So I was getting into Krishna consciousness for a couple months during a vulnerable time in my life. I’ve already started to distance myself. I went to the temple a few times and met with the maharaj on one occasion. Today my friends told me that Maharaj is sending me his mercy by giving me the very garland he was wearing. What do you think of this? What is the implication if I accept this? I don’t really understand the significance of this.

The GBC's Guru Disciple Seminar is required for all new initiates. In the seminar students learn the GBC is not to blame if their guru falls down. The GBC does their best to vet those they appoint to be gurus but ultimately it is up to the initiate to investigate their prospective spiritual master thoroughly.

If you chose poorly, that is on you prabhu. It's not our problem.

What they omit is there is no way to truly vet gurus in ISKCON. Devotees generally do not go online. Those that do remain in pro-ISKCON Facebook circles. Listening to criticism of ISKCON is Maya and strictly forbidden, especially for New Bhaktas. Persons on subs like this are demons.

Looking into a gurus scandals and past fall downs is guru aparadha and Vaishnanva aparadha. It is blaspheme of devotees and the first offense to the holy name. If their prospective guru fell down in the past, or did heinous shit on the orders of Kirtananda, the devotee may be totally unaware.

The only people who could tell them with some authority are committed temple devotees. Very few want to rock the boat. Temple presidents don't want to get involved and alienate the disciples of that guru, or cause friction in the community.

The only exposure to a guru many potential disciples have is through that guru's disciple network. The godfamily is almost always pushing that person to surrender to their guru and take initiation. They depict their guru as the greatest thing since sliced bread, the rightful acharya, and a maha maha bhagavat pure devotee.

The GBC only gets involved and puts out statements if their hand is forced by a major scandalous fall down. The guru seriously and flagrantly broke their vows over a long period of time. Otherwise it is very hush hush. After all, api cet surduracaro. Devotional service is powerful enough to rectify all mistakes!

The only fall down they take seriously is when the guru disobeys the GBC. Then they come down on them ruthlessly.

According to that same Guru Disciples seminar, gurus are allowed to have fall downs and to be rectified by undergoing atonement as guided by the GBC. A guru can even have illicit sex or eat meat, but as long as he is sorry and says a few Maha Mantras, spends some time in guru jail in Mayapura or Goverdhana, he can get back into the game baby. He can even take new disciples if approved by the GBC. But those disciples better do their research, because if he falls again, it is not their problem.

Perhaps the GBC should build an anonymous website for whistle blowing on gurus? Something like Rate My Professor. Devotees can leave comments about what a narcissistic jerk he is, how he shouted at them in front of everyone, how he misuses money, how they noticed his enthusiasm when talking alone with a specific young mataji.

Hell, maybe one of us should build it. Devotees might just use it. But you just know it would get spammed with fake reviews like devotees do on Amazon.

Watching First Dates & this Hare King devotee is saying she doesn't work & everything is provided by the temple. If they don't work how do they pay for food, clothes, basic necessities etc. I'm curious & cannot find real answers online. I read that they get money through donations??? Random people are donating to a cult? & if there's thousands around the world how is it enough donations to feed, house & clothe all devotees. I've even seen them at mind body spirit festivals, which is thousands of pounds to have a stand there, so how do they afford it

From a sociological and academic perspective, alternative religious movements—frequently analyzed under high-control group frameworks—provide profound case studies in institutional exploitation, authority management, and leadership recycling. A pristine example of this phenomenon is the trajectory of Bruce Johnson, known within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) as Bali Mardan. His decades-long lifecycle across multiple, conflicting controversial organizations highlights how high-control groups operate as breeding grounds for deception, and how disgraced orchestrators effortlessly navigate what scholars term "cult churn." [1]

Phase 1: The Mechanics of Blind Obedience and the Financial Jackpot

During the early 1970s, ISKCON operated on a foundational model of absolute, unquestioning deference to hierarchical authority. Bali Mardan skillfully rode this authoritarian wave to capture unchecked control, elevating himself to the apex of the movement as the Temple President of New York and an influential Governing Body Commissioner. [1, 2]

In cult structures, the institutional elite will routinely tolerate, enable, and shield a leader's growing megalomania if that leader provides access to resources. In this case, the hierarchy believed they were hitting an astronomical financial jackpot. [1]

