eric's little black star » Yet another reason to avoid celebrity worship…

sitproperly on Nov 15th 2007 at 10:53 am Gaudia Vaisnava

Yet another reason to avoid celebrity worship…

Boy George charged with false imprisonment…

All too often, many devotees engage in this weird ritual of celebrity worship. I’m not talking about how some book distributors will post pictures of themselves handing a book to an awkward “deer in the headlights” movie star or politician (though, that’s questionable as well).

I’m talking about how some devotees will get all into celebrities (usually musicians) who appear to take to Krishna consciousness. We practically canonize them. Look at “The Famous Sriman George Harrison,” for example. Though we sainted him, he was hardly a saint.

And neither is “The Famous Sriman Boy George,” who has a long history of drug abuse, violence and, most recently, false imprisonment for chaining a male escort to the wall of his apartment. Bow down, Mister!!

So, let’s set the record straight, Boy George is not a devotee. He really never was. He was attracted to Krishna and wrote a song about it. Sometimes he invites (or tolerates) the devotees to come up on stage with him to help sing his cute little song. And then he chains some dude to the wall of his apartment. Jaya, prabhu!

We should really be careful about celebrities. I think a lot of discrimination is in order. Celebrities will almost always continue their insanely materialistic lifestyle.

Sure, they have a voice that millions of people listen to, but when they become disenchanted with Krishna consciousness (or certain institutions promoting Krishna consciousness), that voice is just as loud and often much more forceful.

The Bhagavad-gita states: Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues. (Bg 3.21) And this is the verse quoted when handing a Gita to a celebrity or politician. And while what the Gita says is definitely true, celebrities and politicians aren’t great men. They have few exemplary acts and basically no standards.

Celebrities don’t make devotees (and politicians definitely don’t). Sincere, happy and honest devotees make devotees.

7 responses so far

7 Responses to “Yet another reason to avoid celebrity worship…”

Giriraj Gopal Dasa says:

November 15, 2007 at 11:25 am

your funny and perceptive similtaneously.

I like it.

eric Reply:
November 16th, 2007 at 8:00 am
hey thanks!
sri radha says:

November 15, 2007 at 1:50 pm

i missed your blogs so much.

eric Reply:
November 16th, 2007 at 8:00 am
awww sri… they miss you too.
Nedra Zeall says:

November 15, 2007 at 9:36 pm

You wrote exactly what I had been thinking. The moment I heard that I thought… great the headlines will probably be HARE KRSNA BOY GEORGE TIED A MAN… I haven’t seen it yet but it’s not because they are not thinking it.

I get that devotees like that someone in the public eye takes to KC but that doesn’t mean we should have stars in our eyes. What devotee doesn’t want to be associated with Slave Master B George? That should be his new DJ name. I mean really, don’t you think scientologists are wishing Tom Cruise would keep their relationship hush-hush? I’d say yes.

eric Reply:
November 16th, 2007 at 8:00 am
Lucky for us, the media hasn’t focused on that in a long time. Boy George himself cut off contact with us. He said something like ISKCON claims to be all accepting, but it’s just veiled homophobia. Which is pretty true.

Haha.. Slave Master B George! hahaha love it.
Bhaktin Jackie says:

November 19, 2007 at 8:04 pm

Obeisances, Bhakta Eric.

…just wanted to point out that “we” didn’t cannonize George via “sriman”. Prabhupada did:

“I am so glad to learn that Sriman George is making good advancement in Krishna consciousness. He is a good soul and I am praying for him to Krishna, so surely he will make advancement.” ~letter to Syamasundara, 1/6/1970

Keep on bloggin’, prabhu. It’s good stuff.

Ys,
yet another soul George helped come to Krishna Consciousness ;)