archives

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

- George Bernard Shaw

Of course you can be sensitive in how you do it - but at the end of the day there has to be an uncompromising core.

A comment from an Atma regular. Interesting food for thought.

Cheers Sita-pati,

Seeing that I can't find your direct email this will have to do. Please excuse the candour but that is how I operate:

Taking a strengths based approach of what little I know of the Hare Krishna movement the following seems apparent:

Hare Krishnas are known due to their distinctive dress, topknots and the practice of Harinam (?). In this sense their are instantly noticeable if they recieve press coverage. This distinctive appearance has both positive and negative aspects. The positive being the instant recognition or branding if you will, the negative being that Harinam would tend to bewilder the vast majority of the public or possibly annoy them (pop culture references i.e. flying high, GTA).

In many ways you are dealing with what might be defined as cultural gap – the distinctive and alien appearance may attract social fringe dwellers but it is unlikely to attract people in significant numbers, and may in fact scare them off. This is why Atma is such a positive step in offering the Gita to a greater number of people as ‘yoga’ and healthy eating (i.e. organic) are considered positive and worthwhile by a growing number of people (particularly when the food is so bloody delicious). Yoga has been mainstreamed and organic is well and truly on the way if not already there. Chanting the name of a culturally foreign God on the street is not. Even the Salvos stopped adhoc public street marches with accompanying brass bands some time ago. I imagine it was considered detrimental to their broader aims.

As stated previously if Vishnu/Krishna is a universal God is dressing like an Indian essential or is it posturing. It may prove appropriate for religious service (like a priest/pastor) but may be excessive otherwise. Toning this down to the Tulsi and Tilak may be effective. Both are viable and relatively unobtrusive symbols of your faith that are aesthetically appealing and not threatening to the man and women in the street. They are more likely to inspire curiosity than ridicule or confusion.

Even though I am philosophically a Polytheist (Yep! I am a Heathen) and Impersonalist and do not support the KC (Krishna Consciousness) position , I can see that as we discussed previously the most appropriate model for the KC is an appropriate remodelling of the Christian approach to outreach for the following reasons:

KC seems to have many similarities to certain Christian churches: monotheism, ecstatic dancing/singing, sexual abstinence or control, an emphasis on non-violence, a focus on the family unit, the divine coming to earth in human form, a focus on a single scripture, universalism and missionary drive.

Self Realization (Krishna Consciousness) and Self-Unreality ("Self-ish" ness) are mutually exclusive.

Don't let anyone fool you that you can have both.