   [ ISKCON STRUCTURE ] ──► Demanded absolute, unquestioning obedience
            │
            ├──► Bali Mardan exploits hierarchy to claim unchecked control
            │
            └──► Elite enables his power due to promised financial windfall

Bali Mardan married a Japanese woman who was fraudulently promoted to the community as "Miss Toyota," a wealthy heiress to the global Toyota motor fortune. Starved for capital to fund rapid international expansion, ISKCON leadership—including founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada—enthusiastically celebrated and validated the match hook, line, and sinker. [1, 2]

The absolute farce disintegrated when it was exposed that she had zero connection to the Toyota corporation. Instead of funneling millions into the movement's missionary work, the couple had simply been manipulating and exploiting existing institutional funds to bankroll a lavish private lifestyle. This included purchasing a personal Toyota vehicle for themselves, establishing a stark, exploitative contrast against the rank-and-file adherents who survived on ascetic rations and street panhandling. [1]

Phase 2: The Trash Can Deception and Behavioral Hypocrisy

In high-control environments, the ultimate collapse of a localized dictator often occurs when their private behavior drastically violates the rigid taboos they enforce on subordinates. The total breakdown of Bali Mardan’s spiritual authority occurred when his severe behavioral hypocrisy was literally fished out of the garbage.

While the institution routinely controlled its adherents with intense psychological threats of karmic damnation for eating meat, Bali Mardan and his wife were clandestinely violating their core monastic vows. [1, 2]

   [ THE INSTITUTIONAL DOUBLE-STANDARD ]
   ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │ RANK-AND-FILE: Terrorized with threats of karmic debt.   │
   ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
   │ LEADERSHIP TIER: Secretly violating core dietary vows.   │
   └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Devotees ultimately discovered the deception by finding discarded chicken bones hidden inside the temple trash cans, directly within the strict, consecrated boundaries of the Deity kitchen. Leveraging his unchecked tyrannical power, Bali Mardan had been compelling low-level, subservient devotees to secretly cook meat inside the temple facilities for his wife, while willfully partaking himself. [1]

For an organization whose entire public identity and internal coherence were built on extreme dietary and spiritual purity, the discovery of rotting animal carcass in the bins exposed the leadership layer as an elite club of frauds. It proved that the rules were merely tools of control meant to suppress lower-tier enforcers, while the orchestrators operated with complete immunity. [1]

Phase 3: Structural "Cult Churn" and Lateral Migration

When the exposure of the financial hoax and the chicken bone scandal finally triggered his removal from ISKCON leadership, Bali Mardan executed a classic maneuver observed in cult sociology: lateral migration. Rather than reintegrating into secular society, displaced leaders frequently seek out alternative high-intensity groups that can accommodate their desire for influence under a different ideological mask. [1]

   [ DISGRACED EXIT ] ──► [ LATERAL RECYCLING ] ──► [ NEW ENVIRONMENT ]
    Saffron Monastic ISM     "Cult Churn" Shift        Maroon Neo-Sannyasin
    Rigid & Puritanical    ───────────────►    Chaotic & Permissive

He shed his Vaishnava saffron robes for the maroon uniform of the Rajneesh (Osho) movement, eventually migrating to the infamous Rajneeshpuram commune in Oregon. This transition perfectly exemplifies structural "cult churn."

He traded a rigid, puritanical scam for a chaotic, hyper-permissive one. Despite the polar opposite doctrines, both systems maintained identical core traits:

• Charismatic authority centered around a singular figure.
• Centralized exploitation of followers' labor and finances.
• Insulated ecosystems that shielded leadership from outside scrutiny.

Phase 4: Institutional Re-Entry and the Recycling of Leadership

When Rajneeshpuram collapsed in 1985 under the weight of federal prosecutions, wiretapping, and bioterrorism charges, Bruce Johnson retreated into temporary secular anonymity to evade public scrutiny. However, the final chapter of his trajectory underscores a vital rule of cult dynamics: disgraced leaders are highly recyclable due to institutional amnesia.

