UNIVERSALITY OF VAISHNAVISM AND THE PLACE OF UKRAINIAN CULTURE IN ISKCON
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Abstract
The article is dedicated to the identical aspects of the development of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Ukraine. To be more precise, to the place of Ukrainian culture in Society and in adherents’ life. The topic seems problematic taking into account the huge role of Vaishnava culture (Hindu in its base) in ISKCON. Hence the question is whether there is some space for local (national) culture and national particularities in such Hindu oriented religious movement. The article is the result of fieldwork started in 2015 that has become systematic since 2019. The qualitative methods of sociology such as interviews and participant observation were used in the research. The material was collected in the temples of cities and towns in Ukraine such as Kyiv, Lviv, Rivne, Donetsk (the devotees were on the territories controlled by Ukrainian government at that time), Kharkiv, Mariupol, Berdyansk, Kramatorsk. There were temple admini-strators and Maharajas among the respondents.
It was proved that in Ukrainian ISKCON as well as in every other Society in the world, the theology of Vaishnavism forms the attitude to the national culture – the aim of a devotee is rather to get rid of all identifications with the material world (hence with national culture) than to identify with it. So, it seems natural that on the level of ISKCON community Ukrainian culture is not cultivated much. Though taking into account the postcolonial context of the development of the country, some devotees have a particular attitude to Ukrainian culture and were trying to incorporate it in Vaishnava worldview. Such adherents see the value of national culture in its connection with the ancient Aryan culture, so they are searching similarities of both cultures in the language, art, way of life, etc. Thus, so-called “Aryan-Tripilian theories of Ukrainian ethnogenesis” appear attractive and relevant for many of them. Though this tendency is quite marginal in Ukrainian ISKCON, it can be named as a national distinguishing feature of Ukrainian ISKCON.
How to Cite
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ISKCON, Ukrainian culture, Vaishnava culture, Vaishnavism, “Aryan myth”
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