Vasu Murti's blog

Respected pro-life columnist Nat Hentoff is a self-described "liberal Jewish atheist." Not your stereotypical pro-lifer! The pro-life movement desperately needs religious diversity, and someone like Hentoff gives it credibility in secular circles. 

Twelve years ago, in an article appearing in the Atlantic Monthly, George McKenna wrote: "Within the liberal left, from which the Democrats draw their intellectual sustenance, there is increasing dissatisfaction with the absolutist dogma of 'abortion rights.' Nat Hentoff, a columnist in the left-liberal Village Voice, wonders why those who dwell on 'rights' refuse to consider the possibility that unborn human beings may also have rights." 

Another liberal Jewish atheist, Peter Singer, concedes this point. Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation, is not liked even by pro-life liberals, because he advocates not just abortion, but infanticide and euthanasia as well. Bill Samuel, a lifelong vegetarian and president of Consistent Life, once compared Peter Singer to Hitler. (There is a sad irony here, as Peter Singer lost three of his four grandparents in the Nazis' concentration camps.)

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Dennis & Elizabeth Kucinich

I'm sympathetic to the Kucinich campaign. America needs more vegan politicians! Having been born and raised in this country as a member of a religious minority, I believe in a secular society, but I'm not a secular humanist. I'm a practicing Hindu.

I'm a pro-life Democrat. I am pro-life but also believe in a complete separation of church and state. I gave $1,008 to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, while asking Rev. Barry Lynn (Executive Director) to keep the organization neutral on this divisive issue, rather than take a pro-choice stance.

I have no problem with atheism. Thomas Jefferson, the architect of American democracy, said, "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts as are only injurious to others, but it does no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pockets nor breaks my legs." Under Jeffersonian democracy, monotheism, polytheism, agnosticism, atheism and even victimless crimes are all tolerated.

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Copyright: www.krishna.com

According to Hinduism’s most sacred scripture, the Bhagavad-gita (5.18), “the humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater.”  Social ills such as racism, sexism, nationalism, caste-ism, and speciesism arise because souls falsely identify with their temporary bodies.  On the spiritual platform, all are equal.  (Compare this to the Christian teaching:  “In Christ there is no Greek or Jew, slave or free” [Colossians 3:11].) 

Can reincarnation be reconciled with the Bible?  There are many passages throughout the Old Testament which speak of death with finality, and make no mention of an afterlife.  “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” said the Lord to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:17.  Humans lost a physical immortality, and there is no mention of existence beyond the body.

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Srila Prabhupada has written, "Real philosophy is nothing more than this: friendliness to all living entities." Elsewhere, he writes, "If people are to be educated in the path back to Godhead, they must be taught first and foremost to stop the process of animal-killing."

I became vegan for a few years beginning in 1995. I was pointing out to friends at a Feminists For Life meeting that for 1800 years, Christians had upheld and defended (human) slavery on biblical grounds, and that history was now repeating itself with regards to animals.

The response I got from the women present was that my words would carry greater weight if I were vegan rather than vegetarian, and I had to admit they were right. There is a great deal of cruelty in the way dairy products are obtained through modern factory farming.

To ignore this kind of suffering merely because we believe dairy products are somehow "necessary" for our spiritual advancement (they are not) is to trivialize the former and it will allow people of other faiths to counter that we are vegetarian merely because we follow "dietary laws" rather than out of genuine concern for animals.

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When I did bhaktin Tiana's astrological chart in the summer of 1992, I told her she should not feel rejected by our devotional community at ISKCON Berkeley, because:

"ISKCON is far from being the kind of society Srila Prabhupada envisioned. Srila Prabhupada stressed 'simple living, high thinking.' He wanted devotees to live on farm communities, without relying on modern industry and technology—much like the Amish. He emphasized 'traditional values'—the girls would be taught cooking and sewing, while the boys would be trained to work the land.

"He said young males would study in the gurukula, the school of the spiritual master, beginning at age five, and would remain brahmacari (celibate) until age 24, when permitted to marry.

"The kumaris (virgin daughters), meanwhile, would be taught to worship Shiva in the hopes of getting a good husband, would marry at age 16, and would be trained to be subservient to their husbands. Marriages would be arranged, and there would be no question of divorce or separation. Devotees would only reside in Kali Yuga cities for preaching and missionary work."

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Having grown up in this country (the United States) as a member of a religious minority, I believe in a secular society that is neutral towards all forms of religious expression, and I don't believe the founding fathers intended America to be a "Christian nation."

A few years ago, on one of his broadcasts, TV preacher Pat Robertson was quoted as saying, "We want a secular constitution, we want to make sure religious minorities are protected..." But he wasn't talking about the United States—he was talking about Afghanistan...where Christians are a minority!

Consider the problem of school prayer:

In the October 2006 issue of Church & State, the periodical put out by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Gary B. Christenot, an evangelical Christian writes about his experience on the Hawaiian island of Wahiawa, where Christians are a minority "in this little village that was populated predominantly by people of Japanese and Chinese ancestry. Rather than a church on every corner, as is common in the continental 48 states, Wahiawa had a Shinto or Buddhist shrine on every corner."

