Review On ‘Hare Krishnas in Singapore: Agency, State And Hinduism’ Essay in the SOJOURN (Journal of Social Issues in South East Asia) Issue 23: April 1, 2008
I appreciate the effort of the authors in their research on the evolution of the Hare Krishna movement in Singapore. Their essay (click here for the full article) was divided into two sections: Firstly, the State – Hare Krishna nexus and secondly, the Hinduism – Hare Krishna nexus. For the most part of my review here, I would comment on the former section as the latter for the most part comprises individual opinions which depend on individual perception whereas the former comprises many conclusive statements by the authors which are partially or entirely incorrect owing to their insufficient research both spiritually as well as factually.
It is mentioned in the preamble of the essay that
“This paper … serves as a documentation of the growth of the Hare Krishna movement in Singapore.”
Since this documentation is going to be the basis of future study on the Hare Krishna movement in Singapore, I, being a full-time member of the Sri Krishna Mandir, felt it very much necessary to rectify the many erroneous conclusions of the authors.
Firstly, the cause of the so many splinter Hare Krishna groups should be understood in the proper perspective. To understand this, one must understand the executive order of Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of the Hare Krishna movement as delineated in his Will, the Direction of Management (DoM) and the July 9, 1977 directive.
The crux of the fragmentation of the Hare Krishna devotees in Singapore or in any other country for that matter, lies in the differences of their understanding of mainly the July 9th directive. The July 9th directive is a plain written order by Srila Prabhupada on the method of accepting disciples into the movement (technically called initiation) especially after his departure. It is very clearly mentioned in that letter that an aspirant should be initiated by a proxy (technically called Rtvik) representative of Srila Prabhupada and that the newly initiated disciple becomes a disciple of Srila Prabhupada. In fact, this point has been stressed thrice in that document. The representatives were also named and they numbered eleven with a provision to increase according to necessity.
Following Srila Prabhupada’s departure, these eleven representatives of Srila Prabhupada most unrightfully proclaimed themselves as ‘gurus’ and the general body of devotees were kept in dark regarding the actual intention of Srila Prabhupada. They initiated disciples on their own behalf and there was a sense of competition between the ‘gurus’. In this way, due to their severe offence at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada, they degraded so much so that many of them went to the extent of committing heinous crimes such as murders, rapes, pedophile, etc.
All the devotees that are existing in this island were trained in Sri Krishna Mandir (which was called Shiv Mandir in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s), a regular temple with worship of their beloved Deities, Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan, Jagannatha, Baladev and Subhadra, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Nrsimhadev. After they were trained to a certain standard, they were then initiated by either this ‘guru’ or that. Following such initiation, these bogus ‘gurus’ played politics with the temple authority and induced their own disciples to form factions and to work against the temple authority as is the trend in our current ISKCON. In this way, so many splinter groups came into existence and Sri Krishna Mandir is the parent of them all.
The devotees at Sri Krishna Mandir have dedicated their life completely to the service of Lord Krishna and follow the strict daily temple program and preaching work everyday as enunciated by Srila Prabhupada whereas all the other groups comprise devotees who work outside for an income and due to lack of association of full-time temple devotees, follow a boiled down Hinduized version of Krishna Consciousness and hardly have any strength to practice the rigid guidelines set out by Srila Prabhupada. That is why they are restricting their activities to only weekly evening programs conducted conveniently either at houses or Hindu temples with no monetary overheads required.
Although the Singapore government had barred Srila Prabhupada in the year 1971, it amended its ways and has now recognized Sri Krishna Mandir as the sole authority to practice and preach freely the Hare Krishna religion within the island even at times keenly supporting our many festivals and benevolent activities. Ministers of Parliament grace our festivals as guests of honor thereby further reinforcing their faith in us. Others still have to hide in the backyard of the Hindu temples to avoid the limelight lest they might be penalized. Moreover, any one affiliated with Sri Krishna Mandir does not have any problem at the while entering or leaving the country in their devotional attires. So far, we did not have any incidences of any one being apprehended while dressed in their devotional attires at the immigration.
