The Hare Krishna Cult - BBC London 1980

harry krishna followers are a familiar sight on the streets of london and many western cities since the movement arrived from india 16 years ago many young people have been persuaded to abandon their western lifestyle and devote themselves to this eastern religion the rules are strict the life difficult in this the third program in our series on the cults we go inside Hare Krishna two o'clock in the morning the Hare Krishna temple in London's West End the start of another day for Tim Webster a 23 year old Londoner Tim's first thought is to fix his mind on God by continually chanting his name his His mind is allowed to wander away from God only during sleep. Dedicated followers of Krishna, like Tim, are called devotees. They believe in simple living and high thinking. After a cold shower, Tim spends two hours chanting and reading from ancient scriptures.

The beliefs and practices of Hare Krishna come from the traditional religion of India, Hinduism. believe in reincarnation and in one god god has taken many forms they believe the original and most perfect of them being krishna who was alive on earth 5 000 years ago each devotee has vowed to chant the names of god hari krishna and rama at least 1700 times a day devotees have adopted not just their beliefs but also their appearance from india we wear as a very simple cloth the dhoti simply one piece of cloth tied in a certain way and we shave the head which is a symbol of renunciation rancho has been a devotee for over 10 years devotees like him are expected to live a spiritual life in the temple devoted completely to krishna the particular significance of the uh tilak as it's called this mark here this this mark is made from clay taken from the Ganges sacred river in India this actually marks the footprint of God on the forehead of a devotee To symbolize the surrender at the feet of God as the servant of God a tuft of hair or seeker is left at the back Of the head it covers What is believed to be a particularly sensitive spot through which the most spiritually advanced individuals will leave their bodies when they die The devotees all attend for services each morning the first at 430 This, later on, is the greeting of the deities. Hare Krishna devotees believe God is present on earth in the form of his names.

So much of the service consists simply of chanting God's names. This is one of the easiest, most direct ways of showing our appreciation of God's beauty and trying to serve him in our lives. Anyone, even a child, can sing the name of God. The name of God is, according to our understanding, the name is non-different from God himself.

As soon as I say the sound Krishna, Krishna or God is actually present in that sound. The deities in the temple representing several different forms of God have been bathed, dressed and decorated for the day. For the Hare Krishna devotees, God is a real person. Literally Krishna means the most beautiful person, the most attractive person. person everyone is looking for someone beautiful someone attractive to give their love to and as devotees we have found that person in Krishna or God the devotees have dedicated their lives to serving God not just through worship but in every action including work Tim Webster works in the kitchens of the vegetarian restaurant run by the movement cooking for Tim is more than just job i think when i'm cooking i'm actually cooking for god i'm not cooking for myself you see so we give up selfish desires so everybody's trying to fulfill themselves you see but we're trying to satisfy god so that's why our life is spiritual it's now 8 30. tim is over six hours into his daily routine 20 degrees centigrade the outlook for saturday were warm and humid a few miles away it's still only breakfast time for his parents in their south london flat tim is the youngest of Mr and Mrs Webster's three children.

All have left home now, and Tim's father has retired from his job as a building worker. Mrs Webster remembers her son changing during his teenage years. Well, he used to go to discos, go to the pub at the weekend, go out with girlfriends and bring a few of them home, sort of like a normal teenage boy would be. and then as he got older he said that he would like to go to India to study the religion out there and we weren't very keen on that but as we both said, well, he was old enough then to do what he wanted to do and he went up to the temple in Soho. There are probably as many reasons for joining the Hare Krishna movement as there are devotees.

For Tim, his family life and social life with friends were simply not enough. He took up karate, an ancient form of self-defence first developed by Buddhist monks, and he became interested in the spiritual side of karate. As a result, he began to question what he was doing with his life and where it was leading to. And I think, you know, is this really happiness?

And that was when I was young, that was when I was 20, you know, trying to enjoy these kind of things. I thought, what about when I'm 50, will my pleasure come from them? If I'm 20 now and this is the height of my pleasure, when I'm 50, what kind of pleasure will I get then? dissatisfaction with their present life in one way or another is the reason why many of the devotees turn to harry krishna to the outsider the lifestyle chosen as an alternative by these young people appears alien and exotic it is undeniably a hard life the devotees of few home comforts and few personal possessions they live by strict vows which forbid them to eat meat or to take any intoxicants, including tea and coffee. Hobbies and entertainments are regarded as frivolous and less directed towards Krishna.

They remain celibate until marriage. Hare Krishna was brought to young Westerners in 1965 by a 70-year-old Indian, Swami Prabhupada, who'd never before left India. Prabhupada travelled penniless to New York, where he founded the first temple and initiated 8,000 people into what he called Krishna consciousness. Prabhupada died three years ago.

Life-size models of him now occupy a place of honour in Krishna temples. Some of the last years of his life were spent at a manor house near Watford, a gift to Hare Krishna from one of the Beatles, George Harrison. Prabhupada's study is kept as a shrine. Fresh flowers are placed there every day.

