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Faith & Fear — The Children of Krishna (2001) explores one of the darkest secrets of ISKCON in the 1970s and 80s — the abandonment and abuse of children raised as Hare Krishnas. This documentary combines in-depth interviews with exclusive archival footage to explore the history of the Hare Krishna movement and the experiences of the students in its gurukul boarding schools.
The Hare Krishnas. Known to many for their shaved heads, saffron robes and airport solicitation, the Krishnas were mainstays ..read more
ABC Television Australia just produced this program “Whatever Happened to the Hare Krishnas?” and it reminded me that almost twenty years ago I wrote a small book with the same title. So I have fond a copy of that old book and posted it on this website with the new ABC television program.
Upon re-reading my book from twenty years ago I find that it is still very relevant and interesting, even for me. Of course it was written twenty years ..read more
This website is dedicated to the Founder and Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who has dedicated his life to giving us, the fallen conditioned souls, a chance to achieve the greatest goal. He presented the timeless Vedic texts of India in English so clearly and unambiguously that even we, the most sinful and fallen persons, have a chance to understand the topmost goal of human life… To develop pure love ..read more
I offer my respectful obeisances to my eternal spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He has saved me from the repeated cycle of birth and death in this material world and enabled me to have a slight glimpse of the beautiful cowherd boy, Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This little glimpse has enabled me to leave behind the mundane aspirations and desires I had previously and in some small way to enjoy the nectar available through ..read more
Even a person with no knowledge can immediately acquire all knowledge simply by the benediction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Therefore I am praying to the Lord for His causeless mercy upon me.
I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Krishna Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the horizon of Gauda to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all.
Glory to the all-merciful Radha and Madana-Mohana! ..read more
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu desired this chanting of Hare Krishna and dancing in ecstasy be spread all over the world, in fact he predicted that one day the whole world will dance in ecstasy to this chanting of Hare Krishna. Until His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada left India for the United States in 1965 no one in India could imagine how the prediction of Lord Caitanya could come true.
In 1965 at the age of sixty nine, Srila Prabhupada traveled ..read more
The purpose of this Krishna consciousness movement is to keep our minds constantly on Krishna. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and He is a person…
Receiving Krishna consciousness means receiving light. People are exhausted with the materialistic way of life especially in the West. Now the Krishna consciousness movement is giving new life to Western society… The great souls are always chanting about Krishna. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare ..read more
The success of ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness) was a direct result of Srila Prabhupada’s devotion, determination, purity and intelligence, however, he was a soul completely surrendered to Krishna. He depended completely on Krishna. So ISKCON succeeded because Srila Prabhupada was totally dedicated to the order of his spiritual master and Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada was the force behind ISKCON but the thousands of young boys and girls who surrendered to him and accepted him as their spiritual master were ..read more
Two American Airlines jets were unloading at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, the world’s busiest. I watched eight Krishnas gather eagerly to meet a crowd of passengers.
As the first stream of travelers came through, I observed tall Gadapati hold out his hand toward a sailor, and wondered how far he would get.
“Hi buddy, welcome to Chicago.” From Gadapati’s manner, one might have thought he had been sent by the Mayor himself. A lonely kid in a strange city, the young sailor seemed ..read more
The success of Srila Prabhupada’s preaching and his increasing number of temples and disciples all over the world caused some of his godbrothers (other disciples of Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master) in India to become envious of him and his society.
Some of Srila Prabhupada’s godbrothers did not approve of his preaching work in the West. Srila Prabhupada had only a relatively small amount of direct association with his spiritual master and spent very little time living ..read more
As the Hare Krishna movement grew Srila Prabhupada handed over much of the management to a body of devotees he had formed called the Governing Body Commission (GBC). He wanted the GBC to take over management responsibilities to enable him to spend more time on his most important project, writing his translations and purports on the Srimad Bhagavatam and other literatures.
Unfortunately there were differences of opinion among GBC members leading to arguments and fights. But more importantly, the GBC often ..read more
Before Srila Prabhupada left his body he named some disciples who could give ritvik initiation (accepting Srila Prabhupada’s disciples on his behalf). These devotees could chant on the beads and initiate new devotees, but these new devotees would be disciples of Srila Prabhupada, not their disciples. Tamal Krishna, Prabhupada’s secretary at that time, outlined the whole procedure in a letter sent to all temple presidents four months before Srila Prabhupada left his body.
However, when Srila Prabhupada left his body ..read more
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada disappeared from our mundane vision in 1977. This event caused dramatic changes within the Hare Krishna movement.
The first thing was, as Srila Prabhupada was no longer physically present, who would initiate the new devotees? Many of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples had the desire to become gurus, but they were not qualified gurus. Guru is not a cheep thing. Many devotees were attracted by the fame, adoration, profit and distinction which accompany the position ..read more
With the “zonal acarya” system in tatters due to the fall of many of the so-called acaryas the GBC established a new system allowing any disciple initiated by Srila Prabhupada to apply to become a guru. This considerably increased the number of gurus in ISKCON, but did nothing to solve the problems resulting from the “zonal acarya” days.
The qualification for becoming a guru in ISKCON now seems to be something of a political matter between the local temple authorities ..read more
Srila Prabhupada was convinced the problems within ISKCON could not be solved until every devotee was chanting sixteen rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, rising early to attend the 4:30am Mangal Arati ceremony, following strictly the four regulative principles and being fully engaged 24 hours a day in serving Krishna. He was so convinced of this that he made it the prime duty of all GBC members to see in their respective zones all devotees in all temples came ..read more
“One Krishna book sold means we go forward one step in our Krishna consciousness. We should always remember this.”
Through the distribution of this literature, we can completely annihilate all the bogus yogi groups in the world. Of this fact I am sure. Therefore there is no need for us to directly attack these charlatans but simply by this distribution of books the sunlight of Krishna consciousness will prevail. (to Ramesvara 14 February, 1973)
My first concern is that my books shall ..read more
