Some guys from the local ISKCON centre have been operating a stall at university for Clubs Week. They've been giving away Krishna prasadam and "selling" their books for a donation. I've chatted to a couple of them, and one of them invited me to a "Gita workshop" tonight at their centre in town (their temple is quite a way out of the main city of Wellington).
So I turn up at the upstairs office lot that they use, and they ask me for $10 to go to the class! He'd never said anything about that! Well, I didn't have any cash on me, just an bank card and my bus pass. When I told them I only had a bank card, the devotee I'd talked to said that I could go and get some money out from an ATM later.
Well, after the class, they did the usual routine of distributing food. I asked the devotee I'd talked to if they'd be a charge for the food, and he said I still had to pay for attending the class. I told him that I didn't have any income at the moment and wouldn't be getting any until next Thursday. He then said it was all right and I could have some food. We chatted while we ate and he told me that I shouldn't worship Durga and worship Krishna instead.
Has anyone else encountered this with ISKCON -charging to attend services? I personally think that it's wrong and I won't be going back there ever again. I mean, it's one thing to have a donation box or pass a plate around during a service, but it's another to charge admission. Could you imagine churches charging people to come to their Sunday services? They're already losing people rapidly, and charging admission would just drive more people away.
They seem to be preoccupied with money - soliciting donations, selling books, and now this?
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