ABSTRACT
This systematisation also influenced the practices of contemporary Hindu groups including the global International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON. Thus, ISKCON has emphasised the power of personalised, transformative devotion and simultaneously, created its own standardised orthopraxy. Devotional attitudes and behaviours are produced in the bodily-and-material play between actions that devotees perform upon themselves and others, as well as forces exerted upon them a form of efficacious connectivity and intimacy. Patting, handling, and pressing were common actions, and touch enabled physical and emotional intimacy. Devotionality across these various instances was framed as an issue of recognising the presence of Krishna, performing certain actions, developing intimacy and demonstrating appropriate attitudes so as to be fully transformed and subjectified to the divine. However, it is in spaces, such as the home, and the home altar, where one can learn how members of the faith community use materials for transformative, devotional purposes.
