Posted by:
Happy Hare Krishna
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Date: August 22, 2013 01:38PM
Speaking AS a Hare Krishna:
Vegetarianism is promoted by religious (and many non-religious) groups for ethical reasons. That's hardly a 'cultish' exhibition of diet control. But you're free to come to the temple and worship even if you're not vegetarian. Same applies to the ideologies of abstaining from sex outside of marriage or avoiding illicit drugs. Many people do participate even if they don't follow these principles. Those who are initiated do try to keep higher standards, but there's no pressure to be initiated, just as there's no obligation in many faiths to be a priest. It's just a higher standard to which some devotees prefer to keep. They definitely don't believe in a permanent bar on the Kingdom of God for someone who has eaten meat, slept around, taken cocaine, or gambled all their money away.
We definitely DON'T require giving half (or anything, for that matter) to the temple. One great devotee did that, hundreds of years ago, but you're absolutely not obligated to do that, or even near that much. You give whatever you feel inspired to and don't have to give when you don't feel like doing so. As a student when I wanted to give donations, repeatedly I had my donations rejected or given back to me (even straight from the offering plate, in front of a bunch of people once) and chastised that as someone with little money, now is NOT the time to give. But the rich aren't obligated to give either. Nor are you obligated to give any service. You give whatever you want.
Plenty of people don't give a cent, don't do any service, and just walk in to enjoy the program - or even just the food. That's a routine occurrence, especially in college towns (Steve Jobs famously told that he used to do this back in college) and big cities. We don't mind at all.
And we definitely don't believe in isolation. Regrettably, that did happen in a few "experimental" groups (particularly in rural areas), but it was never in our scriptures, didn't work so well, and is universally acknowledged to be a terrible mistake. It was never mandatory, and there always were even in those days many Hare Krishna communities that had their connection with society, particularly in the urban areas.
INTEGRATION with society is a very strong focus of today - and not just to "convert" people, as with some religious groups, but to really be productive members and good leaders of society. Plenty of high level people (including an executive of American Express, a former investment banker at Citibank, and several MDs who graduated from prestigious medical schools) attend my local temple, right alongside schoolteachers and many others in more humble professions. Even in the countryside farms and rural areas they tend to be pretty active in their local communities. Sure, there are full time clergy - as with any other faith - but even they are much more a part of society than they once were.
Chanting japa is just like the Catholic rosary. In fact, it is called the Vedic or Hindu rosary. It's a form of prayer and meditation - nothing wrong with that.
Sleep deprivation is definitely not okay. The Bhagavad Gita (As It Is translation) says: "There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogī, O Arjuna, if one eats too much or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough." (In this context, "yogi" in the Sanskrit refers to a spiritual seeker.) Not that people haven't made that mistake - as they have in many other communities, for even non-religious reasons (such as pulling an all-nighter to study for an exam) - but by the religious teachings, it's not acceptable.
And there have been people in practically every (and no) faith that have made the terrible mistake of treating other people worse than them, or placing them in a worse position. That is always wrong - but that's definitely not the fault of their religion, when it preaches that all people are spirit souls, equal in the eyes of God. That's the fault of the people not following their own religious teachings.
I can't speak for break-away communities that engaged in "cultish" practices, or for those who otherwise deviated from the actual teachings of the faith. But the Hare Krishna faith - as you can see for yourself is quite different, especially if you ever saw the Hare Krishna devotees practicing their faith today.