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17TH
JUNE 2000
1.
Hare Krishna Explosion Begins In New York as IRM Temple Opens
2.
Puranjana Facilitates Efforts to Stop Anti-Guru Court Case
3.
PADA Supports Defamation of Srila Prabhupada
Last Weekend
New York got a taste of things to come. Devotees who had come from
all over the world experienced a bliss that they admitted they had
not felt since Srila Prabhupada departed. We had mentioned in our
previous newsletter how Krishna had engineered the IRM getting a
preaching center in Manhattan. The opening was to be no different,
with the transcendental arrangements being made from start to
finish.
Though the opening was to be on Sunday, the preparations had begun
well in advance. Devotees had flown in from India, England and all
over the USA to help at the opening. The devotees felt such
inspiration and enthusiasm that they immediately felt impelled to go
and distribute books. Madhu Pandit and Adri prabhus, the Temple
presidents from Bangalore and Calcutta respectively, went out doing
books on the streets with the local IRM devotees. Coming from India
to the harsh New York streets was quite an experience for them!
However between them they still managed to pass out over 50 books
and collect almost $100. They said later that if even they can
distribute books in New York - anyone can.
Seeing this
Visvamitra Das, who had flown in from Los Angeles, also felt
motivated to go out. He tells the story in his own words:
"I found the opening of the New York IRM temple to be an ecstatic
event. In fact it was so inspiring I found myself in New York City's
Union Square dressed in a dhoti and tilak, distributing Srila
Prabhupada's books. Something I have not done or felt inspired to do
in 20 or so years. Infact when I arrived in Union Square at first I
was afraid and hesitant and did not really want to do it. I was
supposed to meet up with devotees who were already distributing and
who were carrying the books. But I could not find them. So there I
was all alone without any books. I thought that maya had given me
the perfect excuse to avoid doing books. But somehow I felt so
inspired that I went all the way over to the temple in Brooklyn and
bought a whole stack of Srila Prabhupada's books from the shop
there, and then went back to Union Square and distributed them all!
The association of the devotees and the worship of Srila Prabhupada
as the sole acarya for ISKCON was the magic that inspired me to try
and please Srila Prabhupada in a way that was most pleasing to him.
Hare Krishna!"
(Visvamitra Das, LA)
Saturday was Ratha Yatra day, and 15 devotees had organised
themselves to do leafleting and began handing out over 2000
invitations for the opening.
However what was amazing was how devotees we did not even know took
whole stacks of invitations from us and started to distribute them
as well.
At one time we had almost 30 devotees handing out invitations. Who
they were and where they came from we did not know. In keeping with
the spirit of the IRM mission we also had 5 devotees distributing
Srila Prabhupada's books on the parade - the only devotees to do so.
Between them they passed out over
200 books and collected $350. The organisors of the Ratha Yatra
could only stand by with frowns on their faces as Srila Prabhupada's
'task-force' swamped the festival. Whilst the GBC chairman
sat on the cart and waved, we were on the ground building the
future.
Finally after having been unable to take any action whilst we had
been distributing the invitations, the authorities finally decided
to do something at the end by asking some devotees to go round and
ask all the visitors to give their invitations back. We watched as
how one person after another simply refused to give back the flyers,
saying that not only would they not give their invitations away, but
that they would also be attending the opening as well!
A funny story also happened on the Ratha Yatra. A reporter had come
from the India News Service to report on the Ratha Yatra parade. He
went up to a devotee and asked that he needed to speak to the
'ISKCON Temple President'.
The devotee not knowing the purpose of the query simply pointed to
Adridharan das, who was nearby, and said "He is an ISKCON Temple
President".
So then the reporter ended up interviewing Adridharana about the
Ratha Yatra and what it was all about!! He was also told of course
about how there was going to be a new temple opening in Manhattan
the next day!