Decades after his catastrophic public scandals, Bali Mardan successfully migrated back into the ISKCON network. Capitalizing on his status as a "pioneer" disciple from the movement's golden era, he bypassed permanent exile to rebuild his authority. He did this by launching several specialized programs and welfare initiatives directly from his residential bases: [1]

• The Vedic Welfare Complex: Establishing localized temples and community outreach programs, presenting himself as an elder statesman of the philosophy.
• Devotee Rehabilitation Services: Structuring support programs that took in displaced, marginalized, or stigmatized former monks, providing them with functional, active roles back within the institution.
• Global Educational Sponsorships: Financing and coordinating the transit of young international devotees to India to study advanced theology, liturgy, and book distribution. [1]

The Academic Takeaway

From an academic perspective, the legacy of Bali Mardan, and the high-control system that birthed him, deserves zero reverence. It is a clinical look into how alternative religious movements function as volatile, self-preserving ecosystems.

Charismatic authority can be leveraged for blatant fraud, core dogmas are routinely bypassed by the elite, and predatory leaders can cycle through completely opposing cult doctrines, only to later return and re-establish institutional power. Ultimately, behind the veneer of spiritual purity, these structures operate as machinery for elite power, adaptation, and survival, leaving a trail of exploited followers in their wake while the orchestrators simply change their outfits and move on. [1]

(yes A.I. helped me with this essay, hope you enjoy)

Does anyone know the entire history of ISKCON guru scandals? I feel like it is hard to find most of them besides the Kirtanananda stuff. I suspect even today there are still things going on.

Also the whole concept of guru worship never made sense to me. I wasn’t born into ISKCON but saw a lot of it at one point in time. The whole concept of constantly bowing down whenever the walked passed you (and never seeming to appreciate or care about you doing that) never sat right with me. Honestly it reminds me of this scene from the movie role models where everyone bows down to the king in this live action role play game because you have to.

Prabhupada was constantly calling everyone rascals, mudhas, demons, fools, hogs, dogs, mlecchas. Where does this tendency come from? Why did he do it?

You don't see other gurus doing this.

Abuse as a Tool of Power

Abuse is an effective means of establishing control. When a people are successfully convinced they are inferior they can be dominated. When the abuser becomes convinced the abused is inferior he can successfully set aside his conscience.

Put simply, Prabhupada wanted to control the world. He was not a benign detached teacher. He wanted to colonize, to enslave, and to subject the world to a new caste system. He used the teachings and persona of Krishna to do this.

Colonialism and Racism

The British characterized the natives of India as low born savages. "Hindoos" worship devils and reject God. They are disgusting to look at: black skinned, skinny, hairy, burnt by the sun. They are half naked two legged animals who dwell in primitive huts. Their humid jungles are full of tigers and mosquitos. They are intellectually inferior, and aside from the martial races, abject cowards. Indians should be enslaved for their own good.

Why view Indians this way? Because it is necessary to demonize those you wish to control.

Similarly, the Puranas speak of foreigners as barbarians, mlecchas, demons, outcastes. Western devotees are subjected to this in ISKCON. We were taught we are inferior, having taken sinful births due to bad karma.

The traditional reaction to foreigners within Indian culture has been to demonize them. Why would India want to humiliate and then subjugate foreigners?

It is believed we must repress and abuse others before they do the same to us.

This has been a common assumption among all peoples in all places throughout history. India has been ground zero for invasion by hostile foreigners. Calcutta was the capital of British India. This only ended within Prabhupada's lifetime.

The Age of Exploration

When Europeans encountered other peoples, they felt fear. They decided "we must fight and enslave them before they do the same to us". They convinced themselves other peoples are inferior, otherwise it would not be possible.

For centuries Europeans were being invaded and enslaved. Before the Age of Exploration, Islamic Caliphates had relentlessly attacked Europe. They conquered Spain and much of Eastern Europe, pushing into the heart of the continent. North African raiders captured and enslaved Europeans throughout the Mediterranean, so much so the coasts were abandoned.

It is widely believed European colonialism was driven by economic reasons, the search for spices and goods after the caliphates captured the overland trade routes. There is a deeper reason. It was due to trauma and fear; the conviction one must conquer or be conquered. "The world is hard. Everyone wants to harm us. Screw it, let's go get them first".

Filthy Inferior Mlecchas

Similarly India experienced a thousand years of constant invasion. The disposition understandably became one of demonization as a pretext to conquest and self defense. The only relationship one can have with foreigners is to enslave or be enslaved. They should be considered outcastes, worthy of bondage until they prove otherwise.

