Tuning In: Experiencing Music in Psychedelic States, a new book by former Hare Krishna devotee Steven J. Gelberg

Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan

Dr. Steven Hassan

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 684 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This interview had two foci: ISKCON and Tulsi Gabbard’s Connection to Krishna Hinduism and his new academic book on music and its role in psychedelics states. Gelberg was a Krishna devotee for 17 years and has written about his experiences with the cult and why he exited. He is now a successful photographer and author. We discussed the more recent finding that Tulsi Gabbard, nominated by Trump to be Director of National Intelligence, shows ties to Krishna Hinduism and ISKCON. Chris Butler, who is the guru of Tulsi Gabbard, was a disciple of the Krishna movement and Prabhupada. The group is known for its homophobia. “The Krishna movement also is very misogynistic. They try to hide that. They don’t like talking about it. They know it's not popular, but if you go to Prabhupada's books, he repeats what he learned from the Hindu tradition about women being lesser and needing to be always under the control of a man and less spiritually adept than men are” Steven said. He then expressed concerns about ties with this organization and what that may mean by Gabbard’s beliefs around these topics. In addition to his spiritual and academic education after leaving the cult, Gelberg continued to tune into an evolving “Psychedelic Renaissance” as the government began to loosen regulations allowing for legitimate clinical studies and inspiring the creation, by growing numbers of colleges and universities, of programs and centers for the study of psychedelics and their therapeutic effects. Learn more about Steven Hassan and Freedom of Mind Resource Center. Visit freedomofmind.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Steve Hassan with another episode of my podcast, renamed as Cult Conversations,
0:12.2	The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan. I have an old friend with me and colleague,
0:19.6	Stephen J. Gelberg, lives out in the Bay Area. And Steve and I go back
0:26.2	a number of years. I'm just going to read a little of your bio, Steve. You have a new book
0:32.1	coming out that we're going to get to in a second. But you are a writer, an independent scholar living in the San Francisco
0:40.0	Bay Area, and you were recruited or got involved with the Hari Krishna or Iscon organization
0:47.7	from ages 18 to 35, and to name the dates, it's 1970 to 1987, where you were the movement's chief liaison to the international academic community.
1:01.8	You were doing PR, I guess, and it's director for interreligious affairs.
1:09.3	And in 83, Grove Press published a volume of in-depth interviews,
1:15.1	Harry Krishna, Harry Krishna, five distinguished scholars on the Krishna movement in the West.
1:21.7	And during those years, you lectured at colleges, universities, and now you've been since exiting, learning a lot,
1:31.4	writing critically about the Krishna's and have been published in a number of academic books and
1:38.3	journals. And you also went to Harvard Divinity School where you got a master's degree in 1990.
1:46.2	And your most red thing that I'm aware of
1:50.1	regarding Krishna Steve is on leaving Iscon,
1:54.2	which was published online
1:56.0	and has helped many potential
1:59.0	and recent recruits walk away from getting involved with this group.
2:05.1	And I'll just say if people don't know, my sweet Lord and other George Harrison songs
2:11.0	are from his Krishna period.
2:14.2	So he was very into it. I'm going to ask you to describe the history of Propopod and the
2:22.3	organization a bit in one second. But I want to just finish the bio because you're a distinguished
	...

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