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Conversion and Ritualisation: an Analysis of How Westerners Enter the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and Assimilate Its Values and Practices

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Conversion and Ritualisation: an Analysis of How Westerners Enter the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and Assimilate Its Values and Practices Conversion and Ritualisation: an Analysis of How Westerners Enter the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and Assimilate its Values and Practices A thesis submitted to the University of Wales Trinity Saint David In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Luc De Backer Acknowledgements I would like to thank all those who have supported me on my way. My gratitude to my supervisor Maya Warrier for her encouragements and five years of continued guidance, and to my second supervisor Bettina Schmidt for her valuable advice. My gratitude also goes to Kenneth Valpey, Matylda Obryk, Nima Gajjar, and Rogier Vrieling for proof reading my chapters and to all ISKCON devotees who have participated in this project. I also offer my special gratitude to Hridaya Chaitanya Dasa, ISKCON GBC Zonal Secretary for Spain, France, and the Benelux, for authorising me to conduct this research and to Yadunandana Swami for his encouragement to take up this scholarly endeavour. 2 Abstract The central aim of my thesis is to examine the processes by which individuals from a Western background enter the International Society for Krishna Consciousnes (ISKCON), a transnational religious movement with its roots in Chaitanya Vaishnavism, a Hindu tradition originating in India. The central argument of my research is that extant models of conversion do not do justice to the process by which individuals enter ISKCON and assimilate its values, beliefs, and practices. This thesis thus critically examines conversion models/theories and seeks to refine our understanding of conversion, especially in relation to groups in which everyday ritual practice plays a central role. My research is based on the analysis of in-depth interviews with ISKCON entrants and engagement with theories on ritual and literature on conversion. The tradition’s essential practices involve chanting God’s holy names: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare and making food offerings to the Hindu deity Krishna (these are referred to as prasadam rites). Ritual is both a doorway for coming in contact with ISKCON and a crucial practice for entrants to make progress from the status of neophyte to novice and to qualify for successive initiation rituals. I draw mainly upon Catherine Bell’s theory of ritualisation to explore entry into ISKCON in relation to ritual practices. Ritualisation, in the ISKCON context, is a strategy that facilitates the internalisation of ISKCON’s central values and worldviews. This is made possible through the entrant’s initial exposure to its rituals, his/her search for the meaning behind these rituals, gradual acceptance of ISKCON’s 4 schemes of ritualisation, and, over the long-term, acquisition of ritual mastery. From a sociological perspective, entry into ISKCON is a three-staged process involving separation, transition, and incorporation. The stage of separation is a phase of accepting sets of oppositions concerned with polarities of purity and pollution, causing alienation from previous social circles and encouraging group-integration within ISKCON. The transitional stage is characterized by the internalisation of beliefs, worldviews and values. The stage of incorporation is marked by successive stages of seekership (searching for, and finding, meaning using ISKCON frameworks) and commitment (not just to ISKCON’s values and ritual practices, but also to its missionary agenda). To determine how ritual practice constructs power relationships and creates boundaries for the development of active agency and passivity, I look at four dimensions of ritualisation. These are (following Bell): (1) the effects of ritual practice on socialisation and vice versa; (2) the role of ritual specialists; (3) the forms of misrecognition and blindness resulting from ritual practice; and (4) the influence of ritualisation on the agency of entrants. My work demonstrates that “conversion” in the ISKCON context is marked by three crucial features. First, it is a process of gradual “drifting” into ISKCON’s fold, not a sudden change. Second, conversion to ISKCON’s belief system is facilitated by the adoption of the ritual practices central to ISKCON. Hence belief and practice are closely intertwined in the conversion process, with ritual practice serving, in most cases, as the entry point. And finally, my work demonstrates that this “conversion” does not entail a radical break with previously held religious beliefs and values. Instead, “converts” to ISKCON continue to profess their former faith, but now filter this through the lens of ISKCON’s Vaishnava devotionalism. 