Evaluating ISKCON, secularisation and Hindu attitudes to wealth

Overview

Recall questions on divergence or continuation, Prabhupada's part in the movement's growth, Hindutva as the only answer, responses to science, and Vinoba Bhave's influence on social welfare.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Give the case that ISKCON is a divergence from traditional Hinduism.

   Model answer

   It preaches and converts, which Hinduism has generally not done, it holds Krishna to be supreme in a way that sits awkwardly with Hindu inclusiveness, its membership was largely Western with no ancestral connection to the tradition, and its regulated communal life resembles a new religious movement more than the Hinduism of an Indian household.

2. 2

   Give the case that ISKCON is a legitimate continuation of Hindu tradition.

   Model answer

   Gaudiya Vaishnavism is five hundred years old, ISKCON's scriptures, deity worship, guru lineage, festivals and vegetarianism are entirely traditional, and treating one's own deity as supreme is normal in a Hindu sampradaya rather than exceptional.

3. 3

   Give the case that Prabhupada was the decisive factor in ISKCON's growth.

   Model answer

   He arrived alone, penniless and elderly, and within a decade had founded temples on several continents, trained the leadership, translated the scriptures the movement lives on and set the rules of practice it still follows.

4. 4

   Give the case that factors other than Prabhupada explain ISKCON's growth.

   Model answer

   He arrived exactly when a Western counterculture was looking for alternatives to materialism, immigration rules had just been relaxed in the United States, celebrity endorsement gave publicity no preaching could buy, and the movement has continued to grow since his death, sustained increasingly by Hindu families of Indian origin.

5. 5

   Give the case that the Hindutva response is the only effective answer to secularisation.

   Model answer

   Its supporters argue that only organised political action can hold ground in law, education and public symbolism, and point to the visible strength of Hindu identity in Indian public life compared with the retreat of religion where it has not been defended politically.

6. 6

   Give the case that the Hindutva response is not the only effective answer.

   Model answer

   Vedanta, yoga and the devotional movements have spread worldwide without political power, service organisations have kept religion socially useful, and critics argue that a movement defined by identity and grievance may preserve the label while emptying the spirituality out of it.

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