A debate sometimes rages that ISKCON is “too Indian.” And devotees have trotted out laundry lists of Srila Prabhupada quotes that would appear to support this notion. Although such thinking touches on elements of truth, one has to be careful not to be ‘ethnocentric,’ to think any ethnic, national, or minority social grouping is somehow inferior to any other. We live in an age where a human being of any origin or background may become a spiritual master. “If one shows the symptoms of being a brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya or sudra, as described above, even if he has appeared in a different class, he should be accepted according to those symptoms of classification” (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.7.35). And this quote from the Padma Purana is widely known: “A scholarly brahmana, expert in all subjects of Vedic knowledge, is unfit to become a spiritual master without being a Vaisnava, or expert in the science of Krsna.” And Srimad Bhagavatam 2.4.18 tell us “Kirata, Huna, Andhra, Pulinda, Pulkasa, Abhira, Sumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.” So I guess I’m trotting out my Srila Prabhupada quotes to support my contention that in general we westerners tend to look down upon Indians and that Indians tend to see us in a condescending fashion. I think this tendency is there almost unintentionally. It’s a kind of unconscious race-ism. At any rate, here is my Srila Prabhupada quote that I think is the proper way for us westerners to see the people of India — despite the fact that far too many of them are impersonalists or demigod worshippers. This is from a lecture on the Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 20th Chapter, 112th Text, delivered in Mumbai on November 24th, 1975: “Everyone is advised to become guru. Especially those who are born in India. They can easily take the Krsna consciousness movement because in the blood there is Krishna consciousness on account of taking birth in this holy land of Bharatavarsa. Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore says,
bharata-bhumite manusya-janma haile jara
janma sarthaka kari’ kara para-upakara [from Cc. Adi 9.41]
Krishna Consciousness ‘Blood’ in Indian People?