Hare KRISHNA to all devotees,
PLEASE ALL TRY TO READ IT. THANKS.
please forgive me if i hurt any my dear devotee feelings.
i m indian ( hindu ) live in abroad n just came in krishna consciousness 3 months ago. i went to temple n found association of devotees very nice. n i even have now started chanting 16 rounds of hare krishna mahamantra.n following 4 regulative principals.
1:) my first question is that why hare krishna movement did not become much popular in india during srila prabhupad ERA ???
2: ) why he went to west to preach krishna consciousness? ( n not preached krishna consciousness to various cities in india) ??????
if he went abroad then why mostly hippies at that time joined this movement only ? not people from other religions mainly christians n other religion too ?????????????????????
did srila prabhupad see that hippies r indulged in intoxication n illict sex that he told people in west that follow 4 regulative principals then u will not suffer at all n u will always b happy by chanting this mantra????
3:) why there were no disciples of srila prabhupad at that time in india preaching krishna consciousness so tht it spread like hurricane in india n people started chanting hare krishna mahamantra (atleast hindus if not people from other religions in india )
was it due to 4 regulative principals that people found it tough to follow n chant ???
i think now a days people of all religions in india in evry home i think (4.5 out of 5 homes evrywhere in india) eat onion n garlic.
4:) so now come to point that why ISKCON shrinked to various countires of the world but not hugely became popular in india at prabhupad time n not even when he left his body??????
india is land of various rishi muni's, acharyas, gurus n not to forget mathura vrindavan, mayapur and so many holy n scared places of hindus .even MAHABHARAT took place in india. n lord krishna took birth in his various incarnations in holy land of india.
5: ) why then people in india did not understand ISKCON that lord krishna is supreme personality of GODHEAD n chant this mantra ???????
so why this chanting of hare krishna mahamantra is not found even in 1 house out of 5 houses in india ( no matter wht religion person belongs to in india)
PLEASE ADVANCE DEVOTEES THROW LIGHT ON ABOVE MENTIONED POINTS.THANKS
HARE KRISHNA
Replies
Hello Dear Devotee,
I am not an advanced Devotee but can endeavour to answer your questions. My answers are purely based on watching His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada's videos and his preachings.
Firstly, the first step to spirituality is to move away from this categorisation (hindu, muslim, european,indian etc) and from this bodily concept of life.
Secondly, Hare Krishna movement is nothing but GOD conscousness. God is referred to as Krishna and Krishna means the all attractive. His Divine Grace clearly said India is the best place for realisation of God and it is easy to realise God in India becuase the environment is so nice and spiritual. GOD consciousness ALREADY existed in India and more attention was required abroad. By propogating this movement of God consiousness, Srila Prabhupada was fulfilling the wish of his Guru and only that was the reason he propogated ABROAD.
Srila Prabhupada simply chanted and people joined in. Who joined, hipy, hindustani, malaysian, did not matter to him and therfore it should not to anyone else. But since you mentioned no one from Christianity, as an example Im sure you know George Harrison from Beatles, he followed Krishna Consiousness but came from Chrisitianity as his faith. Srila Prabhupada has also said to chant this manta is it maintains constant association with God. HARE means energy of God and Krishna is God himself, so Hare Krishna is associating with God directly. He did propogate the Maha Mantra but also clearly said, you can take any of God's names but do CHANT. so that you can maintain association with God.He never said, dont chant any other manta assicating with GOD!
Whether or not there were disciples in India when Srila Prabhupada started his mvement in US, is best known to him.
To your point about eating Garlic, onions etc. People are not educated about this. Also some who are educated may choose to be ignorant. This is Kal-yug, Yug of Ignorance.
To your point about ISKCON not being popular in India when Srila Prabhupada left his body. ISKCON is INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY particularly for Srila Prabhupadas endeavour of fulfilling his Gurus wish as his Guru wanted him to preach ABROAD.. Morever, as mentioned above Srila Prabhupada said, In India God consciousness is exisitng and people are generally worshipping daily and the Hare Krishna movement is God consciousness itself, so your question about it not being popular is a tad bit irrrational.
Srila Prabhupada was very intelligent, he knew that ndians would follow the westeners and also the way to mans heart is though his stomach. Free Prasadam is always attractive.
Do read about Srila Prabhupada and do watch his videos, I believe this would be very insightful.
Hare Krishna, Hare Ram
Aarti
Hare Krishna Prabhu, please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
In one lecture i heard that those hippies might be renounced sages from their previous lives so they are not some ordinary souls.
It does not mean that pure souls will take birth only in present India, no such souls can take birth in any part and corner of the world.
Krishna is available everywhere because in this age He came as His Holy Names. So Holy Name can appear anywhere in the world.
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This chanting of Hare Krishna will be taken and accepted only by intelligent ones. So those souls who are intelligent will accept it and start to chant.
Your servant,
Dear devotee,
It is pertinent to note that not all are fortunate to become devotees of Lord Krishna. Of four lakh human beings, only one surrender unto Lord Krishna's lotus feet. Only those who have performed great austerities since thousands of previous births surrender unto Lord Govinda.
According to the modes of nature acquired by the embodied soul, one's faith can be of three kinds — in goodness, in passion or in ignorance. Men in the mode of goodness worship the demigods; those in the mode of passion worship the demons; and those in the mode of ignorance worship ghosts and spirits.
Lord Krishna has said "Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship the ancestors go to the ancestors; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; and those who worship Me will live with Me."
Thus, inclination to worship a deity rests on the 3 gunas and past samskaras.
Srila Prabhupada spread Krishna consciousness first to English speaking people because it was the order of his Guru. His Guru Maharaj, Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati ordered him that "You go and preach this cult amongst the English-speaking public and specially in the Western countries." Further, he was not successful when he preached the message to Indians.
It was after all, the will of Krishna Himself that Srila Prabhupad spread his message in the West. It is only Krishna who brought him here.
On 13 September, 1965 he wrote in his diary, "Today I have disclosed my mind to my companion, Lord Sri Krishna."
By the time of his death in Vrindavan in 1977, ISKCON had become an internationally known expression of Vaishnavism.
In his discussion with a historian Arnold J. Toynbee in London, Bhaktivedanta Swami said, "I have started this Krishna Conscious Movement among the Indians and Americans and for the next ten thousand years it will increase.
It's true that when people think of Krishna, they are reminded of ISKCON. That is why during Janmashtmi, lakhs of Hindus flock to ISKCON temples worldwide. Further, the Hare Krishna maha mantra has become so famous in the Hindu psyche that even during Ganeshotsav festival, this mantra is chanted at the end of all the mantras. You must have noticed that lakhs of Hindus participate in the Rath Yatras, organised by ISKCON worldwide. Though they may not surrender solely unto Lord Krishna, the Hare Krishna movement has surely become synonym with Vaishnavism in India.