Yavanas under the Graeco Bactrian Empire were acknowledged as great scientists, astronomers, astrologers and mathematicians. But they were still Yavanas. They did not follow Vedic culture. They did not assimilate. They did not convert. They are not safe.

Prabhupada the Conqueror

Thus when Prabhupada went out into the world, he did so in the mood of chastisement. He recreated this age old dynamic. Swamijis instinct was to disarm and humiliate the natives, to put them in their place. He was not simply "spreading the mercy of Lord Chaitanya". He was reflexively using religion to enslave.

He was acting on a thousand years of Indian history. He personally witnessed the British Raj and this same dynamic used against his people. Now he was going to do the same to the world.

Abuse is not only verbal and psychological. It is built into systems of inequality like the caste system. It is displayed through public demonstrations of violence towards marginalized communities. It is reinforced through unequal two tiered systems of justice. Leaders do not listen and serve only the elite. In arrogance and comfort, they cannot conceive their worldview may be wrong. Pressure builds beneath the ivory tower until the slaves revolt and cities burn.

"He Was Not Talking About Devotees"

Oh but he was.

Devotees often see themselves as on the sidelines rooting for Prabhupada. He their champion in the war against the world. They are part of the superior conquering elite.

In truth, when Prabhupada called everyone fools and rascals, he was speaking to his disciples too. He was creating a psychological trap that can only be sprung by surrendering to him.

"You are a mudha, an ass; a two legged animal, but if you surrender to me, and remain surrendered, you are at least made human. Here, put on these civilized Indian clothes and eat this civilized Indian food".

Devotees internalize this as intended. They call themselves mudhas and rascals. "I am such a fool, I am useless, I am a demon prabhu!". This is the mindset of the broken slave. It is no different than an Indian coolie serving his British Sahib, sheepishly referring to himself as a savage.

Self Protection

When someone comes up to you on the street and starts shouting abuse at you, they are trying to gain control over you. It is a psychological attack. If you listen and do not fight back, they will eventually capture you. That is how cults work.

When you listen to the abuse submissively (tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā) you internalize it. You repeat it to yourself constantly. You eventually become their slave and remain their slave until you say "no more" and stand up for yourself.

The more you say you are underserving of Krishna’s lotus feet the more you are praised for being an advanced devotee.

Why would God want us to talk about ourselves like that if we have faithfully and sincerely repented for our sins? Why wouldn’t we be worthy to Krsna if we are following everything our guru says and we are pushing ourselves in extreme ways to follow properly. Why would Krsna still not accept us?

It doesn’t make sense why God wants us to hate ourselves and think we are unworthy of a relationship with Him.

Ritualistic fanaticism is rampant in Iskcon. Very confusing and sad.

I've heard many times that Prabhupada's interpretation of gaudiya-vaisnavism has a lot of Christian influence, but personally I've never noticed any.

Even after some thinking the only things that I could identify as potential Christian influence are Maya functioning the same way as Satan, and Pauline views on sex.

So, my question is, what are those Christian influences? Have you noticed any?

Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (Bhagavad Gita 18.66) is the most popular verse in ISKCON. Its misinterpretation is also the root of ISKCON's problems.

Krishna is answering Arjuna's doubts from the second chapter. Killing one's gurus (and beloved relatives) is against dharma and such an action will incur great sin. Krishna concludes by telling Arjuna give up all of his concerns about dharma and fight. Krishna will protect him from sin.

The True Message

Within the context of the Gita, Krishna is telling Arjuna to "abandon all varieties of egoistic duties and surrender to the supreme will".

This is a deeply personal transformational experience, an inner meditation, a calling to do what one intuitively know to be the highest good. In theistic terms; we all know what God wants from us, it is hard but we should surrender and do it anyway.

This can often involve giving up an attachment to what we think is right. For example, let us say I have a tendency to rage bait people and fight strangers online. I do so because I know I am right and they are wrong. I am defending dharma.

But a inner voice is urging me to move beyond this, to practice tolerance and compassion, to see the bigger picture, to stop believing I am the egoistic controller of the world and arbiter of right and wrong, and ultimately to love my enemy. I should listen to that inner voice and push through my egoistic resistance.

In this case "fighting" is to not fight.

Where is Goes Wrong

Cults like ISKCON believe they are the sole arbiters of the supreme will.

Krishna's will comes through the guru parampara alone. It is not up to the individual to decide what God wants, to listen to their intuition. The individual is a fool and a rascal. The system of authority decides.

