Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

We are not Hindus;-) so it should be easy for him to understand.

Hinduism page on Wikipedia is pretty good.

Good that you guys are not Hindus

Where do you think ISKCONs concepts came from?

They have come from the corpus of scriptures that are a part of the Scriptures belonging to Sanatan Dharma (aka Hinduism).

Prabhupadas message of ISKCON not being a Hindu organization was to make it more acceptable to the westerners who could have been apprehensive about the Hindu tag.

I strongly believe that his message was inclusive but your statement stinks of exclusivity.

You guys worship Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead who has been worshipped by Hindus millenia before ISKCON came to see the light of the day.

The organization follows the Hindu way of worship and lifestyle and yet fears to call itself non-Hindu.

Darling if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.......... I hope you know the rest.

Correction:

<< The organization follows the Hindu way of worship and lifestyle and yet fears to call itself non-Hindu>>

should be read as:

<< The organization follows the Hindu way of worship and lifestyle and yet fears to call itself Hindu>>

Wikipedia entry on ISKCON:

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Hindu Vaishnava religious organization.

I apologize if I hurt anyone in this thread.

I have just gone through this material and have realized what Srila Prabhupada meant:

Link: http://www.salagram.net/IskconHinduism.html

I failed to understand the depth of Srila Prabhupadas reasoning on this subject and I am truly sorry that the first post came out without any thought.

I am truly sorry again .

Regards
Joy

There is absolutely no way a devout follower of Islam will accept this reasoning, the only reasoning he will accept is that we are not Hindus and he is not Muslim and that God is one across many religions or traditions. Until 1985 nobody would even imagine to suggest we were Hindus and just because we are classified as Hindus that does not make us Hindus. If someone thinks that we belong to the same religion Vivekananda or Ramakrisna or Satcitananda swami belong, he should have his or her brain examined;-) Of course, because we are the most orthodox of all Hindu following in the West we are a kind of better Hindus but the whole notion is rather controversial.

However, Srila Prabhupada would sometimes just say: "Hinduism is a very complex topic." "This word "Hindu" is not a Sanskrit word. It was given by the Mohammedans. You know that there is a river, Indus, which in Sanskrit is called Sindhu. The Mohammedans pronounces s as h. Instead of Sindhu, they made it Hindu. So Hindu is a term that is not found in the Sanskrit dictionary, but it has come into use. But the real cultural institution is called varnasrama."

From its founding in 1966 the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has been invigorated by the participation of the Indian community, both in India and the West, and by the endorsements of Hindu organizations around the world. Many of ISKCONs Indian members, some of whom have leading roles in the Krsna consciousness movement, have worshiped Lord Krsna from their childhood and have followed all their lives, as part of their family or cultural traditions, the basic principles followed by all ISKCON members-total abstinence from non-vegetarian foods, and from intoxication, illicit sex, and gambling.

The Indians support of ISKCON never fails to impress me and to encourage me in my own practice of Krsna consciousness. In the West especially, people tend to look at ISKCON devotees as something new, strange, and threatening, but the largescale participation of the Hindu community helps me to remember, and to convince others, that in joining ISKCON I have joined an age-old religious and cultural tradition that currently has hundreds of millions of followers.

I must honestly confess, however, that despite my growing appreciation of Hindu culture, I wince whenever I hear someone refer to Lord Krsna as "a Hindu god," to the Krsna consciousness movement as "a sect of Hinduism," or to the Bhagavad-gita, which ISKCON has published in more than thirty languages, as "the Hindu bible." By convention, or common understanding, it may be OK to call us Hindu, but a closer look shows that the designation is not wholly appropriate.

So ISKCONs governing body in 1992 drafted a statement to make our position clear. That statement reads as follows:
*****
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as the Hare Krsna movement, was founded by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. ISKCON follows the teachings of the Vedas and the Vedic scriptures, including Bhagavad-gita and the Bhagavata Purana. It teaches and practices Vaisnavism, or devotion to God in the supreme personal aspect of Radha-Krsna.

ISKCON receives these teachings through the preceptorial line known as the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya. This well-established traditional line descends through the respected teacher Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (A.D. 1486-1534), the full incarnation of Sri Krsna, whose philosophy and practices unify the teachings of all four major Vaisnava acaryas: Sri Madhvacarya, Sri Ramanujacarya, Sri Visnu Swami, and Sri Nimbarkacarya.

ISKCON embraces the chanting of the holy name of Krsna as a primary practice and accepts the concepts of transmigration, karma, vegetarianism (ahimsa), worship of the Deity (Sri Vigraha), and the preceptor-disciple (guru-sisya) relationship. Initiated members vow to refrain from gambling, illicit sex, intoxicants (including coffee, tea, and cigarettes), and nonvegetarian food.

In this way ISKCON faithfully continues the core traditions of the Hindu faith. ISKCONs teachings are nonsectarian and nondenominational, for they are not limited to any particular historical religion. Vaisnavism inculcates the essential and universal principle of all religion. That principle, called sanatana-dharma in Sanskrit, denotes the natural and eternal activity of all living beings-loving devotional service to the one Supreme Personality of Godhead.