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The Hare Krishna Hare Krishna The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is the religious organization for devotees of Krishna, who is a reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. Their religion is commonly known as Hare Krishna. The roots of the faith can be traced to 5000 years ago in a village in India called Vrindavana. That day was called the advent of Krishna.
There was a battle going on between a man named Arjuna and his own friends and family. The story says that Arjuna lost his composure because he was overwhelmed at the pointlessness of the battle. He sunk in the seat of the chariot that he was in and Krishna, who played the role of the charioteer, spoke the words that have come together as Bhagavad-Gita. Krishna spoke about the meaning of life, the subtle workings of creation, and the understanding of a self-realized soul. He spoke about yoga and its four forms.
He told Arjuna that he was the source of everything, the eternal form of the supreme, and the personality of godhead. This is how the worshipping of Krishna alone got started. The belief in Krishna was revived in the 16 th century by a man named Caitanya Mahapruabu, who was considered an incarnation of Krishna. His teachings would be passed down through a line of gurus. The founder of ISKCON, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, was a disciple of one of the gurus.
He left India at the age of 69 and came to the United States to spread his beliefs about Krishna. He organized ISKCON in 1965. He started out in a bad part of New York City, selling incense and some of his books. It grew as he wrote more books and published a magazine, Back to the Godhead. Followers would sell the writings on the streets, in airports, and anywhere else they could get people to buy them. Prabhupada died in 1977, but he appointed eleven commissioners who were assigned to accept disciples and extend the organization into different countries of the world.
That is how Hare Krishna spread to America. The main god is Krishna. Hindus believe that Krishna is the 8 th reincarnation of Vishnu. Hare Krishna's believe that Krishna is the supreme lord over all deities, including Vishnu. Their source of teachings comes from the Hindu poem Bhagavad-Gita. Every idea and teaching comes from that.
The central ideas of the poem are that Krishna is the supreme and how one can please him. There are many other ideas and teachings that go along with Krishna. Hare Krishna's believe in reincarnation. They view death as a transition from one body to the next.
Another core of their beliefs is the rejection of the four pillars of sinful life. They are meat eating, intoxication, illicit sex, and gambling. They believe eating meat is violent and avoid meat, fish, and eggs. Intoxicants include drugs, liquor, coffee, tea, and cigarettes. Sex is solely for the purpose of having children when two people are married. Those are the most common beliefs of Hare Krishna's.
Hare Krishna's worship in temples around the world. Sunday feasts, school programs, devotee training, and a regulated temple program are some basic elements of temple life. Part of worship is chanting mantras. They will chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare over and over again.
They believe that they are addressing the energy of god and are coming in touch with Krishna. There are nine processes of devotional service for Hare Krishna's. The processes are: hearing about god; chanting god s names; remembering god by associating with devotees and reading; serving lord Krishna in the temple; worshipping god by bringing others to see him, decorating the lord, and food preparation; praying to god; encouraging others to chant god s names; develop a personal relationship with god; and giving everything, including their bodies, to god. The predicament that a Hare Krishna is in is he or she is not one with Krishna and is stuck in the cycle of birth and death. They will continue the cycle of reincarnations, also called samsara, until they reach the kingdom of god. Their actions will determine how long they will have to reincarnate until they reach that goal and reach Krishna consciousness.
There are seven set points describing the goals of the Krishna consciousness movement that were set up by Srila Prabhupada. The first is to systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large, and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life, in order to check the imbalance of values in life, an to achieve real unity and peace in the world. The second is to propagate consciousness of Krishna, as it is revealed in Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavat am. The third is to bring the members of Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, thus developing the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Krishna). The fourth is to teach and encourage the sankirtan movement, congregational chanting of the holy names of God, as revealed in the teachings of lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The fifth is to erect for the members and for society at large holy places of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the personality of Krishna.
The sixth is to bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler, more natural way of life. The last point is with a view toward achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, books, and other writings. They reach these goals by devoting themselves to Krishna. Hare Krishna temples are found around the world. There are large temples in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. The ISKCON headquarters is located in Los Angeles.
The closest temple at the time is in Chicago. There is also many temples found in Europe. Hare Krishna looks similar to Christianity, but their ultimate teachings are completely different. Like Christianity, Hare Krishna is monotheistic.
Krishna is their only god. Obviously, they worship the wrong god. God speaks to Christians through the bible. Hare Krishna's believe that their god speaks to them through the Bhagavad-Gita. Hare Krishna's believe that hell is only a temporary place where bad people go. We know that once a person is condemned to hell, they are there for eternity.
They base their salvation on good works. Christians know that Jesus saved us and He is our salvation. Hare Krishna's offer sacrifices to Krishna, but Christians stopped offering sacrifices when Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament laws so they were not necessary anymore. Hare Krishna's also believe that they will keep on reincarnating until they reach eternal life with Krishna, but Christians know that when they die they go to heaven.
ISKCON has had many accusations thrown at them. One woman sued them for brainwashing her. Although she did not win, it brought negative publicity to the organization. They were also banned from soliciting their publications in airports, which was a main location they used to spread their teachings. Although some aspects of Hare Krishna are appealing, the end result for those who follow Krishna is sad and should make anyone think twice about ISKCON.
Bibliography Emails from leader of temple at Chicago... Hare Krishna. web (16 Nov. 1999). Hare Krishna.
Microsoft Encarta. CD-ROM Redmond: Microsoft Corporation, 1999. ISKCON. web jan 8 x / soc 257 /hare. html
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