The study is cleaned carefully and the day's page in the diary turned. Though Prabhupada is dead, his mission lives on, the mission of spreading Krishna consciousness in the West. So take one of these, give it a read. I think you'll enjoy it.

You look quite intelligent, OK? And when are you going back to Denmark? A few weeks, something like that. Hare Krishna devotees like to do their preaching on the street in the tradition of Indian holy men.

Street encounters also provide an opportunity to pass on some of the 90 million books and magazines published by the movement. This is our address here. We have one at Temple. Young people are invited to visit the London Temple for a free meal.

We do a vegetarian meal, free of charge, every day. There's one for you, okay? At this stage, everybody is welcome. Reincarnation, karma, these sort of things, and you can ask questions.

If this soul is eternal, what is the relationship between this eternal soul and Krishna? Oh, what is our relationship? There are so many different relationships, just like here in this material world. For many who come, the food is probably more important than the preaching.

You know, sometimes there are problems with bongos when I come here. All the old bongos come up here and try to give a free meal and everything of them all the time. The act of giving food is important to the devotees. It demonstrates the success of their community as well as advertising their lifestyle and beliefs.

The Krishna consciousness movement has used western technology and enterprise to spread its message further afield. This is probably the only 32-ton articulated temple in the world. It's named after Lord Chaitanya, the Indian saint who brought about a revival of devotion to Krishna in the 16th century. The travelling temple costs £25,000 and has clocked up 20,000 miles visiting festivals and exhibitions.

The aim is to take Krishna consciousness to every town in Britain. Inside the 40-foot trailer are a kitchen, showers and a library, as well as a temple. Visitors to this travelling temple are supposed to experience some of the peace and beauty of Krishna. Those who want to know more are likely to come here, Chaitanya College in Worcestershire, where the travelling temple is based.

This country house was acquired by the movement in 1979. It now houses a community of 150. It's here that would-be devotees learn the beliefs and practices of their calling. At this stage, Hare Krishna are highly selective about the sort of person they want.

Well, we wouldn't accept anyone with a criminal record or if they had a very bad debt to society or financial debt. We wouldn't accept someone who was simply looking for a place to live and to eat because we're a very hard-working society, a very hard-working community, and we expect every member to pull his or her weight. Carried by one devotee and another. There are no quick conversions.

The introductory course lasts three months. Forty percent of the trainees will leave within the first year. The trainees must learn to cultivate the 26 qualities of the pure devotee. Instruction is based on the Vedas, the oldest of the world's scriptures, which are believed to have originated in India 5,000 years ago.

Indian traditions are preserved. In the background is an exact replica of the deities in the Jagannath Puri temple in India. The original carving, which is thousands of years old, was never finished by the craftsmen. But because the craftsman was a highly respected devotee, local people painted the incomplete forms of Krishna and worshipped them.

The Hare Krishna devotees in Worcestershire do the same today. The trainees learn to follow a Vedic lifestyle, a simple spiritual life involving control of the bodily senses and a controlled vegetarian diet. As in India, the cow is sacred. Hare Krishna has the first cow protection program in Europe.

Cattle are cared for in return for some light work. For Krishna devotees, killing a cow which gives milk is the same as killing one's mother, and anyone who slaughters an innocent animal is doomed to return to this earth after death and suffer a similar fate himself. Given the Indian roots of their beliefs, it's hardly surprising that Hare Krishna has worked hard to cultivate strong ties with the Indian community in this country. Immigrant Indians are the main source of financial support, donating £250,000 a year to the movement.

Hare Krishna claimed 20,000 life members, almost all of them Indian, who each pay £200 for the privilege. The life members regard the temple as Christians do their church. They form the lay congregation who follow the teachings of Krishna while, unlike the devotees, living a conventional life in Western society. Dr.

Vishnu Sharma is a lecturer in law, a magistrate, and a life member of Krishna Consciousness. You don't have to be a devotee. You don't have to live in the temple. The people who live in the temple, especially the Skol, they are going to be trained as I see priests. they will they will teach other people about Krishna consciousness but you can also be a Krishna conscious by staying at home for example my whole whole family is Krishna conscious we believe in the stick principles initiated by Lord Krishna no meat-eating no illicit sex no drinking and all those four principles for many Hindus the Hare Krishna devotees are equivalent to Christian monks.

These young westerners themselves converted to an Indian religion are now carrying the faith back to the Indian community. Yet even in the west the movement's values and lifestyle remain those of a traditional India. Marriages for instance are arranged in the traditional Indian fashion. Before a marriage can take place the temple president must give his consent.

The young girl or the young boy will come to see me and she will request it or he will request to to be married and generally my first question is do you have anybody in mind of course in our movement the boys and girls work together so generally they have some idea of who they want to marry and then my job as the sort of guardian of that person as the temple president is to consult the other partner and to see if he's agreeable and from that point on there's an engagement period three or four months when they work more closely together and sit and talk together and when they're really sure that they get on very nicely then we arrange for a wedding today is Madhavendra Puri's wedding day he spends some time before the ceremony studying the scriptures and meditating on them he doesn't see his bride until the ceremony this Indian wedding has no legal standing in this country. Madhavendra and his bride Draupadi were legally married in a register office a year ago, but they've observed the vows of celibacy until their marriage can be solemnized according to Vedic rites.

