[Before you begin with the interview, click on this links to begin downloading sounds from the Hare Krishna rock concert at Venice Beach. Song one.   Enjoy!]

TP: Hi, we were wondering if we could interview you for an on-line magazine….a magazine on the internet.

HK: Sure. What’s it called.

TP: It’s called ‘the TP’. It’s a satirical magazine, but we try to do some serious articles.

HK: Okay.

TP: How long have you been a Hare Krishna?

HK: For twelve years.
TP: What did you do before that?

HK: I did a lot of things. As a profession? I was a bike messenger for a while.

TP: What about your past religious affiliation?
HK: Well I was brought up Catholic, but I wasn’t really so into it.

TP: How old were you became a Hare Krishna?

HK: Twenty one.

TP: What motivated you to become a Hare Krishna? I mean, why did you do it? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

HK: I found that the philosophy had very consistent answers to all my questions about life. Second of all, I saw the example of the people who practiced it. I was very impressed with it, so I took it up.

TP: I’m going to assume that all of your time is devoted to your faith.

HK: Yes.

TP: So what do you do? What does a typical day involve?

HK: Generally we wake up very early, about four o’clock in the morning. And then we practice meditation. Then we generally have a class on philosophy, and then we have breakfast.

TP: Bacon and eggs?

HK: Not usually. After breakfast, me in particular, I do different things. I sell our books. I teach our philosophy whether it’s at a university or a yoga center or temple. I give presentations on the Bhagavad-Gita. And I also do some seminars within our own movement about how to do missionary work, how to represent ourselves nicely.

TP: Like with flowers?

HK: [smile]

TP: Is there a hierarchy within the faith?

HK: Yeah, there’s a managerial structure.

TP: Where do fall in that.

HK: At the bottom. [laugh] Nah. I guess we have a governing body, which is about thirty three senior representatives.

TP: How many Hare Krishna’s are there worldwide?

HK: That’s a very difficult question. How many regularly attend our temples? I really don’t know. I wish I could give you a good answer, but I really can’t.

TP: That’s okay, we try not to convey too much relevant information anyway.

HK: I can tell you that millions believe in Krishna.

TP: Hm. Have you ever faced any discrimination?

HK: Oh yeah, sure. I was beaten by a police officer and arrested and then accused of beating him.

TP: Wow. Pretty dramatic.

HK: And I mean, in general things can happen. Neighbors don’t like you there so they keep calling your landlord.

TP: That happens to me too. So why the hair? What’s the significance?

HK: One, as a monk, it’s a practice of renunciation, keeps you away from vanity consciousness. Our philosophy is that we are not a body but a soul. This helps you give up identification with the body, not that we neglect the body, but we get off the ego platform with it and get to become more conscious of the spirit and its relationship with God. So we’re not always looking in the mirror. Also it’s a symbol so that when people see us they say, "Oh there’s a Hare Krishna." And beyond that it’s very clean.

TP: Well…there is shampoo. I don’t mean that maliciously, just as an observation. Let’s see, do you take a vow of celibacy as a monk?

And now, if you care to hear it,
Song two

HK: Yeah.

TP: You sound a little bit wistful when you say that, a little melancholy.
HK: Not at all.

TP: Are all Hare Krishna’s celibate?

HK: Well, you see… that’s…. now again we’re calling…. [sigh]. There’s different people that practice it on different levels. If one is a very serious and dedicated one and they’re single, they’re celibate. If they’re married, they’re having sex only for procreating children. There are hundreds of thousand of people that believe in our philosophy, that read our books that go to our Church on Sunday, but they practice at the level they practice at.

TP: I imagine there’s a fairly high birth rate among Hare Krishna’s.

HK: To be honest I really don’t know.

TP: Okay. So if you had one message to convey to the TP readers, what would it be?

HK: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

TP: Thank you very much.

HK: Where do we look for this on the web?