Sunday was the day of the opening, and as soon as the doors opened
at 3PM, we were inundated with over 100 guests immediately. By the end
of the day we had had at least 300 vistors who had taken part in a
continuous kirtan, watched Srila Prabhupada videos, and partook of
an opulent 10 course feast.
The whole day was organised professionally with 15 hosts all with
name badges who gave every guest personal attention and service.
Since the guests were spread out during the day we were able to
ensure that each visitor was given individual attention and
personally served prasadam immediately.
No waiting or queuing! An internet company that is the world's
largest producer of original internet-TV and that gets up to 1
million hits a week had also come to film the opening. They also
interviewed Adridharana and Madhu Pandit Prabhus about the mission
of the IRM.
All in all it was a great success, with many devotees remarking that
it had been the most ecstatic day of their lives. Devotees were so
impressed that we collected $10,000 in donations just from new
visitors on the day, who were taken aback by the wonderful
atmosphere. But you do not need to take our word for it - here are
just a few testimonies from visitors and those involved:
"I can not believe you got this place together in 5 months. I
have opened many temples in the early days, and to set up something
like this would take minimum three years".
(Locanananda Das, ex-New York temple
president, and famous harinam leader)
"The grand opening of the Sri Sri Radha Govinda was a wonderful
experience for me. On occasion, I like to enter a Temple or festival
as if it were my first experience there. Trying to see the things
that would have an impressionable effect on a newcomer i.e. like
cleanleness, friendly devotees, an all-round atmosphere of well
being. All of the above things I experienced at the Temple and more.
When i entered the Temple i was initially greeted by a mother who
directed me to the kirtan. Later, I sat and was served delicious
prasadam and got plenty of attention from my gracious host. The mood
was positively Krishna Conscious. I cannot thank you enough and the
other devotees there, especially Jayananda prabhu ,for creating such
a powerful showcase for Krishna Consciousness. Please keep me posted
with ongoing events there and i will be happy, Krishna willing, to
help as best I can with a little service especially in regards to
laxmi contributions. [...] Again,thanks for helping to put Krishna
Consciousness back on the map in New York City. I pray to Srila
Prabhupada, the devotees ,and Lord Krishna that it is really
successful. I would gladly recommend any of my friends, including
busy associates, to visit there.
(Krishna Bhakta Dasa, Devotee businessman from Ireland, now based in
New York City)
"The opening of the NY IRM temple was truly an historical event.
A most wonderful experience to have been part of that day. It was
like coming to Krishna Consciousness all over again the first time.
The program was very personal like the way Srila Prabhupada treated
guests in the early days of the movement. IRM member spoke to each
every one individually while they ate a sumptuous feast which was in
the making for days. Bhajahari Prabhu came all the way from London
to cook a first class feast. His enthusiasm to details carried us
through the long hours of preparation. The temple was beautiful due
to the wonderful service of so many people that Jayananda prabhu
engaged. The guests floated from room to room soaking up the nectar
of Srila Prabhupada. In every corner of the temple IRM members were
engaging and preaching to guests the teachings of His Divine Grace.
They were told how this is a temple committed to reviving the spirit
of Krishna Consciousness in the way that Srila Prabhupada first gave
it to us. This movement within a movement to revive the original
movement. Even guests could understand and grasp what was happening
as they would say things like: "We never see Krishna devotees on the
street chanting and distributing books in NY". [...] Due to a lack
of faith that Srila Prabhupada is no longer with us many have seen a
need to go to alternative gurus and created many out of His own
disciples who were not qualified. Since that time there has been
much chaos due to mismanagement of His instructions and finally the
loss of his ISKCON body that he created. Today many of those temples
have been lost though mismanagement of funds. One such temple was
the Manhattan skyscrapper temple that was sold. The IRM is dedicated
to reistablishing ISKCON in it's glory with His Divine Grace as the
sole Diksa Guru. [...] Srila Prabhupada came so long ago to
Manhattan to start a spiritual movement. So this past Sunday in
Manhattan devotees again started to revive that movement."