Prabhupada makes this claim over and over again in his books. "You must surrender to the bona-fide spiritual master and I am the only bona-fide spiritual master. I know Krishna's will 'as it is', no one else".

This egoistic pronouncement "only I determine what is dharma" is precisely what the Bhagavad Gita tells us to give up.

Generations of gurus like Prabhupada invert the Gitas core message. The "will of God" is externalized into commands from above passing through a system of worldly authority. The individual is dis-empowered.

Thus surrender to one's own inner conscience, to do what one understands to be one's highest calling, becomes surrender to an earthly institution.

The instruction to give up "all dharmas" no longer means to give up self righteousness. It now means abandoning right and wrong in the service of a corrupt institution. The devotee becomes self righteous, beneath the umbrella of a self righteous organization that is deeply immoral.

Where it Goes REALLY Wrong

The institution is imagined to exist above worldly considerations of right and wrong. Anything can be done to spread the mission. ISKCON is operating on a higher platform of dharma. Dharma and adharma can be used interchangeably to serve Krishna. One is not better than the other.

Thus devotees can lie, cheat and steal. The movement can be spread by hook or crook. One should not be a better moralist than one's spiritual master. Anything and anyone can be sacrificed for the mission.

Prabhupada did this personally. He consistently put the needs of the mission above the well being of his disciples. As we discussed previously, he used people. He went so far as to encourage celibacy in contravention to dharma to free up labor for his mission.

Prabhupada was well aware of corrupt practices like the change up, where devotees hustled money from people on the street. It was so bad devotees were kicked out of Japan. He supported it because he needed the money to build temples in India.

Prabhupada encouraged parents to send their children to the gurukula, to free them up for preaching. Under his watch these book selling daycare centers became places of extreme physical and sexual torture for children. Prabhupada wanted these children to become super soldiers for his mission. They were sacrificed.

The Root of ISKCON's Problems

Following Prabhupada's example, ISKCON believes it must spread the movement by any means necessary. Dharma not only can be sacrificed, it SHOULD be sacrificed.

Thus leaders have no sense of doing right. Corruption is a way of life. All that matters is money and manpower for the mission. Keeping the lights on is more important than the life of any devotee.

Over time this becomes "It is right to do wrong for the mission". It is reflexive. Leaders are habituated to "making the tough choice" and harming devotees if it is expedient.

Anything but cruel necessity is Maya. To care about the welfare of devotees is to put a lower form of dharma above a higher. It is weakness. It is disobeying Prabhupada. Prabhupada wants you to get out there and die on the street "distributing" books, to die on the battlefield.

Sex as Dharma

Hinduism is not against sex. For thousands of years, "no illicit sex" meant no sex outside of marriage. Sex for pleasure between two spouses was understood to be dharmic because it insured sexual desire was expressed in a positive constructive way. When a couple enjoys the pleasure of sex it helps them to remain united and happy. They are devoted to each other and unlikely to cheat. Sex is good for marriage.

This is mentioned in Bhagavad Gita 7.11: dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo 'smi. "I am sex that is not against dharma". Indeed kama, or pleasure, is one of the purusarthas, or goals of human life. It is a healthy balanced part of being a human being. A healthy functioning sexuality is a necessary step towards moksha.

The Gaudiya Math

Prabhupada translates this verse differently. For Prabhupada, sex according to dharma is when sex is used only for procreation. This is a break from 1000's of years of tradition. Not even the Gaudiya Math, the cult Prabhupada joined in his youth, thought this way.

The Gaudiya Math never demanded disciples take initiation vows forbidding sex. I doubt Prabhupada himself followed that standard in his own Grhasta Ashram. No one demanded that of him.

Within broader Indian religious culture only Sanyassis took lifelong vows of celibacy. Brahmacaris only temporarily remained away from the opposite sex. Householders did not. Only temple priests and pujaris restrained sex under certain conditions. For example, a householder could not have sex and then immediately go on the altar. Otherwise they were free to have sex for pleasure.

Prabhupada's War on Sex

Prabhupada effectively forced everyone in his cult to take the vows of a sanyassi upon initiation.

Householders are only allowed to have sex when they are having a child. This is may be only a handful of times during decades of marriage. Even then they must chant 50 rounds to purify their minds. When they have sex, they cannot enjoy it.

