. The whole scintific part was folded up and dumped. The transformation in the nature of the lectures was startling. He started listing his 'beliefs'. And he went like this:
We believe that there is a planet called Vaikuntha where Krishna lives.
....
We believe human mind has antimatter in it
...
Well, he translated 'Loka' into a planet, and non-material; became antimatter. But planets and antimatter mean very specific things in science. Mixing them up like that was pretty startling for me, especially since it came from an intellectual scientist type. Also the 'We believe' type cut and dry statements.felt like listening to a televangelical show than a Hinduism discourse.
In clothing, paintings, bhajans, books ISKCON is more Indian than Indians. But in religion per se it often seems to have a striking non-Indian character too.
I had a curious interaction once. One of the pretty intellectual (high degrees in CS) swami type from ISKCON gave a series of lectures on science and spirituality. First two lectures were pretty good. The scientific spirit was there to see. But the 3rd lecture left me reeling. The whole scintific part was folded up and dumped. The transformation in the nature of the lectures was startling. He started listing his 'beliefs'. And he went like this:
We believe that there is a planet called Vaikuntha where Krishna lives.
....
We believe human mind has antimatter in it
...
Well, he translated 'Loka' into a planet, and non-material; became antimatter. But planets and antimatter mean very specific things in science. Mixing them up like that was pretty startling for me, especially since it came from an intellectual scientist type. Also the 'We believe' type cut and dry statements.felt like listening to a televangelical show than a Hinduism discourse.
In clothing, paintings, bhajans, books ISKCON is more Indian than Indians. But in religion per se it often seems to have a striking non-Indian character too.