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Part One
NB. The footnotes for this article are linked to a separate
footnote page.
Continuing our theme of articles about Srila Prabhupada in his
centenary year Charles Selengut offers us this study of Prabhupada
as the founder and charismatic leader of Vaishnavism's first international
society. He gives us a comprehensive overview of Prabhupada's struggle
to establish ISKCON and the qualities that marked him as uniquely
suited for the task. He shows us Prabhupada's attitude to Western
values and his faithful regard for Vaishnava principles. Finally
Selengut questions if it is possible for scholars to acknowledge
the experience of charisma or "the Holy" without reducing it to
psychological states or sociological categories.
It's an astonishing story. If someone told you a story like this,
you would not believe it. Here is this person, he's seventy years
old, he's going to a country where he has no money, he has no
contacts. He has none of the things you would say that make for
success. He's going to recruit people not on any systematic basis,
but just picking up whomever he comes across and he's going to
give them responsibility for organising a world-wide movement.
You'd say "what kind of program is that?" (Hopkins, 1983:127)
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was this person. Born
Abhay Caran De on September 1, 1896 in Calcutta, India, to a traditionally
religious Hindu family, he received a comprehensive religious and
secular education, studying Sanskrit and Hindu philosophy with private
tutors, and later attending the prestigious Scottish Churches' College
in Calcutta. Upon reaching adulthood, his father, Gour Mohan, a
pious follower of the Vaishnava tradition, arranged a marriage for
Abhay Caran De to Radharani Datta, the daughter of a prominent Vaishnava
family, who was to be the mother of De's five children. After completing
his studies, De entered upon a career as a manager for a large Indian
pharmaceutical company. He remained in the pharmaceutical business
for some thirty years, working both as a manager for large firms
and as a small entrepreneur. De was moderately successful in his
various ventures, but several of the companies he established in
large Indian cities ended in bankruptcy.
Although his early childhood piety had waned somewhat during his
college years, as an adult he visited temples regularly and maintained
contact with the Vaishnava community. A turning point in his life
came when, in 1932, he received initiation from Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati, the spiritual leader of a religious institution known
as the Gaudiya Math, that traced its roots to the revitalisation
movement founded by Sri Chaitanya in sixteenth century India. From
1932 to 1954, De continued his pharmaceutical work, but spent increasing
time and money on his religious activities. During this period he
greatly increased his writing and preaching activities, and began
publishing Back to Godhead magazine. In 1954, following conflict
with his wife over his increasing religious commitments, Abhay-now
called Bhaktivedanta, a title awarded him in 1939 for his scholarly
and devotional activities-left his family, committing himself fully
to religious life.
From 1954 until 1965 Bhaktivedanta lived in various Indian cities,
writing, preaching and publishing books, pamphlets, and lectures
in his effort to spread the Krishna religion. In 1959 he was initiated
as a sannyasi (monk) by Keshava Maharaja, one of his "Godbrothers"
in the Gaudiya Math. During this period he made some important contacts
with Indian leaders. Through his writing and preaching he began
to attract a few disciples. But it was to America, the largest English-speaking
country in the world, where he felt himself drawn and where he believed
his religious mission to be.
Bhaktivedanta's own "Godbrothers" and sympathetic acquaintances
tried to discourage him from leaving India, arguing that since he
was making an impact in India he should not undertake such a long
journey at such an advanced age (he was nearly seventy). Bhaktivedanta,
however, persisted, explaining that his spiritual master had asked
him to preach the Krishna tradition in America.1
So, in accordance with Bhaktisiddhanta's instructions, Bhaktivedanta
left his native India in 1965 for the United States.
Bhaktivedanta's trip to the United States was not sponsored by
any religious organisation, nor was he met upon arrival by a group
of loyal followers. Rather, he travelled for more than a month on
the Indian freighter "Jaladuta" as it made its way from India-first
to Boston and then to New York City. He arrived in New York on September
19, 1965 with a few belongings-but with a firm determination to
spread the Krishna philosophy in America. From New York he took
a bus to Butler, a small town in western Pennsylvania, where he
stayed with the Agarwal family, who, though strangers to him, had
agreed to sponsor him.
The first few weeks of Swami Bhaktivedanta's stay in America were
relatively uneventful and unnoticed. He lectured at some local colleges
and community gatherings-there were even a few notices about his
arrival in the local newspapers-but he does not appear to have made
any lasting contacts. One month after his arrival he returned to
New York City where he hoped to establish himself as a teacher and
preacher. In New York, Bhaktivedanta contacted Dr. Ramamurti Mishra,
a teacher of Indian philosophy on New York's West Side. Dr. Mishra
helped Bhaktivedanta get settled in New York, providing him with
temporary living quarters.
