In this study I indicate that the variety of psychological and social research perspectives that continue to interrogate the question "Who am I" has generated profuse and ambiguous definitions of identity, and that particular global trends are producing a corresponding flux in identity construction. In this thesis I argue that although such trends are emerging, for those with a spiritual proclivity there is an experience of the self as "enduring", an essence that may not be able to be immediately concretized by the individual, but a sense of continuity of self regardless of the external binaries of race, culture and language, that gives impetus for such individuals to enter into common dialogue as Hare Krishna devotees. The enquiry, which is located within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Temple of Understanding, Durban, South Africa, as a context, examines the influence of institutional, physical and cultural dynamics, and self-reflexivity in identity formation of the Hare Krishna devotees. In relation to the "enduring" sense of self the following critical questions are asked in the study, viz. what is the institutional identity of ISKCON and how is it derived; what are the physical, religious, social and educational features of the context within which these identities are formed; how and why are the resident devotees of the who are variegated in term of race, culture and language, able to create their identities as devotees; what are the possible changes in the lifestyle and value-systems of these resident devotees since they first joined; and how do the devotees understand and experience notions of self and Truth? To place the devotee identity in perspective, a brief description of the historical background of ISKCON is undertaken, its position in relation to Hinduism, and various research issues about ISKCON and within ISKCON is discussed. Through the use of prevalent identity construction theories and perspectives, I review the academic trends challenging sets of value that are exclusionary, and trends of globalization, easternization, and multiculturalism and new religious movements, detraditionalization, and de-institutionalization with a view to understanding identity construction. To understand the ISKCON devotee identity, I examine its theological perspective that derives from its Gaudiya Vaisnava heritage, consisting of several scriptures that describe the nature and characteristics of the self. Arguing for the use of descriptive and interpretive validity through the lens of an ethnographic scientist, I position myself as a deep-insider, discussing the benefits and difficulties of this stance. In arguing for understanding as a major component of validity, I address the issues of what constitutes Truth in social science research and introduce a contemporary use ofphronesis as a methodological technique to extend the argument that expert evaluation based judgements, intuition and practical wisdom play a highly significant role in research, and should not be surpassed in favour of only analytical, scientific and technical knowledge. It is suggested that the institutional identity of ISKCON is a disseminated process occurring at many sites, framed by various activities, and manifest particularly in its organizational structures, and the physical context and cultural contexts. Using current theorizing about how Truth is generated in the academic arena, the spiritual Truths as understood by the devotees are juxtaposed, as well as intersections between Truth and the notions of identity are examined. Several insights emerge from the data that confirm the existence of a more internal, "enduring" sense of self, beyond external binaries of race, language and culture. For the devotees this sense of self emerges as a spiritual identity, a distinction being made between the conditioned self, i.e. that "self as socially constructed, or reflexively determined, on one hand, and the individual or possessor of the self, called atma, a premise that frames his identity as a "servant" of Krishna. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

"July 2003". / Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media & Philosophy, Department of Anthropology, 2004. / Bibliography: p. 337-345. / Introduction: representing ISKCON: spreading the message of Krishna Consciousness -- "Easy journey" to another planet: fieldwork, culture conversion, and the location of the spiritual -- A taste for Krishna: aesthetic theology and transubstantiation of culture -- Spiritual culture: varnasrama-dharma and brahminical training -- ISKCON and imitation: appropriating the model in Gaudiya-Vaisnavism -- Remembering Prabhupada: hagiography as spiritual practice -- The nectar of translation: mantra, text and the "yoga of spiritual transmission" -- Conclusion: conversion, mimesis, translation: self-realisation and the other in Krishna Consciousness. / This is a cultural anthropological study of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), or the Hare Krishna movement. Data for this research derive primarily from ethnographic participant-observation, and include tape-recorded interviews with Hare Krishna informants as well as ISKCON literature collected during fieldwork. -- Analysis focuses on Hare Krishna techniques (saddhana, or yoga) of religious transformation, including physical, aesthetic, and discursive practices involved in the pursuit of spiritual realisation in ISKCON. Conversion, mimesis, and translation are the three key conceptual themes which inform a critical analysis of the production and effect of cultural difference in Hare Krishna spiritual practice. Ethnicity and conversion emerge as parallel concerns as the involvement of diasporic Indian and Indo-Fijian Hindus at the congregational level of ISKCON's ministry in Sydney, Australia, is examined for its effect on Western converts' experiences of Krishna Consciousness. A new conceptual approach to the meaning of 'conversion' to ISKCON is developed from this account. -- Recent sectarian developments in ISKCON's relationship with the Indian tradition of Gaudiya-Vaisnavism are also examined within a comparative theological framework. Hagiographic practices surrounding ISKCON's Bengali founder, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), and textual practices surrounding the founder's translations of Vaisnavite scripture, are both analysed as core features of Hare Krishna spirituality. The theological significance of these practices is directly correlated with recent sectarian tensions between ISKCON and the Indian tradition. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / 345 p. ill. (some col.)

