Mail Archive

Religion - A Survey

• Subject: Religion - A Survey
• From: Matthew S
• Date: Sat Feb 24 08:02:03 1996
• Message-Id: id755

Dear Matthew



Hello. Hare Krishna!



You seem very keen. This message keeps popping up in my mail-box! So I will try 

and answer your survey.



At 06:26 PM 21/2/96 -0800, you wrote:

>     My name is Matthew Sargent.  



It is not your name at all. It is connected with your body only. You are the 

eternal spirit soul within the body. You will continue to exist after the body 

of "Matthew Sargent" is long gone and you existed before "Matthew Sargent" came 

into existence. You have no birth, no death, you are eternal, full of knowledge 

and full of bliss (sat-cit-ananda) and you have a spiritual body also 

(vigrahah). Our business is actually to serve God, Krishna, in the spiritual 

world, but if we want to become the enjoyer, to become God, ourselves then we 

are sent here to the material world. Actually it is not possible to enjoy 

separately from Krishna. So-called "enjoyment" in this world (sex, fame, money, 

etc...) is illusory -- there is no substance there. The real enjoyment, the 

real substance comes from serving Krishna. The "enjoyment" of the material 

world is merely a perverted reflection of that original enjoyment with Krishna.



>I am an anthropology student at the Universit

>y of Louisville doing a thesis paper on religious conversion. 



We don't convert anyone. We are not a sectarian religious group. We are 

teaching how to awaken one's relationship with God -- that is all. The 

scientific process which is very effective for this age is chanting the holy 

name of God. It is not just us [the Hare Krishna's] who are doing it. Many 

religous groups are chanting the name of God. So that is effective. 



> This letter is a

> request for your assistance.  I ask that you please answer the folowing questi

>ons, or forward them to others to answer.  If a network receives this survey, p

>lease forward it to others that you may know that are able to answer these ques

>tions.  Your help in this survey would be a great benefit for my research.

>     I must also add that religion may be an ambiguous term.  In the case of th

>is research, I am using the term loosely.  In order to include all beliefs I wi

>ll generically use the term "belief system".  Any help will be of great benefit

>, and I will be highly grateful.  Although I do not have anything to offer in r

>eturn for this information, I will be thankful.  If you would like a copy of th

>is thesis, please send me an address that I can mail one to.  Thank YOU.



You could send me a copy by email. That would be very good.



>     Please give me a fake name,your age, and your location.



You can use my real name. Madhudvisa dasa. I am not the material body -- I am 

the soul within, so I am eternal. But I have been in this Australian man's body 

for the past 36 years.



>     1.  What belief do you currently adhere to?



Ours is not a "belief system". It is called sanatana dharma. It means the 

"Eternal occupation of the soul". If you study everyone's activities you will 

find, no matter who he is, he is serving someone. So this service is our 

occupation, but our eternal occupation is to serve God. So that is our 

business, to reestablish our original, forgotten relationship with God. It is 

not a belief system, it is the absolute truth. 



>     2.  How long have you been a member of this belief system?



It is not a belief system!



>     3.  Did you belong to a belief system, no matter how minute you might perc

>eive it today, prior to your current one?



I was a Catholic before



>     4.  How long were you a member of this prior belief?  How old were you at

>the time?



Till the body I am in was 26 [when I joined the Hare Krishna's]. But it is not 

that I have given up may faith in Jesus and the "Christian" God. Krishan and 

God are just different names for the same person and, although the Vedic 

philosophy as presented in scriptures like the Bhagavad-gita and 

Srimad-Bhagavatam is far more comprehensive than the information in the Bible, 

it is the same subject matter. It is not that the Bible is incorrect. It is the 

same knowledge presented to a different group of people at a different time.



        yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata

        abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjamyaham



"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant 

of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion -- at that time I descend 

myself." (Bhagavad-gita 4.7)



>     5.  How old were you at the time of change, or conversion, or initiation i

>nto the new group, or belief system?



Once again... my body was 26 years old, but I am not my body, I am the person, 

the soul within the body.



>     6.  Can you please describe your past, your life history.  This can be as

>short or as long as you would prefer.  The more information that I have, the mo

>re accurate I can interpret and analyze it.  I am looking for dramatic changes

>in lifestyles, crises situations, parents' belief systems that might have influ

>enced you, and personal experiences that have been influencial on your life.  Y

>ou may be as open or private as you wish.  Remember, your name will not be conn

>ected to the thesis.



There is no common factor in devotees backgrounds we come from all walks of 

life and all classes of people. Some of us had good family lives, others not... 

The point is everyone is a servant of God, Krishna. It is just covered at the 

moment. So Krsihna consciousness is not a "conversion". It is awakening the 

dormant God consciousness which is already there in everyone's hearts. One 

thing is to seriously to spiritual life one has to be materially exhausted. So 

that is sometimes why people actually come to the point of joining the Hare 

Krishna movement. But for me I just read the books of my spiritual master, His 

Diving Grace 



>     7.  How were you introduced to your current belief system?

>     8.  Please describe the events leading up to your introduction to your cur

>rent belief system.

>     9.  Please describe the events leading up to your conversion/initiation in

>to hour current belief system.

>    10.  Was there a specific incident that caused you to convert/initiate?

>    11.  What were your motives for conversion/initiation?  e.g., better lifest

>yle

>    12.  How long was the decision process?  A change such as this is a big ste

>p in life, what drove you to follow through and do it?

>    13.  If you remember your conversion/initiation experience, please descibe

>your emotions of the time.  Please DO NOT  give any information that might reve

>al something that should not be otherwise kept secret.  I am not here for that!

>    14.  Now that you are a part of this new belief system, what is you life li

>ke?  Is is better?

>    15.  Is there new meaning in your life?  Describe.

>    16.  Are you still searching for meaning in your life?  Explain.

>    17.  Do you believe that this might be a temporary station for you?  Why?

>    18.  I have developed three hypotheses for conversion, the first two are co

>nsidered more like elements of the last one.  these hypotheses are as follows:

>people convert out of resistance,  People convert because of access and awarene

>ss that was previously absent, and people convert to, simply, find a better way

> of living.  Note:  Resistance does not have to be a violent conflict or a rebe

>llious act.  Instead, resistance could be considered more of an acting out caus

>ed be a disagreement.  It could be that you do not concure with what a belief s

>ystem, or your past life, had to offer.  In the most broadest, or the most spec

>ific, terms, can you fit yourself into one of the above categories?  Yes or no,

> Please explain your reply.

>

>Thank You,

>Matthew Sargent

>

>

>

• Prev: Reincarnation
• Next: Renunciation and Celibacy in Hare Krishna Movement
• Alpha: Sudarsana Mail Archive - Alphabetical Index
• Date: Sudarsana Mail Archive - Date Index