Hare Krishna devotees in front of St. Thomas Episcopal church
on Fifth Avenue at 53rd Street, 1973.
on Fifth Avenue at 53rd Street, 1973.
The Hare Krishna Sect.
The hare Krishna hare Rama mantra is a great mantra, for it has only three words in it. When we discover the hidden meaning of these three words, then the mantra can have great benefit for our spiritual practice in daily life. But the mantra be confused with the Hare Krishna sect, for they were very public in promoting it. That sect is strange, and some dismiss it as ‘a cult’.
So there is a danger that some people might be unable to be at ease with the hare Krishna hare Rama mantra, or even reject it. Not because of the mantra, but because of a particular group of people.
This would be a great loss, for the mantra is a good one. Many Kirtan musicians who have nothing to do with that sect sing this mantra. Some offer good quality recordings of them.
So let me discuss the Hare Krishna sect, for I had much to do with them in the 1990’s. It is properly called the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON for short.
I often attended their Sunday meetings in Perth in the early 1990’s, along with many of my friends. Perhaps they went because the Hari’s, as we called them, offered a good vego meal after the talk and chanting, by donation, or for free. Working for Krishna is part of the religious obligations of the devotees. And we were very poor. The sect was well respected in my social circle, although only one of us could actually join it.
I went to these Sunday gatherings because I enjoyed the atmosphere. They had a very impressive basement temple in Perth CBD (between Murray and Wellington Sts, near the railway station). It was accessed by a dirty, dark alley way, complete with rubbish bins and feral cats, and I enjoyed the contrast. Unfortunately this very opulent temple was too expensive to keep, and I was told later that the debt troubled the devotees for years after.
I often went to the Hare Krishna restaurant in Northbridge, Perth for lunch, partly because I could nearly always find one of my friends there. Also because it was an eatery that I felt comfortable at, and had a suggestion of spirituality. They always offer the food to Krishna first, before it goes to the customers. The restaurant was also cheap – about twice the price of the train fare.
I have long been familiar with the teachings of their Founder, Bhakti-vedanta Prabhupada. I write about this sect because I have never been impressed by Prabhupada’s teachings, not now as I read a borrowed copy, nor 45 years ago when I first read them. The Krishna devotees were very keen to distribute copies of their books, almost giving them away.
Therefore, “The Bhagavad Gita, as it is”, by Prabhupada, is probably the most widely printed English version of this famous scripture. I found Prabhupada’s presentation so unattractive that I could not bring myself to read this important scripture for two years after I started teaching Kirtan in Bundaberg, Qld.
But this was no problem to me in the 1990’s. I enjoyed jumping up and down and getting excited with the devotees. I did not want to know what the hare Krishna, hare Rama mantra meant, it remained just a sound that I was happy to chant with the others on (some) Sundays. For their meetings were chanting, not real music like Pralad and these other professional Kirtan musicians.
It also shows the importance of being able to modify the translations by eminent scholars like Prabhupada. For this reason, I offer a new translation of selections of the Bhagavad Gita on this website.