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Paulo Renato Guérios / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Humanas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia Social. Defesa: Curitiba, 28/06/2016 / Inclui referências : f. 282-290 / Resumo: Esta dissertação tem como propósito pensar a relação entre contracultura e espiritualidade no Brasil durante o final dos anos 1960 e início de 1970. Mais especificamente buscamos aqui considerar a maneira pela qual a busca espiritual se configurou enquanto um caminho viável como forma de significação da existência para uma pessoa cuja trajetória foi marcada por uma desestruturação profunda. Além disso, proponho aqui uma reflexão sobre o lugar da racionalidade dentro da concepção de transcendência elaborada por essa pessoa ao recorrer à prática espiritual como forma de dar sentido à sua experiência de vida. O propósito dessa pesquisa busca se efetivar mediante um estudo de trajetória do intelectual, artista e pensador Rogério Duarte. Tendo passado por experiências representativas acerca de alguns dos momentos mais críticos de sua geração - como a Tropicália, o CPC da UNE e o Movimento Hare Krishna -, Rogério Duarte apresenta uma trajetória que nos permite tornar mais complexa a compreensão de alguns aspectos da realidade específica da história brasileira, no que concerne à experiência da geração de 1960 e 1970 e sua relação com a contracultura e a espiritualidade. Esse trabalho antropológico - tomando por base influências de áreas como a história e a sociologia - realizou-se principalmente mediante uma intensa pesquisa documental e realização de entrevistas. Palavras-Chave: Rogério Duarte; estudo de trajetória; movimento Hare Krishna / Abstract: This master thesis aims to think about the relationship between spirituality and counterculture in Brazil during the late 1960s and early 1970. In particular we seek here to consider the way in which the spiritual quest was configured as a viable path as a way to recreate the meaning of existence for a person whose career was marked by a profound disruption. In addition, I propose here to make a reflection about the place of rationality in the design of transcendence developed by this person when he resorts to spiritual practice as a way to give meaning to their life experience. The purpose of this research seeks to carry through a study of trajectory of the intellectual, artist and thinker Rogério Duarte. Having gone through representative experiences about some of the most critical moments of his generation - as Tropicália, the CPC of UNE and the Hare Krishna Movement - Rogerio Duarte presents a path that allows us to make more complex understanding of some aspects of the specific reality Brazilian history, regarding the experience of the generation of 1960 and 1970 and its relationship with the counterculture and spirituality. This anthropological work - building on influences from areas such as history and sociology - was held mainly by intensive desk research and interviews. Keywords: Rogério Duarte; trajectory study; Hare Krishna movement

The concern of this investigation is with the meaning of becoming as well as being a member of one of four specific small and structured religious communities. Three of these religious groups - the Jesus People, the Hare Krishna Devotees and the Maharaj Ji Premies - are considered to be nonconformist in terms of the life-style, value-system and theology each adopts within the mainstream social and theological ethos, while the fourth group - a sample of Catholic Seminarians - like the other groups is a small community with a structured life-style, but its life-style and value-system is not necessarily non-conformist. These groups are all to be found, amongst other places, in Johannesburg, apart from the Catholic Priests, all of whom were living in a seminary in Pretoria. All the members of these religious communities - both men and women - who were interviewed were Caucasian, their educational standard ranged from pre-matric through to university graduate status, and the overall average age of the 9rouP members was 24 years - the youngest subject was aged 17 while the oldest was 31 years of age. Rather than a meas~rement orientated procedure, a phenomenologically inspired methodological procedure was used to explicitate the data. It is argued that a descriptive phenomenological perspective is more appropriate for the elucidation of meaning-structures, especially with reference to the present inquiry, than would be a quantitative, measurement and mathematical treatment of the subject matter with which this thesis is concerned. The results are best summarized by stating that, although the explication revealed that the four groups are distinctly different in certain aspects of the meaning-structures of the individuals' becoming and being members of a group, there are nonetheless marked similarities between the groups in other aspects of the explicitated data.