Loving the Good or Hating the Bad are NOT the same

books:

	• Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life behind the Headlines of the Hare Krishna Movement Nori J. Muster University of Illinois Press, 2001 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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After ten years, realisation ? hmmm

after ten years in the movement, the penny dropped. 'This is a cult, I must leave'

This is an excellent and well written book, riveting. However things are not black and white in life. Surely there is some good in the movement, and when a book is written in a one sided manner, it makes my critical mind itch.

you may wonder why one would not leave after a week, one month, one year, five years, but after a decade, and yet come out with an imbalanced view of the movement.she left after the second decade in the movement. Given that there were a lot of relevant events that happened. But ten years, My mind needs more justification.

I will also add that often, those following a regulated spiritual discipline appear very strange tothe outside world, and often it is in these very people that the world takes solace. Systems are corrupt, as are goverments, some argue even the present governments. Critics abound, we still live for we cannot escape being under some kind of authority. Some may argue that we are under the ultimate authority of God. Now looking from this context, ascribing a magnamous amount of ills to one movement may seem naive. Is it then the movement or the people that this individual has encountered.

Her website is of excellent quality, showing that Art therapy can help break the shackles of a cult. After reading we may wonder does Krishna conciousness fit the bill of a 'cult'. would it be possible that those who are not brought up in a eastern culture may find things within that culture abusive. I am not however discrediting her experience of abuse. I respect her life journey. certainly food for thought, not sure if we can go beyond thought though.

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A GOOD VIEW TO ONE SIDE OF THE TRUTH.

I am not a hare krishna but am interested in the belief system.
knowing that there is/can be scam and politics of all sorts in any organized religion/belief system, i wanted to make sure i dident just focus on the one sided view you get from the devotees on the street.
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this book is well written and easy to read. i read it non-stop until i finished it.she def set the image in your head as you were readnig.
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some of the responses below from prior/current devotees/followers seem to show they are one sided with their view and dident get her point.
nori's view was more on the organized portion of the system, not so much the belief portion, even though she did touch base with why women are so low on the bottom... in the end she is still a follower which shows she did get the point. her heart is still open to krishna himself.
she did touch briefly on the child abuse, but this is common all over now. no different if it is a priest or a monk molesting a child. just because they performed the act doesent mean the "religion" itself is warped, just the individuals who performed the act.
the "religion" doesent teach to beat/molest children and women, these are the actions of those who obviously dident get the point..with somethings, she pointed out how some of the higher level people would twist the "Religions" rules, to fit there own needs, again this is the action of the individual, not the "Religion"

i dont see it as she was knocking the whole system because of the individuals and their acts, but when you are a "leading part" of the system and you see that what you are being told to do is just masking the problems, its hard to want to stay a part of running things, especially if your heart is pure and open to your beliefs.
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I don't see this book knocking the religion or keeping people from wanting to take interest in visiting a temple or learning more about
People just needs to remember that just because the belief's of a "religion" are pure, it doesent mean the organization running/promoting it is also pure. we also need to remember that the people running the system are still people and are subjected to the same errors as the rest of us. Sometimes errors are made and things can be fixed over time..i think this is what she was getting at. It was a shame to see her leave, but I guess she was weak in that area, but it has to be hard after dealing with the same thing for 20 years..
Her story is starting from back in the 70s. Hopefully there have been many changes since.
I don't think her writing this book was an act of violence at all. By pointing out errors and things that need to be changed will only help in the end. She was not putting things down, just pointing them out.what do you think if Prabhupada would have done if he was still around and saw the mistakes..he would work to fix them..not hide them.
Kudos..

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Loving the Good or Hating the Bad are NOT the same

I went to a Kumbha mela in India in 1965 at 18 years old and experienced many of the sincere Holy sadhus of India. In the same year Srila Prabhupada went to America with a message of How to get Back to God. Drugs and sex were not the way.

I joined iskcon in 1978 as well and left iskcon in 1984 for pretty much the same reasons as Nori. However, I have never left the love of Srila Prabhupada.

The danger Nori has here is by focusing on hating the bad our consciousness becomes very stained. I decided to simply Love the Good in all that passed through my life, including iskcon.

The study of human nature is fascinating. I went to the big Mayapur festival in 1980 and there were 11 "holy thrones" for the 11 American holy young men who staged a coup after their leader left his body. To them their spiritual Dad had died and it was case of getting into a position of power in iskcon. They just did what came natural to ambitious americans. Take control of the iskcon world.

I looked at this with some amusement and immediately said to a devotee next to me, "Eleven green bottles sitting on a wall, and if one green bottle should accidently fall there'd be ten green bottles left hanging on the wall."

It was just so obvious to anyone that these young American boys were no sadhus. But they were connected to one.

Over the past 26 years nearly all the green bottles have indeed fallen, but they were never supposed to be on the holy thrones anyway.

My young son who attended the school in vrindavan had a dream where Srila Prabhupada was trying to get onto his throne but was unable as there were too many american kids sitting on it. He turned to my son and just said, "What have I done"?

Radha and Krishna are a sweet loving and divine couple. Loving consciousness is their message. By focusing on the good we become sweet. By focusing on the bad we become sour. I say, focus on the sweet and good. It will all work out fine ...in the end. Haribol!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Combining behind-the-scenes coverage of an often besieged religious group with a personal account of one woman's struggle to find meaning in it, "Betrayal of the Spirit" takes readers to the center of life in the Hare Krishna movement. Nori J. Muster joined the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) - the Hare Krishnas - in 1978, shortly after the death of the movement's spiritual master, and worked for ten years as a public relations secretary and editor of the organization's newspaper, the "ISKCON World Review".In this candid and critical account, Muster follows the inner workings of the movement and the Hare Krishnas' progressive decline. Combining personal reminiscences, published articles, and internal documents, "Betrayal of the Spirit" details the scandals that beset the Krishnas - drug dealing, weapons stockpiling, deceptive fundraising, child abuse, and murder within ISKCON - as well as the dynamics of schisms that forced some 95 per cent of the group's original members to leave. In the midst of this institutional disarray, Muster continued her personal search for truth and religious meaning as an ISKCON member until, disillusioned at last with the movement's internal divisions, she quit her job and left the organization.In a new preface to the paperback edition, Muster discusses the personal circumstances that led her to ISKCON and kept her there as the movement's image worsened. She also talks about "the darkest secret" - child abuse in the ISKCON parochial schools - that was covered up by the public relations office where she worked.

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