Albeit it is true that the Hare Krishna movement here cannot be affiliated with the world-wide ISKCON owing to the natural protective measures taken by the Singapore government, it is a blessing in disguise for the devotees here in Sri Krishna Mandir because in this way, they are shielded from the influence of the so-called ‘gurus’ who have track-record of being murderers, rapists, thieves, rowdies and what not? This measure by the Singapore government is laudable as it facilitates Sri Krishna Mandir in proving its genuineness and sincerity in establishing Srila Prabhupada’s position as the sole Diksa Guru.
Sri Krishna Mandir was so successful that the government had no qualms in endorsing the registration of a second society called Sri Krishna Mandir Welfare Society to execute the Food For Life program. Esteemed charitable organizations like the Lee Foundation, Shaw Foundation, The Singapore Totaliser Board and the Chinese Kwan Im Thong temple have generously donated both in cash and in kind to support the Food For Life program in which we were distributing food to the tune of twenty thousand people every month for the past five years.
The Prisons Authority of Singapore recognizes the Sri Krishna Mandir as the only Hare Krishna counseling authority in its Prisons Preaching Program. Therefore Sri Krishna Mandir plays a vital role in the rehabilitation of the inmates of the prisons in Singapore. Owing to its benevolent work in the prisons, Sri Krishna Mandir periodically receives many accolades and adulations from the Prisons Department. No splinter groups are allowed in this activity.
Owing to its good-standing in the country, Sri Krishna Mandir has been granted an official membership in the Inter-Faith Religious Council. It plays an active role in contributing to the religious harmony here in Singapore. The meetings are chaired by a Member of Parliament of the Singapore government.
One more feather in the cap of Sri Krishna Mandir is that the Singapore government has authorized Sri Krishna Mandir by issuing police permit to conduct house-to-house and street-to-street book distribution programs apart from placing book tables in strategic locations around the island to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. This facility is the prerogative of Sri Krishna Mandir alone.
Owing to the important role that Sri Krishna Mandir is playing here in Singapore, the National Library Board (NLB) has deemed its website to be an important part of Singapore’s documentary heritage and would like it to remain available to researchers and generations of Singaporeans in the future by archiving it.
Sri Krishna Mandir has come a long, long way by gaining considerable recognition from the same Singapore government which once barred Srila Prabhupada from entering the island country. This has all been possible by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and the forty years of sincere, genuine efforts of the devotees in serving their beloved spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.
In fact, no other Hare Krishna splinter group here could come even close to what Sri Krishna Mandir achieved in its preaching endeavor over the decades. In fact, they are still taking shelter of the Hindu temples where the pioneering devotees preached as long back as 1979 (not 1992 as the author claims).
There is a gulf of difference between Sri Krishna Mandir’s achievement in establishing Srila Prabhupada’s precepts and that of all the other glow worm groups here and consequently, from any angle, it was not right on the part of the author to mention Sri Krishna Mandir on equal terms with the so many splinter Hare Krishna groups.
This incredible success that it has achieved is only due to the causeless mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. It was not the result of our “ability to negotiate our place within mainstream Hinduism” as the author speculated. We have come this far and only time is separating us from establishing a permanent temple here and by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, we are sure we will achieve that in the near future.
We are very sure that Srila Prabhupada and Krishna are very pleased with our determined efforts in establishing the Hare Krishna movement here in Singapore. We pray that the authors do justice to these sincere efforts of the devotees of Sri Krishna Mandir.
Since ISKCON is venturing into Hinduization of itself in order to seem relevant and appealing, the Singapore success story is definitely an eye opener and can be most easily emulated in all parts of the world to successfully revamp ISKCON by strictly following the order of our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.
By Tattva Vit Das
