Swami in a Strange Land Quotes

“Even more objectionable to them: Bhaktisiddhanta initiated non-brahmins as his disciples. Only men born in Brahmin families, conservatives argued, qualified for initiation. Lower castes had never been allowed to take part in the diksha ceremony. The prohibition was purely political, since nothing in India's scriptures supported such discrimination, but it had kept caste Brahmins in power for generations.
Bhaktisiddhanta threatened their commercial livelihood. Hostility against Bhaktisiddhanta increased when he added empowerment of women to his list of outrages. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught that all souls were prakriti, or female in relation to God. For Bhaktisiddhanta, this meant gender was not a consideration on the path of devotion.”
― Joshua M. Greene, Swami in a Strange Land: How Krishna Came to the West

“Reformist Rammohun Roy and other eminent leaders approached the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Sir Edward Hyde East, to tell him of their desire to form "an establishment for the education of their children in a liberal manner as practiced by Europeans.”
― Joshua M. Greene, Swami in a Strange Land: How Krishna Came to the West

“In 1976, Iskcon's publishing house had ordered what was then the largest single print-run of any book in history: one million copies of Bhagavad Gita as it is, his edition of India's essential wisdom text. Ninety-five flatbed railcars were needed to deliver the paper to the printer's warehouses at Kentucky”
― Joshua M. Greene, Swami in a Strange Land: How Krishna Came to the West