From Fundamentalist to Atheist 

Same bruh

Congrats, I know it’s not an easy journey to make!!

There's so many branches to Vaishnavism. I'm part of the Ramanuja branch follow Shree Swaminarayan, out of Gujurat. Yet, we tend to see ISKCON as the end all and be all, but its just a branch. It was a sad and glorious day when I discovered I could be a Vaishnava and not have to follow ISKCON, which actually was pushing me away from god.

Awesome!! So glad to hear another story of awakening! All the best in your healing journey.

@@GauraRader thank you so much.and all the best for you and your family.

@@ezgi3297 you’re welcome:)

Thanks David!

Agreed. Gaura is a cool dude to talk to with good insights on things. He is one of the only other people and THE only person in certain cases that has brought up things that had occurred to me also for years. But no one else ever was willing to talk with me about. Like the fundamental flaw in the Krishna Cult ideology. There is a very false narrative in the Krishna cult world about "atheists" being these boogey man like demon type characters. They are more or less portrayed as "automatically" bad. It is just plain WRONG and inaccurate. They are portrayed that way to get people to not ever talk to or interact with them. Its obvious why. Many atheists have very valid rational points WORTH considering and addressing for any serious theist like myself. There should be NO issue talking to atheists if one's theism is solid. But in cult land they have to rational theism and they know it deep down. THUS the only reason they say to avoid talking to atheists. If the monotheistic points were so good or solid it should be EASY to convince every atheist of theism as a valid viewpoint. There would be no reason not to talk to them IF theism was able to rationally hold up up full scrutiny. Because they would be easily convinced by it. The only theisms that hold up at all are alternative theisms that do not make any exaggerated claims about the specific nature of divinity. And among those, there only a very few that hold up as theisms to take seriously.

LOL. I relate to "the file cabinet in the brain" so much man. I do the same thing with stuff I read. The fact that I was formally diagnosed on the autism spectrum many years back is interesting that you mention this same thing as your experience. I remember we talked about this over the phone too. And yeah that lack of taking responsibility for what he told or suggested you to do as a devotional teacher. He knew FULL WELL that he is taking responsibility for what happened with you by taking on that role with you. That was something that always pissed me off about "guru culture" them formally taking responsibility and then denying that by saying "I didn't force you to do anything" is total bullshit. Hi knowing full well you listened to him because you took him seriously as to WHY you did what he suggested you to do. Its like saying "I told you to jump off the cliff as your spiritual guide BUT I did not "force" you to do so." Its like come on man, its basically the same thing anyway and its very abusively irresponsible for him to say that. That is abusive what he did to you man, plain and simple. And THEN he just left you hanging, adding to the abuse.

@@TheLustyDoll Thanks man :)

Thank you! I feel all of that!!

Hey there, curious who this but ignoring that haha, the last time I spoke to radhanath swami I tried to convey my feelings about the need to reform the Brahmacari system in iskcon. He didn’t express any openness to the need for change or even the slightest recognition that there was anything at all wrong. He hasn’t bothered to contact me in the past 10 or so years. I guess he has more important things to do than try to help a disciple that her personally brought to Krishna consciousness and whom he spent countless hours training and moulding. 🤷‍♂️ I tried to initiate a similar conversation with vaisesika, he similarly gf no interest in touch the topic with a ten foot pole. They both were very aware of my whereabouts. They both know I stopped attending, and even before I came out as an atheist they made 0 effort to bring me back to the fold. Honestly it is fucking joke. They both just decided I was no longer wroth it and that they could get a higher ROI on other people/projects. They were t wrong in that assessment but it is really sad indictment of their supposed love for the devotees under their care. They only give a shit about the institution and when people can’t do something for the institution they have 0 interest in spending their precious time on that person. From a different perspective, if any leader in iskocn had good replies to my videos they would be more than happy to make response videos from now until infinity. Their silence tells you everything you need to know! P.s. feel free to message me on fb or if, be happy to talk!!!

