EXCLUSIVE

A CULT watchdog group has expressed concern at the expansion of Scotland's Hare Krishna religious movement, whose activities are currently being examined by the Scottish Charities Office.

The group is attempting to move from its Scottish headquarters in Lanarkshire to a larger property because of a six-fold increase in membership in the past decade. The religious community, which is currently advertising in Scotland, attributes its growth to a successful recruitment drive.

However, the Cult Information Centre (CIC) in London has warned potential neighbours of possible trouble.

Mr Robert McMillan, a Labour councillor for Lesmahagow, where the group is based in Scotland, said that there had been problems with residents being disturbed by early morning drum-beating and chanting but those matters had since been resolved.

And a spokesman for the Scottish Charities Office, an arm of the Crown Office, said they were investigating concerns.

The movement has advertised for a property ''north of Border and south of Aberdeen'' with at least 15 bedrooms and ''reasonable acreage'' for growing flowers and small-scale farming.

Mr Graham McTurk, vice-president of the community, whose spiritual name is Prabhupada Vani Das, confirmed that the move was essential to accommodate the growing number of devotees.

There are now 38 members. When the Karuna Bhavan headquarters in Lesmahagow was bought in 1986 there were only six.

Mr McTurk added that more appropriate accommodation was also needed for five monks who were considering marriage.

Mr McTurk said: ''We are going to need room to expand. Just recently, we had seven or eight new people so we needed a bigger place.''

He said their current seven-bedroom bungalow was insufficient and some monks had been forced to sleep on floors.

He said they had been looking for alternative accommodation for several years. The situation had now become urgent because of cramped conditions.

Mr McTurk said the Lesmahagow temple could be sold for around #185,000, and a new base bought for up to #450,000. Around #40,000 could be contributed to the purchase from the group's funds, the rest being raised through a mortgage.

He admitted there had been some complaints over traffic congestion and use of the building as a public place of worship but he reassured prospective neighbours, saying they should ''come and see us: we are human people like everybody else''.

He said the monks followed an ascetic lifestyle.

He added: ''Local people have said they don't really want us to go because we have become part of the community.'' Mr McTurk promised to ''open out more to the public'' at any new headquarters.

However, Mr Ian Howarth, general secretary of the CIC, warned that the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), the full name of the worldwide organisation, gave the CIC cause for concern because of its practices.

Mr Howarth added that it was currently experiencing growth after a stagnant period.

In Scotland, where the organisation is registered as a charity, it has been criticised for harassing shoppers and for its methods of collecting in the streets.

Mr Howarth said: ''It would be useful for them to have a large, isolated property which could easily be turned into a temple.

''If I lived in Scotland, I would be very concerned about the activities of my potential neighbours.''

Mr Matthew Bell, south-west Scotland area director of the evangelical Christian group the Reachout Trust, said he would be extremely concerned, but not surprised, if there was an expansion of Iskcon. He said everything should be done to prevent them collecting and recruiting on the streets.

In addition to the full-time temple members, the group claims to have several hundred congregational members around Scotland. Weekly meetings are held in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, and Stirling.

The movement has 17 centres around the UK with up to 200 full members and around 8000 congregational members.

Devotees can be recognised by their eastern robes and, for men, by their shaven heads.

A spokesman for the movement said no religion could legislate for ill-motivated individuals who became involved in crime.

He claimed that in the past there had been problems with over-zealous devotees getting ''carried away'' and breaching by-laws.

However, he added: ''Now everything we do is completely above board.''