Within five years of these modest beginnings, A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada was the acknowledged spiritual leader and guru
of hundreds of devotee followers who were organised into a religious
movement with branches on several continents. By 1970 the new movement,
incorporated as "The International Society for Krishna Consciousness
(ISKCON)", had been given wide publicity by the media and popularised
for the sixties counterculture through such celebrities as Allen
Ginsberg and the Beatles. This new movement from the East was avowedly
evangelistic and situated in the mainstream of the sixties youth
and countercultural movements, performing their religious dances
in public parks, participating in anti-Vietnam War rallies, and
even, on occasions, appearing at rock concerts and music festivals.
In spite of Bhaktivedanta Swami's close connection with the places
and personalities of the counterculture, he remained firmly committed
to the cultural and religious traditions of his native Indian Vaishnava
community, particularly in his emphasis on devotion to the Indian
Deity, Krishna. Bhaktivedanta Swami insisted on the most exact performance
of Vaishnava rituals, and on the observance of various religious
duties and prohibitions, the bulk of which were probably unknown
to his followers until they made his acquaintance.
These events leave us with some intriguing questions. How, for
example, was it possible for this elderly Indian holy man to transplant
an indigenous Indian devotional tradition to the entirely different
social and cultural terrain of America? Why did some of the young
Americans who visited him come to accept his authority? Moreover,
why is it that some of those attracted to him and his preaching
took up the lifestyle he advocated-a life characterised by austerity
and self-denial, so unlike their previous mode of life?
There are, of course, many different answers. The faithful see
Bhaktivedanta Swami's success as the work of God, of divine grace.
Others, antagonistic to unconventional religions, view the development
of ISKCON as the result of "coercive socialisation", of deception,
and even of "brainwashing". Still others would not want to focus
on the person of Bhaktivedanta Swami, but rather upon the "functions"-such
as relief from anxiety and tension-his movement performed for the
distressed and confused.2
The focus in this paper, however, is upon A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada-his person and his style of leadership. The position
taken here is that psychological or cultural needs alone do not
create charismatic leaders. The rise of a religious movement is
not simply a matter of historical or cultural propitiousness, but
the result of a unique convergence of personality, social setting
and cultural needs. This is not to deny that charismatic religious
movements are likely to emerge, as Robert Tucker (1970:81) tells
us, when prevailing widespread dissatisfactions deepen and evolve
into distress or suffering. But to acknowledge situational factors
in the emergence of charisma does not explain why and how a particular
religious leader comes to be accepted and followed as the path to
salvation. My contention here is that the unique personal authority
of the charismatic leader grows out of the followers' conviction
that the leader, by virtue of special powers, qualities and wisdom,
can provide relief from their distress, suffering and confusion.
Both the leader and the message make the charismatic effervescence
possible. Theories which emphasise one factor to the exclusion of
the other do an injustice to the confluence of forces necessary
for the rise of charismatic movements. The successful development
of ISKCON in American must be seen, then, as largely a result of
Prabhupada's leadership.
Prophetic Charisma: The Source of Prabhupada's Authority
Prabhupada's religious authority and innovative leadership are
explainable in terms of his being a charismatic prophet. As Weber
explained (1947:358-59), charisma is a descriptive and non-evaluative
category-applicable to conventionally "good" as well as "evil" leaders-and
describes "a certain quality of individual personality by virtue
of which one is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed
with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional
power or qualities". These special qualities are regarded by followers
as of "divine origin", and on that basis the charismatic individual
is treated as a leader worthy of loyalty. To his followers, Prabhupada
was such a person, the bearer of an ultimate and salvationist truth
available to them if they were loyal and obedient to his directives.
The uniqueness of the charismatic prophet is his ability to provide,
as Weber puts it, "a consciously integrated and meaningful attitude
to life". Prophets, therefore, tend to come forward at times of
social and cultural crisis; they preach that personal and societal
life can be made meaningful and satisfying once again if lived in
accordance with their proclamations. As Weber (1963:59) explains:
To the prophet, both the life of man and the world, both social
and cosmic events, have a certain systematic and coherent meaning.
To this meaning the conduct of mankind must be oriented if it
is to bring salvation, for only in relation to this meaning does
life obtain a unified and significant pattern.
Unlike the warrior or priest-other possible types of charismatic
leaders-the prophet's authority does not derive from the performance
of religious ritual, heroic deeds or heredity, but from his conviction
of "being the organ, instrument, or mouthpiece of the divine will"
(Wach, 1944:347). Again, in contrast to charismatic political leaders,
the prophet's claim to authority is not based upon his personal
will, or even deep insight, but upon the word of God revealed to
the prophet directly or through a sacred tradition.
