The Hare Krishna has were young, full of energy and fueled with a vision of a new
type of spiritual life.
A lot of people joined because they were seeking truth they were soul searching and
they were seeking something deeper.
Hare Krishna philosophy Hari Krishna food
Hari Krishna clothing there was no world outside Hari Krishna.
That's all we knew. We were meant to be chosen children actually because to be born
into a Hari Krishna situation was considered to
be a blessing.
So who were the Hare Krishnas? And where are they now?
You don't have to walk around with a bald head and tilaka robe to be a Hari Krishna
People say ah okay, so not all Hari Krishna is a hippies running around the
hills. It's no they're not. They're pilots and their lawyers and they're
doctors and their teachers and they're nurses.
For the past 30 years, this property in northern New South Wales has been home
to the biggest Hare Krishna farm community in Australia.
They came here to create a world away from mainstream society.
Devoted to Krishna consciousness.
The Hari Krishna movement in the West was born in the 1960s at the heart of
the youth revolution. A 69 year old Indian Swami dressed in orange robes
arrived in New York City.
His name was Srila Prabhupada. And he had come to
spread Krishna consciousness to the world.
Makhanda Goswami or Michael Grant
as he was known back then, was one of his first disciples
It was a very dingy room. He was lecturing,
actually identity
as part and parcel.
Krishna.
It was very incongruous scene because he looked very distinguished and
the people who were listening, were kinda like hippy like.
New devotees flocked to hear this learn of Swami giving lessons about an ancient
Indian religion.
Within a few months, Prabhupada had registered this fledgling
movement and called it ISKON the International Society for Krishna
Consciousness. Within two years, the movement had established temples in San
Francisco and Los Angeles.
Next stop was London, where Makhanda and the devotees
actively sought out celebrities.
From that point on, we started, you know, trying to meet a lot of important
sort of people.
The Beatles were the celebrity of the world at the time.
It did have a good effect. And it taught us that it's not what you know,
it's who you know.
George Harrison, already interested in eastern spirituality,
in fact, sought them out.
We didn't invite him. He just turned up one day.
I was one of the Hare Krishnas that he really liked. The fact that we're both
musicians had a lot to do there.
He didn't like everybody, but I was kind of
a friend of his and he trusted me and we had some good conversations.
With a little help from the new friends, the movement gained fame worldwide.
It's founder Prabhupada visited Australia, as temples were set up in Sydney and Melbourne.
Hari Krishna teachings are rooted in Indian Hindu culture and date
back more than 5000 years.
They embrace a single God, Krishna.
They are strict vegetarians and believe that chanting the Hare Krishna mantra is
a way of attaining a rapturous connection with God.
To be an initiate is quite strict. You have to follow what we call the
regulative principles. There's no meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication,
and no illicit sex.
And you have to chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Maha
mantra every day, which is a two hour pretty much for everybody a two hour
commitment.
And it also means rising early and pretty much trying to dedicate all of
your activities to service to God
in 1977 the movement suffered a devastating blow. Their beloved leader
and founder of the Hare Krishna movement, Srila Prabhupada died.
Prabhupada dying was one of those unthinkable things. Because he was the
guru. He was the CEO of the of the institution. And then he was one day he
was gone.
Internationally, the movement was struggling to cope with life after
Prabhupada
A number of disciples had been appointed as gurus to fill the void.
They were to preach to different parts of the world.
But the new system was to implode quite spectacularly over the next 10
years. As Guru by Guru fell from grace.
There were people that got drunk on power, because they were young and as
been mentioned, they're just human beings and you know, they have the
frailties. They have to make a vow that there's going to be no intoxication, no
meat eating no illicit sex. It's a very difficult thing to subscribe to for a
lifetime. To be above those frailties requires a very special commitment, a
very extraordinary commitment.
In 1986, as far as I remember, there was a big festival for Vishnu Pardhu was the
Guru of most people in the community. And then shortly after that, he was
discovered that he wasn't living the life of a celibate as he vowed to be.
And then perhaps he wasn't, you know, directly empowered representative of God
if he wasn't able to maintain that standard. And there was a crisis of
faith for many of the followers. After that was revealed.
It was tumultuous for
everyone. It was hugely tumultuous because you know, people imagine their
spiritual path to be very much tied up with this person and then he was gone.
The 90s proved to be the most difficult time for the Hare Krishna movement worldwide.
Reports of physical, emotional and sexual abuse emerged in Hare Krishna
boarding schools in India and the United States.
Yeah, there was a lot of really heavy, awful stuff that went on. But not in our
Australian school. Our Australian school was, I would say, kept to a really high
standard in that sense that we're very fortunate.
Today the movement is steadily growing again.
There are restaurants in all the major cities in Australia, and temples serving
weekly feasts to the needy.
Books are still being sold, and they're back on streets again.
Entertaining the crowd
I cannot imagine being without it.
It would be empty.
For me,
Krishna is God. He just is. You know what God's like God's blue and he plays
a bamboo flute.