Krsna Consciousness:
Hindu Cult or Divine Culture?

Indians both inside and outside of India think that we are preach-
ing the Hindu religion, but actually we are not... . People should not think
that we are preaching a sectarian religion. No. We are simply preaching how
to love God. ... We are giving a spiritual culture that can solve all the prob-
lems of life, and therefore it is being accepted all over the world.”

There is a misconception that the Krsna consciousness movement.
represents the Hindu religion. In fact, however, Krsna consciousness is
in no way a faith or religion that seeks to defeat other faiths or religions.
Rather, it is an essential cultural movement for the entire human society
and does not consider any particular sectarian faith. This cultural move-
ment is especially meant to educate people in how they can love God.

Sometimes Indians both inside and outside of India think that we are
preaching the Hindu religion, but actually we are not. One will not find :
the word ‘‘Hindu”’ in the Bhagavad-gita. Indeed, there is no such word as
“*Hindu’’ in the entire Vedic literature. This word has been introduced by
the Muslims from provinces next to India, such as Afghanistan,
Baluchistan, and Persia. There is a river called Sindhu bordering the
north-western provinces of India, and since the Muslims there could not
pronounce Sindhu properly, they instead called the river ‘‘Hindu,’’ and
the inhabitants of this tract of land they called ‘‘Hindus.”’ In India, ac-
cording to the Vedic language, the Europeans are called mlecchas or
jyavanas. Similarly, ‘‘Hindu’’ is a name given by the Muslims.

India’s actual culture is described in the Bhagavad-gita, where it is
Stated that according to the different qualities or modes of nature there
are different types of men, who are generally classified into four social or-
ders and four spiritual orders. This system of social and spiritual division
#8 known as varndsrama-dharma. The four varnas, or social orders, are
bra/vnana, ksatriya, vaigya, and Stidra. The four ashrams, or spiritual or-
ders, are brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannydsa. The var-
mdsrama system is described in the Vedic scriptures known as the

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