I have visited the ISKON Hare Krsna Temple at Devon, W Lunt Ave and it was one the most fascinating experiences I have ever seen. We should do everything to make this humble WAY of LIFE mainstream in the US.

No joke, they were properly interested.

I did always think there was something vaguely punk about an untied bottom-of-the-hair-length sikha.

Having first read “Miss Fashioned” I could not resist going back to read the “Looking Good” blog that preceded it. “Looking Good” reminded me of an encounter I had a few years back while visiting Chicago. At the famous Art Museum, I spotted from behind a clean shaven, tow-headed, sikha sporting young man whose neck beads were also prominent. Aha, a fellow Prabhupadanuga Krishnite, I surmised. Walking up to him from behind I let out a moderately modulated “Hari bol!”. Nothing. Probably hard of hearing, too many loud kirtans, I figured, and tried again, only this time louder: “Hari bol!”. Still, nothing. So I went round to face the chap directly, smiled by way of greeting, and again intoned an expectant “Hari bol!”, only to be met with a return gaze that bespoke bemusement and utter uncomprehension.

Long story short, it turns out the fellow was an Irishman doing university studies stateside. The tonsure and neck beads, he explained, designated him as a practitioner of spiritual arts and sciences deriving from the Druidic tradition of the ancient Celts. He was aware of a connection with the ancient culture of India, and referred me to some interesting (and credible) Irish literature chronicling evidences of the same, but hadn’t, until I shared it with him, heard of Parasurama’s severe chastisment of the miscreant kshatriyas, and the consequent Vedic diaspora reputed to be the root of the Aryan culture of ancient Ireland. For some months an interesting and enjoyable correspondance ensued between us, begun by a remarkable hairstyle, a strand of beads, and a little blue boy who dwells in the forest and plays a flute, whom the Celts knew, adored, and worshipped as the topmost deity, Dyan Y Glas (aka Sri Krsna).

Your humble servant,
Hladini Sakti dasa

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I’m sure you’ve noticed that fashion in the Movement has also changed. Note the pervasiveness of the gopi skirt, yogi pant, and “punjabi suit” or salwar kameeze. Neck beads have become like jewelry pieces, and pictures of Krishna are on shirts, bags, umbrellas, and so forth.

Gone are the days when we all (men and women) wore pieces of poly-cotton cloth–saffron for the unmarried and either white or yellow for the married.

Thanks for your writing!!

Good luck.

According to the Vedic culture, when a person undergoes the cūḍa-karaṇa-saṃskāra (hair-cutting ceremony) and upanayana (Vedic initiation), he must shave his head, leaving a tuft of hair called a śikhā. One must have a śikhā to perform any kind of yajña. Therefore in Indian tradition all the brāhmaṇas, Vaiṣṇava or otherwise, keep a śikhā.

Although there seem to be no śāstric injunctions regarding the size of the śikhā, Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas traditionally keep the śikhā about the size of a calf’s hoofprint, approximately 1.5 inches (5 – 6 cm.) in diameter. Śrīla Prabhupäda mentioned this in a conversation with some of his disciples in Hawaii: “Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava śikhā is an inch and a half across—no bigger. Bigger śikhā means another sampradāya… And they have to be knotted.” (May 6, 1972, Hawaii; Śrīla Prabhupāda Līlāmṛta V, page 93)

The śikhā may be any length, but it should be kept tightly knotted and only untied when you are washing, cleaning, or oiling it. Also, when going to sleep, attending funeral rites, or observing a period of mourning, you should keep the śikhā untied. Since an untied śikhā is a sign of a death in the family, it is inauspicious to go about one’s daily duties with an untied śikhā. It is also said that if one keeps the śikhā untied, the body may become weak.

While tying your śikhā after bathing, chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, or, if initiated with Gāyatrī mantras, silently chant the Brahma-gāyatrī (first line of Gāyatrī). The śikhā should not be braided (traditionally only women braid their hair), nor should it be kept long and disheveled.