Belief: Hare Krishnas in contemporary Australia

Shot of a large red-brick building. A sign reads, 'International Society for Krishna Consciousness.' A young woman in a sari, with face paint on her nose, is interviewed.

YOUNG WOMAN: I've been living at the temple for about five years.

Shots of the young woman in everyday clothes at the centre, talking to a man.

YOUNG WOMAN: I was brought up a Catholic. My parents have a Christian Catholic background.

Text on screen — 'There are millions of Krishna supporters in the world & around 50,000 in Australia. Krishna is a Hindu name for God.' The young woman, in her sari, is interviewed within a temple. Behind her, in a chair on a stage, a statue of a man sits cross-legged, a colourful garland of flowers around his neck.

YOUNG WOMAN: Basically, Hare Krishna — or Krishna Consciousness as we call it — it's basically, um, dedicating your mind, body, words — everything, everything that you do, the whole consciousness — to devotion to God. Krishna is a name of God which means 'all-attractive'. Just… I mean, I know when I started in high school and doing the things that, you know, teenagers normally do and get up to, recreation and mischief and all sorts of things, I just… I mean, after a while, I was kind of thinking, 'What am I going to do with my life? I wish I could do something more satisfying, more spiritual.' I was getting sick of going out with friends and doing things like that. I wanted something more, basically, in my life.

INTERVIEWER: And how did your parents react?

YOUNG WOMAN: Well, at first, they were like, 'Oh, it's good! It's good that you're taking up something spiritual rather than going out and, you know, going to parties or drinking.' Initially, in the beginning, they were OK, they were happy with the idea, but they noticed I wasn't watching much TV. Instead, I'd kind of lock myself up in my room and read a lot of books and I'd do meditation and things like that. So after a while, they became a little bit concerned. They were like, 'What's going on? My daughter, she's reading all day. Doing things like that and going to the temple. What will my friends think?'

Text on screen — 'Sex is restricted to married couples for procreation.'

YOUNG WOMAN: If you engage too much in sex life, you know, there's going to be physical problems there, memory's not so good, all sorts of problems come out of too… you know, out of excess of these things.

INTERVIEWER: So do you think that you'll marry a Hare Krishna?

YOUNG WOMAN: Um, yeah. I'm engaged at the moment.

INTERVIEWER: Are you? Congratulations!

YOUNG WOMAN: Thanks! But during that time that you are actually chanting, if you're always chanting, you're always in a pure state of mind.

The young woman walks back and forth across the temple, chanting.

YOUNG WOMAN: Do you want to sing with me?

The young woman sits on the floor with a harmonium. Behind her, the interviewer sits with a drum.

INTERVIEWER: I have a drum, which is called a…?

YOUNG WOMAN: Mrdanga.

INTERVIEWER: Mrdanga. And what instrument are you on?

YOUNG WOMAN: I'm on the harmonium.

The interviewer and the young woman play their instruments and sing hesitantly. Text on screen — 'Let's try that again, for Krishna's sake.' The interviewer and young woman now play and sing enthusiastically. Text on screen — 'Strict Krishna devotees do not smoke, drink or eat meat.'

YOUNG WOMAN: People that eat a lot of meat are generally to be more macho and more aggressive. And that's not so natural. People want to be peaceful and happy and that's hard to do if you're eating animals. It does affect your consciousness on a subtle level.

The young woman stands in front of a painting of an elderly Indian man, dressed in orange, sitting cross-legged on a pile of cushions.

YOUNG WOMAN: AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He brought Krishna Consciousness to the West for our benefit, so everyone could gradually spiritualise their life, outside of India, all around the world. The men shave their heads because they're monks, women, because generally we like to keep our hair long and it's more feminine. But they have a little tuft of hair at the back, the Hare Krishna men. That's so Krishna can pull him back…

INTERVIEWER: Really?

YOUNG WOMAN: ..pull him by his plait back to the spiritual world.