The prophet is also a radical critic of society. As
a consequence of his intense relationship with the divine-with what
he takes to be the deepest sources of truth and reality-the prophet
demands that the social order conform to the moral order as known
to him through his experience and knowledge of God's will. The prophet,
possibly as a consequence of his personal experience of the divine
will, appears throughout religious history as a confident and courageous
critic of the status quo.
Srila Prabhupada's ability to create ISKCON needs to
be seen in light of his own self-consciousness as an authorised
prophet, and of the acceptance and recognition of his prophetic
powers by his early followers. Evidence abounds of his conviction
that he was a messenger through which Krishna consciousness would
be brought to the Western world. From the time Prabhupada left his
family and business associations and took up full-time religious
life, he saw himself as the person who would awaken the entire world-particularly
the educated elements in India and America-to the faith system and
redemptive powers of Krishna consciousness.
This powerful self-consciousness, the overwhelming sense
of being the organ, instrument, or mouthpiece of the divine will,
is the distinguishing characteristic of the prophet.3
Bhaktivedanta Swami apparently possessed this awareness, and in
spite of occasional doubts, even serious organisational setbacks
and, at times, blunders and errors, he appears never to have wavered
from this strongly felt inner conviction.4
This inner conviction of having been called to the prophetic mission
gave Bhaktivedanta Swami enormous personal confidence and the courage
to persist in reaching his goals. An example of his prophetic confidence
is seen in the reflections of a Village Voice reporter (S. Goswami,
1980:90-91) who interviewed him on New York's Lower East Side in
1966-a time before Prabhupada really had any fully committed devotees:
I thought his ideas stood a good chance of taking
hold, because he seemed so practical. His head didn't seem in
the clouds. He wasn't talking mysticism every third word. I guess
that's where his soul was, but that is not where his normal conversational
consciousness was at. Everything was very practical. Then he
talked about temples all over the world, and he said, "Well, we
have got a long way to go. But I am very patient."(my italic)
In the authentic tradition of prophecy, Prabhupada never
presented himself as a religious innovator but as the authorised
representative of the divine will. Over and over again, he insisted
it was not his personal desire that led him to America, but obedience
to his own guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. Typical of his pronouncements
is an entry in his diary (S. Goswami, 1980:1) composed aboard the
ship during his initial trip to the United States:
I have left Bharatabhumi just to execute the order
of Shri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, in pursuance of Lord Caitanya's
order. I have no qualification but have taken up the risk just
to carry out the order of His Divine Grace. I depend fully on
Their mercy, so far from Vrindavana.
In spite of his highly traditional rhetoric-Prabhupada
always presented himself as a part of the Vaishnava disciplic line
(parampara)-his leadership was both original and innovative.
While he was theologically orthodox, his emphasis on the priesthood
of all fully committed Krishna devotees regardless of nationality
and family origin, and his willingness to virtually go it alone
in the West with little help (and even some opposition) from his
own "Godbrothers", differentiates him from other initiated disciples
of Bhaktisiddhanta. Bhaktivedanta was no conventional pious priest
and devotee, but the prophet of a revitalised Krishna tradition.
Prabhupada and His Disciples
Charismatic authority requires more than a leader's inner conviction
and confidence: it demands acceptance of the leader's authority
by his followers. What was it about Prabhupada that encouraged his
disciples-and even some people outside his institutional circle-to
view him as an "extraordinary" person worthy of veneration, loyalty
and obedience? The young men and women initially attracted to Prabhupada
and his teachings-those who recognised him as a charismatic prophet-were,
as J. Stillson Judah (1974) explained, people of the counterculture
who were searching for an explanation of life's meaning but did
not find it or were not satisfied with the answers they did receive
from conventional authorities. Many who were attracted to Prabhupada
were "seekers"-people who had sought a comprehensive philosophy
of life in Marxism, communal living groups, Eastern philosophy,
or in psychedelic cultures, but who were never really satisfied
with what they found (Selengut, 1989). It was Prabhupada and his
presentation of Krishna consciousness which appeared to answer their
deepest longings.
Many disciples tell of their long spiritual quest which
was only satisfied upon meeting and hearing Prabhupada's expositions
of Vaishnava philosophy. An early devotee (now a leader in ISKCON)
who had been involved in the sixties' counterculture studying with
a spiritual teacher in California, tells of his experiences (T.K.
Goswami, 1984:12):
Although I had attended numerous lectures by Ron Lamerick,
they consisted mostly of abstract ideas presented in a contrived,
complex terminology which I found difficult to remember from one
meeting to the next. The meditation sessions had been no less
confusing. Each person was encouraged to "travel" out of his body,
and upon re-entering, to describe where he or she had been. There
was no direction given as to how to channel our energy toward
a particular goal. Whatever the goal was, Ron Lamerick had never
clearly defined it. Comparing the two, I felt that there was more
to gain by hearing Prabhupada lecture. Chanting Hare Krishna was
a more tangible process than some vague meditation.