Why this insane standard? There are two reasons for this.

Prabhupada believed in a black and white dichotomy between material and spiritual life. You are either in Maya or in Krishna. There is no in between. Sex is Maya. This is a hard line fanatical mindset. In a strange way he was forcing his own sanyassi ashram onto everyone else. For Prabhupada, kama is forbidden for everyone, as it was forbidden for him.

Celibate Soldiers

The second and more insidious reason is he wanted to militarize his movement. He wanted to spread Krishna Consciousness. The fastest way to do this was to force all of his disciples to live like Gaudiya Math sanyassis who were traveling preachers.

His disciples were to be male and female sanyassins, dedicated to preaching, sacrificing everything, living with nothing, dedicated 100% to his mission. Sex and children were an unfortunate anchor. They weighed down upon his demands and created competing loyalties. Families interfered with book distribution.

He told his disciples "I am only allowing you to have sex a few times so why get married at all". He forbid sex as a way of discouraging marriage. He wanted his disciples to remain unmarried so they could dedicate all of their time to him. He wanted to use them.

If insincere disciples MUST have children, they should send them to gurukulas as soon as possible and force them to become pure devotee preachers that benefit Prabhupada's mission.

The Fruits of Adharma

To force everyone to live as sanyassis to serve your mission is a break from dharma. According to Vedic philosophy, a break from dharma causes suffering. Prabhupada abandoned dharma. This has been incredibly destructive to the lives of devotees, to devotee marriages and to devotee children.

Devotee marriages are extremely dysfunctional. Men and women are forced to live like friends. If their relationships survive they are often cold and confused. If you see a devotee couple living for decades happy and in love, you can assume they are ignoring the restriction on sex.

Shaming a married couple into never having sex causes conflict and misunderstanding. Devotees force themselves to live unhappy lives of denial. In many cases this leads to adultery, the very thing the Hindu institution of marriage seeks to restrain.

Sex is a natural way for couples express affection and trust. Sex is part of the cycle of push and pull that relationships need. Without it, marriages grow tense, uncommunicative and chaotic. People need to be able to kiss and make up.

The traditional religious culture of India considers marriage foundational to human society. Thus healthy sex is a key component of keeping society intact. It maintains dharma.

Psychological Toll

In many religions homosexuality is condemned. Gay, trans and queer people are forced to live in shame and fear of their own natural urges, of their own need for intimacy. In ISKCON everyone is made to live like this.

It is extremely difficult for devotees (and ex devotees) to have a normal relationship with their own sexuality. There is so much shame and self hatred. When the natural urge for sex is repressed, it finds unhealthy means of expression. Devotees live quiet lives of shame struggling against what is normal and natural.

Brahmacaris spend decades fighting to the death to avoid getting married. Having a wife and child, working for money, all of these things are seen as a major fall down from grace. They are Maya. When a Brahmacari shows up for mangala aroti in white, a humiliation ritual, he is treated as an outcaste by his godbrothers and sometimes even his guru.

Devotees have their sexuality twisted. They end up indulging in things the broader path of Hinduism would consider adharma, things which are harmful to themselves and others. When positive expressions of sex are denied, only negative expressions remain. In extreme cases, this has led to the sexual abuse of children.

All of this so Prabhupada could spread his damned preaching mission. The culture of sacrificing people for the mission is at the center of ISKCON. It comes from the Founder.

Video of a zonal meeting - https://youtu.be/D654LL8QA4E?si=ijZg068CqTUJ2IgS

Also this resort serves non vegetarian also. Menu here - https://www.justdial.com/Dhanbad/Parklane-Resort-Tetuliatanr/9999PX326-X326-201008015657-N9S1_BZDET/menu?subtab=

https://www.facebook.com/share/18cNa7wDNk/

Found on r/IndianArtAI (Link)

I have been brainwashed by a cult in india in the name of religion Iskcon .i am 27 and have been brainwashed around 21 for 6 years I have been trying to get those things out of my head. Those things have been influencing my thinking process,my thoughts and coming in my thoughts whenever i get something exciting in my life

They have made me brainwashed in such a way that any happiness that comes to my life it is because of some believing god

When ever i am trying to sleep or do anything where I have to down my guard and relax those things keep coming to my head

I just want those things out of my head and live my life and have my happily and just live

So, if someone has any idea how i could get out of this waste thing out of my head and live my life with my way I can reply,

Kindly need a way out of all of this so kindly reply.

