Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, Page 34
Book Reviews
Servant of the Lotus Feet: A Hare Krishna Odyssey
S. Gabriel Brandis, Universe, Inc. (New York, 2004)
In a memoir that reads like a novel, Gabriel Brandis recounts his experience in the Hare
Krishna Movement, aka International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), from
1980 to 1984. The story begins at the end of his freshman year at Bucks County
Community College in Pennsylvania. He travels to Boston College, hoping to transfer there
for his last two years. Instead of college counselors and grant administrators, he meets
Hare Krishna devotees, joins their temple on Commonwealth Avenue, and drops out of
college.
Gabriel takes some hard knocks in school that contribute to his decision to drop out. For
example, his bicycle ―disappears‖ after his roommate cleans out the garage, and then he is
fired from his job at the library. He comments, ―I soon realized that contempt for
materialism caused me to lose my job‖ (p. 11). Gabriel intended to work through these
setbacks and finish college. However, what ISKCON promised was too good to turn down: a
life of spiritual bliss, free from the ordinary frustrations of the material world.
Gabriel explains that unresolved issues with his family, especially his parents‘ divorce, made
him vulnerable to joining the temple. He describes visits with his father as ―inevitable
torment‖ (p. 9). He recalls a story from childhood when he tried to set his father up in a
fight with another kid‘s father. When his father wouldn‘t fight, Gabriel recalls thinking, ―He
wasn‘t the tough guy with the leather strap I thought he was‖ (p. 10). The reader gets the
message that Gabriel‘s ongoing conflict with his father is a major factor in his need to
belong to the cult.
He cites the failure of his religious Jewish upbringing to engage him spiritually and his
lifelong search for a meaningful spiritual way of life as the third reason he was drawn into
full commitment so easily. (I joined ISKCON under a similar set of circumstances for similar
reasons. I was coming up to the end of college, still carrying grief and buried anger over my
parents‘ divorce, and was not interested in the prospects of a ―material‖ career. Like
Gabriel, I was searching for a spiritual way of life.)
Although Gabriel Brandis doesn‘t come out and say it, the book shows that ISKCON‘s skill at
recruiting new members often outweighs the desires of young people to face life‘s battles on
their own. ISKCON appeared to offer him a loving family of spiritual friends, great food, and
answers to all spiritual questions and longings. Like so many who joined up, Gabriel had
seen ISKCON literature in libraries and had become interested in the philosophy before
meeting ISKCON recruiters.
He meets devotees in the park, visits the temple the next day, and stays overnight. Based
on this brief encounter, he decides to drop out of college and move in. It all happens very
quickly. He comments:
I had always believed that there are no accidents in life. Conversations with the
Krishna devotees over those past couple days led me to a transparent door on one
side was the mundane reality of Commonwealth Avenue, and on the other the
eternal glory of the spiritual world. Having considered the situation, I decided to
embrace the monastic life (p. 22).
There may be no accidents in life, but there definitely are traps. I know from personal
experience that ISKCON is on the lookout for spiritual seekers who appear lost. Their
recruiters are trained to single such people out and help them frame their experiences in
terms of a destiny to join up.

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, Page 35
In the first few days after moving in, Gabriel learns the ISKCON bathroom routines, how to
wear the Indian clothes, and how to put on the forehead markings. He begins to attend the
morning program, including all the chanting, and so on, and painfully accepts the
restrictions on mixing with the opposite sex. He also begins to accept the ISKCON
indoctrination of guilt and fear. At first he has trouble staying awake to chant, but his new
bhakta leader (mentor) gets him to believe that, ―One‘s ability to remain awake while
chanting is equated with how much love and devotion the worshiper has for the blue god,
Krishna‖ (p. 31).
Within a few days, Gabriel turns over his earthly belongings: a silver college ring, traveler‘s
checks, his train ticket back to school, and even his clothes. He says, ―I expected a thank
you, but it never came‖ (p. 33). He also lets them shave his head. In addition, they make
him turn over his journal. He accepts it as necessary because, ―By keeping a journal now,
comparing the present with the life I renounced, my elevation to pure devotional service
would be hindered‖ (p. 35). Gabriel does not actually say so, but the reader gets the
impression that giving up the journal is part of ISKCON‘s program to dehumanize new
converts and break all connections to their former lives. The temple authorities let him call
his mother to tell her where he is and she is devastated.
Within a week of living in the temple, Gabriel turns nineteen. By that time he has
completely morphed into an ISKCON devotee, with all the self-deprecating attitudes of long-
time followers. Of his birthday, he writes: ―Being the commemoration of the birth of my
body it was of no significance. Only the birth of Krishna‘s pure devotees, so few in number,
is celebrated as an ‗Appearance Day‘ ― (p. 42).
He fully buys into the guru mystique. He explains:
The mystique was that the pure devotee could ―see‖ his disciple at every moment as
though looking into a crystal ball. Fear of offending the spiritual master by thought,
word or deed is sufficient to keep the earnest disciple obedient (p. 59).
He learns to lie for the organization the first time he goes out to sell books, a practice
known as sankirtan. His sankirtan leader tells him to give someone a button and say he‘s
raising money for a children‘s school. Gabriel asks, ―Do we have a school?‖ He learns that
the words don‘t matter. The object is to get the money, because anyone who gives money
to ISKCON will not have to go to hell. Gabriel catches on and becomes a star sankirtan
devotee through most of his four years. He comes to see himself as a spiritual soldier ―on
the battlefield, preaching to the conditioned souls, and rescuing dollars from their lustful
grips‖ (p. 60).
Although he tells himself he is happy with his new life, the text reveals that he is unhappy.
For example, at his first ratha-yatra cart festival, he contemplates suicide, because it is said
that anyone who dies under the ratha-yatra cart wheels goes back to Godhead.
I eyed those carnival wheels, imagining what it would be like to lie down in the
street, my neck in front of where the wheel would pass, surrounded by dozens of
chanting and dancing devotees. Freedom from the torments of this fleshy body, and
the mind‘s constant cravings would be mine. I would instantaneously become
Krishna conscious for eternity (p. 54).
The organization‘s brainwashing shows in his attitudes toward practically everything that
happens. In one passage a woman devotee is injured in a car accident and her face is
permanently scarred from shattered glass. He easily adopts the ISKCON party line:
The underlying belief was that Rasa-Lila Devi, known for being a sincere devotee,
was too ―attached‖ to her own beauty, so Krishna affected it for her spiritual well-
being (p. 55).