13 VOLUME 8 |ISSUE 3 |2017
endlessly, creating an almost fetishistic horror of human
sexuality.
12
Men who had enjoyed the social company of women, and
women who had enjoyed the social company of men, now
nervously avoided each other in order to maintain “spiritual
purity.” Men, in particular, learned to distrust women, to view
them as impediments to spiritual advancement, the fire that
melts the butter of a man’s spiritual resolve. Men who before
joining might have had tender and respectful attitudes toward
their female family members, friends, and lovers morphed into
scripture-quoting misogynists.
13
Those who valued the ideals of honesty and sincerity, of
being true to oneself in dealing with others—without script
or hidden agenda—of being and acting spontaneously,
without premeditation or artifice, instead learned to live and
act according to a complex web of predetermined codes of
behavior, interpersonal rituals and formulas, and specialized
modes of speech.
14
The spiritual notion of surrender, of opening oneself fully to
the universe or the divine presence, was transfigured into the
imperative to submit body, mind, and soul to the guru. Rather
than a private, intentional act, a movement of the soul, an
expression of deep psychic receptivity, “surrender” now came to
mean a capitulation of the autonomous self, an unconditional
submission to unchallenged and unchallengeable authority.
15
Those who had loved to read, to explore ideas, to wonder
and reflect, were made to believe that intellectuality was the
enemy of enlightenment, that autonomous thought (“mental
speculation”) was a dangerous affront to the Spiritual Master,
who had already gifted us with all the truth anyone needed to
know. No need for wonder or imagination when you already
have “perfect knowledge.”
16
Those who had cherished the concept of radical personal
freedom, who had sought to liberate themselves from
societal conditioning and compulsion in order to become
fully authentic, autonomous selves, were led to embrace the
diametric opposite: absolute submission, obedience, and
conformity to a preexisting orthodoxy with a fixed notion of
reality, under a regime of unrelenting, unforgiving, internalized
self-surveillance.
17
We sought inner peace, but found ourselves with a permanent,
anxious buzzing in our heads, a voice forever asking,
Are your thoughts pure? Are you being a good
devotee? Are you avoiding all forms of sense
gratification? Are you being chaste? Are you showing
proper respect to the guru? Are you being submissive
to the temple chain of command? Are you being
submissive to your husband? Have you chanted all
your beads? Have you met your fundraising quota?
Are you taking every opportunity to spread Krishna
Consciousness? Are you showing your sincerity by
working hard for Krishna, or are you letting your
personal needs and desires get in the way? You’re not
being self-centered, are you?
18
We sought a community of kind, gentle, pure-hearted souls—
and such individuals certainly existed—but over time we found
ourselves increasingly in the proximity of a few too many
hypocrites, narcissists, careerists, petty tyrants, inquisitors,
women-haters, wifebeaters, wife rapists, child molesters,
sociopaths, and other products of a toxic, totalistic environment.
19
We sought discipleship, but received a guru who was rarely
present, shielded by secretaries and servants, travelling the
world to build and promote his institution. But he told us not to
worry, that he was mystically incarnated in his books, and that
the harder we worked to sell those books and perform other
prescribed duties, the more we’d feel his divine presence.
20
In conclusion, we’d come for spirituality and were handed
institutional religion in its most corruptible form we sought
freedom and were given obedience training we were assured
that Bliss was imminent, then given the slogan “Work Now,
Samadhi (Enlightenment) Later.” We sought a genuine spiritual
path, but instead were hitched to an apparatus consisting of
a carrot and a stick: the carrot of eternal bliss, and the stick of
metaphysical anxiety, guilt, and fear. Idealism brought us there,
to the Hare Krishna movement, and idealism and good sense
(however bruised and battered) convinced us eventually to
leave. For that we are grateful. n
About the Author
Steven Gelberg, MTS (Harvard Divinity
School,1990), joined ISKCON in 1970 (aged
18) and left in 1987. He was ISKCON’s
Director for Interreligious Affairs and liaison
to the international academic community.
His book India in a Mind’s Eye, which deals
in part with his gradual exit from ISKCON,
was reviewed by Marsha Rudin in the
International Journal of Cultic Studies (Vol. 4, 2013, pp. 71–72).
He lives with his wife in the San Francisco Bay Area, immersed
in classic darkroom photography (stevengelberg.com), and also
independent studies in art, music, and mysticism. n
Note
[1] The original article, entitled “Why Did Hippies Become Hare
Krishnas?,” was published and is available online at The Hare
Krishna Thing (http://harekrishnathing.com/blog/why-did-
hippies-become-hare-krishnas/). Permission to reprint this
excerpt from the original article with minor edits has been
granted by the site’s webmaster.
endlessly, creating an almost fetishistic horror of human
sexuality.