In defining what appealed to him about Prabhupada during
an interview with me, another early disciple explained, "He had
answers about the nature of the soul, the nature of God and the
relation between the two... He presented a vocabulary to understand
spirituality, and made it real and accessible."
5
What attracted prospective followers in many instances
was the religious message of Krishna consciousness-namely, that
human beings are spirit souls whose essential earthly task is to
serve God (Krishna) so that they "do not have to take birth again
in the material world" and can return to their original, blissful
transcendental position in the spiritual world. As one devotee put
it:
Prabhupada taught us who God is, what our relationship
is with Him and how to develop our love for God in our daily lives.
My brother and I would always ask ourselves: Where did we come
from? Here is this universe, how did it get here? What is behind
this and that? But these questions never came up in our social
circles. Krishna consciousness answers them clearly and in a non-sentimental
way.6
Prabhupada, in essence, rejected Western culture and
showed his followers a "way out" from the secularisation and functional
rationality of modern social systems, a condition in which human
activity is unrelated to transcendental meaning. Prabhupada's teachings
were a call for the sacralisation of human activity. In practising
devotion to the Krishna tradition, disciples were assured that they
were participating in the divine plan in which all actions, relationships,
and experiences have cosmic meaning. Personal biography and the
pains of mundane experience could now be transcended through a life
lived in fidelity with Prabhupada's instructions.
Prabhupada subtly wedded Vaishnava religious philosophy
to a radical social critique of Western culture. The beliefs and
practices of Krishna consciousness were presented not only as religious
obligations, but also as means for the alleviation of the personal
and collective malaise engendered by modernity. Prabhupada claimed
that the high crime rate, the dissolution of stable family forms,
and even the alienated work conditions of many modern societies
were attributable, not simply to social or economic causes, but
to the absence of a specifically transcendental spirituality and
practice centred around devotion to Krishna as God. Reincarnation,
vegetarianism, celibacy, Deity worship-central tenets of Krishna
consciousness-were shown to be the path to higher spirituality,
and also the only authentic "solution" for the problems faced by
modern social systems. "He looked at the symptoms of our times",
said one devotee, "and could describe very accurately what was going
on below the surface." Another disciple put it his way: "It's not
lack of food, clothing, or even shelter that's the problem. What
Prabhupada showed us was that it is people's refusal to surrender
to Krishna, to love and serve Him, that is at the root of the problem."
The philosophy of Krishna consciousness, however, is
but one element in explaining the early success of ISKCON. Social
movements of either a religiously salvationist or politically revolutionary
type always present scenarios for personal or social transformation.
An attractive worldview promising relief from distress does not,
by itself, engender a charismatic movement. What makes such movements
possible-at least in the initial phases-is the critical presence
of a leader with "extraordinary" qualities to inspire, sustain,
embody and articulate the movement's message and vision for would-be
joiners and followers. The authentic leader, i.e., the bearer of
charisma, "radiates a buoyant self-confidence in the rightness and
goodness of the aims he proclaims for his movement" (Tucker, 1970:87).
Moreover, he shows a stubborn "self-confidence and faith in the
movement's prospects" for success.
Prabhupada was experienced by others as such a personality.
From available sources, we get the sense of a leader who, in spite
of setbacks and periodic doubts, was convinced of the final success
of his vision. It was this self-confidence-derived both from the
inspiration and authority given to him by his own guru (and thus,
according to Indian tradition, by Krishna himself acting through
the guru), and from his own prophetic stature-by which he was to
be successful in spreading Krishna consciousness throughout much
of the world.
The acceptance of Prabhupada as a charismatic prophet
and teacher endowed his person and directives with sacred authority.
For his disciples, Prabhupada's instructions were seen as emanating
from divine reality and were identified with that ultimate realm
of truth. There was little reason for disciples to evaluate his
pronouncements, viewpoints, or authority in the context of any other
social, ethical or religious system. The fact that what Prabhupada
decreed might be "wrong" by prevailing scientific or moral standards
would not be reason for its rejection. Ultimately, prophetic authority
is not predicated on human understanding or social acceptability
but upon faith in the charismatic person, who is known to represent
transcendental truth. In obedience to Prabhupada, the early ISKCON
followers felt themselves to be "in tune with the Universe", while
disobedience was seen as denying the fundamental order of God's
will. Living in accordance with the prophet's directives is to be
in harmony with the essential nature of the cosmos. To deny or to
disobey this authority is to be removed from that order and to invite
the terrors of suffering, anomie and chaos on the self.
Part Two
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