Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Rteacher]

Aren't tats what you get for t-it-s? ... Anyway, the beautiful art was certainly a major attraction for me. The early ISKCON (eventually "is-a-con", but they've reformed a lot, I think...) artists were amazingly inspired and created many paintings that were so beautiful that Indian artists made copies of the Krishna art produced by western devotees. You can freely check out and download a lot of those paintings at this link:
http://www.krishna.com/cgi-bin/ImageFolio31/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Krishna_Gallery

An excellent source for photos of temples and art from all over India are some of Krishna devotee Stephen Knapp's websites, including:
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/more_photographs_eight.htm

I don't think that most people are aware of how many thousand incredible temples there are in India and how impressive they are aesthetically and architecturally (despite being attacked and partially destroyed by envious invaders in some cases...) One of the great ones, certainly, is the Sri Rangam temple:


Another view of the gopurams at the Sri Rangam temple, which has seven gateways that must be entered before reaching the inner sanctum of the main Deity of a large reclining Vishnu.


Colorful images of Lord Vishnu and His associates on the outside of one of the gopurams at Sri Rangam

[Rteacher]

Here's Krishna as Sri Nathaji:

[Rteacher]

Hey, it's Krishna's birthday -


http://www.krishna.com/main.php?id=698

[SHANE02]

Rteacher.....I'm interested in the ""pleasure planet"". Specifically...how do I go there ASAP?

[Rteacher]

Usually, it's best to be patient and enthusiastic about following the regulative principles of bhakti yogi, but - if you can't wait - just find one of these big Rathayatra festivals and throw yourself in front of the cart chanting KRISHNA! (and hope that you're crushed to death...)

[Rteacher]

Hey it's Radha's (aka Radharani, Radhika ...) birthday! She is the mother of devotional service, and she is Krishna's eternal consort in Vrindavan. She is also the manifestation of God's compassionate nature, which is why hundreds of millions of Vaishnava devotees of Krishna pray to her and chant Hare (huh-RAY) before chanting the Lord's names. Hare, the vocative form of Hara, another name of Radharani, refers specifically to the internal spiritual energy of the Lord - of which Radha is the personification...


http://www.krishna.com/

[Rteacher]

Aug 31, VRINDAVAN, INDIA (SUN) � Sri Vilapa Kusumanjali by Srila Raghunatha dasa Goswami - Special Prayers to Srimati Radharani, on this Her Appearance Day.

"O Supreme Ladyship, Queen of my heart, Radha! Laksmi-devi the goddess of fortune does not possess even a drop of the beauty that exudes from Your exquisite toenails, therefore if You do not grant me the proper vision to perceive Your transcendental pastimes, then what use do I have for this life, which is burning in the fire of excruciating sorrow?


"O merciful Lady! Indeed, lately I am floating in a nectarean ocean of hope, and passing time in hardship and pain, but if You do not shower mercy upon me then this life, living in Vrndavana, and even Lord Krsna are all meaningless to me."
http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/

[re:cursive]

Alright...I'm going to comment.

I've been exposed to some Krishna stuff in the past. I went through a period of independently studying various faiths and as part of that read the Bhagavad Gita, the first book of the Srimad Bhagavatam and some other short books. I also have a good friend in his late 40's who was born in a Hare Krishna community and is still a devout follower to this day. I like a lot of it. I like the stories and I like the visuals (it's colourful). I also like the scientific approach they take to their logic. Many Krishna devotees I have met have also proved themselves to be very happy and content people.

What gets me though, is where the apparent logic is taken. From what I've read and/or heard, it always starts out with establishing quite undeniable and seemingly rational truths but then it takes those truths to the conclusion of there being a supreme personality (which is OK) but then, that this personality is Krishna? The original logic is fine, as far as a religion goes, but the process by which they transfer this logic onto an entity called Krishna always seems very sketchy to me.

It's kind of like 1+1=2, therefore, because 2 rhymes with blue and Krishna was apparently blue, Krishna is the 1. I don't know, it doesn't really work for me.

