‘The Hare Krishna Movement’ – ‘The Post Charismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant.’
The first time I came across references to, ‘The Hare Krishna Movement’ – ‘The Post Charismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant’, edited by Edwin F. Bryant & Maria Ekstrand, was in ‘Forty Years of Chant and Change’, a book published last year by Iskcon UK. I checked it out on Amazon at that time, but only managed to order it just over a week ago. Since then I’ve been absorbed in reading the many fascinating, informative and sometimes challenging essays that have been collected by the editors, to create this unique compendium, that focuses on the fate of ‘The Hare Krishna Movement’ after the passing of A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami in November 1977. The editors have gone to great lengths to ensure that as many sides and voices of the complex Krishna phenomena as possible could be covered in a 430 page scholarly volume.
Over the last three years I’ve been working on my own autobiographical project ‘Between Worlds’ – ‘The problem with being Mathura das’, with a major chunk of it concerning my personal involvement with Iskcon between 1973- 80, and my passionate interest in general with the historical, philosophical and sociological Krishna phenomena that I have been a part of and am still inextricably involved with as a major contributing factor towards me being ‘Mathura das’. I therefore desperately needed to read this comprehensive volume for my personal research needs, as many of the contentious issues and anomalies raised in this unique compendium are the same as, or similar to the ones I’ve had to face, or that have come up through writing my own persona account of things, and also through my interest in general with exploring the broader historical context of the modern Krishna Movement.
The scope and range of issues attended to by the twenty nine authors in ‘The Hare Krishna Movement’, is so vast that I will not attempt at this stage to give a comprehensive review but rather just some short comments to possibly inspire others to get hold of a copy via Amazon and read it for themselves.
The editors have divided the book into six sections;
Book, Hare Krishna, Perspectives, Review, Uncategorized, spiritual
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Bhaktivedanta, Facebook, Gaudiya, Gurukula, Hare Krishna, Iskon, Krishna Consciousness, Vaishnava
I’ve just returned to my Himalayan retreat in Mussoorie from a wonderful short trip to Vrindavana, the earthly playground of Sri Krishna and His bhakta’s (devotees). While there I happened to meet up with Satyaraja das (Steven Rosen) a prodigious devotee writer and publisher whom I was in communication with 20 years ago when I was coordinating the music department at the Mayapur Gurukula in West Bengal four hours north of Calcutta. Somehow or other we lost contact, but I have been avidly following his progress as a prolific writer, editor, publisher and communicator of Vaishnavism and Gaudiya Vaishnava culture through his unique and brilliant biannual publication the ‘Journal of Vaishnava Studies’.
Apart from editing and publishing these brilliant compendiums by academic scholars, he’s published 22 books dealing with interfaith conversations, ‘Om Shalom’ – ‘East West Dialogue’ and with other various topical subjects such as, ‘Vegetarianism in World Religions – ‘The Reincarnation Controversy’- ‘Vedic Archeology’, as well as his well researched, readable and informative short summaries on the lives of Sri Chaitanya and other influential saints in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. In fact Satyaraja far excels other contemporary writers that deal with these fascinating subjects, not just by the vast range of pertinent topics that he covers, but also by the accessible manner with which he is able to convey complex theological and historical ideas to both students of religion, scholars and lay readers alike.
So I was excited to find out through my old friend Kiran that he was in Vrindavana on a rare visit from New York, as well as having copies of his latest books, ‘The Yoga of Kirtan’, ‘Holy Cow’ and a new edition of ‘Journal of Vaishnava Studies’. We had a wonderful long chat over refreshments in the MVT restaurant along with our mutual friend Kiran, about all sorts of fascinating subjects, especially his timely new publication on the rapidly expanding popularity of Kirtan in the Western yoga world.
‘The Yoga of Kirtan’, ‘Conversations on the Sacred Art of Chanting’, is a collection of interviews with some of the most prominent kirtan and devotional singers in the Western World of Yoga. Satyaraja manages to skillfully direct the interviews in a format that allows the twenty one singers to tell the very personal and revealing journeys that led them to become chanters and singers of sacred sound. By telling their individual stories we get to hear all the amazing and varied ways in which spiritual seekers interact with the divine presence. Some are mature adepts in their 50’s and 60’s and a few are younger, representing a new generation of children born to parents who adopted yogic practices in the 60’s and 70’s. Due to these fascinating personal and historical anecdotes the book oozes the wonderful quality of human warmth through a revealing honesty and humility that seems to pervade and unify all the twenty one approaches expressed here.
Continue reading 'A book review of ‘The Yoga of Kirtan’ by Steven Rosen'»
India, Review, Yoga, kirtan
| Advaita, bhajan, Chaitanya, Chanting, Deva Premal & Miten, Gaudiya, Gurus, Iskcon, Jai Uttal, kirtan, Krishna, Krishna das, Mayapur, Muktananda, Osho, Prabhupada, Ram das, Satyaraja, Vaishnavism, Vaiyasaki, Vegetarianism, Vrindavana, Yoga
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