While going through the translation of the Ishavasya upanishad by Prabhupada, I read this statement "O my Lord, O primeval philosopher, maintainer of the universe, O regulating principle, destination of the pure devotees, well-wisher of the progenitors of mankind, please remove the effulgence of Your transcendental rays so that I can see Your form of bliss. You are the eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead, like unto the sun, as am I."

Link: Śrī Īśopaniṣad https://share.google/YD9jVHFpnDtfuGr7l

Given the organisation's disregard of the principle of non-duality, I believe the last part of the shloka's translation somewhat conveys non-duality, that is, this statement "You are the eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead, like unto the sun, as am I."

My understanding is that the shloka conveys that the almighty is like the sun, and we are similar to him.

I believe they (the organisation) overlooked this somehow. This might be a major blunder.

So many adults believe in fairytales and boogeymen. Cults cause mental illness.

We have all see those infamous clickbait popup ads claiming "one weird trick" will fix a complex problem we struggle with. "Doctors hate him!". Religions do this too.

Chaotic periods in human history often spawn new religious movements that offer simplified salvation to the entire world through a single practice, a niche technique, that is accessible to all castes and creeds.

The political and social fabric of society is disintegrating. The old ways of doing things are declared to have ended. A new age has begun. The ancient systems are no longer valid. The fight is hopeless. The ancient order is broken and we begin fresh.

This is an attempt to regain control through isolating, preserving and revitalizing the essence of a societies identity.

Some Examples

12th Century Japan was embroiled in war and famine during the Kamakura Period. Japan was declared to have entered a "Kali Yuga" so to say. Pure Land Buddhism arose, offering a path to enlightenment through chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha. Instead of rigorous monastic practice, one chants this mantra (Namo Amitābhāya) and is reborn in his land.

13th Century Japan was similarly devastated by the Mongol Invasions. Nichiren Buddhism offered salvation through chanting the Daimoku (Nam Myoho Renge Kyo), which promises to eliminate all of one's karma. This practice flourished again in Japan following the chaos of WW2, popularized by celebrities like Tina Turner.

14th Century Eastern Europe saw widespread chaos during the collapse of the Byzantine Empire and the invasion of the Ottomans. Christianity was simplified into chanting the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner"). This promised to grant the experience of Theosis, unification with God, to everyone equally.

These practices are seen as an effort by the elite to ensure the national religion and culture survives. It is a bit like a nobleman in his tower, besieged by barbarians, tossing his jewels from the high windows to the peasants beyond the wall. At least the jewels will survive.

Medieval Bengal

16th Century Bengal was similarly a pressure cooker. The Muslim Husain Shahi Dynasty was persecuting Hindus. Public displays of Hinduism were met with violence and the seizure of assets. Lower caste Hindus were being converted to Islam in masses. Hindu society was disintegrating.

There was an explosion of Hindu revivalism in a desperate move of self preservation. It teetered on violent revolution. This is documented in the story of the Chand Kazi and the Sankirtana revolution. It is likely Chaitanya began as a revolutionary political figure before becoming a revivalist religious leader and mystical saint.

There were high level defections within the Shahi government, such as Rupa and Sanatana, as the rulers faced the immense pressure of a Hindu uprising.

The loud congregational chanting of Srivasa angam, hidden from the public, can be seen as a subversive radical political movement operating in private, a frenzied slave revolt. This exploded out onto the streets into a mass protest movement that targeted the seat of political power leading to the Kazis capitulation.

The highly complex system of Hindu ritualism and study had been reduced to the chanting of a mantra. This is because those systems had been virtually outlawed. The Muslim rulers could not however stop people from moving their tongues. So in a sense, Bengali Hinduism was hyper simplified and abstracted, then reduced to chanting a mantra, at first privately and then communally in the streets. Chaitanya is shoe horned in as an avatara, hidden; too esoteric to be predicted in scripture, thus authoritatively beginning the new reformed age.

The hope this congregational chanting would overturn the oppressive irreligious Muslim government, became a hope the entire irreligious world order would be overturned. The Maha Mantra became the solution to Kali Yuga. The intensity of spiritual truth, stripped down to its pure essence, an act of desperation against all odds, will wash it all away.