@@GauraRader this is insightful. I am not that important that you would know who I am. I do remember your sincerity though. The day I saw you, a bunch of us were fighting to get share of Radhanath’s “maha” and you said that wasn’t what he would expect us to do. I had followed your blog until you married and one thing I remember is how you had to justify taking vows using a “karmi” poem. I am from Hyderabad, was college preached when I was living away from my parents. On the one hand, I am so grateful to Radhanath and his disciples that got me dive deep into Traditional Indian Wisdom. I do agree with you that a lot of that is made up, but not sufficient for me to be an atheist because I come from a family that has been worshiping Vishnu for generations. On the other hand, I feel furious about the havoc they caused in my life, my brother’s life who I brought to KC, and all our relationships. For those who get to your videos to decide how to see ISKCON, I would say use them for the ABCD but don’t really put your life in their hands

It will be a great service so many parents who are losing their kids to Radhanath, if you did more videos about him

Radhanath also blessed your family to take all the good karma he has ever done. So, I can understand him not having the time to help his other disciples, but you are right when you say it is a fucking joke. I sometimes feel responsible to expose this hypocrisy in is_con

BTW, the creation would be incomplete if there’s a permutation missing; e.g., tatastha shakthi. So, you might need a stronger argument to prove Krishna does not exist

You may enjoy the series "The Origins of Evil" By Michael Tsarion.

@@GabiBliss Yeah I like a lot of his stuff. Cool dude.

Strange thing is I had the reverse of this story. I ended up in foster care at 8 after gurukula (The govt paid for one more year of gurukula at 10) and then I lived with a Baptist Minister, a 7th day Adventist training minister. I ended up on the streets at 12-13 and started spending my time reading western philosophy at Sydney Uni Library. (It was much safer than doing other things) Atheism fell apart for me really quickly. It is the one unprovable philosophy (the only way to prove it would be to become omniscient.) and it rests on negating theism. It is a fundamentally meaningless philosophy (In its modern form.). All philosophical claims (or science ones) rest on a self-evident assumption. And yet modern atheism doesn't even try to play by formal logic/philosophy. The foundation was to attack metaphysics and then pretend you can ignore it. It's mostly a sloppy philosophy and fundamentalist anti-Christian but it swims in Christian assumptions. Nietzsche says it best. It is Christianity with god filed off. Of course, then it was Agnosticism, which to me is the only place to start serious philosophy. From there one has to move on. In the end though I ended up back in the Gaudia Viashnava philosophy. I didn't want to. The Hare Krsna's were religious zealots. Most of whom have not studied philosophy or logic and have not bothered to actually study the philosophy. And most my adult life has been trying to ignore the religious bigotry of the movement. Ex drug crazed hippies with no education playing status games in a fake version of a mythical Indian History. I don't blame the philosophy, I actually have not found any philosophy as refined in 30 years of reading. And I agree that there is a very refined theism once you scrape the cult away. P.S. Gnosticism is a weird (I like weird) philosophy. Some interesting views on the world. What about it seals the deal for you?

Agree with everything you wrote! Feel free to email me at gaurarader@gmail.com. Cheers, Gaura

Hi Aaron, Thanks :) I'd be happy to talk. You can message me on one of my socials and we can go from there!

Just by chanting Harē Krishna Harē Krishna Krishna Krishna Harē Harē Harē Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Harē Harē Regularly. You can experience Krishna consciousness like you can experience the taste of food when you taste it.

sorry the tasre of food is real and krishgna is not real so how can it be true ..

@@tedschwartz2142 How do you know Krishna is not real. You don't know. Krishna will reveal to you throu The Holy Name. Without tasting The Holy Name, you will hardly know Krishna.

how can a krishna reveal in his name ?? SO YOU HAVE TASTED IT WITHOUT it HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE ?? SO THEN PLEASE PROOVE THAT A IMAGINARY DOES NOTHING FICTIONAL SOMETHING IS REAL ?? CAN YOU DO It ?? THAT WHICH CANNOT BE TESTED OR DEMONSTRABLE OR TO SEEN DOES NOT EXISTS ..

@@tedschwartz2142 You have to try to chant Harē Krishna Harē Krishna Krishna Krishna Harē Harē Harē Rāma Harē Rāma Rāma Rāma Harē Harē every day. Then you will get the proof you are asking for. You have to do an experiment to experience and to know. Without experience you can only believe or disbelieve, but you don't know.

At least he is not judgemental like you 🙂 And me.

I wouldn’t be sure he’s not judgemental.

