From: DAN HOLDGREIWE Sent: 09-25-91 15:28
To: ALL Stat: ACTIVE
Subj: IS HARE KRISHNA A "CULT"?
The following article is reprinted from HINDUISM TODAY, September
1991:
WESTERN PSYCHIATRISTS APOLOGIZE TO HINDU PEERS
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) published a report
in 1989 labelling the Hare Krishnas as destructive cultists and
loosely linked Hundu swamis to Satan worship. APA member Dr. Deen
Chandora--a Hindu psychiatrist but not a Hare Krishna member--saw
the remarks as gross untruths and felt they had slandered his
fiath. Steaming a little under his otherwise professionally cool,
Advaitic collar, he figured, "If we don't stand up for what is
true, we are not doing our social duty." Dr. Chandora then
proceeded to rally together a band of prestigious Hindu
psychiatrist colleagues to set religious records straight. He
succeeded. Two years later the APA graciously submitted a ful
apology and promised to be more sensitive in the future. Here is
the story in Dr. Chandora's own words:
"In the late 1980's, there were article appearing in
psychiatric journals like the Psychiatric Times accusing various
religious groups, in particular the Hare Krishnas, of being
destructive cults, aligning them with the [Christian] cult of Jim
Jones. I felt this was a misrepresentation. So I wrote a letter
to the editior to correct it. I explained that Hare Krishna has
been known in India long before it was introduced to America. It
belongs to the Chaitanya school of Vaishnavism and Mahatma Gandhi
was one of the greatest Vaishnavs. When i was a child, I used to
go with my grandmother to the Hare Krishna temples. Those are the
temples of Vallabacharya in Rajasthan. There is no essential
difference between the Vallabacharya and Chaitanya sect of Hare
Krishnsas. But the editor did not publish the letter until a year
later and still there were psychiatrists who insisted in calling
them a cult.
"Then I attended the World Congress of Psychiatry in Athens in
1989 and reiterated that the Hare Krishns represent authentic
Vaishnav practices that have been around for thousands of years.
They are not robots and zombies, but practicing bhakti yogis.
"Then I got in touch with Dr. Prakash Desai, professor of
Psychiatry at the V.A. Medical Center of Chicago and Dr. Velandy
Manohar, President of the Indo-Psychiatry Association in
Connecticut, and wrote a two-page petition to correct the various
misrepresentations about Hinduism in APA writings. Along with
several eminent colleagues, I presented it to the president of
the American Psychiatry Association, Dr. Elisse Benedek, at a
meeting in New York City in 1990. I quote briefly from it:
Many of the authors included in the APA's tack force report
[on cults] are mainstream religious ministers. This contributes
to the report's dangerously one-sided views. we find a distorted
perception of other religions of the world and a neglect of a
fundamental sociological principle: that one culture cannot be
judged by the standards of another. In the great melting-pot of
America, where freedom is so dearly cherished, we ask that the
APA withdraw the task force report, or at least modify it so as
not the denigrate Hindu, Buddhist and Zen philosophies by
gratuitously labeling them as "cults." Partly as a result of
violence against immigrant Hindus in the Northeastern United
States, our nation last month passes public law #101-275, known
as the "hate crimes" Bill. The purpose of this law is to deter
violence against individuals or groups who "look different" or
think differently from established norms. We feel the APA must
suport the spirit of this new law.
"Dr. Benedek said to us, 'Why not present a workshop on this
whole area.' So we did. On May 14, 1991, New Orleans, we
conducted a workshop, 'Indian Religions are not Cults,' ath the
144th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Assoication.
Over 100 people attended. It was extremely successful and
corrected much misinformation and educated in a positive way."
[end of HINDUISM TODAY article]
Some notes on the above:
(1) Don't confuse the American Psychiatric Association
(mentioned above) with the American Psychological Association.
The latter has a much better record of respect for the dignity of
minority religions.
(2) This may be a serious set back for the deprogrammers, who
have committed themselves to a strategy of portraying minority
religions (what they call "cults") as epidemics of deliberately
induced mental illness (what they call "mind-control"). The
APsychologicalA rejected this pseudo-science years ago, but the
APsychiatricA had been swallowing the deprogrammers' line about
"destructive cults."
Since the deprogrammers and their apologists (CAN, etc.) make
no distinction between the Krishnas and other minority religions
(CAN founder Ted Patrick was fond of saying "There's not a brown
penny's worth of difference between any of them"), this victory
for Hinduism is a victory for all minority faiths.
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