(Vikramini Devi Dasi, Los Angeles)
"I have been going to Brooklyn temple for 10 years but never once
felt so close to Srila Prabhupada as I am feeling in the midst of
you all".
(Congregation member from Brooklyn temple)
"If this is what IRM temples are offering - a total relationship
with Srila Prabhupada, very soon the gurus in Iskcon will have to
close their business. They can never compete with Srila Prabhupada".
(A devotee visiting from Peru)
"I was really pleased to see how well organised the program was.
On one of the walls there was a notice that dealt with all the
frequently asked questions about the Iskcon Revival Movement. Most
of the guests read it and said that it really helped clear up the
misconceptions they had about our work to restore Srila Prabhupada
as the sole initiating guru for Iskcon. The Prasadam distribution
and Book presentation was also very nicely arranged.
Everyone seemed very pleased with the grand opening- and promised to
visit regularly in the future."
(Bhakta Ian, ex-sankirtan devotee from the Los Angeles temple, who
came from Miami)
"One of the most interesting things that happened to me during
the Official Opening Ceremony this weekend was a conversation I had
during the feast with Arundati and Aditi Prabhus. I was explaining
how Srila Prabhupada's directive to the whole movement sent out on
July 9th 1977 taken together with his last will and testimony could
only mean that he wanted a ritvik system to continue for as long as
Iskcon existed. Arundati stated that the July 9th letter was only
sent because Srila Prabhupada was ill at the time. I responded that
the directive itself does not refer to Srila Prabhupada's health at
all.
To which Arundati immediately replied that it does. She told me that
she was sure that it did because she herself had typed the letter
for Prabhupada. I immediately found a copy of the Final Order and
looked up the letter. After reading it out aloud to her she replied
" WOW - your right - it doesn't." Somehow or other, Arundati dasi
(undoubtedly along with many others) had been under the
misconception for some 23 years that the directive was only linked
to Srila Prabhupada's poor health. She willingly agreed to take and
read some of our IRM position papers."
(Bhaja Hari Dasa, London)
"From the beginning of Central Park to Wash. Sq. I distributed
SP's transcendental books. So many souls curious as to what was
going on and what the Hare Krishna's were all about and the
chanting. SP would say, what good is your 10 minute talk, just give
them a book. Close to 60 books left my hand into other souls who
will get this knowledge and I collected 96 laxmi points. Serving
Prasadam at the opening was a pleasure and joyful service. Over and
over devotees were commenting how delicious the prasad tasted and
eating to their full satisfaction. Many, many commented how it felt
like the old times."
(Vani Devi Dasi, New York)
"The grand opening of the RADHA-GOVINDA TEMPLE in MANHATTAN was
so inspiring. Throughout the day I estimate about 300 guests came to
the festival. It was such a joy to see so many devotees working hard
to make it happen. From the cooks to the cleaners to the preachers.
Everyone pulled together and worked as a team to glorify Srila
Prabhupada AND Krishna. I am even more convinced now that this mission
is about ACTION. Let's do something big for Prabhupada! Turn off
those computers and get out on the streets and preach. Every one of
my older god-brothers and sisters commented that they 100% felt that
what's happening in this temple is the real deal.
Now our meditation is focussed on reclaiming Srila Prabhupada's NYC
Skyscraper temple and Restaurant. STAY TUNED!
(Jayananda das, New York)
We pray for the
blessings of Srila Prabhupada, all the vaisnavas that the IRM
mission in New York will go from strength to strength and we can get
Srila Prabhupada's sky-scraper temple back for him. Srila Prabhupada
ki jai!
PADA recently
posted an allegation of paedophillia against the Calcutta temple
that was so patently fabricated one would have thought even PADA
would not have repeated it without first checking its facts.