I've also always had a problem with the way Krishna devotees present their argument. I've had a fair few long discussions with Krishnas and it seems far too constrictive to me. For example, I've had discussions where a devotee has basically denied my experience, things I've seen with my own eyes, felt with my own hands, heard with my own ears, felt with my own...whatever. I can appreciate that to them it is a truth and works in their internal framework but, I find it kind of offensive when someone tries to tell me that what I have experienced and believe to be true is wrong, especially when their argument is based on personal opinions derived from an essentially oral tradition. Any time I've had these discussions the devotee has come off as the most agressive and most close minded of the group which I just really cannot consider to be a good thing.

I've also been turned off by the way knowledge is seemingly held sacred in the Krishna community. For example, I read the first book of the Srimad Bhagavatam which was lent to me by a devotee. I finished that and asked for the next book (at the time I was prepared to read them all), however I never received the next book. After a while I confronted the person about this and was told that they were scared to read all of the books because upon completion you are instantly enlightened or something similar. Apparently I had to go to temple and be talked through the books. I was a relatively open mind, willing to find out about a new perspective but knowledge was denied to me until I metaphorically signed on the dotted line. I'm an open source kind of guy so this does not sit well with me.

The politics of the krishna community and actions of individuals within it are also a big turn off for me. This goes for a lot of religions...a part of the reason I subscribe to none.

To Rteacher: I've been interested in some of your posts but have replied to none largely due to the above comments and the fact that you seem to embody some of those points. May I suggest that you tone down some of your rhetoric? I think you are turning some people off by making certain topics religious eg...the whole vegetarian thing. Why unessesarily taint something with a religious bias? Discretion and open mindedness are often good things.

[Rteacher]

Krishna spoke Bhagavad-gita, outlining spiritual science and frankly claimed to be God. He backed that up by displaying his Virat rupa (Universal Form) and four-armed Vishnu forms that were seen by Arjuna and the other pure devotees present on the Battle of Kurukshetra... Furthermore, all Vedic authorities of India recognize Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

I learned all this from the teachings of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, an amazing pure devotee in disciplic succession going back over 5000 years. While he was physically on the planet, all devotees shared the excitement of participating in a revolutionary spiritual movement. By following the instructions of the genuine spiritual master, theoretical, "book" knowledge soon became realized knowledge, and faith in both guru and Krishna steadily increased...

Even though I haven't been connected to the organization for over ten years (and haven't lived in a temple since 1986 ...) I still have the highest regard for Prabhupada and his books...

There have always been some devotees who pass off their own concocted ideas or neophyte understanding of philosophical points that they really don't have realized knowledge of. From what I gather, most ISKCON temples today are sadly lacking in providing adequate devotional support and guidance for new people because the atmosphere is rife with politics... Moreover, the sense of being a unified spiritual family has been lost with the breakdown of the organization into many contentious factions.

I advise regularly reading Bhaktivedanta Swami's books and checking out the following websites for some mature philosophical discussion, devotional news and inspiration:
http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/
http://www.chakra.org/
http://www.prabhupadaconnect.com/
http://www.krishna.com/main.php?id=231

[Rteacher]

Somehow the Hare Krishnas appeared on the scene at various far out cultural events including the "1st Pyschedelic Exposition" and the "Hollywood Festival" - one of the best rock festivals ever held in England.

Songs and music related to the Krishna movement also popped up on many record albums and even the Broadway musical Hair...

I'll just post some of the posters and images relating to these events. The link at the bottom of the page provides some commentary and explanation...







http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/09-06/features404.htm

[Rteacher]

Just a nice pic of Krishna:

[Rteacher]

http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/09-06/editorials652.htm
This is from Part 2 of an interesting article on Krishnas and music...

[Rteacher]

http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/09-06/editorials652.htm

[Qinella]

RTeacher, pretend there were no images of Kriscna or Ganesh or any other dieties in existence. No pictures, no statues, nothing at all except the texts. Can you honestly say you'd be as interested as you are?

[jinju]