Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Killing for Krishna at 47th Hari Krishna Fest

Friday, August 4, 2023

Killing for Krishna at 47th Hari Krishna Fest

Siri Mata-ji (larathayatra.com); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY

Krishna, the all-attractive "Dark One," has a thing for the human beauty, Radha.

It was a very strange meeting of minds at the annual "Festival of the Chariots" on the Venice Beach Boardwalk.

The morning began with KPFK (90.7 FM) playing Alan Watts on the topic of the Bhavagad Gita, devotional-Hinduism "Song of the Lord."

Alan Watts explains the Bhagavad Gita or "The Song of the Lord"

It's a world-famous text that attempts to tell an unbelievable story about how "God" on Earth, Lord Krishna (the "Dark One") argues with Arjuna (the best of men) to kill.

Hare Krishna vegetarians party on the beach

Arjuna doesn't want to kill, particularly not his friends an relatives. But Krishna insists it's the right thing to do.

It must be some kind of metaphor. Surely, it's a metaphor. It can't be literal. No religious text would tell its devotees to KILL or that it's right to kill as long as you're "just doing your job," aka social "duty" (innate obligation under the Vedas' strict caste system) and obeying the Lord.

It turns out it does. These mainly white Hare Krishna converts each said they would kill if God told them to. They weren't kidding. They urged me to kill if instructed. I said, "You must be out of your mind." It's like the satirical Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys opening that song from Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables with the line, "God told me to skin you alive."

Krishna and Krist are pro-gun?

We think of conservative, Republican, gun-toting Jesus freaks eager for war with Russia -- or whomever the Pentagon is designating as the enemy of the moment, which as in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, changes from time to time. Sometimes we're told to hate/fear the communists of China, other times the Muslims of the Middle East, or the Ruskies or the liberals or the Satanists or the unpatriotic or, worst of all, those damned Unbelievers.

(Airplane!) Americans were once sick to the bloody teeth of Hare Krishna cult

It's good we get along, but our followers? Oy vey

No wonder India gets so much "communal violence," which is when Hindu mobs practice ahimsa (non-violence) to the utmost -- murdering Muslims, Christians, members of other castes or creeds or ethnicities -- because they, as the majority, are whipped up into believing the "other" is harming their interests. Indian Prime Minister Modi is accused of inciting ethnic violence and getting tens of thousands murdered to promote himself and his political party, the BJP, and Indian patriotism above all.

At no time did Alan Watts say the central dialogue between the Lord (a kind of "all-attractive" Krist figure) and the ideal man Arjuna was a metaphor. And everyone to a man today said, "It's not a metaphor. It's literally true. I would kill if God (Krishna) told me to."

What is this juggernaut? Ratha Yatra Jagannath or Festival of Chariots

Expect someone to come down from space ("heaven") and tell the Indians it's time to kill those darn, pesky, Muslim Pakistanis...and they'll do it with Christian Crusader gusto, "Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition." Un be liev a ble. So much for only being a cult aggressively panhandling for cash donations, ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna CONsciousness) is so much more and eventually will be a willing arm of the Indian Army.

The Hare Krishna devotional cult lives on in LA

Send hate mail and threats of communal violence to Wisdom Quarterly care of Editor Ashley Wells, through the comments section. Or if someone has another, less literal, take on the true meaning of the Advice to Arjuna in the Gita, we'd love to hear it. Here is Alan Watts' explanation as the interpreter of Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, Zen, and Taoism for the West.

"The Song of the Lord" as metaphor

Wiki Bhagavad Gita edited by Wisdom Quarterly

God on earth (blue-black Krishna) tells Arjuna to fight and kill because it's "right" to do so.

These are all incarnations (avatars) of the Sustainer Lord Vishnu in Hinduism (South Park).

If God says so, maybe we should kill? - No, guys.

Summarizing [Hinduism's] Upanishadic conceptions of God, the Gita ("The Song by God") posits the existence of a lower self (atman) and a higher GOD self (Brahman) within each individual [Note 1].

The dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Krishna his charioteer has been interpreted as a metaphor for an immortal dialogue between the human self and God [Note 2].

Commentators of Vedanta (the "best of the Vedas") read varying notions in the Bhagavad Gita about the relationship between the atman (individual Self) and Brahman (universal Self):

Advaita Vedanta affirms the non-dualism of Atman and Brahman [7], Vishisht-advaita asserts qualified non-dualism with Atman and Brahman being related but different in certain respects, while Dvaita Vedanta declares the complete duality of atman and Brahman [Note 3][6][8].

As per Hindu mythology, the Bhagavad Gita was written by the god Ganesha, as told to him by the sage Veda Vyasa.

The Bhagavad Gita presents a synthesis [9][10] of various Hindu ideas about dharma (social duty or innate obligation) [9][10][11], theistic devotion (bhakti) [11][12], and the yogic ideal [10] of liberation (moksha) [10].

The text covers Knowledge, Devotion, Action, and Royal (Jñāna, Bhakti, Karma, and Rāja) Yogas [12], while incorporating ideas from the Samkhya-Yoga philosophy [Web 1][Note 4].

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most revered Hindu texts [13] and has a unique pan-Hindu influence [14][15]. Numerous commentaries have been written on the Bhagavad Gita with differing views on its essentials. More

The annual "Festival of Chariots" in L.A.

The vast majority of the Festival will be on the Venice Beach Boardwalk.

Travel to India while staying in the U.S. at the 47th Annual Los Angeles Ratha Yatra or "Festival of the Chariots."

On the first Sunday in August, three deities (Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra) take their annual trip, or Yatra, on three 40-foot-tall chariots down Main Street in Santa Monica and onto the iconic Venice Beach Boardwalk.

The Ratha Yatra Festival includes a colorful Indian parade in addition to a festival at the Venice Beach Windward Plaza, featuring cultural performances, a FREE feast, kirtan (spiritual chanting), food stalls, and Indian gifts.