My family has been very worried that my nephew is in a cult.
He shaved his head except for a little tail in the back, He has insence burning all the time in his room when he's at home and not at this temple he calls it.
He stays there for days at a time and has even went to New York with them and sold flowers and booklets to raise money for the temple. He has like a shrine set up with these blue dolls and photos of a older man the man looks indian or black.
He came home after New York with paint on his face, My sister said he looked like he was in a trance. He stopped eating any meat and even other things like garlic he said is evil food. When he gos to the bathroom he has to shower no Tp. He has a little girl that is 3 now and he sees her every other weekend, he is trying to get her to stop eating meat and eat what he eats when he has her. My sister was playing with the baby {her grandbaby}
With a dolly and he told her to stop that she was teaching her to love dead mass...
He thinks that we are all going to come back as animals because we eat meat.
He won't kill even a flea he thinks it's a sin. He also believes that any thing that is not absolute nec is being materiallistic. He chants on beads and listens to this music in his ear all the time. This is killing my sister she is so worried about him we all are.
My kids his cousins are heart broken because we just don't know him any more.
Please help if any one knows any thing about this please comment your thoughts on thiseven if you don't know any thing about this would like to hear all opinions.
Thanks..

Hare Krishna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Krishna)

This group doesn't eat meat, onions, garlic, eggs, chants... etc sounds like some of the young men I have seen in a town close by me.

I posted about this last year and still we are even more concerned and have seen more odd behavior. I thought I would post a new one in hopes for more response or help.
My sis and mom keep asking what people say about it.
So bushg do you no any thing else about these young men?

No. I just see them around sometimes and they seem to be in their own world... they are always chanting. They do not seem to make eye contact with people around them and seem to be intent on what thye are doing. I mostly just see them in stores, they don't really linger. The chanting never stops. I don't know if they live on their own or in a group setting. Sorry that is all I know.

From my point of view, all religions are cults because they try to rigidly control the thinking of their members. That makes religion about power and control, not about the spiritual growth of the members.

Religions won't hurt you if you don't take them seriously.

Sounds like this kid has gone off the deep end. :(

Thank you both for your input.
Hope to hear from more folks regarging this.

Does it ask for his money and does it take him away from his family? I read a really good thing about cults, how to spot and avoid them by knowing their tactics a while back, I'm going to go see if I can find it.

EDIT
Does he wear orange?

Any group that:
I) alienates you from your family and friends
ii) requires you to part with your money
iii) results in an unexpected change in personality

That's a cult by my definition.

He works for them selling stuff and fixing things but yet he never has any money.
He is coming around less and less and when he does come home to see his daughter he barely speaks to us.
And his personality has changed.

Perhaps you (or whomever in the family is closest to him) could ask to accompany him to his temple or to whatever they will allow you to see, if there are any restrictions at all. But most importantly be very careful how you say it. Don't call it a cult, don't make fun of his eating habits - that sort of thing. Then maybe the family can understand what he's going through (trying to find a "religion" or ideology that speaks to his heart) and get a glimpse of the group he's hanging out with. Just try really really hard to not sound patronizing or he may just close up.

Perhaps you ... could ask to accompany him to his temple ... be very careful how you say it. Don't call it a cult, don't make fun of his (eating) habits ...
Excellent advice. Seems that all those who worry here have hardly any actual knowledge of what he and his group stand for and do.

Just worry because a family member chooses to live a different way outside the regular traditional family religious view - without having any true knowledge of what his new lifestyle contains and on what it is based - makes little sense, and only suggest a lot of fear for the unknown.

;)

Treeny,

I think this sounds like the Hare Krishna Movement. I saw some of this back in the 1960's and 1970's as I was growing up. I hadn't heard much about it lately. I think it is a form of Hinduism. I don't know much about it, but I did find a website for you to look at to see if this is what you are talking about.

Hare Krishna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Krishna#.22Hare_Krishna.22_movement)

Shirley

... I think this sounds like the Hare Krishna Movement .
Nothing wrong with the Hara Krishna Movement. I was last year in Durban (SA) where they have a huge temple and are very active in society. Not a cult, just a movement filling a gap in the alternative religious need group.
Not exactly my piece of cake, but than... which religious group is ?

:)