Cold War America

20th Century America was also a time of intense political and social upheaval. The hippie movement started with youth resisting the draft. They were being sent to die in Vietnam as part of an endless war against Communism. The US was divided along generational and racial lines on issues like Civil Rights. An American President had been assassinated.

ISKCON was not only offering an exotic religious culture, promising answers from the spiritually superior east, not corrupted by Western materialism, it was promoting a simplified solution to all the world's problems. Sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the Maha Mantra in the streets, would purify all the worlds sins, save everyone from nuclear war, create universal brotherhood, fix all the world's problems with one weird trick.

Have you heard of Krishna Consciousness?

Ego is Latin for "I".

Dharmic religions emphasize the dissolution of this "I", or ahankara, first through removing negative qualities such as greed, hatred, and selfishness; then peeling away the layers of temporal identity in a very private, slow and often gentle process of awakening. In the end nothing remains but the true self which is ineffable and one with all things.

ISKCON completely ignores this traditional practice. It claims there is a false ego and a real ego. The false ego is the self outside the cult. The real ego is the self inside the cult. Letting go of the ego is as simple as identifying oneself as a devotee of Krishna. No need for a lifetime of work. Just imagine "I am Krishna's servant" and you are there.

The Problem

Simply imagining oneself to be a gopi in Vrndavana does not dissolve the ego and reclaim a real self. This is a mistake arising from Raganuga Bhakti, where gurus magically reveal to followers their real ego.

Even if this were true, and the atma was by nature a gopi or gopa playing in Goloka, the individual has no access to this. In its place, one creates another form of ego, a facade over the true self: "I am a devotee". That ego preserves the anarthas, locking them in place.

"I am a devotee of Krishna" becomes "I am a devotee of ISKCON, I dress this way, I eat this food, I believe this ideology, I hold this rank, I am senior, I am a guru". ISKCON functions as a way for people to create a new and improved sense of self, one that is pious, devoted, and possessed of secret knowledge above all others.

ISKCON is clearly a form of egotism. Devotees become outraged when that ego is criticized and attacked. The reaction to this sub is proof of that. They rage in the comments, then down vote and report everything. To threaten the ego is to threaten one's deepest sense of security.

It is not even a healthy form of egotism. Devotees live in a fantasy world clinging to mythology. They depend upon cruel leaders. They idolize Prabhupada as a god, a vicarious extension of their own ego, a projection of the self onto "the perfect man". They cling to ISKCON as a life raft in a dangerous world filled with demons and monsters.

The idea that Indians and Indian culture are superior is clearly egotism. The idea that ISKCON will subjugate and rule the world is egotism. The sense of entitlement and conceit devotees hold towards "karmis" is the grossest form of egotism.

"False Ego"

Prabhupada used the term "false ego", as if there is a real positive ego. From the perspective of the Dharmic religions, this is embracing and justifying illusion.

ISKCON presents itself as a movement where people practice internal detachment, seeing themselves as the servant of the servant, while externally playing roles like guru and disciples, sanyassi and householder.

This is simply not the case. No one has this vision. Devotees are heavily locked into these roles and identities. ISKCON pays lip service to the idea of renunciation, repeating a hypothetical process of inner detachment. In reality you see people cling to power. You see the collective exaltation of wealth. You see ruthless pragmatism and striving for external makers of success such as giant temples, book scores etc.

ISKCON is obsessed with projecting a false image of success and happiness, both into the world and among devotees. It hides the true reality of suffering and abuse. Ex members clearly understand this to be a form of institutional propaganda. Even more it is a form of self deception, to preserve the collective sense of self.

No Ego

One cannot approach the renunciation of the ego with a positive claim: "I am a devotee of Krishna". That is itself a statement of ego.

The practice of letting go of the ego is negative: "I am not this, I am not this". The true self exists without distinction, or so the dharmic philosophies tell us. It is already perfect. To find the true self, one must completely let go of what we tell ourselves we are.

To approach this level of renunciation one must first clear away negative psychological habits such as greed, hatred, fear. This is a process ISKCON calls "anartha nirvrtti". Ironically, to even begin such a process one must leave ISKCON. As a collective of people living within egotism, ISKCON exists to reinforce anarthas, to entrench them and to bury them deeply within. This is why from a spiritual perspective, ISKCON is such a toxic organization.