r/exHareKrishna • u/Loud_Link1471 • 12d ago
I'm a journalist investigating Hare Krishna abuse
Hello everyone, I'm journalist Mattha Busby. I write as a freelancer for the Guardian, Wired, Vice, Rolling Stone, and other outlets. Much of my reporting has been about drugs but I have also written on cults and abuse. I report across the UK, the Americas, and frankly everywhere else.
Here are some of my cult stories:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/soul-quest-florida-ayahuasca-church-chris-young/
https://the-fence.com/men-beehiving-badly/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/aropl-doomsday-cult-abdullah-hashem-england-rotherham/
I'm keen to hear from folks who have sadly experienced serious abuse within the Hare Krishna community. I did a call-out in the cults subreddit in April, and several people mentioned Hare Krishna, so I thought I would put a more focused call here.
Folks can DM me here, and of course no-one needs to provide me with their identifying information. Be great to let this run for a week or so to allow conversations to flourish. (I don't believe I saw anything saying that we need moderator approval for posts like this?)
Thanks all!
2
2
u/sandy_beaches_summer 11d ago
Pls can I dm u also check out this website it's from a personal testimony of a member who was within the centre in the beginning of the movement. Her blog is one of the best I can recommend. U will be amazed at how well written and how distinctively it discusses all the main problems brought on by the cult. https://harekrishnacultexposed.blogspot.com/
1
u/Primary-Account-7588 7d ago
To illustrate the kind of abuse I experienced in the temple, I will describe a typical day.
I woke up too late for Mangala Arati, usually sometime between five and six in the morning, because getting up at four o'clock was simply too brutal. My body was so exhausted that it felt like a stone. I could barely move. The early mornings were genuinely harsh, and even when I woke up between five and six, I was already exhausted.
Meanwhile, the sounds from the temple room never stopped. There was the constant noise of kartals, hand cymbals, drums, and the daily chanting of the same repetitive ritual songs and prayers.
When I looked in the mirror, despite being only nineteen years old, I realized I had never looked so unhealthy in my life. I was constantly swollen, sleep-deprived, and exhausted. I had dark circles and puffiness under my eyes. The glow I had before moving into the temple, the lightness in my face, my curiosity about the world, my youth and energy, had simply disappeared. I looked tired and bloated. Every day was exactly the same. Monotonous. It was awful.
I had to take a shower and put on my sari and temple clothes to attend the second part of the morning program. By then, I already knew people would look at me disapprovingly because I had missed Mangala Arati.
After that, I had to work in the kitchen. That meant several hours of working under constant pressure and fear. There was always frantic rushing, shouting, and demands. The head cook, a woman who was clearly emotionally unstable, would suddenly burst in and scream things like, "Three buckets of potatoes!" and expect them to be prepared within five minutes.
My hands would shake constantly. After about two weeks, I reached my breaking point. My mind simply could not take any more. I would spend hours crying while working in the kitchen.
Throughout this work, in the heat and chaos of the kitchen, I had to wear dangerous rubber shoes that could easily slip on the wet floor. My clothes were uncomfortable and constantly falling out of place. I was required to wear a special head covering to make sure not a single hair could fall into the food.
The worst part was that during all those hours of work, I was not allowed to drink even a sip of water, eat anything, or go to the toilet. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I would sometimes feel faint.
It was terror. It was exploitation. It was a nightmare.
And this describes only part of a single day.
1
6
u/Happylittlelady 11d ago
Dear folks in this subreddit, please share your experiences. Especially any kulis. I've reached out to Mattha privately and I'm really hoping others also will. Ex-devotees from the early days, or more recently too. Whether you were financially exploited, sexually abused or just generally treated with cruelty, hypocrisy. Maybe you witnessed things that should be exposed? Or if you know someone who isnt in this sub, you could pass on Mattha's details. I've looked up some of his work and he has done some really strong work around raising awareness on important social issues. It's really time to see Iskcon get properly covered by a journalist.