The marriage vows are made over a sacrificial fire. An Indian couple, who are life members, are also to be married. Of course, in our society, the most important consideration is that each partner will help each other spiritually. The material compatibility must be there, but for the husband to be a suitable spiritual help and also for the wife to be a spiritual help to the husband, this is very important.

Marriage is for life. There is no divorce. couple must promise to bring up their offspring according to the vedic scriptures in chaitanya college in worcestershire the first generation of western children are now being brought up in krishna consciousness some of the children's parents live here as well but other parents are devotees in the watford or london temples and they see their children only at weekends the children live under the same disciplines as the adult devotees first of all they're rising early they rise at 3 30 in the morning they bathe and dress and clean clothing then they go to the temple for the morning service which is at 4 15 a.m and then the children here who are of school age they go back to their ashrams now an ashram is like a house just like in any boarding school there are houses and there are house masters so these children live in ashrams within the community and um so at that time they're they're learning chanting and and they're reading they're studying uh the vedic scriptures like bhagavad-gita srimad bhagavatam i'm just going to go around the class i want to see who had them all right and who didn't can you give me the answer to three steps of five the rest of the morning is taken up with conventional schooling the class is taken by a trained teacher.

The subjects taught are the usual ones. In the classroom as everywhere else Krishna is at the center of things. The children's afternoon is short because they have to be in bed early. This afternoon the boys are putting on a play.

The teachings of Krishna consciousness again play a central role. The Hare Krishna children are being brought up to be as devoted to god as their parents are obviously we're hoping they'll remain as devotees within the hari krishna society although when they reach a mature age between 16 18 years of age it's up to them and they can decide you know how to live their life but obviously if they're very uh trained up nicely to um keep krishna within the heart within the center of their activities this will remain with their whole lives and for some of the children if they're academically qualified then we're hoping that they'll go on to university and learn history and geography dictation and later study the children themselves seem happy enough at the moment so far their contact with the outside world has been extremely limited when this changes as the children get older no doubt many of them will begin to question this adopted lifestyle such conflicts have already occurred between parents outside harry krishna and their children who have joined the movement some parents have objected strongly to their children giving up family and friends or sometimes education and careers in order to serve krishna mr webster remembers the shock when his son tim joined harry krishna If you'd have seen Tim before, just in a joke, I'll say on the Saturday, he did have a lovely head of hair.

But when we saw him on the Monday and he came in the door, well, his mother nearly fainted, and that's putting it mildly. Well, I was very upset to start with, because it was something that I'd never really heard about before, Although Tim had bought a few books on Hare Krishna, I hadn't really looked at them. It's difficult for them to understand, you know, they're not used to, especially being an Eastern religion, Eastern philosophy. She said to me, it would be different if you joined a normal church.

Maybe then I could understand. But I know even if I did that, she still wouldn't understand if I took to a completely kind of different way of life and what I've been leading. Parental hostility to movements like Hare Krishna is the reaction which is almost always reported. But this is by no means the whole story.

Tim Webster still keeps in touch with his parents and visits them regularly. His parents have found their attitude to Hare Krishna changing. Come in. I've got some flowers in here from the temple.

Thank you. Where's that? Oh, thank you. My husband and I have since realized that he is very happy doing what he is, and when we've come in contact with the devotees there isn't any harm in them and it is an austere life it's not as if he's going into a life of luxury sort of getting up at two in the morning and it isn't as I say a life that we would have thought that he would take up but as he did we just had to wish him luck and hope that everything turned out alright for him The Hare Krishna devotees themselves, of course, consider that they've gained much more than they've lost by following the Krishna calling.

Of course, to the outsider, sometimes it appears that the devotees are leading a very renounced, austere kind of life. Sometimes people say, but what do you do? How can anyone exist in such an atmosphere? Of course, the fact is that devotees are very happy.

We don't feel as if we're giving up a tremendous amount. We feel quite satisfied because we have so much more to live for in our lives. We have a very deep feeling of satisfaction derived from serving Krishna and from seeing our own spiritual life unfold before us as the years go by. The devotees believe their way of life will bring not just happiness on earth, but eternal happiness.

They're only too glad to escape from a Western style of life they consider godless and decadent, but they don't regard this as running away. It's not running away. We're not actually meant to live a completely materialistic way of life and then at the end of it have nothing to show. We're running to a spiritual way of life.

We're running to find God. It's through their single-minded devotion to God that Hare Krishna devotees believe they will escape from an endless cycle of reincarnation and leave behind forever the miseries of this earthly existence. At the time of this body dying, the soul lives on. and the whole goal of the practice of Krishna consciousness is to find the final resting place of the soul in loving relationship with God.