Racism in ISKCON?

[krsna]

 

 

 

BY: MAHAVIDYA DAS ACBSP

 

 

 

 

May 05, ENGLAND (SUN) — A reply to Suresh Das's post on Chakra.</I>

 

 

 

I read with interest

Suresh das's comments

on the Hindufication of ISKCON. Does he still have the image of racism as being nasty folks with pointy hoods burning crosses on members of the oppressed slaves patch of dirt.

 

 

Before he uses the race card he should know this particular mode of ignorance is not confined to any one particular race or group. Anyone who has travelled the world can very easily point out the various tribal natures within any group or sub group. Try visiting Africa and see how they beat on each other, or try India or England. However in ISKCON we are supposed to rise above such mundane bodily conceptions, are we not?

 

 

Well here is a true documentable story for you.

 

 

Recently a major newspaper, THE INDEPENDANT, came to Bhaktivedanta Manor. They wanted to run an article about a Hindu school about to be built in Harrow. No problem -- after all, the Manor consistently promotes itself as having Hindu festivals, Hindu worshipers, car blessings et al.

 

 

Ok, so then it came to the school photo of some of those Hindu kids, but uuh ohh, we have a problem, well some of those kids obviously cannot be Hindus. Why is that? Well, they are the wrong colour… er, wrong race.

 

 

The newspaper could have been told to go elsewhere but, no problem, said the Temple management. We will take out the white kids -- in fact, we will take out the black kid as well. There you go, nice brown Asian Hindu kids. And so the newspaper got its Hindu school picture, which was proudly posted on the Manor notice board.

 

 

However some of the kids being a bit sharper went home asking mum and dad for an explanation of why they could not be in the school photo? Some of the parents complained. What sort of a response do you think they got? Apparently they were not enlightened or humble enough to see the wisdom of the temple management. I asked the temple PR department to intervene, apologise and diffuse the situation. This was the reply: "anyway in the published black and white photoes in the Independant one can hardly tell who is white , brown etc." .

 

So Suresh Das, just who do you think is the racist? How about if the brown kids had been excluded? ALL of this is documentable. Yes, we do have the highest philosophy, but unfortunately the worst application. Of course, we are told that to critisice is a great sin, but that is another story.

 

 

[Guest guest]

unreal. The largest hindu magazine in the world is published by a group a white monks in Hawaii. Gurus from India have devotees of all races. And millions around the world are interested in Yoga and Vedanta. So why would anyone still think hinduism is tribal religion for a few indians? People need to learn and see that hinduism has spread out all over the world and has people of all races, who consider themselves hindu.

[theist]

"...car blessings"??? WT*

 

Take out the white and black kids? Seems Prabhupada's temple has been turned into front for earning Hindu dollars.

 

What a shame.

[suchandra]

The background is that the school is funded by 10-million pounds of British government money and they obviously cant spoil it by leaving a mark that this new Hindu school might recruit kids away from Chtistianity - the religion of the host country, whose taxpayers pay for that school. Therefore they suggest that the school is rather a Hindu-ghetto where the Hindus exist happily under one umbrella. What disturbs is that Iskcon maneuvers into such kind of financial dependency to teach in that public school a government alleged curriculum of general education - now other Hindu groups like Maharishi-Yogi Foundation and Satya-Saibava Cooperation also claim to send their teachers to present their mayavadha interpretation of Bhagavad-gita to the innocent kids. Not really worthwhile.

What we can learn, if you start compromizing your pure bhagavat-dharma, you quickly find yourself entangled into more and more compromizing till at the end nothing is left. That's how this material energy functions.

 

Krishna rap: Yes, its time has come

[gHari]

I found the original article infinitely more valuable and worth my time. This response however, I kept wondering how someone could get motivated enough to write so much about such a non-issue.

[krsna]

*************The reality is we have a nice movement, beautiful temples, fabulous books, strict rules and regulations, but a shortage of enlightenment, happiness, kindness, and integrity which is truly what is needed now to make the movement grow. **************

 

Spot on!

[Guest guest]

 

The background is that the school is funded by 10-million pounds of British government money and they obviously cant spoil it by leaving a mark that this new Hindu school might recruit kids away from Chtistianity - the religion of the host country, whose taxpayers pay for that school.

 

whites = christianity? I don't think Christianity is a Jewish, middle eastern religion. The original religions of Europe were far from abrahamic. And the druids who lived in the area of the Brits, believed in reincarnation and many other things that made them far closer to Hinduism, than Judaism.

[Guest guest]

 

whites = christianity? I don't think Christianity is a Jewish, middle eastern religion. The original religions of Europe were far from abrahamic. And the druids who lived in the area of the Brits, believed in reincarnation and many other things that made them far closer to Hinduism, than Judaism.

 

the point is. Whites do not = Christian anymore than Indians = Hindu.

 

.

[Guest guest]

paganism is relatively close to Hinduism