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"If we could have some taste of the sweetness of Pure Love of Godhead-- Hinduism itself would seem sinful."
" 'For spiritual progress in this Age of Kali, there is no alternative, there is no alternative, there is no alternative to the holy name, the holy name, the holy name of the Lord.'
And
Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.
So we must always hold firm to the idea that Sanatana Dharma is what we strive for, that is why it is my opinion that it is normal for a Hare Krishna to call themselves Hindu if it in fact helps them maintain a stronger Spiritual identity with Spiritual life. Like you said to provoke or abuse others is offensive, but Spiritual identities generally are not ill-used names, and when one misuses them they have a sort of "internal energy" within them that makes it obvious that someone is being unfair or attempting to shift the meaning of the term. For many, it's very important not to give up the name of their religion. Many have even died for such a cause. Hare Krishna.
For example, "this devotee belongs to this group and this devotee belong to that group...therefore, this devotee is the real deal and this one is not."
Sometimes, especially the neophytes, are so caught up in this label consciousness rather than Krishna Consciousness that questions such as the Arjun Saxena has put forth here arise - "Is it true that even the Hindus joining ISKCON regard themselves more as ISKCON disciples that being Hindu?"...when in fact it is both yes and no. In that regard I used the Holy Names, Hare Krishna, just to convey the idea of label obsession among others Then again obsessing on the Holy Names - Hare Krishna even as labels is still great thing regardless but I hope you get my point. Let's just say I was trying to be fair on Mr. Saxena. That was my intention and not to write off the Holy Names as "just another label". If there are still any offensive elements on my humble attempt to answer Mr. Saxena's question, I humbly beg your pardon and will try to rectify that.
Hare Krishna!
*Dandavats*
Is this fine enough??
However I would say that this could be given to support slaying of animals in Islamic traditions, which is indeed prohibited by the Vedas, and which in turn could be supported by saying there had been many paigambars and one of them might had been Krishnachandra Ji Maharaj. Now they consider it a spiritual process. A true verse would be that Krishna in his Human Form in the Dvapar was a member of the Sanatan Clan, I am not going and neither trying to get deeper in Kurus and Vrinis, and being a disciple of Him , he being the Jagadguru, one has to follow the Sanatan Dharm, today known widely as Hinduism.
If you find in Ram the instinct of Krishna then you have to worship Lord Shiva as well , Shakti as well, you have to gain support of the Vedas to get into the in-depth meaning of the Bhagwad Geeta. You have to infer the purana and follow the sanatan tradition and hence call , call it to be a tag, yourself a Hindu. Hindu tags are not divisions, infact every devotee of Lord is a Hindu, it the very truth which Krishna called Arjun to be Kurunandan, Bharat vrishabh etc. So be rest assured even if you don't call yourselves as Hindu you are a Hindu in the very instinct of your soul.
Hare Krishna...
Therefore, to a certain extent, like a rehab, a soul is provided a replacement to satisfy his desire to belong to something within a spiritual group which is a billion times better than a mundane group. However, the problem starts when you get carried away, when a person mistake the letter for the substance...when a person pledge loyalty to the label "Hindu", "ISKCON", "RamKrishna Mission" etc. than to Krishna or His teachings Himself. In other words - fanaticism.
If you allow yourself you will see this problem anywhere, and also, if you look deeper it is neither the defining feature of the group but rather a naturally occurring level among the spiritual practitioners. There are those who are beginners, intermediate and the advanced and it is all defined by what's within (consciousness) than the external features such as the spiritual attire.
Most people encounter the neophyte (beginner) devotees of ISKCON and they, for some reason, hastily jump to conclusion...not just of ISKCON if you encounter a neophyte practitioner of any spiritual group they are all kind of touchy about whatever group they consider a part of. That's what you are confronted with.
Srila Prabhupada was a great and exceptional Vaishnava Acharya (super advanced devotee) and once a soul reached that stage, they have literally transcended the 4 varnas...they have become more brahmin than brahmin. Therefore, it would be an offense to consider Srila Prabhupada "a kayasth man".
In conclusion, just to entertain a fanatic Hindu an ISKCON devotee may declare himself/herself to be a Hindu (no big deal) but the Hindu fanatic has missed the point and the devotees would be fulfilling the fanatic's desire just like a desire tree (Kalpavriskha).