Of faith : "International Society for Krsna Consciousness"

Dear friends,
Probably you have already seen members of the Hare Krsna movement singing and dancing in the streets or you have been asked for donation for a book or a magazine. You could also see them in TV or read about them in newspapers. How many times have you asked yourselves: Who are they? Why do they dress in this way? What do they believe in? Why do they always sing? Who is Krsna?
To enable you to better understand these Bhaktas, want to show you the Hare Krsna movement in detail and tell you who they are. You will be probably surprised by learning that to become a part of the Hare Krsna movement one does not need to wear traditional dress or change one's hairstyle or religion. You will discover that Krsna consciousness is much more than religion. It is a spiritual, universal, time-proven process enabling to achieve inner happiness, satisfaction and higher consciousness.
Hare Krsna movement makes spiritual reality and culture derived from it known to the widest public. This makes it unique. When you speak with a devotee from the Hare Krsna movement, eat spiritual food served in our restaurants, take part in the Sunday festival in a temple, read any of our books or chant "Hare Krsna" at least once, your consciousness will change. And this spiritual change of consciousness is the key to improvement of the quality of life on this planet.

Michael Grant (Mukunda Goswami)

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First questions
Can you tell me what you believe - what the philosophy of the Hare Krsna movement is?
Srila Prabhupada: Yes. Krsna consciousness is not a question of belief; it is a science. The first step is to know the difference between a living body and a dead body. What is the difference? The difference is that when someone dies, the spirit soul, or the living force, leaves the body. And therefore the body is called "dead". So, there are two things: one, this body; and the other, the living force within the body. We speak of the living force within the body. That is the difference between the science of Krsna consciousness, which is spiritual, and ordinary material science. As such, in the beginning it is very, very difficult for an ordinary man to understand the importance of our movement. One must first understand that he is a soul, or something other than his body. For example, as a child grows, he becomes a boy, the boy becomes a young man, the young man becomes an adult, and the adult becomes an old man. Throughout all this time, although his body is changing from a child to an old man, he still feels himself to be the same person, with the same identity. The body is changing, but the occupier of the body, the soul, is remaining the same. So we should logically conclude that when our present body dies, we get another body. This is called transmigration of the soul.

How are people recruited into your movement?
We sell books, people read them and when they are convinced by their contents, they usually visit the temple. If they like it, they decide to join us. Or they see the public program, become interested, then they visit us and decide to stay. Usually it is one of these cases.

Do you admit anyone to your movement?
We admit anyone regardless of race, religion, economical situation or anything else. We only ask those living in temples as "full-time" devotees to follow our rules and take part in temple programs. Otherwise anyone can become a member of congregation, live outside the temple and visit our programs when he likes and follow the rules according to his abilities. If they follow a stricter standard they can make their home into a center.

Some other Questions answered were :

• Where do you get money to support your movement?
• I feel that my belief in god is very shallow. How do I find out there is god?
• Who is Krsna, then?
• Can drugs help us in God realization?
• It seems that to develop Krsna consciousness, among other things, means to shave one's head and wear saffron robes. Is it true?
• What do the sign on your forehead and beads on your neck mean?
• Is it possible for a person living an ordinary everyday life to develop Krsna consciousness even without these external signs?

I have collated answers for the questions mentioned above and a bit more of literature concerning the same...
lemme know in case you want to...
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I'm just a beleiver...