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New Hindu Religions in Brazil: the Hare Krishna Movement

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New Hindu Religions in Brazil: the Hare Krishna Movement chapter 17 New Hindu Religions in Brazil: The Hare Krishna Movement Silas Guerriero Introduction Brazil has never experienced a significant wave of immigration either from In- dia or from any other area where devotion to Hindu gods predominates, yet aspects of Hindu godliness can be clearly identified in the national religious landscape: celibate devotees who wear the saffron-colored dhoti dance and sing mantras, followed by women in colorful saris with the red dot in their foreheads, the bindi, pull ropes attached to a wooden carriage with Jaghanata perched on top. Those are scenes from the well-known Hindu ritual of Ratha- yatra, largely practiced in India. But now they also take place in Brazil, and the participants are Westerners who for the most part have never been to the East. What do these rituals have in common with the great festivals in India? Devotees of the Hare Krishna movement truly believe that they are peforming ancient practices devotion to Lord Krishna, without modification; but is the movement a manifestation of Hindu godliness per se, or has the process of importation and translation resulted in deep ruptures in some of Hinduism’s symbolic meanings? All religions and new religious movements are deeply influenced by the ex- isting cultural and social aspects of their location; the tension between tradi- tional religious heritage and the cultural conditions of the society in which this heritage is lodged is ever-present in the background, and adaption to new environments leads to cultural hybridity. This process leads to disruptions with a religion in its original form, and the Hare Krishna Movement or iskcon (In- ternational Society for Krishna Consciousness) is a paradigmatic case. Various Eastern religious traditions can be found in Brazil, for the most part brought by migrants starting from the early twentieth century: migrants from Japan brought forms of Buddhism and Shinto, as well as Japanese New Reli- gions such as the Church of World Messianity and Perfect Liberty, and they were followed by migrants from China and Korea.1 However, iskcon has no 1 See Usarski and Shoji, “Buddhism, Shinto and Japanese New Religions in Brazil,” this volume. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004322134_019 296 Guerriero ethnic links, having been brought to Brazil by Westerners in the 1970s. This is also true of some other groups, such as Ananda Marga, Brahma Kumaris and the Osho Institute Brazil, but iskcon has always been the best known ex- ample of an Eastern religion that is not connected to an ethnic group.2 It is the most tightly structured, and unlike these other groups, it has a strong exoteric drive, basing its actions in preaching and expansion. Statistically, Hindu groups are insignificant in Brazil: the 2010 census re- corded only 9,500 practitioners, which is less than 0.01% of the population and smaller than the number of followers of other Eastern religions. It is practically impossible to quantify these groups, many of which were founded by iskcon dissidents; these include Yoga InBound, Brasil Gaudiya Math and Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math e Organização Vrinda de Paramadweit. Most groups are also informal, being organized around a spiritual master and his bhakti (spiritual devotion) disciples rather than being established as an institution. There are also Hindu residents from abroad who are working in Brazil. Some of these sympathize with iskcon and attend its temples sporadically. They come to ex- perience some Hindu spirituality, as well as to have some contact with culinary and other elements of Hindi culture. However, despite the small number of iskcon devotees, it is not unusual to see followers in the urban landscape, especially in street manifestations con- cerning environmental issues or animal rights. Even at times like Carnival it is possible to run into groups of devotees preaching, selling books and incense or simply inviting people to take part in their weekly festivals. The Origins of iskcon Most bhakti movements in India regard Lord Shiva as the Supreme Being (Shivaism), although some are focused on Vishnu (Vaishnavism). iskcon is a minority branch of the sixteenth-century Gaudiya Vaishnavism tradition, which regards Krishna as the Supreme Personality of God, rather than as just 2 Ananda Marga has followers in over 100 countries. It is based on tantric yoga. Brahma Ku- maris has followers in over 80 countries. Its goal is to promote Raja Yoga (Royal Yoga) through courses and lectures. The Instituto Osho Brasil, which brings together the followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, operates in several cities. Other examples include the Krishnamur- ti Cultural Institution, which was founded in Brazil in 1935; Transcendental Meditation, which has centers in Rio de Janeiro and in São Paulo; the Sathya Sai International Organiza- tion, which has centers in various states; and 3HO, which came to Brazil in 1986, and which has a meditation center in the Mata Atlântica, near São Paulo. <UN>.
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