Hey pradeep, Here is a link that explains a study about what gives people the feeling that their life is meaningful: www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/202207/3-things-give-life-meaning The key take away is that having a sense of purpose is mroe important that being religious.They defined sense of purpose as things like "Do you have a clear view of the direction your life is headed? Do you have important goals in life and are you committed to them? Or are you wandering aimlessly, with no appealing or worthy goal in life?" Religions and cults tend to provide clear ways. of achieving those things, especially in the beginning as you move up in status quickly as you learn new things. And those things tend to be harder to achieve in the modern world which tends towards isolation and a lack of community. You have to figure out what your purpose is going to be! Maybe it is anti cult/athiest activism with in India? Maybe it is political? Maybe it is oreintated towards a local project in your city or neighborhood? Maybe it is your pets? Maybe it is your family? And generally it isn't just one but the combination of a number of different purposes. Things that give my life purpose are first and foremost my child, but also my relationship with my significant other and her children and taking care of my parents and political activism and anti iskcon activism and my pets and my firends and my personal goals related to my career and health and fitness Figure out what things are mwenaingful to you and start trying to make progress towards them. Some of those things can be personal but htey shouldnt all be. At least some of your activities should be things directed towards servicng your community or humanity more broadly. We are social creatures need to feel connected to other human beings and need to feel like our life serves the pruose of the group. The important thing to understand is that feeling a lack of meaning is something like a depression. It isn't related to one's philosophical beliefs. We are basically pack animals, like dogs. Dogs don't need someone to tell them their life has meaning to be happy. They just need safety, food, and most importantly a pack. Humans are basically the same! I hope that helps!!

Thank you for sharing such a detailed understanding of how seeking meaning is a symptom of depression! I've also arrived at a similar conclusion that if you are happy, you won't have the question on meaning of life. I've shared my life story in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y-E04FSa8iI.html However, by purpose n meaning, i meant life on this planet n in the Universe (which is bound to end one day no matter what we do) Although the existance of space n universe is in itself a mystery as we do not know how n when it happened. Adding to that the evolution of life on this planet n maybe other solar systems all seems pointless achieving nothing more than struggle for survival in a dog eat dog world where might is right n survival of the fittest.

@@Pradeep-nv8zl Objectively, there is no evidence there is a purpose to the universe, but that doesn't mean that subjectively we can't experience meaning. We creatures such that we can decide what things are meaningful to us. That being said, this is a big and interesting topic. The French existentialists wrote about this stuff. There have been some interesting recent studies on the use of LSD for people with terminal illness. These people have powerful "mystical" experiences which take away their fear death. Check out of "How to change your mind" on RU-vid. I think there are ways to think about existence and meaning and such in ways that lead to positive outcomes, even without religion, but as a culture we haven't really explored these very much. Thanks for sharing your video. I enjoyed hearing about your experiences. It was really nice to hear and see an Indian person taking up this work. As know Iskcon's main power center is India these days so definitely we need people from India talking about this stuff! I'd be happy to talk sometime if you like. My email is gaurarader@gmail.com

@@GauraRader 😊👍

My favorite religion is Taoism because the first sentence of their primary text states the highest truth “the name that can be named is not the eternal name.” Meaning anything we try to say about what ultimately is or isn’t is not actually true. We can t even talk about such things in any way that makes sense. In the 20th century Wittgenstein said whereof one cannot speak, Theron one should be silent. Buddhism is pretty good about this too

Hey Daniel, great to hear from you. Glad to hear the videos are helpful to n confirming what you already knew in your heart!

Those few critics take Prabhupada Out of context and Dictate THEIR Disgusting opinion of what Prabhupada Said..Obviously Dont Know Prabhupada..

Are you saying I may change my mind about Hare Krishna/Iskcon?

@@anutuyi that’s a topic I’m always interested in. I’d love to do more in that regard

Not really. atheism isn’t an extreme. It’s actually the default position.

@@GauraRader an extremist naturally can't see they are one.

@@dharmayogaashram979 But who is the extremist? No one thinks they are one!

@@GauraRader so they don't exist or there are lot's of them, that's why they are easy prey. They got you, so......

@@dharmayogaashram979 I’m not sure what you’re saying here