The Hare Krishnas are approaching 60 years since their founding in New York City. To many New Yorkers, they’re a visible but rarely understood group. This piece explores the origins of Krishna Consciousness in New York, the misconceptions surrounding the movement, and why people are still joining decades later.
I made this piece for my audio documentary class this semester. People are always asking me about my religious beliefs, so I wanted to create a piece that taught people about the Hare Krishnas in a non-sensationalized, human way. They have been transformative in my life, and I am forever grateful and indebted to all of the devotees who have impacted me in ways I can’t explain.
Special thanks to my mom for letting me interview her, my dear friend Kairava Buchwald, my friend Ananga Manjarī Devi Dasi, my dear friend Aditya, Abhyudaya, the kirtaniyas at Radha Govinda Mandir, the devotees at Matchless Gifts who are faithfully serving Srila Prabhupada and his disciples daily, and my father, who ironically introduced me to Krishna Consciousness when I was a child (shoutout George Harrison and sorry dad…).
TRANSCRIPT:
[HARINAM TAPE]
CW NARRATION: You’ve probably seen them before – and heard them too: People dressed in traditional Indian attire. Women in saris, men in saffron robes, dancing through parks and subway stations, singing: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare…
[HARINAM TAPE underneath]
CW NARRATION: They’re recognizable. But unless you’re one of them, you probably have no clue who they are. The people you’ve passed hundreds of times in the subway station or in Washington Square Park belong to an organization called ISKCON, also known as The International Society of Krishna Consciousness, and its members are more commonly known as the Hare Krishnas.
[MUSIC FADE IN]
This summer, they’re coming up on their 60th anniversary since their founding in New York City.
But the road to 60 years hasn’t always been smooth. Controversies along the way have, at times, threatened to derail the movement entirely.
Early on, some accused them of being a cult.
Abhyudaya Kishore: …It has often created a barrier of us and them. The ISKCONs are the pure ones, and the world outside is that of a burning forest.
CW NARRATION:…And maybe some still think so. They faced accusations of brainwashing.
Dr. Eugene Griessman: You think that these groups have techniques of mind control that you feel are dangerous?
Ted Patrick: Yes, Hare Krishna is one of the main ones…
CW NARRATION:
And leadership failures that we’ll touch on later. And yet, they’ve endured.
[MUSIC FADE IN]
Today, I want to show you who The Hare Krishnas are — what they believe, how they started, where they’re going — and why this story is personal for me.
[CAR FADE IN]
CW NARRATION: I didn’t grow up as a Hare Krishna; I grew up Christian.
When I was a kid, my dad used to play ‘My Sweet Lord’ by George Harrison on car rides. If you’ve never heard the song before – first of all, you should, and secondly, the best way I can describe it is it’s a folky devotional song. In it, George sings of longing to be with God while lamenting the long journey back to Him. He wrote the song after meeting the Hare Krishnas in 1968, and near the end, he sings this mantra.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
[FADE OUT MUSIC]
My dad always cut the song off at that part. He’d say he only listened to it to think about Jesus — not Krishna.
But I was always intrigued. Who was this Krishna?
[FADE IN FLUTE]
Mommy: I have a question for you.
CW Narration: That’s my mom.
Mommy: What drew you to this religion outside? I mean, you were raised Christian. What drew you to this path?
CW Narration: I live in New York City now, but I’m originally from Atlanta. My mom and I call each other to catch up sometimes. During this particular phone call, we get into a topic rarely discussed between us – religion.
Caitlin: It’s so funny because, like, devotees always ask that question. Because I think sometimes it kind of feels like with devotees its just like ‘woah so how did you find this path?’ It’s kind of like you were saying, you didn’t even know what who Hare Krishnas were, even though actually, like, there’s a lot of Hare Krishnas, like really popular Hare Krishnas…
CW Narration: Hare Krishnas are pretty visible in New York City, but in Macon, Georgia, where my mom grew up, she never saw them. It’s a pretty country town. So you can imagine my mom’s surprise when she discovered that I had been going to a Hare Krishna temple while I was in college six years ago.
Mommy: People are drawn to things that are familiar. So when they’re confronted by the unfamiliar or introduced to the unfamiliar, then it creates a little bit of fear in you, quite frankly.
CW Narration: And honestly, I think that fear of the unfamiliar that my mom is talking about is part of why the Hare Krishnas have been misunderstood for so long.
But if you know where to look, Hare Krishnas have actually been woven into Western culture for decades.
Like how George Harrison of The Beatles helped introduce millions of people to Krishna Consciousness.
And decades later, artists are still doing the same thing.
During the pandemic, Willow Smith released a devotional collaboration album with Jahnavi Harrison, a second-generation Hare Krishna who was nominated for a Grammy this year.
