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<\/p>\nHari Bol Prabhus,<\/p>\n
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.<\/p>\n
I hope all is well with you prabhus. I thought I would bring it to your attention that two days back the Toronto Star, Canada\u2019s largest and most widely-circulated newspaper, ran a story about our temple here in Toronto. It was on the front page of one of the main sections of the paper (I\u2019ve attached an image). It\u2019s focus was on the coming-of-age of the Hare Krishna and, while there are small parts of the article that we didn\u2019t full agree with, overall it\u2019s very positive! Here\u2019s the link: http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/news\/article\/880402–where-did-the-hare-krishnas-go<\/p>\n
Hare Krsna!<\/p>\n
Your Servant,<\/p>\n
Keshava<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Hare](\"http:\/\/media.thestar.topscms.com\/images\/a3\/ae\/dd496ce84ead900a9b177531056b.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nHare Krishna devotees, seen here inside the temple on Avenue Rd. in Toronto, have toned down the missionary zeal so apparent in the ’60s and ’70s.<\/p>\n
CURTIS RUSH\/TORONTO STAR<\/span>\n <\/div>\n Curtis Rush<\/span><\/p>\n Staff Reporter<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n So, whatever happened to the Hare Krishna movement?<\/p>\n Back in the 1970s, robed members of the sect were frequently seen on street corners, chanting the \u201cHare Krishna\u201d mantra, with their hair shorn.<\/p>\n These days, you are more likely to see robed Anglican bishops occupying a corner of Bay and Front Sts. and passing out literature.<\/p>\n Krishna devotees haven\u2019t gone into hiding, but they have toned down the missionary zeal from those crazy days of counterculture movements.<\/p>\n As one senior devotee says, \u201cwe are now more interested in quality than quantity.\u201d<\/p>\n Formed by his Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1965, the Hare Krishnas of the time were full of brashness and ideals. Now, you see a gentler side, with mostly South Asians attending the temple with their young children.<\/p>\n This fresh injection of Hare Krishnas has brought to the temple the most affluent and educated members in the movement\u2019s history. They are young bankers, computer consultants, software developers, dentists, PhD students. They drive Mercedes, Audis, BMWs, wear Western clothes and live in opulent homes, some with altars built so they can worship at home.<\/p>\n The Hare Krishnas worship Krsna, thought to be the source of all incarnations of God. An offshoot of Hinduism, the movement teaches followers that through chanting and meditation they can achieve true bliss, a higher state of consciousness and self-realization through the instructions of the spiritual master.<\/p>\n Lifetime members not only chant a 16-word mantra to Hare Krishna, sometimes lasting hours a day, they agree to abstain from meat, gambling, alcohol and illicit sex.<\/p>\n The decline of the movement began in part with revelations of child-abuse scandals at boarding schools in the U.S. and India in the 1970s and 1980s. Money troubles followed, and their world changed.<\/p>\n Another setback came earlier this year with a California Supreme Court ruling that kicked the Hare Krishnas out of Los Angeles International Airport.<\/p>\n In Toronto, there are believed to be 300 to 500 hard-core members, although leaders say actual numbers around the GTA are much higher.<\/p>\n David Arthur Reed, professor emeritus at Wycliffe College who studies religions and spirituality, said he\u2019s not surprised the movement has shifted away from its highly evangelistic phase.<\/p>\n \u201cMany such groups that were part of the idealism of the time have dwindled away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A big draw is the weekly Sunday feast at the temple in the tony Rosedale neighbourhood on Avenue and Roxborough Rds. The event includes a service, kirtan (chanting and dancing) and a heaping vegetarian meal.<\/p>\n This emphasis on good food, also served six days a week to the general public, prompts followers to quip that their movement is the \u201ckitchen religion.\u201d<\/p>\n The Hare Krishna movement has long appealed to 58-year-old Bhaktimarga Swami, formerly John Peter Vis, who is among 15 monks living in the temple. In 1972, fresh off the farm in Blenheim, Ont., and repulsed by the slaughtering of animals, Vis came to Toronto expecting to see hippies but noticed something different on the street corners.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time people had all this long hair, and there were these guys singing and dancing with no hair and I thought this was a bit odd, actually shocking,\u201d the monk recalls. The fine arts student at Cambrian College in Sudbury latched on and never looked back.<\/p>\n The higher education of new members is used to counter any argument that the membership is being brainwashed, or that this is a cult.<\/p>\n \u201cThese people are too smart to be brainwashed,\u201d a senior devotee says. \u201cThey\u2019re no dummies. They are graduates of universities.\u201d<\/p>\n And they are tech savvy as well. The have Facebook pages and their videos are posted on YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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By Curtis Rush<\/strong><\/p>\n