Why does ISKCON have such a negatively sex-obsessed conception of bhakti?

Why do ISKCON’s books and preachers talk more about sex than about Krishna?

Transcript

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Hare Krishna Question Why does ISKCON Have such a Sex-obsessed conception of bhakti I was born And brought up in a Vaishnava family And After I was introduced to ISKCON I found that the ISKCON books And the ISKCON preachers Talk more about sex Than about Krishna And many ISKCON brahmacharis Look down Upon grahasthas As if Grahasthas are Sinful So rather than seeing the bhakti element Bhakti Which is the whole process That is followed The whole ISKCON process Seems to me to be sex-centric Rather than Krishna-centric Why is that Answer Firstly We have to be clear about what bhakti means Bhakti at one level Means Fixing the mind on Krishna and connecting with Krishna Yes, that is definitely the central Element of bhakti But at the same time There is also a contextual element of bhakti It means that It means helping us To free our mind From whatever can take us Away from Krishna So for example If we read Some of the books Written by the Madhva scholars Madhvacharyas followers Vyasa Tirtha wrote some books So When he Advaita Kalanal and other such books Where he refutes Mayavad Now they are so technical and so complex The arguments within them We may not even We just see logic and scriptural quotation And we may not see much Direct Krishna over there We may wonder over there is it Why are you Interested so much in bashing Mayavad Why are you not interested in glorifying Krishna Or Vishnu Well, there in that Cultural and intellectual scenario The Mayavad Was a big misconception for people Which often Distracted their minds from being fixed on Krishna So the Acharyas at that time Have a responsibility not only to provide people Facilities for fixing their mind on Krishna But also They have the responsibility Of eradicating Crushing the misconceptions That can drag The seekers mind, the devotees minds Away from Krishna So That is why we see even in the Bhagavatam Especially for Parikshit Maharaj Who is on the verge of death And is fixing the mind on Krishna So there are repeated references To the illusory And the binding nature of household life There is Bharat Maharaj section Which is very very critical In the 5th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam Very critical of Householder life And in 7th Canto Prahalad is also Condemning materialistic household life And like that there are several sections In the Bhagavatam Which do this sort of strong critique Of household life. The purpose is what? The purpose is the Bhagavatam is a book Which is meant to help a person Fix the mind on Krishna, especially a person Who is about to die. And that time Yes household responsibilities Are responsibilities which have to be done But when one is on the verge of death Then one has to fix the mind on Krishna And see that everything else is a distraction So Both from the commentarial tradition And from the scripture itself We see this principle that The The The To fulfill the purpose Of fixing the mind on Krishna A subsidiary, assistant purpose That is also Needs to be served is To free the mind from the distractions That can take us away from Krishna So We live in a hyper-sexualized Culture Srila Prabhupada Started Krishna Consciousness And preaching Krishna Consciousness Vigorously in America Although he was doing that in India also before that And Beyond that What he did was So when he started preaching In America and then he came back To India At that time India was at least somewhat Sexually conservative Now India is also becoming hyper-sexualized With the media Following and actually Exceeding in some ways The Obscenity that is there in the west So Because of the Now sex has always been a part of human culture And it is the way Humanity perpetuates itself So in that sense there is nothing wrong with sex Dharma viruddho bhuteshu kamosmi Virudharshivam That which is The sex life that is not contrary to Dharma That is sacred, that is a way to experience God So That is included Within the Vedic culture itself But that And human beings by their very Fact that We have a biological dimension To our present existence There will be a functional need And there will be a psychological attraction to it That is fine But one doesn’t have to make it Into a Cultural obsession constantly That means The human mind is going to think of sex Anyway but when we Depict it aggressively everywhere Then that obsession becomes Increased manifold So In such a situation where people are Constantly infatuated with thoughts of sex So at that time For them to fix the mind in Krishna Is difficult and that’s why To some extent at least It is vital that The The transitory And illusory nature of sexual pleasure Be talked about so that people Can understand there is nothing great in this There is no need to get so worked up So excited About these things and therefore We can fix the mind in Krishna Prabhupada also writes in the Bhagavad Gita The purpose of marriage is to make the mind peaceful So that it can be fixed in Krishna So The mind is hyper excited about sexual pleasure So within the presence Of dharma one gets the opportunity to fulfill The desires and then after the desires are fulfilled One realizes that There is nothing Great or so great about it and then one can Move the mind towards Krishna But in today’s culture Rather than Making the mind peaceful So because The culture constantly Keeps glamorizing sex in various Ways so people Rather than becoming peaceful even