COOKING A ROAST BEEF

Mad After Krishna: My Life in a Destructive Cult

This is the story of my years in the Hare Krishna Movement (also known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON). As young man I became fascinated with what appeared at first to be a disciplined, traditional Hindu denomination, but which quickly turned into a chaotic criminal gang. My travels took me from the western United States to ancient, rural India and back. I describe how my mother engineered my rescue and deprogramming, just as my health had begun to deteriorate badly. Finally, I offer a few thoughts on the nature of medieval religious sects in a modern democratic society.

This is the story of my years in the Hare Krishna Movement (also known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON). As young man I became fascinated with what appeared at first to be a disciplined, traditional Hindu denomination, but which quickly turned into a chaotic criminal gang. My travels took me from the western United States to ancient, rural India and back. I describe how my mother engineered my rescue and deprogramming, just as my health had begun to deteriorate badly. Finally, I offer a few thoughts on the nature of medieval religious sects in a modern democratic society.

Possibly the first ever Hare Krishna Devotee to perform a chant in Yackandandah video made outside The Buddha Shop Yackandandah. A vegetarian feast may be coming to Yackandandah later in the year. Hare Krishna devotees will cook for town.

Cauldron for cooking mid day meals. ISKCON-Sri Sri Radha Govind dham Mandir, Nigdi, Pune, India

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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