Gaudiya Vaisnavism And ISKCON by Steven Rosen

Author:Steven Rosen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gaudiya, vaisnavism, vaisnava, ISKCON

Academic works on Prabhupada and his movement abound. Some of the more important ones are as follows: the earliest academic studies of the

Introduction

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movement are J. Stillson Judah, Hare Krishna and the Counterculture (New ifol k: [ohn Wiley & Sons, 1974) and Francine Jeanne Daner, The American i hildren of Krsna: A Study of the Hare Krsna Movement. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976); these were followed by ed., Steven J. Gelberg, I lute Krishna, Hare Krishna: Five Distinguished Scholars on the Krishna Movement in the West (New York: Grove press, 1983); Angela Burr, I Am Not My Body: A Study of the International Hare Krishna Sect (Delhi: Vikas, 1984); E. Burke R(V h< lord, Jr., Hare Krishna in America (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Pi i :ss, 1985); Kim Knott, My Sweet Ijrrd: The Hare Krishna Movement (North-imptonshire, Great Britain: The Aquarian Press, 1986); Larry D. Shinn, Tlie l><nl< Lord: Cult Images and the Hare Krishnas in America (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1987); Charles R. Brooks, The Hare Krishnas in India (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989); eds., David G. Bromley and I ,ii ry 1). Shinn, Krishna Consciousness in the West (Lewisburg: Bucknell Uni-i i mIv Press, 1989), and there are others as well.

The first paper presented here is by Tamal Krishna Goswami and Ravi (.upta. In many ways this paper is essential in that it contextualizes Prabhupada and his followers, giving some of the necessary background infor-mation on the tradition from which Prabhupada emerged. It asks questions ilx ml just what was involved in transplanting Vaishnava culture on western ihores, and answers them, too. Charles Brooks follows up on this theme,

In »wing how ISKCON connects to the parent tradition as it is practiced in 11nil.i. After this, Kim Knott takes a close look at both insider and outsider perspectives on Prabhupada and ISKCON. How do his followers perceive him, or relate to him? do removed scholars view him as a holy person, and Whal do they think of his work? Then comes the article I co-wrote with Bruce Scharf, which explores the exact moment in history that Prabhu-

i Ida deigned to come West—averring that it couldn't have been more impropriate. Tamal Krishna Goswami then offers us his second article for ■ Ins volume, this time on Prabhupada as translator and commentator ni] ii cine. He explains Prabhupada's strategy in presenting his books in the >\.iv that he did. Next, Graham M. Schweig looks at two apparently contra-(lii tory themes in Prabhupada's teachings—the recurring idea that Gau-• li\.i Vaishnavism is confidential and particular and at the same time univer-

il and nonsectarian; the subdeties involved in this analysis point to the

• r) essence of Prabhupada's message—"Krishna Consciousness" is "the tnosl intimate expression of love of God" and at the same time a "universal

PART H: ISKCON

religion" that is meant for anyone who is open to it.

Klaus K. Klostermaier ponders tthe theology of Krishna Consciousness, exploring early objections to Krishna worship in India and his own association with one of Prabhupada's Godbrothers, just prior to Prabhupada's journey West.

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