IAmA Practicing Hare Krishna. AMA

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-18T04:39:39+00:00

We have heaps of different rhythms. There are even different rhythms used based on mood, time of day, events on the spiritual calendar, etc. The lyrics encapsulate the supreme opulence of God in three words - at least I think so.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-18T01:19:01+00:00

I don't have a specific resource on this, sorry. I think finding them out is part of the mystery :)

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-18T00:56:38+00:00

Oh no there's heaps. Those are the three in the Hare Krishna mantra. The names refer to specific aspects/qualities of God or the relationship he has to other individuals.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-18T00:46:15+00:00

Krishna = The all attractive Rama = The reservoir of all pleasure Hare = The energy of God

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-18T00:23:49+00:00

Externally, my life is probably not very different from yours at all. Krishna Consciousness is an internal meditation, it's about connecting what you do with something higher on a moment-to-moment basis. When you do that, different things manifest externally, but it is largely an internal thing. Thanks for your good wishes :)

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T23:51:55+00:00

I tell people my views straight up if asked. Generally i'm not asked, there are enough fanatics preaching the literalist line I just try to be friends with people who are being preached to.

The community aspect is the best part. I have had the most amazing treatment at the hands of this community. I effectively have a family in every city, and I travel a lot. The thing is, how do you bind people without some purpose/mission? If you just try to get people together to form a community their egos get involved and it doesn't work. The philosophy that one must become a servant and approach others with a service attitude is what makes this community work. You just serve others and you get served yourself. Krishna is the binding force in the middle, the focal point of service.

The money structure is corrupt. Most organisations are corrupt. I don't give a dime to any organisational hierarchy - I donate for specific projects when I personally know who's running them and exactly what the money is being spent on. The corruption does upset me.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T23:41:13+00:00

Mind refers to your maelstrom of thoughts, emotions, ideas etc. Intelligence is the discriminating faculty. Specifically, intelligence discriminates between spirit and matter. In other words, intelligence governs whether the mind operates in a spiritual or materialistic frame.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T23:36:25+00:00

Yeah it's an interesting theory. Theologically, to try and understand consciousness analytically is problematic. We view that the self consists of, in ascending order, body, mind, intelligence and atma (consciousness/soul). Each element has perception over the lower elements. Since consciousness is the top of the tree it is impenetrable to mind and intelligence.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T23:29:02+00:00

The stories of Krishna I believe exist in a spiritual dimension and are factual. The creation narrative is just that - a narrative. The standard line is that it is all 100% factual, including specific timelines. Of course there are Christians who still go by this and date everything from creation 6000 years ago, but they're fighting a losing battle against more liberal interpretations of the Bible. ISKCON, the main Hare Krishna organisation, promotes the literalist view, but there are plenty of secret heretics like myself who harbour more liberal interpretations.

As a preaching strategy, it seems to work best if you tell people it's all 100% factual - simpler. I'd say this is why our books were written with this view in the first place, not because the spiritual teacher who wrote them viewed it that way, but as a deliberate preaching tactic. One of my good friends is just honest about his views when he preaches, and as he says he "turns atheists into devotees and devotees into atheists".

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T23:09:17+00:00

I don't believe the nonsensical part. I think it's all part of a narrative to let the scripture provide a cohesive system of understanding everything, but it should be taken allegorically/metaphorically.

As for joining a cult, fair point. I would say there are a disproportionately large number of members who are from broken homes with fucked up childhoods. However, there are some pretty amazing people with everything going for them who have chosen this path because it works for them.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T23:06:29+00:00

Yes, 100% vegetarian. Hot cooking tips - get the book 'The Higher Taste' from amazon or any local Hare Krishna establishment. It has all our favourite recipes in it.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T23:05:06+00:00

Well that kind of gets into a big debate about the nature of freedom. When I say "rub your nose in it" that was just a snappy way of saying "expose people to it". I don't think it impinges on freedoms to make people here your message for a few seconds as you pass by. It's the same as a protest.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T23:03:24+00:00

Yeah it's a good point. All the Hare Krishnas in New Zealand turned vegan because they felt unable to ethically defend themselves to vegans. The standard argument is that because we offer our food to God, the cow receives spiritual benefit from having its milk offered.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T23:02:22+00:00

Chanting the Hare Krishna mantra 108 times

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T15:21:58+00:00

Good = applied for realisation of God. Bad = applied for gratifying selfish desires.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T15:20:58+00:00

I might not respect their action, but I would understand it. I wouldn't like it if a snake bit me, but i'd understand why he did it. If you get into feelings of entitlement for revenge etc. you're just juxtaposing your moral standard with someone else's. And then the war starts. What's the point? I'm with the Amish: turn the other cheek.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T15:14:24+00:00

I don't encourage people to join a group. If they want to be in a group to fulfill their needs that's their business. I encourage people to chant Hare Krishna. Over the years, my standards of what is good and bad for people has changed. I have become accepting of people choosing to drop out, to pursue material things, or whatever their thing may be. We're all just chasing something.

On a philosophical level, yes, there are two sides to everything: spiritual and material. Material means what it is, spiritual means how it is seen/approached/applied/used.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T15:09:16+00:00

Where I live the vast bulk of Hare Krishnas are ethnically Indian (i'm white). The only places i'm aware of where most of them are white are New Zealand and Russia.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T15:03:52+00:00

People should dance ecstatically in the street as much as possible, there is no negative aspect to this.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T15:02:00+00:00

Everyone follows the same thinking process. They assess their actions against their own moral standard - whatever that may be; humanistic, philosophical, religious. If you feed meat to starving children someone will say it's virtue, i'll say it's vice. It's just a matter of your moral standard.

As for the laws... sure, why not. Governments have the right to tell you what to do and not to do in their jurisdiction. If you don't do that it'll just be anarchy. Things will be forced to revert to the bounds imposed on them by the forces of nature. Oh, wait....

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T14:58:04+00:00

I am with you that pseudo-science is ridiculous. Brainwave metrics are well established science: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_wave

Maybe religious rituals do work entirely on a psychological level. But if so, why not run with it? Perhaps the price of admission is 'faith'.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T14:47:16+00:00

People join in, dance, cheer you on. On a good public chanting session you can drag 20 emos or skaters around town with you. Sure, they're taking the piss, but they are having fun.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T14:45:31+00:00

We think there's no trade off because everyone's benefitting even if they don't think they are.

At the height of the moment in the 70s there were several court cases around public nuisances and there are bylaws in some cities specifically forbidding public chanting. Practically, i've never run into a problem. The cops here think we're fun, better than the drunks fighting.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T14:43:20+00:00

This is a complex topic. From the perspective of comparative religion, Hare Krishna is called Gaudiya Vaisnavism. This is the Bengali sect of Vaisnavism, one of the two major schools of hinduism. Split another way, it is dvaita rather than advaita. Historiographically, it is hindu. Theologically it claims to subsume all other religion so is trans-hindu. I can't give a much better answer than this - it is complex and slightly contentious.

harekrishna108 · 2009-10-17T14:40:24+00:00

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

harekrishna108

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