Particularly as it is so malicious and seems manufactured for the
sole purpose of disrupting the IRM anti-Guru court case that has the
GBC on the ropes. Knowing they have no answer to our court case,
some unknown GBC supporting sources have clearly tried to defame the
character of Mahajan prabhu, a devotee from the Calcutta temple who
helped file the case. The article in PADA finishes by stating that
the number 1 demand is:
"1. Withdraw Mahajan from the IRG case immediately."
It is also stated that:
"We request the supporters of ritvik to make it a point that they
should not be defended by a notorious paedophile & a thief as
such."
They know that if I did this the IRM case would be seriously
compromised as it would need to be re-filed and we would have to
start all over again.
And thus it is clear that this is what the REAL purpose of the
allegations is.
This is a most desperate and transparent attempt to try and stop the
Gurus getting the justice they deserve, and being kicked out of
their position.
Unless PADA can prove that the names he has assigned to the article
are genuine, we do not even have any idea who it is who has
fabricated these allegations. They could have come from Jayapataka,
the devotees in Mayapur or even PADA himself. That the 'authors' of
the article are against the IRM anti-GBC campaign is also evident by
the following statement:
"Of course, Mahajan has rejected JPS now & is the ONLY signer for
IRG in the famous law suit filed in the Calcutta High Court by Adri
to FORCEFULLY keep Srila Prabhupada as the only disksa guru of
ISKCON."
(As if this 'force' is supposed to be a bad thing. They could just
as easily complain that courts also 'forces' thieves to hand back
the money they steal!)
It should be noted that the article in question has a conspicuous
absence of any detail - no contact details for the so -called
'authors', no name of the 'victim', indeed we are suspiciously told
not even to ask for that, neither are there any precise details
regarding the events that were supposed to have happened. Indeed the
few details that the article does offer can immediately be proven
false:
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Lies: |
"To round up historically, under Adri's
management a character called K Mukundan, from South Indian
joined the Calcutta temple around 18 years ago.
He used to come to the temple daily in torn shirt & pants
before he joined full-time & used to get paid a meager sum
of approximately Rs.10 by Satadhanya for doing some typing
work. His shirts & pants were filthy & dirty blackish, it
was specially black marked at the neck region where he used
to put a handkerchief to cover his black dirt. [...] This
Mahajan is the same person who used to work in a pan shop
before joining ISKCON & used to come to the temple & do
typing work for Satadhanya for a meager amount of 10 bucks
or so." |
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Fact: |
Mahajan Das is a fully qualified barrister
licensed to this day by the Calcutta Bar association to
practice law. He has therefore never worked in a pan shop or
as a typist |
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Lies: |
"Mahajan is the same person who made laxmi
for self by stitching & selling blouses to a mataji who came
to stay in Mona Lisa building in which a flat has been given
to ISKCON Calcutta for preaching purposes." |
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Fact: |
This cannot possibly be true since everyone
knows that Mahajan does not even know how to stitch. Though
he wishes he knew such as practical skill! |
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Lies: |
"If someone takes the pain to find out about
Mahajan's actual character, it is very easy to come to
conclusion that apart from being a notorious pedophile,
Mahajan is equally popular as a notorious thief amongst the
temple devotees, especially amongst the life membership
devotees & also amongst the Life members." |
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Fact: |
There has never been one case where Mahajan
has stolen anything from anyone, and we challenge PADA or
his contributors to produce even one Life Member who will
accuse Mahajana of being a thief. However there have been
many cases where Mahajana has apprehended temple devotees
for stealing from the temple. |
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Lie: |
"Mahajan's victim, a gurukuli, has suffered
tremendously both mentally & physically due to Mahajan's
torcher. It has been reported that one of the places where
Mahajan torchered his victim is the same place where Adri is
staying at present with his wonderdul 'Krishna conscious'
family. It's the first floor of Vrindavan Apartments in
Calcutta, the city of the appearance of Srila Prabhupada." |
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Fact: |
The false accusers have clearly blown it with
this one, because unbeknwonst to them, it can be proven that
these apartments have always been continually occupied,
either by my family and I, or devotees from Mayapur. Or will
the testimony now be changed to say that myself and my
family were also involved in this paedophillia! |
So let us get
this straight. We have an allegation from an unknown and unverified
source on behalf of another unknown and unverified source, alleging
child abuse without no supporting details what to speak of any
evidence, and what little details have been provided have ALL
been proven to be false. And on this basis I am supposed to withdraw
the court case against the GBC! Nice try by PADA's new-found
GBC friends, but I am sorry to disappoint both PADA and them,
whoever they are, that its not going to work.
