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| Monkey on a Stick: Murder, Madness, and the Hare Krishnas |  | Authors: John Hubner, Lindsey Gruson
Publisher: Harcourt
Category: Book
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 472867
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 414
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.5
ISBN: 0151620865
Dewey Decimal Number: 294.5512
EAN: 9780151620869
ASIN: 0151620865
Publication Date: October 1988
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| Customer Reviews:
 Hippie Madness May 31, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
A college buddy of mine demanded that I read this book because, as he said, "I rode in the pick-up truck they used to kill the dude in the book!"
He was a stoner first and an aging hippie second, and he lived on and off in Athens, Ohio, a college town in the foothills of the Appalachians (and an incredible party town too). He used to bum rides from the Hare Krishnas and somehow found out that the pick-up truck sent from West Virginia to the Krishna house in Athens was the one mentioned in the first chapter of MONKEY ON A STICK.
I picked up the book, saying I'd read but not really jumping into it. A couple years later, during a serious bout of insomnia, I pulled it off the shelf...and then could not put it down.
Absolutely fascinating. It begins with the prolonged murder of a guy the Krishnas wanted dead, then the book takes the reader on the bad, crazy trip of how the Hare Krishna movement started--at first as a magical, mystery tour by American hippies in the Far East before turning into a drug-fueled nightmare of cult control and sex abuse.
Like the former Krishna said in his review: "You can't put it down."
I literally could not put this book down. October 24, 2003
29 out of 30 found this review helpful
I was involved with the Hare Krishna movement from 1973 to 1977, after which I broke off all contact with them. Not because I was abused or whatever, just because I could not handle the austerity. I was never abused, I never witnessed anyone else being abused, nor did I ever hear of anyone being abused. And I wasn't at the bottom rung; I was a temple treasurer for a couple of years, then became a "pujari", or altar priest, for the remainder of my time there.
Anyway, it is also worth mentioning that most of the events in the book happened after I left, when the founder of the movement died.
I found this book in the library, and actually read the entire book in one sitting. I was mesmerized, because I knew many of the people in the book. It is like a "whatever happend to..." type of thing. I was also a little self-satisfied, since many of the jerks I knew got their just desserts. Yes, I knew some jerks: people who got caught up in a "power trip", and made life miserable (but still not abusive) for the rest of us. Every organization has jerks.
I was also shocked of learning of goings-on "behind the scenes". I have to admit I never saw any illegal things going on... but I did occasionally hear rumors. And reading this book helped all the jigsaw puzzles fall into place.
Having spent several years in ISKCON (the Hare Krishna's organization), I can always tell when I read something that shows that the authors did not do their homework, which puts their credibility in question. It is not the case in this book. I found only one minor error (where they state that the devotees use the word "Krsna" instead of "Krishna" out of respect. That is not the reason; it has to do with the Roman transliteration of Sanskrit).
The bottom line is, I felt this book to be credible, factual and authentic. And incredibly entertaining.
Although the Gaudiya-Vaishnava religion (represented in part by the Hare Krishnas) is wonderfully rich in philosophical and theological content, this book shows what can happen when greed gets in the way.
Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive September 9, 2003
7 out of 13 found this review helpful
This book is an excellent chronicle of a problem that has plagued every ideology, including religion, since time began. Man has an innate desire to be better and to seek the better, based on an inborn knowledge of good and evil. As soon as he tries to implement this desire in social action, somehow the usual instincts and desires gradually subvert supposedly idealistic activities and organizations until they end by being just like any other: concerned with amassing wealth, defending the ideologic state, collecting a harem, venting personal spite, attacking contenders to dominance, establishing territory, and so on. True, man has a spiritual side. But, you can't on that account take the animal out of him either, not in this lifetime. Why pick on ISCON? If you want real chillers, real horror stories, if you really want to be shocked, start reading the social history of all the major religions. Hmmm, I wonder if those heads are still affixed to London Bridge. Do you think amputated limbs, ears and noses are hereditary? What is it like to be burned at the stake? Broken on the rack? Maybe I should think twice before disagreeing with that bishop or imam or cutting in on his territory. What would that country be like if someone had not removed 30 percent of its population?
 Typical cult "aftermath" book. February 25, 2003
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
The difference between ISKON and the average cult is that this
variation of Hinduism began as a real religion, then became one thanks to the shady operators who inherited the outfit from "His Grace A.C. Prabhauptapeda" (?) Like every religious commune cult, the founder starts with a very open environment (in this case an empty Greenwich Village storefront) where anybody can come and listen to their preaching or witness their rituals. After a large number of people convert, the leader moves to a rural setting so that the adherents can study "the way" without being gawked at, though some are sent out to prosletize (in this case, at airports.) As the cult is new and rather interesting, it grows like wildfire, so that in fifteen to twenty years there are cells in Europe, Eastern Europe and the USSR, Asia, and the Americas. The original leader, already aged when he arrived in the US in the mid-1960s, passes on leadership to an American and dies. This "Swami" builds a massive temple in West Virginia, thinks he is a rock musician (though his only hit is quickly copied in the Phillipines, where it was recorded), gets involved in the drug trade, and molests children on the side. By this point, the guy has become so paranoid he brings in criminals, converts them, and they become his bodyguards. Long time members become disillusioned, the police become interested, and the whole thing falls apart.
Why "Monkey on a Stick" hasn't been reviewed more often lies with the fact that the Hari Krishnas are a shadow of what they once were, thanks to the Jonestown Massacre, the UFO suicide cult, and many others. I apologize for the vagueness of my review, but I read the book years ago, and it struck me as a religious version of "Darkness at Noon."
 Good Read, Harsh Truth February 26, 2002
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
Good read, definitely gives insider infortmation not commonly known about ISHCON and the cult of Krishnas. Don't pick up the book unless you're in a serious, studious reading mode though!
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