5 Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction…………………………………………………………….….…..9 1.1. Research Aims…………………………………………….……...9 1.2. Chaitanya Vaishnavism and ISKCON…………………….…….11 1.3. Research on ISKCON…………………………………….……...20 1.4. Scholarship on Conversion………………………………………31 1.5. Ritual and Ritualisation………………………………………….47 1.6. Scope and Methodology…………………………………….…...55 1.7. Ethical issues in Research………………...……………………...63 1.8. Note on the Use of Terms ………..………………………….…..64 1.9. Overview of Chapters……………………………………………67 Chapter Two: The Revival of Chaitanya Vaishnavism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Proselytising Strategies and Ritual Practice…………………....…69 2.1. A Note on Sources…………………..…………………………...69 2.2. The Life of Chaitanya………………………………………...….74 2.3. A Picture of Nineteenth Century Bengal…………………....…...78 2.4. Kedarnath Datta Bhaktivinoda (1838-1914)……………………..86 2.5. Bimal Prasad Bhaktisiddhanta (1874-1937)………..……...….....92 2.6. Abhay Charan De—Abhay Charanavinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896- 1977)……………………………….…………………………...……102 2.7. The Outreach Strategies of ISKCON…………………………...111 2.8. Summary and Conclusions………………….………………..…116 Chapter Three: Contemporary Practice in ISKCON……….………….........120 3.1. Ritual Practices Centred on Krishna’s ‘Avatars’………...…......120 3.1.1. Chanting…………………….………………..…….....121 3.1.2. Image Worship………………….…………..…….......126 3.1.3. Scriptural Tradition and the Underlying Belief System………………………………………………..130 3.1.4. The Guru in ISKCON………………………………...134 6 3.1.5. The Importance of ISKCON Temples and Preaching Centres………………………………………………..140 3.2. ISKCON’s Social Structure……………..……………………...141 3.3. Interview Accounts – Patterns of Conversion……..…………...147 Chapter Four: Schemes of Ritualisation and Entry into ISKCON……….....161 4.1. Van Gennep and the Rites of Passage…..……………………...163 4.1.1. Separation……………………..……………………...165 4.1.2. Transition…...……………………………………...…166 4.1.3. Incorporation.……………………………………...….171 4.2. Schemes of Ritualisation…………………………………...…..173 4.2.1. Separation……………………..……………………...174 4.2.2. Bonding with the New Social Group…..………...…...177 4.2.3. Transition…...…………………………………......….181 4.3. The Role of Ritual Specialist or Guru…………………..……...190 4.4. Conclusions……………………………………………..……...194 Chapter Five: Getting Incorporated into the ISKCON Community: seekership, commitment, and misrecognition…………………………………..…….….198 5.1. A Growing Sense of Meaning and Commitment..…..………….198 5.2. Misrecognition and Blindness……………………..……………207 5.2.1. The Primary Schemes…………………..…………….209 5.2.2. Blindness to Subordinate Ritualisation Schemes…......212 5.3. Conclusions……………………………………….………….....225 Chapter Six: ISKCON Entrants and Agency……………………………......227 6.1. Conversion Paradigms and Agency………………………..…...227 6.1.1. Inculturation and ‘social drift’….……………….……227 6.1.2. Extant Conversion Models…...………………..……...229 6.1.2.1. Seekership…………………………………..234 6.1.2.2. Socialisation……………...……..…………..238 6.1.2.3. Commitment…………………..…………....242 6.1.2.4. Agency of ISKCON Entrants and Extant Conversion Models…………..…….……….244 6.2. Inculturation or Drift?..................................................................245 7 Chapter Seven: Conclusions……………….……………..…………………252 7.1. Entry into ISKCON: key stages……...…….……………..……252 7.2. Entry into ISKCON and Conversion…….……………..…...….255 7.3. Entry Processes within the Framework of Ritualisation Theory ………………………………………………………...259 7.4. Scope for Future Study…...………..…………………………..264 Bibliography………………………………………………………………..270 Appendix……………………………………………………………………288 8 Chapter One: Introduction 1.1. Research Aims When, on the 19th of November 2011, I represented the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) at an interfaith conference organised by the Anglican Church in Leicester, the priest representing the Church of England introduced one of my colleagues as an ISKCON “convert” from a Roman-Catholic background. After the meeting, thinking about my own Roman-Catholic background, I reflected on whether or not I considered myself a “convert”. I realised that despite having been a Hare Krishna monk for more than twenty-three years,1 I had never stopped identifying myself as a Christian. While I certainly gave up my identification as a Roman Catholic, I believe that since my entry into ISKCON I see myself as having become “a better Christian”. In other words, I have not left behind my Christian beliefs but rather continue to see and experience my Christian faith through the theological framework of ISKCON’s philosophy. Is my entry into ISKCON then best understood as “conversion”? Scholars often use the term “convert” to refer to an individual who has left behind a certain set of beliefs to accept another set of beliefs. On this basis, scholars have developed various models of conversion. How far do these models of conversion adequately describe the process by
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