WHERE ISKCON MEETS PUNK MUSIC

From beliefnet.com by Michael Kress

BOSTON -- Brian McTernan, member of a hard-core rock band since he was in 8th grade and now the owner of a hard-core recording studio, calls himself the ultimate rebel.

His reason: He doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, and doesn't sleep around, turning what he sees as the depravity of contemporary culture on its head.

Staying away from behavior that harms him, he said, offers him clarity and freedom: "At least I can f------g think."

McTernan, now 23, is part of a large segment of the punk-rock scene which calls itself "straight-edge," adhering to a strict moral code that stands in stark contrast to the hard-partying image of the hard-core rocker.

Many straight-edgers are also devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as the Hare Krishnas. A few others are evangelical Christians, and still others, like McTernan, do not mix their chosen lifestyle with religious beliefs at all.

"People who were committed to living clean -- it added a whole new dimension to punk," said Daisy Rooks, who wrote, edited and produced a 'zine about the hard-core scene and is herself straight-edge.

Straight-edge music, she added, tends to be slower and less harsh musically, while its lyrics speak about friendships, betrayal, animal rights, and the like.

In addition, so-called "Krishna-conscious" bands with names such as Prema, Shelter, and 108 -- terms which all have special meaning within ISKCON -- sing about their beliefs, relating in song traditional stories of Krishna and other deities, and espousing ISKCON beliefs, such as sobriety and vegetarianism.

Lyrics are sung at a virtual shout, accompanied by pounding, unrelentingly hard-core music.

In the song entitled "Shelter," for example, the group Shelter sings to Krishna: "Thinking that this world revolves around me with myself at the center, I'll never see what is illusion and reality." And in the song "Slave," the band 108 sings: "Lust: this is your God. Greed: this is your God. Sex: This is your God. And he wipes the floor with you, slave. I reject this whole charade."

"Sound vibration is powerful. It can change the consciousness," said John Porcelly, a longtime member of hard-core bands, including Shelter, and himself an ISKCON devotee. "The sound of a babbling brook can make us peaceful, whereas the sound of roaring raucous death metal can bring out violence in us. Likewise, spiritual sound vibration, such as mantras or even modern music with a spiritual message, has the potency to make us more spiritually minded."

ISKCON was founded in New York in the late 1960s as a Western interpretation of orthodox Hinduism. ISKCON devotees venerate the deity Krishna through exuberant dancing and singing, while leading chaste, sober, vegetarian lifestyles.

With their shaved heads, bright-colored robes, and ubiquitous proselytizing, ISKCON devotees left an indelible image on the '60s counterculture but have taken a more low-key public role as the movement has matured and developed in the decades since.

"Krishna-core" albums generally are produced and marketed by companies catering to straight-edge and Krishna-conscious music, such as the Hudson, N.Y.-based Equal Vision Records and the Huntington, Calif.-based Revelation.