Kenneth Cracknell (June 2000), entitled ‘ISKCON and Inter Faith Dialogue’. He points to the domination of dialogue with Advaita Vedanta, the monistic school of Sankara, reckoned to be, especially by Roman Catholic scholars and monks, ‘the essence or highest development of Hinduism’.8 This is something I would echo, as I think most teaching about Hinduism centres on this philosophy, as though it is the only one, when most encounters with Hinduism are at the bhakti level. Abhishiktananda and Bede Griffiths are seen as indicating that such bhakti movements prepare the way for higher forms. Protestants have indicated their horror of the ‘incurably idolatrous and sensuous’ Krishna worship, lacking a content of revelation. Yet others went in a different direction, such as Otto, who sees a real and saving God and his grace experienced in Bhakti Hinduism, and Stanley Jones, the great American missionary, who practised both ‘bhajana’ and ‘kirtana’, and felt God is very near, and Bishop Appaswamy, in the 1920s, writing of Bhaktars, who speak of God, adore his goodness, worship him with bowed heads and clasped hands as seeking in all possible ways to establish a relation with him which will grow into mystical Union. Cracknell rejoices in relating to ISKCON after unfruitful Hindu–Christian relations for so long.9 He feels deeply the willingness of the other party to join in, and their expertise in their own faith. Michael Barnes said that he felt, in dialogue with ISKCON, a rare experience of head and heart being united. We learn about the other, but also with the other, as friendly trust develops. When dealing with others who are dedicated to worship and spirituality, dialogue takes place for the sake of the wider world and deep friendships develop. These include the hardest theological questions, and he lists 16 such questions in the eschatological area coming out of a weekend in Wales: death, resurrection, reincarnation, suffering, the nature of time, pastoral approaches on the approach of death.
The second article is by Ranchor Dasa, and is entitled, ‘Looking for the Dearest Friend’ (1994). He is a former Roman Catholic, and he describes his conversion as building on the faith he already had as a Catholic: ‘A Christian church to me is still a holy place where I intuitively feel at home.’ A converting experience for him was to begin chanting, as he had seen on TV. He felt a personal relationship with God for the first time, as he chanted for two hours, using the names of Krishna, Rama and Hare (Hare represents the mercy of God, personified as Radha, the embodiment of pure love and mercy). He became a missionary, following his guru, a missionary to the Western world to teach Krishna consciousness. He was told by Prabhupada, ‘Somehow or other, preach.’ He teaches that God is our dearest Friend. We should preach about love, and not fear. When his father discovered he was about to move to a Krishna temple, he sent him to Worth Abbey, and his friends held a vigil to win him back to Christ. But the wise abbot at Worth said, ‘If I were your age, I would do exactly as you’, when he explained his story. ‘May God bless you’, he added, and Ranchor Dasa ends his article, ‘I began my life as a devotee of Krishna with his blessings, and I felt in my heart, the blessings of Jesus Christ.’
I now give the substance of three interviews with devotees whom I felt very privileged to have talked to, and received their trust.
Like many in the movement, my first respondent, Ferdinando, was a Roman Catholic. Italian, he was a faithful mass attender in Italy and a kind of bhakti devotee of Mother Mary, and was very close to his Catholic family. He was active in the boy scouts, and got on well with both priests and nuns. There was no negative push factor. He also felt close to Jesus, but had little understanding of the nature and character of God. He discovered in the Vaishnavite tradition the experience of joy in worship, and of the love of God. What he found new was warmth and joy, and this was the pull factor to the Vaishnavite faith. He feels he is a devotee of God first, and then of ISKCON. He does not like to be too restricted. He discovered this wider tradition when visiting Vrindavan on a spiritual search in India. He was attracted too to Gandhism. ISKCON came into his life when he met a group casually in west London. He visited ashrams, and decided to become a monk, which took him around Europe. Then, like he estimates 90 per cent of monks, he got married, as in Buddhism, his monk period over. Since then he has done a doctorate in the field of Vaishnava research, and become an academic. Where does he see the links between Christianity and what he prefers to call Vaishnavism? The strength of the theist tradition in both, with God both infinite and highly personal, has led him to study Catholic personalist philosophy, as well as finding this in Vaishnavism. ‘Krishna’ is another name for God, and the manifestation of God in Jesus is no problem. He can see also strong links between bhakti worship in his tradition with that of Catholicism (see Chapter 9, on Sweden, for further encounter with Ferdinando).
My second interviewee is Pradip. Like the majority of devotees and initiates now – a big change in the last 20 years – he is British Indian Hindu, and was born in Birmingham. He was brought up to attend pujas and festivals in the Handsworth Temple, and his father was president of their caste association, which provides security, culture and order for its members. Learned visitors used to come from Gujarat, but he could not understand their religious teaching. As a secondary school student, he began to discover the Gita in English, and also to read the Gideon Bible. The change in his life came when John Lennon died. He went into the history of the Beatles and their connections with India. The song ‘Goddess of Fortune’ on an old record affected him, as did Hare Krishna chanting, produced by George Harrison. He found the sound ‘awesome’. He discussed all this with a school friend, who introduced him to ISKCON, and he used to attend the Hare Krishna gathering every Saturday in a rented hall in the city centre. They also read Prabhupada, and his theological reflection that every person can have a personal relationship with God. He was impressed with his selfless character, his devotion and commitment to service. He valued the teaching that we are spiritual beings, beyond any designation of religion, label or caste.
His parents accepted his becoming a strict vegetarian and his taking up chanting. But they were wary of an organization they felt was being led by white people converting to Hindu practice. He was taken by his uncle to the Manor, in the hope that he would be put off. This failed, as he was impressed with the discipline and clarity of the movement, and the feeling of access to God. Even the Gandhian uncle was impressed, and only said that he should not bow to a white person, a seemingly racist remark.
At 18, he went to London, and after graduation moved to the Manor, and spent ten years as a monk. His goal was not status but life in the spirit, serving and educating others. He eventually left there to get married, and to do an MBA, from which he became a manager within the movement, working alongside the Governing Body Commissioner for the UK. It was a vital area of service where there had been a deficiency, supporting ten temples and many small groups throughout the country. Meanwhile, his father became reconciled to his involvement and even proud of him. After a visit to the Manor, his father heard someone say, ‘There is a young man there from our community here, and he speaks well.’ His father replied, ‘Yes, he is my son.’
He became a temporary leader of a struggling and divided community in Leicester in 2004, and moved with his wife to that city in 2006. He became one of the key persons in establishing the I Foundation, which opened the first state-supported school in Harrow, and since coming to Leicester he has worked towards such a school there, opened in September 2011 (see above, and in Chapter 7 on Leicester). He also is very ready to offer teaching to Christian groups, including future clergy, and has a real gift in explaining the basic parameters of Hinduism, and his own movement, in a way that is clear and engaging.
The third interviewee is Gauri Das, a leading person at the Manor, Scottish, and again a former Roman Catholic. He told me how his father had died shortly before the interview, a very devout person, as is his sister. She relates how her father had told her, when near to death, ‘Don’t worry about the boys; they know God.’ This represented, he feels, his father’s endorsement. He has had a visionary encounter with his father after his death, which meant a great deal to him. He is convinced that the two faiths use different languages but represent
