Originally Posted by
ScottMalaysia
Many of their activities are cult-like. For example, telling their followers when to get up, making them chant 16 rounds a day, telling them not to associate with non-ISKCONites, forbidding them to read non-ISKCON books and magazines, saying they can't eat even vegetarian food that wasn't cooked by an ISKCONite, encouraging them to move into the temple and give all their money to the temple, and other things.
The way I see it, Chaitanya's movement was intended for sannyasis. The Six Goswamis of Vrindavan were all sannyasis. The above mentioned things would be appropriate for sannyasis living in India. Sannyasis aren't supposed to own anything and they are supposed to eat only prasad, given to them by devotees. Because they have renounced the world, their thoughts are supposed to be wholly spiritual, and they wouldn't read secular books and magazines because they have renounced all that. They do not sleep long, so they get up early, and are constantly engaged in devotional service. They wouldn't extensively associate with those who aren't religious because those sort of people wouldn't be interested in helping a sannyasi.
However, it would not be appropriate for a householder with a wife and family to follow all the rules for sannyasis. He has to make a living and spend time with his family, so doing an extensive amount of chanting wouldn't be practical, nor would the other things mentioned above.
For Westerners, think about it as if a Catholic priest told his congregation that they should all get up early in the morning, come to church and pray all the services of the Divine Office (the first one is before dawn). Imagine if he said that they should recite 15 decades of the Rosary each day and spend their free time in prayer. These rules are followed by Catholic monks and nuns living in monasteries. However, they are not practical (or necessary) for lay Catholics with families.
So the way I see ISKCON is they are trying to make householders live by rules intended for sannyasis.
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