ISKCON is a huge movement in India, contrary to what one of the WUs have to say. Close to my hometown of
Calcutta or
Kolkata (if you want to use its new name), they have one of their centres known as
Mayapur. It's a very popular tourist destination, and a vast majority of those who visit it everyday are Indians, not foreigners. I think we in India like branding some of these movements as 'Western fads' but it would be foolish not to see the roots that they have in India. The movement, incidentally has quite a large following in Bengal and eastern India and a large number of the Bengali middle class will flock to Mayapur to pay their homage to the god Krishna. My own aunts make frequent day trips to Mayapur for prayers, or a day of solace. I've never been there, but their banana bread, which they make and sell commercially is fantastic! A possible reason for its immense populariy in Bengal could be the fact that the founder of the movement
Prabupada was a
Bengali from Calcutta.
There are some who would see the sect as a minority one, irrelevant within the broader religous pluralism that exists in India. I would disagree. It is a misconception to see ISKCON followers as all wearing saffron robes with a tiny pigtail and a shaved head. Not all wear their faith so prominently. And so there is really little logic in saying that if you don't see people dressed as the stereotypical Hare Krishna followers, they don't exist. I think that a number of us Indians, look down upon foreigners who try to find out about our country, or are interested in. We see them as 'India-junkies' who smoke pot, hob-nob with a few Himalayan rishis (sages} and spout spurious Hindu philosophy. That's not entirely incorrect, there many like that. But there are also many genuine India lovers, who try to understand and absorb as much as they can, of a particularly bewildering country. Perhaps we should stop gaping and gawking at foreigners and develop a healthier attitude towards them.
Interestingly, what none of these WUs talk about is the immense controversy that ISKON has found itself in, in recent years. There have been repeated allegations of child sexual abuse and in 2001, 79 former devotees who were enrolled as children at the ISKCON gurukul filed a $400 million suit claiming damages for sexual abuse in the boarding schools. The victims' case, filed last year in Texas federal court, is boldly prosecuting the group under the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute--a legal cudgel usually reserved for the Mafia. Their high-profile lawyer, Windle Turley, is also taking the Catholic Church to task for the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by priests. The result of these controversies has been that the ISKCON movement's reputation was tarnished in the West, but in India, it continues to flourish.
Finally of course, for those who think the Hare Krishna phrase sounds familiar, it's because the Beatles popularised it. The phrase is used in the John Lennon song 'Give Peace A Chance' and is also used repeatedly in the chorus of 'Within you, Without you' from the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. George Harrison was an ISKCON devotee, perhaps their most high profile devotee ever and after his death at the age of 58, his ashes were immersed in the river Ganga in India by his wife and son.