Monday, August 07, 2006
Hare Krishna Coming of Age
The Beatle George Harrison sang about it:
In the mid-1960s, when the movement began on Manhattan's Lower East Side, a Hare Krishna service would have been filled with robe-wearing, twentysomething Caucasian converts, who likely lived at the temple or on an ashram.I remember seeing them in the streets of New York City. And I remember how so many Americans feared this new cult would spread and suck in their children, turning them into zombies. As with most of our fears, no such thing happened.
Today, the typical worshiper is an Indian American who lives in mainstream America and shows up weekly for services, in khakis and with a kid wearing an NBA tank top along with his tilak (the sacred stripe that Hare Krishnas display between their eyebrows, symbolizing the footprint of God).
In the four decades since Indian guru Srila Prabhupada arrived in New York City to begin spreading the Krishna lifestyle, the movement has changed in many ways.
After starting the movement in the West, Prabhupada took it back to India, where today there are hundreds of thousands of Hare Krishna devotees.
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The only thing I know about the Hare Krishnas was that at college they always had a vegetarian lunch on the plaza for somthing like $1 or $2...good food and perfect for the college budget! I "heard" they had a house nearby but never saw it, met someone from there or inquired about the religion.
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