Oberoende akademiska och övriga utlåtanden, brev etc
om Krishnarörelsen
(ISKCON - Det Internationella Sällskapet för Krishnamedvetande)

DIANA L. ECK - professor

KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS: NEW CULT - OR ANCIENT CULTURE?
BY PROFESSOR DIANA L. ECK

Dr. Eck is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Indian Studies, and Sanskrit at Harvard University.

"We are here today to address ourselves to an issue no less momentous than the freedom of religious expression in America.We are here because the religious freedom of the Krishna Consciousness movement has been seriously threatened by those who would suggest that this is not a religious tradition, but an extravagant, even threatening, movement of the American counterculture. I am here to speak out for the tradition of devotion to Lord Krishna in which these men and women stand, for it is a vibrant tradition, well over two thousand years old. It is a tradition which has informed and centered the lives of millions of human beings throughout the centuries of its history.

There are those in America, in 1976, who have labelled this tradition a "cult" and have called into question its authenticity. This is an appalling and saddening witness to our cultural isolation. The recent controversies surrounding the Krishna Consciousness movement stem from our collective lack of awareness. We do not know, and we fear what we do not know.

The Krishna Consciousness movement is rooted in a long tradition of Hindu devotionalism called bhakti, which means the devotion to or love of God. This devotional tradition found its first full and moving expression in one of the most beloved of Hindu scriptures, the Bhagavad-gita, "The Song of the Lord."

About five-hundred years ago, a new and fresh wave of this ancient tradition of devotion broke across North India, as virtually a Protestant Reformation in the Hindu tradition. One of thegreat leaders of this exuberant and joyous devotionalism was the Bengali Saint, Sri Caitanya. The movement he launched in the early sixteenth century - more than a century before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth - is the same movement in which these faithful followers participate. It has both a cohesive philosophy anda rich tradition of community worship. In India it is calledthe Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition. In the United States it is called the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Standing in direct line of succession from the saint Caitanya, is the founder and spiritual leader of this movement, A. C.Bhaktivedanta Swami. Widely known and respected in the scholarly community, Bhaktivedanta Swami is the translator and interpreter of some of the great scriptural works of the Hindu tradition.The books published by his press have become valuable additions to university libraries throughout the country. The religious tradition he represents is one that commands a respected place in the religious life of humankind. It must not be discredited or dishonored by calling it a "cult," and the dignity of its unique religious heritage and history must not be diminished by confusing it indiscriminately, in one breath, with the many popular cults and movements of the day.

There are some among us who have been defensive, fearful, even accusatory in confronting a movement, the history and significance of which we may not understand. It is a movement which, at first, may seem strange. Its Hindu idiom seems, at first, as different from our own as the Christian idiom must have seemed, at first, lo the Romans or the Franks. But I am very hopeful, for we come to that crucial place at the threshold of human understanding: that place where we ask questions about what we do not understand. And I invite you to ask questions, that we may get on with the task of informing ourselves, so that we may welcome this great religious tradition among us.