BhaktaMax wrote:
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I have to say that this site does shed some information on cults and the dangers of them. The only problem is Krishna Consciousness isn't a cult ...
Some questions here for you to consider, if you wish. They may sound a bit pointed, but they're not personal assaults of any kind; they're just some ideas for you to kick around that you may find helpful:
There must be some slightly discomforting elements about your involvement, otherwise why would you be looking over the material here (and perhaps other cultic resources)? Also, you've not only read the material, but have posted stating your beliefs to get some feedback. If you were truly comfortable with your new set of beliefs, why post here?
I think it's great that you have. I hope what some have said here and the links that have been provided can help you to really think through what you may be getting yourself into.
BhaktaMax:
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... in fact it's the opposite, it is true spiritual light.
A specific group of people, a specific set of ritualistic and mechanical / repetitive practices, and a specific set of beliefs is "true spiritual light"? You should really think carefully about this statement. There should be little alarm bells (the ones that got you to look here in the first place) ringing in the back of your mind alerting you when you embrace this type of constrictive thinking. These alarm bells (figuratively speaking) are your critical thinking faculties. Your critical thinking abilities is what protects you from being taken in by scam artists, whether it's something mild like someone trying to sell you something you don't need or really want, or something more serious like someone trying to convince you to unlock your front door (who has home invasion robbery on mind), it's your critical thinking faculties that are there to make you [i:3599c6ae9f]question[/i:3599c6ae9f] their motives. Your critical thinking abilities is your friend. Some groups will tell you not to listen to this voice (and may even equate it with the 'devil' or some type of 'evil'), but this voice is necessary to protect us from being taken advantage of and even from being physically harmed.
BhaktaMax:
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... I can try to live my life in a good way, serving Krishna.
Most here will not agree with what I am going to say here (so don't think that this following comment reflects the views of the cult recovery field), but I feel I'd be irresponsible not to by letting 'political correctness' [I know that term is way overused, but sometimes it is appropriate] stand in the way of allowing thought to unfold in a natural, exploratory manner.
Why do you feel compelled to serve a blue man from Hindu mythology? You wouldn't worship the blue man Poseidon from Greek mythology, so what's so special about Krishna that makes him [i:3599c6ae9f]real[/i:3599c6ae9f]? What if someone told you that they found "true spiritual light" through the worship of Poseidon? What would you think? One might come up with a political answer here and say that whatever form of the Divine that one chooses to worship through is fine because it all leads to the same place. [I would agree -- they all lead to the psychiatrist's office.] But what would you really think? You would probably think that they were emotionally imbalanced or at least emotionally immature.
The thing that makes you embrace Krishna over Poseidon is that Hinduism is still an active religion, which means that people are out [i:3599c6ae9f]selling[/i:3599c6ae9f] it. No one's out selling Greek mythology any more probably because it didn't turn out to be much of a money maker. It was kind of a not-so-serious religion (for the most part) and was just too laid back to be an effective tool for coercion (that's my guess).
So you've been 'sold' the belief in Krishna and you are now interested in doing Krishna's will. Now considering that fact that Krishna is a character from a story book, how is one to serve him? Now that could be tricky, but fear not because the leaders in your group will gladly let you know 'his' will. But who's will are you really serving then?
I'm making some of this sound funny, and some is down right insulting (towards belief systems and not personally directed). The point is to get you to think in ways that you haven't been taught to think -- to question what you've been taught to [i:3599c6ae9f]not[/i:3599c6ae9f] question. The goal here is to stimulate your critical thinking faculties.
BhaktaMax:
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I have to say that it is the greatest thing that has happened to me in my life, it softened my heart and just made everything in my life seem not so bad and maybe a little more tolerable.
Drugs can easily accomplish this as well, even better in fact. But does that mean that that's a healthy route to travel down? It may work well initially, but the further you go down this path, the greater the destruction that can result.
Developing emotional maturity is never an easy process. We always look to others to hold our hand. We find human hands to be imperfect, so we look into the sky for a guiding hand that is flawless (a blue hand in your case).
Instead of me concluding here with a statement of what emotional maturity is, how about you think about it and figure it out for yourself, because actually no one else can do it for you. Psychologists, counselors and religious leaders will try to give you that answer. But emotional maturity might be something different than looking to others for answers.