In India, Hindu images have been cast for millennia through the lost wax process and brought to life by priests--becoming not merely venerated icons but actual embodiments of gods. Second and third generation Hindu Americans have increasingly adopted a more worldly perspective toward religious objects, viewing them as symbolic rather than actual presences of the deity. The author traces the origins of this important shift, and examines Western attitudes regarding sacred objects, as well as the complex layering of traditional and modern Hindu attitudes in a globalized world.

Donald J. Trump is an icon: the very definition of the American success story. Republican Presidential candidate, reality-television star, and developer of some of the planet's most prestigious real estate, he's also become one of the world's wealthiest men. Trump is a living example of how thinking BIG and knowing when to back up your opinions aggressively—regardless of what your critics or opponents might say—can help you maximize your personal and professional achievements. In his first political campaign, Trump defeated his opponents by rallying voters nationwide to "Make America Great Again."

Combining behind-the-scenes views of an often besieged religious group with a personal account of the author's struggle to find meaning in it, Betrayal of the Spirit takes the reader closer than any other source so far to the reality of life in the Hare Krishna movement. Nori J. Muster, a California native, joined the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKON) - the Hare Krishnas - in 1977, shortly after the death of the movement's spiritual master, Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. She lived in the Krishnas' western world headquarters in Los Angeles and worked for ten years as a public relations secretary and editor of the organization's newspaper, the ISKON World Review. Her story of the Hare Krishnas' decline is a gripping presentation of facts gleaned from personal reminiscences, published articles, and internal documents. Betrayal of the Spirit details drug dealing, weapons stockpiling, deceptive fund-raising, child abuse, and murder within ISKON, as well as the dynamics of schisms that forced some 95 percent of the group's original members to leave. Although the movement fell into disarray after the death of its founder, the author's story is one of a continual search for truth and religious meaning as an ISKON member. Muster's account of the scandal-plagued decade following Swami Prabhupada's death ends in 1988 when, disillusioned over the continuing internal strife and scandals, she left her job and the movement.

Krishna is utterly incomparable, he is so unique. Firstly, his uniqueness lies in the fact that although Krishna happened in the ancient past he belongs to the future, is really of the future. Man has yet to grow to that height where he can be a contemporary of Krishna’s. He is still beyond man’s understanding; he continues to puzzle and battle us. Only in some future time will we be able to understand him and appreciate his virtues. And there are good reasons for it.

Traces the growth of the Hare Krishna movement in the U.S., describes the experiences of individual followers, and analyzes recruitment patterns, activities, and leadership of the movement.

This is a book about a deeply beloved place—many call it the spiritual capital of India. Located at a dramatic bend in the River Yamuna, a hundred miles from the center of Delhi, Vrindavan is the spot where the god Krishna is believed to have spent his childhood and youth. For Hindus it has always stood for youth writ large—a realm of love and beauty that enables one to retreat from the weight and harshness of the world. Now, though, the world is gobbling up Vrindavan. Delhi’s megalopolitan sprawl inches closer day by day—half the town is a vast real-estate development—and the waters of the Yamuna are too polluted to drink or even bathe in. Temples now style themselves as theme parks, and the world’s tallest religious building is under construction in Krishna’s pastoral paradise. What happens when the Anthropocene Age makes everything virtual? What happens when heaven gets plowed under? Like our age as a whole, Vrindavan throbs with feisty energy, but is it the religious canary in our collective coal mine?

The Hindu sect the Vallabha Sampradaya was founded in India in the 15th century by a devotional saint, Vallabhacharya. Their bhakti tradition worships a variety of forms of Krishna as a seven-year-old child. Following U.S. immigration reforms in 1965, members of the sect established a spiritual headquarters for the faith in Pennsylvania and began to construct temples across the United States. Since then, the growth has continued as this 500-year-old faith becomes an American religion, as this work demonstrates.