Hearing that music brought me right back to being a kid in my dad’s car listening to ‘My Sweet Lord.’
Back to the Krishna I had been curious about for years.
To better understand the Hare Krishnas, you first have to understand how the movement got its start in New York City.
And that story begins with a man named Srila Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON, who brought Krishna consciousness to the West in the 1960s at his guru’s instructions to spread the religion to westerners.
[WAVES]
On August 13, 1965, at 69 years old, Prabhupada boarded the Jaladuta, a massive cargo ship departing from the port of Calcutta, in West Bengal, India. He carried a small suitcase, a trunk of books, some dry food — and just a few rupees, which wouldn’t be of much use where he was headed: America.
[HORN/BOAT SOUND FADE IN AND OUT]
During the journey, he suffered two heart attacks, severe seasickness, and often questioned why God was bringing him there. It wasn’t an easy trip — he was an old man, alone on a cargo ship bound for a country he’d never been to before. But he saw the journey through.
A little over a month later, on September 17, 1965, he arrived in Boston before eventually making his way to New York City.
CW NARRATION:
He was ready to act on his guru’s instructions.
Prabhupada: My mission is to preach, chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. This transcendental vibration will cleanse the dirty things of the mind.
[FADE IN CHANTING]
CW NARRATION:
Okay, you’ve heard that mantra several times now, and you’re probably wondering: what is it? What does it mean? And why are devotees always chanting it?
The chant is commonly known as the Hare Krishna mantra, or the Maha Mantra. ‘Maha’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘great.’ This is the single most important mantra for Hare Krishnas.
Chanting mantras isn’t unique to Hare Krishnas. Variations of devotional chanting appear across religions and cultures — from Gregorian chants in the Catholic Church.
[FADE IN GREGORIAN CHANT]
To dhikr in Islam
[FADE IN DHKIR]
To cantillation in Judaism.
[FADE IN CANTILLATION]
The main goal of these chants is to focus the mind on God and the Divine. Devotees basically view the mantra as a direct lifeline to God, and it roughly translates to “Oh Lord, Oh Energy of the Lord, please engage me in Your Service.“
[FADE IN MUSIC]
I think devotion to God kind of has no bounds. Like, why my dad – a very devout Christian man can find inspiration in his personal devotion to Jesus from a song that’s ultimately dedicated to Krishna, a deity from a different part of the world.
The Hare Krishnas fall under a branch of Hinduism called Gaudiya Vaisnavism. They worship Krishna as God.
If you’ve never seen depictions of Krishna before, they can vary, but just picture a man with dark blue skin, dark wavy hair, jewelry adorning his face and body — oh, and a flute. Can’t forget the flute.
Srila Prabhupada taught that anyone could practice Krishna Consciousness – white, black, Indian – it didn’t matter anyway because you weren’t this body. Instead, you were a soul who had a body, merely wearing the body like a coat.
And that was right up the alley for the anti-war hippies that he was preaching to after arriving in New York City – it was a hit.
[FADE IN MUSIC]
But Krishna Consciousness wasn’t just a philosophy. It required a complete lifestyle change. For starters, if you weren’t already, followers had to become vegetarians. And if you were an avid LSD user, you had to put down the tabs — along with all other intoxicants.
Early devotee: I started chanting in July. I was still taking LSD at the time. But, he was against LSD, he said… ‘That’s not necessary, he said: your spiritual life is already here, you don’t need to take anything for your spiritual life.”
CW NARRATION:
It was the Free Love generation. Many of these young Americans were experimenting with drugs, casual sex, and alternative lifestyles. If they wanted to become Hare Krishnas, they had to give all of that up.
No sex outside of marriage. No intoxication — including coffee and caffeinated tea. No meat eating. No gambling.
On paper, it almost sounds like a movement destined to fail.
But somehow, it didn’t. Because of it’s survival, I’m a Hare Krishna today, much to my parents’ surprise.
Mommy: I thought that it would just be a phase. I did not think that it would materialize the way it has materialized. And I did not think that you would go even deeper.
Mommy: The biggest change that I’ve noticed in you, Caitlin, has been your dietary restrictions. Oh yeah, and your cleanliness. Yeah. You’re very particular about how things are and keeping things clean. And as a child, I definitely don’t remember that aspect of your being. So, yeah.
[FADE IN MUSIC]
CW Narration: I’ve changed my lifestyle a lot. I don’t drink, smoke, or eat meat anymore — which is ironic because my parents used to call me a carnivore. I loved steak.
Now, I would never eat a cow. And I even keep separate dishes from my roommates to eliminate cross-contamination.
Becoming a vegetarian was a process for me; it didn’t happen overnight. One thing that helped was the free vegetarian food that devotees were always eager to feed me when I first started visiting my local temple. I quickly became involved in my temple’s weekly schedule and, when my mom eventually visited, she was mostly confused but loved the food.
