Namaste HDF,
Some fellow Hindus I know, on this forum and elsewhere, are curious how I can reconcile my beliefs in Hinduism with my participation in the punk/hard rock/heavy metal music subcultures. It took me a while to look up an answer, but I have one, if anyone still cares.
As it turns out, a certain subculture of the punk movement was actually influenced by Hinduism (more specifically the ideals of ISKCON and the Hare Krishna movement). This subculture of punk influenced by Hinduism is known as Straight Edge.
The Straight Edge movement within punk rejected the hedonism of the core punk movement while still embracing punk's ideals of rebelling against the (then) rigid societal norms of America. Straight Edge punks often abstained from recreational drugs, eating meat, and promiscuous sex; sometimes Straight Edge punks even took up causes such as animal rights.
As for how Hinduism (and again more specifically ISKCON and the Hare Krishna movement) influenced Straight Edge, there is evidence to support this assertion, as seen in previous articles on the topic like this one:
http://books.google.com/?id=iqjQUZoq...page&q&f=false
This subculture of punk influenced by Hindu/ISKCON beliefs would go on to influence other similar music genres, like the heavy metal I listen to.
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