‘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
Keeping in touch with the rest of the world from 6000 ft in the Himalayas with a weak internet connection is not always easy. But somehow we are managing to keep abreast of developments back home in the UK and abroad. Darren has moved Sangita Sounds Studios down to Glastonbury in the West Country and has been settling in over the last couple of months during the festive season and snowy spell you’ve been having in Europe this winter.
Here in the Himalayas we are blessed with warm sunny days as the rest of North India shivers under a dense blanket of fog stretching for thousands on miles from the far West below Kashmir, all the way to Bengal in the East.
The massive Haridwar Kumbha Mela festival only 3 hours away, has already started with the first main bathing day of Maha Sankranti on the 15th Jan. attracting millions of pilgrims. The next important bathing days are on the 15th Feb. and 15th March, which is the most important day of the three month long festival, and are on Amavasya’s (days of the dark moon). There has been a lot of tension this year from the local Govt. and police of Uttarakhand due to the fear of terrorist attacks and in providing enough power and facilities for the millions expected. Haridwara Kumba Mela is quite a different set up from the Allahabad Kumba, having it’s own set of unimaginable human logistics to contend with. I have been to 3 major Kumb’s and one Aradh Kumbh(half) and spent weeks at both of the two major locations, the other two being Nasik and Ujjain. This year I’ll probably pop in for a couple of days around the 15th March to capture some visuals on my Kodak HD Zi6 camera for our Sangita Sounds video archive.
I’ve also been making progress with my autobiographical project ‘Between Worlds’ focusing on the events of 1978 when I was still a full time member of the ‘Hare Krishna Movement’ and the dramatic sequence of events which proceeded the passing of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the founder of Iskcon in Nov. 77 which I was also fortunate to witness. There are very few, if any personal descriptions of this important historical period involving the tricky transition of power in Iskcon and the calamities that followed in it’s wake. I’ve been sitting through the winter months here at Mussoorie in my cozy pad, reliving those events and describing what actually happened and how it affected me personally and the lives of thousands of others at the time. But the ramifications of those turbulent events are now being felt by millions throughout the world due to the vast expanse of the Krishna phenomena that was instigated and inspired by HDG. Srila Prabhupada. I hope to do justice and bear witness to the truth and reality as seen and experienced by me and share that with anyone who is interested in the story of Iskcon, social religious history and a personalised account of how and why it happened and what it all possibly means for us 2010 and beyond.
That’s all for now folks. Must dash.
Peace & Love
Mathura das
Image Credit : Dirk Hartung
Festival, India, Mela, Perspectives, spiritual
| Amavasya, Between Worlds, Hare Krishna, Himalayas, Iskcon, Krishna, Kumbha Mela, Prabhupada
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