Mommy: Well, what I enjoyed about the service, I’m sure, like what draws a lot of people into the service, is the free food. So I really enjoyed that. I like the fellowship. I didn’t understand the service at all. I didn’t understand the songs that were sung. I didn’t understand the dancing. I didn’t understand it at all.
CW NARRATION: Like my mom said, the food in Hare Krishna Temples really is the best. It’s vegetarian because Hare Krishnas believe every living being has a soul, and harming animals creates karmic consequences. Before eating, devotees offer the food to Krishna in prayer. Once offered, it’s called prasadam. While my mom liked the food, from a Christian perspective, the practice of offering food to Krishna before eating disturbs her.
Mommy: I cringe.
CW: Why?
Mommy: Because my religion teaches that we are to have no idols. So when I go into nail salons and I see Buddha, and I see these little statues, and I see these mantles and things for sacrifices or food, it’s disturbing to me because my religion, my Bible, teaches that we don’t worship idols.
CW NARRATION: Over the years, I’ve explained that Hare Krishnas don’t view the deities as idols. That, like Christians, they believe in one God — they just call Him by a different name. Plus, Prabhupada taught the same; we’re all just trying to understand God.
Prabhupada: I don’t find any conflict because the ultimate goal is God. So you have to understand God and try to love Him. So you can go through any religious process. If the goal is attained, that you understand what is God and you try to love him, then your life is perfect.
CW NARRATION: That sentiment that there are numerous paths to God was a breath of fresh air to me.
Growing up with parents raised in the Southern Baptist Church, I was taught that salvation belonged exclusively to Christians. But even as a kid, I struggled with that idea. What about people raised in completely different parts of the world with completely different religions?
I think my transition to ISKCON was made easier because the movement was designed to teach this branch of Hinduism to Westerners. Plus, I think I’m a part of a generation that’s more open to different religions than my parents.
I have a friend named Ananga Manjarī Devi Dasi who’s trying to help others understand it.
She grew up Catholic and later found Krishna Consciousness. By sharing her life as a devotee online, Ananga has gained more than 45,000 followers on Instagram in under two years. She lives in Canada, so we hopped on a video call to chat.
Ananga: I personally spend a lot of time, like scrolling on Instagram on my downtime.
I really wanted to see more representation of this lifestyle, like the way that I was living it. So I thought that I could kind be someone that that that does that as a service.
Caitlin: Why do you think people are attracted to, like, this type of content?
Ananga: I think what makes content attractive in general is just authenticity and things that are like, you know, going to stop people’s scroll, like make them be curious, like, what is this? And Krishna Consciousness is it’s so sensory, like there’s so much involved, like beautiful colors and beautiful music, and like, the food is amazing. You know, there’s so many elements, sensory elements to it that make it so vibrant.
CW Narration:
Today, people discover Krishna consciousness through Instagram reels and TikTok videos. But its roots in New York City still run deep.
That’s what brought me to Matchless Gifts — ISKCON’s first temple, it’s located in a tiny storefront in the Lower East Side.
[FADE IN PIANO MUSIC]
There, I met my friend Kairava Buchwald, a third-generation devotee whose grandparents became direct disciples of Prabhupada during ISKCON’s early years.
Kairava told me that when Prabhupada died in 1977, it created a massive power vacuum in the organization. In his death, he left behind this huge movement made up largely of very young converts.
In the years that followed, ISKCON faced some of its biggest controversies and leadership struggles.
Kairava: It just came from people like not not knowing what to do with this, like giant. I mean, the movement had become so big by that point, and Prabhupada had been leading it. And then all of a sudden, he’s not there to guide people.
And I think it came from that.
CW Narration:
[FADE IN MUSIC]
Nearly fifty years after his death, Prabhupada’s presence can still be felt inside the temple.
Before leaving Matchless Gifts, Jai Nitai Dasa, a devotee who gives tours here offers Kairava and I to place a flower garland around Prabhupada’s murti — a lifelike statue of him found in every Hare Krishna temple.
Jai Nitai Dasa: We pray to Prabhupada to bring some guests so that they can have the opportunity to garland Srila Prabhupada. So we’d like to give you that opportunity to garland. Would you like to do that?
All: Sure, yes.
[FADE IN WIND CHIME MUSIC]
CW Narration: This summer, ISKCON will celebrate sixty years in New York City. One of the largest celebrations will be the fiftieth anniversary of the annual Ratha Yatra festival, where devotees pull massive chariots carrying Krishna deities through the streets of Manhattan.
And just like they have for the past sixty years, the Hare Krishnas will once again sing, dance, and chant through New York City.
Maybe this time, when you pass them on the street, you’ll understand them a little better.
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