12
Men who had enjoyed the social company of women, and
women who had enjoyed the social company of men, now
nervously avoided each other in order to maintain “spiritual
purity.” Men, in particular, learned to distrust women, to view
them as impediments to spiritual advancement, the fire that
melts the butter of a man’s spiritual resolve. Men who before
joining might have had tender and respectful attitudes toward
their female family members, friends, and lovers morphed into
scripture-quoting misogynists.
13
Those who valued the ideals of honesty and sincerity, of
being true to oneself in dealing with others—without script
or hidden agenda—of being and acting spontaneously,
without premeditation or artifice, instead learned to live and
act according to a complex web of predetermined codes of
behavior, interpersonal rituals and formulas, and specialized
modes of speech.
14
The spiritual notion of surrender, of opening oneself fully to
the universe or the divine presence, was transfigured into the
imperative to submit body, mind, and soul to the guru. Rather
than a private, intentional act, a movement of the soul, an
expression of deep psychic receptivity, “surrender” now came to
mean a capitulation of the autonomous self, an unconditional
submission to unchallenged and unchallengeable authority.
15
Those who had loved to read, to explore ideas, to wonder
and reflect, were made to believe that intellectuality was the
enemy of enlightenment, that autonomous thought (“mental
speculation”) was a dangerous affront to the Spiritual Master,
who had already gifted us with all the truth anyone needed to
know. No need for wonder or imagination when you already
have “perfect knowledge.”
16
Those who had cherished the concept of radical personal
freedom, who had sought to liberate themselves from
societal conditioning and compulsion in order to become
fully authentic, autonomous selves, were led to embrace the
diametric opposite: absolute submission, obedience, and
conformity to a preexisting orthodoxy with a fixed notion of
reality, under a regime of unrelenting, unforgiving, internalized
self-surveillance.
17
We sought inner peace, but found ourselves with a permanent,
anxious buzzing in our heads, a voice forever asking,
Are your thoughts pure? Are you being a good
devotee? Are you avoiding all forms of sense
gratification? Are you being chaste? Are you showing
proper respect to the guru? Are you being submissive
to the temple chain of command? Are you being
submissive to your husband? Have you chanted all
your beads? Have you met your fundraising quota?
Are you taking every opportunity to spread Krishna
Consciousness? Are you showing your sincerity by
working hard for Krishna, or are you letting your
personal needs and desires get in the way? You’re not
being self-centered, are you?
18
We sought a community of kind, gentle, pure-hearted souls—
and such individuals certainly existed—but over time we found
ourselves increasingly in the proximity of a few too many
hypocrites, narcissists, careerists, petty tyrants, inquisitors,
women-haters, wifebeaters, wife rapists, child molesters,
sociopaths, and other products of a toxic, totalistic environment.
19
We sought discipleship, but received a guru who was rarely
present, shielded by secretaries and servants, travelling the
world to build and promote his institution. But he told us not to
worry, that he was mystically incarnated in his books, and that
the harder we worked to sell those books and perform other
prescribed duties, the more we’d feel his divine presence.
20
In conclusion, we’d come for spirituality and were handed
institutional religion in its most corruptible form we sought
freedom and were given obedience training we were assured
that Bliss was imminent, then given the slogan “Work Now,
Samadhi (Enlightenment) Later.” We sought a genuine spiritual
path, but instead were hitched to an apparatus consisting of
a carrot and a stick: the carrot of eternal bliss, and the stick of
metaphysical anxiety, guilt, and fear. Idealism brought us there,
to the Hare Krishna movement, and idealism and good sense
(however bruised and battered) convinced us eventually to
leave. For that we are grateful. n
About the Author
Steven Gelberg, MTS (Harvard Divinity
School,1990), joined ISKCON in 1970 (aged
18) and left in 1987. He was ISKCON’s
Director for Interreligious Affairs and liaison
to the international academic community.
His book India in a Mind’s Eye, which deals
in part with his gradual exit from ISKCON,
was reviewed by Marsha Rudin in the
International Journal of Cultic Studies (Vol. 4, 2013, pp. 71–72).
He lives with his wife in the San Francisco Bay Area, immersed
in classic darkroom photography (stevengelberg.com), and also
independent studies in art, music, and mysticism. n
Note
[1] The original article, entitled “Why Did Hippies Become Hare
Krishnas?,” was published and is available online at The Hare
Krishna Thing (http://harekrishnathing.com/blog/why-did-
hippies-become-hare-krishnas/). Permission to reprint this
excerpt from the original article with minor edits has been
granted by the site’s webmaster.