Christenot notes that prayers before a high school football game were led "not by a Protestant minister or a Catholic priest, but a Buddhist priest who proceeded to offer up prayers and intonations to god-head figures that our tradition held to be pagan."

He concludes: "I would say in love to my Christian brothers and sisters: Before you yearn for the imposition of prayer and similar rituals in your public schools, you might consider attending a football game at Wahiawa High School. Because unless you're ready to endure the unwilling exposure of yourself and your children to those beliefs and practices that your own faith forswears, you have no right to insist that others sit in silence and complicity while you do the same to them.

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When Srila Prabhupada established the ISKCON Life Membership program, he made it clear that there is a place within ISKCON for devotees unprepared to lead a life of full-time religious service. Srila Prabhupada was very loving and kind. He wanted everyone—saints and sinners alike—to receive the Lord's mercy in the form of books, prasadam, the holy name and devotional service:

"...if you want to be a family man—if you cannot dedicate twenty-four hours daily—then earn money and use it to spread Krishna consciousness... if you cannot earn money, then use your intelligence. There is so much intellectual work to do—publication, research, and so on. If you cannot do that, then utilize your words to tell people about Krishna...So where is the scarcity of opportunities? You can serve Krishna in any capacity, provided you want to serve." (Chicago, July 1975)

An ISKCON leader in Philadelphia, PA also said in 1982:

"Our long term plan is to develop a congregation...We have that broadness of vision now. So in the core you have full-time devotees who maintain the four regs, and chant sixteen rounds. Then, expanding out, you have lesser degrees of commitment and involvement, and our preaching should be aimed all the way out...

"You have to keep your standards and preach to these people all the time, but at the same time not drive them away for not living up to them...If our movement is genuinely world-transforming, then it's not going to happen that everyone in the whole world will join our temples and move in. It's going to have to be a broader social movement." (E.B. Rochford, Jr. Hare Krishna in America)

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My friend Anantarupa dasa, an Irish Catholic devotee, once pointed out that we (Vaishnavas) really have no quarrel with Christianity. Srila Prabhupada merely said the Christians should chant the holy names of God or Christ and properly follow the commandment "Thou shalt not kill," i.e., extend their precepts of nonviolence to animals.

Perhaps by chanting the holy names and refraining from violence against animals, then, at the time of death, instead of being punished by the Yamadutas and taking birth in lower species, they'll take birth as Vaishnavas instead and have the opportunity to progress further in their relationship with our Lord. Most persons now are headed for rebirth in lower species.

When teaching his disciples how to pray, Jesus Christ glorified God's holy name: "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name." (Matthew 6:9) Jesus also approved of his disciples' singing joyfully in praise of God. (Luke 19:36-40) Of his own name, Jesus said, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there with them." (Matthew 18:20)

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Writer and activist Vasu Murti was born and raised in Southern California in a family of South Indian mayavadi brahmanas. He has been in the association of devotees since 1982, a FOLK member since 1986 and an ISKCON Life Member since 1988.

Vasu has distributed maha-prasadam to over 108 people on separate occasions. He holds degrees in Physics and Applied Mathematics from the University of California. He has written articles on a number of different topics including secularism, science versus religion, animal rights, nuclear power, handgun control, Buddhism, abortion, illegal immigration, and drug legalization.

He is a regular contributor to the Stanislaus Connections, a peace and justice paper out of Modesto, CA, and Harmony: Voices for a Just Future, a "consistent-ethic" periodical on the religious left. Vasu is a "card-carrying" member of the ACLU, Feminists For Life, Amnesty International, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

In a previous post [namahatta.org article], a devotee commented that the left advocates freedom from religion, rather than freedom of religion, abortion on demand, rights for homosexuals, etc., whereas the right advocates protection of unborn children, families, religion, etc.—and wonders how is it that there are devotees that side with the left?

I don't consider myself a "leftist" (e.g., Marxist or Maoist) per se, as much as a liberal Democrat. I see that a secular society is neutral towards all forms of religion, and protects religious minorities like us. Krishna temples flourish in secular nations; there are no Krishna temples in Islamic countries. Some European countries have passed so-called "anticult" laws aimed at curbing the rights of unpopular new religions. Such laws would not be permitted in the United States under the First Amendment.

Srila Prabhupada said, "Animal killers cannot understand God. I have seen this. It is a fact." Vegetarianism, like prasadam distribution, softens the heart. It makes it possible for them to understand things of the spirit. But people of other faiths are usually reluctant to embrace vegetarianism if it means converting to another religion. They should, therefore, be more inclined to listen to a secular moral philosophy which does not dictate their faith.

In my 2001 edition of my critique of Kathleen Marquardt's Animal Scam, I point out that animal rights, as a secular moral philosophy, may be at odds with traditional religious thinking (e.g., human "dominion" over other animals), but this is equally true of democracy and representative government in place of the divine right of kings, the separation of church and state, the abolition of (human) slavery, the emancipation of women, birth control, the sexual revolution, lesbian and gay rights, and perhaps every kind of social progress since the end of the Dark Ages and the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment.

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