when they are married What happens is the mind keeps hoping Maybe I can get some other opportunity for Enjoyment with some other partner And maybe that enjoyment will be More fulfilling This was not all that great maybe that will be great And that way the mind stays agitated constantly And that’s why It is the responsibility of the acharyas Following the scriptural Commentarial tradition to Help people Counter the distractions That are keeping their minds away From Krishna So the Repeated references In Srila Prabhupada’s books And in his con classes To the transitory and illusory nature of Sexual pleasure they are meant for To give us an intellectual impetus And to give us the determination Intellectual conviction To turn our mind away from sex And to fix it on Krishna So Now it may happen that this Can become Excessive And the whole Process can Become more negative than positive Now Prabhupada Actually gave so many positive alternatives He had beautiful temples With very attractive deities and Melodious kirtans and then Ratha Yatra festivals And the whole culture Offered a variety of Engagements Now if we see The Krishna consciousness movement Then if we see it Only based on books we may feel that there is Excessive emphasis on sex But if we see at a complete movement In the books there is constant reminder And there may be in the classes also the reminder that Don’t get too excited about this But then as a whole Movement it offers so many ways Practically by the Devotional culture by which one can fix the mind on Krishna So it is not that There is just negative Hammering, don’t do this, don’t do this, don’t do this No, there is abundant Facility for positive engagement That is there And it is this positive engagement that will Purify us and that will elevate us And that will free our mind from the infatuation But if you are too infatuated Then we will not even feel Inspired to get involved with the positive engagement So therefore To minimize that obsession there is That infatuation, there is that Reference to The illusory nature of these things Now yes, if science In some cases this has become excessive Then that is because of the Because of the specific Individual teacher Is a lack of balance in presentation And this has happened unfortunately in the Skan history And it continues to happen In some places even today That Especially this can This whole principle is That whoever we are We have to avoid Letting the mind Wander too much or dwell too much on sex And we should get the mind to find its residence in Krishna And that is the respect This principle is the respective of the Brahmachari ashram and the Grahastha ashram So this, the principle Is that We counter the distractions from Krishna And get the mind fixed on Krishna But unfortunately this principle is Overlooked Or sidelined And then this whole Discussion Is reduced to a polemic Between Brahmacharis and Grahasthas Where Brahmacharis start looking down Upon Grahasthas Because they say that You are involved in sex That is unfortunate And an unformed reduction Of what is essentially A devotional principle With a devotional purpose So it’s not that Only Grahasthas are distracted By sex Even Brahmacharis are distracted In fact, if they are not fixing their mind on Krishna And engaging themselves properly in Krishna’s service They may be more distracted Because it’s possible that Due to not experiencing that They may be feeling more and more agitated About it Of course, it’s not as I said that experience alone Does not remove the excitement Does not deflate the excitement Because one always keeps craving for other experiences In other ways Which one hopes will Bring the pleasure That is glamorized That is advertised That is depicted But anyway, the point is that If one is too critical And if one finds that the presentation of bhakti Is being reduced to a Brahmachari-Grahastha sort of battle Then one can just Withdraw from that setting And one can find other devotees Who give us a presentation of bhakti Which Encourages and inspires us in bhakti So all of us Ultimately Rather than judging whether others are right or wrong We may or may not Be mature enough Learned enough Realized enough to know what is the Consciousness and the motivation of someone When that person is speaking something But we can And we should know What is uncool for my bhakti So if some devotees we find them hypercritical And we find that their association Doesn’t inspire us in bhakti Then we can always look for other devotees Whose association We find encouraging And we can Help and bhakti be nourished In their association So that As a practical measure We can always take So the philosophical point We are not negatively sex-obsessed Rather the society, the culture that we live in Is sex-obsessed And because there is a distraction Because that becomes a major distraction From Krishna So to help people dwell on Krishna And relish his attraction What is the distraction also has to be exposed And that is A time-honored philosophical principle That expresses itself in a particular way According to the contemporary cultural scenario And regarding If specific hypercriticality is there Then that is unfortunate That is because of individual’s Individual Preacher’s lack of balance And one can, rather than judging that person as wrong Which often one One may not be well informed Enough to do And even if one is One may not be in a position to correct that preacher It is better that one finds That association of devotees Which can inspire one To take to bhakti More enthusiastically And become more devoted to Krishna Thank you Hare Krishna