The author was looking for a spiritual direction in her life, and she found that in the Hare Krishna movement. In the beginning, she found ISKCON was filled with joy, happiness, and peace, but when she left the organization after a decade; she found it scarred with scandals, enmity, and descended in disgrace. The death of the founder Prabhupada brought changes and years of confusion which was tumultuous. No one in the organization comprehended what would be the fate of the organization at this critical period of its life. Many followers left in disgust or disappointment. The Governing body council (GBC) made of 11 men enforced its rules, but for believers, the rigid patriarchal structure was too hard to bear and some henchmen including the gurus, and local temple leaders took advantage of their political might and subjected their followers, especially women and children to abuse. The taste of money and power corrupted many leaders.
Many people think that this book is similar to John Hubner's scandal filled book "Monkey on a Stick," but actually this is different from it in its narrative style and the story. This is partly an autobiography where the author discusses the spiritual joy of Krishna consciousness she experienced in the beginning and her father's positive influence in her personal, professional and spiritual life. This book in some way is similar to Mukunda Goswami's "Inside Hare Krishna Movement," which focused on ISKCON global communication strategies. Likewise this book also focuses mainly on issues surrounding the governing body and the dissemination of information through the organization's publicity wing, the "The ISKCON World Review." One of the responsibilities of the author was to disseminate the ISKCON news as it happened and also ensure that it creates positive image for the organization.
This book does not get into details of the scandals as John Hubner does in his book "Monkey on a stick," but discusses the issues and the steps the PR department has to take to minimize the damage and correct the erroneous ways of the individual or the group involved. Issues like women raising more money than men in sankirtan program but they never had any say in the managing the organization or sankirtan parties. The PR department urged temple leaders to change their ways of doing their business. The Los Angles temple took steps to change this practice and set an example for other temples. The 1973 attack on deities at New Vrindaban by a group of motor bikers discusses the bad media publicity on the organization and the subsequent investigations that lead to the detection of stockpiling of assault weapons. The Rishabdev of Laguna Beach temple was explosive news since his connection to drug dealers in Southern California to raise money for temple projects caused concern for the principles on which the organization was found. The biggest challenge to the PR department, the author recalls is the 1980 raid in San Francisco and the large cache of weapons found on the temple property. Guru Hansadatta strongly believed that the war between United States and Soviet Union was inevitable and he thought they had to defend ISKCON organization in an armed struggle. It was getting harder to keep the organization from media assault and the crippling effect it had on ISKCON. Other problems for PR department were GBC unity, guru reform, initiation by suspended guru's and stealing of devotes from another guru. Certain media coverage helped the organization such as Life magazine's cover page picture of Hare Krishna girls in saris and the gopi makeup provided a positive image of ISKCON. Chapter 9 entitled "The gurus start world war III" is an interesting account of the evolution of several splinter groups around the country by ex-ISKCON members.
Bill Muster, the author's father had experience as a PR person in the "Save the Delta Queen" campaign to win congressional exemptions from legislation. He guides the author in her publicity/marketing of the movement, and provides positive impact on her professional life. He is even positive about her joining the ISKCON movement and not pleased when she leaves it. One of the touching parts of her personal story involving her father is in the last few pages when he is dying of cancer. He finds peace in God and the faith that his soul would continue after death. His last wish was to be cremated after his death and ashes dispersed in the southeastern part of India amid chanting of sacred hymns by a Viashnava priest at a remote Hindu temple on the edge of Bay of Bengal.
Even though many have fallen and left Krishna life entirely, some are spiritually compelled to go back to the movement because of its metaphysics, the rituals and Krishna consciousness. Reincarnation, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, chanting, and meditation have become common to many in the West, partly because of the determination and courage of Prabhupada to come to United Sates to save thousands of souls which otherwise would have been lost to drugs, sex and alcohol.
Many people think that this book is similar to John Hubner's scandal filled book "Monkey on a Stick," but actually this is different from it in its narrative style and the story. This is partly an autobiography where the author discusses the spiritual joy of Krishna consciousness she experienced in the beginning and her father's positive influence in her personal, professional and spiritual life. This book in some way is similar to Mukunda Goswami's "Inside Hare Krishna Movement," which focused on ISKCON global communication strategies. Likewise this book also focuses mainly on issues surrounding the governing body and the dissemination of information through the organization's publicity wing, the "The ISKCON World Review." One of the responsibilities of the author was to disseminate the ISKCON news as it happened and also ensure that it creates positive image for the organization.
This book does not get into details of the scandals as John Hubner does in his book "Monkey on a stick," but discusses the issues and the steps the PR department has to take to minimize the damage and correct the erroneous ways of the individual or the group involved. Issues like women raising more money than men in sankirtan program but they never had any say in the managing the organization or sankirtan parties. The PR department urged temple leaders to change their ways of doing their business. The Los Angles temple took steps to change this practice and set an example for other temples. The 1973 attack on deities at New Vrindaban by a group of motor bikers discusses the bad media publicity on the organization and the subsequent investigations that lead to the detection of stockpiling of assault weapons. The Rishabdev of Laguna Beach temple was explosive news since his connection to drug dealers in Southern California to raise money for temple projects caused concern for the principles on which the organization was found. The biggest challenge to the PR department, the author recalls is the 1980 raid in San Francisco and the large cache of weapons found on the temple property. Guru Hansadatta strongly believed that the war between United States and Soviet Union was inevitable and he thought they had to defend ISKCON organization in an armed struggle. It was getting harder to keep the organization from media assault and the crippling effect it had on ISKCON. Other problems for PR department were GBC unity, guru reform, initiation by suspended guru's and stealing of devotes from another guru. Certain media coverage helped the organization such as Life magazine's cover page picture of Hare Krishna girls in saris and the gopi makeup provided a positive image of ISKCON. Chapter 9 entitled "The gurus start world war III" is an interesting account of the evolution of several splinter groups around the country by ex-ISKCON members.
Bill Muster, the author's father had experience as a PR person in the "Save the Delta Queen" campaign to win congressional exemptions from legislation. He guides the author in her publicity/marketing of the movement, and provides positive impact on her professional life. He is even positive about her joining the ISKCON movement and not pleased when she leaves it. One of the touching parts of her personal story involving her father is in the last few pages when he is dying of cancer. He finds peace in God and the faith that his soul would continue after death. His last wish was to be cremated after his death and ashes dispersed in the southeastern part of India amid chanting of sacred hymns by a Viashnava priest at a remote Hindu temple on the edge of Bay of Bengal.
Even though many have fallen and left Krishna life entirely, some are spiritually compelled to go back to the movement because of its metaphysics, the rituals and Krishna consciousness. Reincarnation, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, chanting, and meditation have become common to many in the West, partly because of the determination and courage of Prabhupada to come to United Sates to save thousands of souls which otherwise would have been lost to drugs, sex and alcohol.
Reference: Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life behind the Headlines of the Hare Krishna Movement by Nori J. Muster
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