If they provide some details that actually have some correspondence
with reality then I will certainly investigate. But what am I
supposed to investigate! Who can I interview? No information has
been supplied except to say that the crime occurred in the apartment
in which I live, and that I must disrupt the court case against the
GBC!
These unknown 'sources' also contradictingly state that the 'gurukuli'
will only reveal himself to people he can trust - but that they are
more than happy to co-operate with the Windle Turley law-suit. Then
why haven't they already gone straight to the lawyers and presented
the facts and details to them? I am sure they would have been more
than happy to assist. Why are they instead more interested in just
using smear tactics hoping I would be frightened into dropping the
court case against the GBC?
We are sorry to have sullied this newsletter by defending this
ridiculous claim - but it is worth it to show the depths that PADA
has now sunk to in his desperation to attack the IRM. He will print
and make up anything as long as he can attack us, even if it means
the GBC escaping justice.
Please look out for the following 'exclusive revelations' from PADA:
'Adri was real gunman who shot JFK'.
'IRM sacrifice goats to Goddess Kali During Mangal Arti.'
Need we say more!
Having seen how
PADA is happy to help STOP a court case that is DEFENDING
Srila Prabhupada, he is however at the same time more than happy to
SUPPORT a court case that ATTACKS Srila Prabhupada.
The recent Windle Turley Gurukuli lawsuit contains the following
horrendous and most disgusting claim:
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"35. The founder of the institution,
Prabhupada, was informed in 1972, at a time when he totally
controlled the institution, that extensive physical and
sexual abuse of minor ISKCON children was occurring, but he
concealed the wrongdoing from the public, parents and all
but a handful of close advisors."
(Windle Turley court filing) |
Further this
charge is listed in section IV B as an an example of the 'Abuse
Inflicted' along with anal sex and other horrible crimes. And what
does PADA think about this great blasphemy:
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"The idea of "blaming Srila Prabhupada" has
also surfaced to a nominal extent in this complaint, but it
is not at all to the degree that many so-called "big
devotees" blame him."
(Puranjana: 14 June 2000 16:53) |
If PADA is
happy to minimise the charge - that Srila Prabhupada knew about all
the horrible abuse that was occuring, and did nothing about it but
rather hid it, and that his action is itself an example of the
'abuse inflicted' which therefore would make Srila Prabhupada
himself guilty of abuse - as just being 'nominal', I wonder what
nasty slander against Srila Prabhupada one would actually have to
make in order for him to take it seriously!
Puranjana has not hid the fact that he is happy with the Turley
Windle lawsuit:
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"So, we are repeating things sometimes
because we feel that there has not yet been an appropriate
response. I think the current response with the lawsuit is a
good start."
(Puranjana in PADA: Thursday, June 15, 2000 4:28 PM) |
So to make
Srila Prabhupada the chief accessory to these horrible crimes is a
'good start' according to PADA. Nothing surprising there
since we have seen how eager he is to implicate anyone as an
accessory just to fuel his own anger, having already accused me of
being an accessory to Srila Prabhupada's murder. Thus we can see
that in the above two cases, that firstly PADA is more than happy to
sacrifice Srila Prabhupada being re-instated as the Guru for ISKCON
so that I can be attacked, and now he is happy to sacrifice Srila
Prabhupada's reputation just so the GBC are attacked. It seems he is
a confused and immoral character who will back any unsubstantiated
allegation, be it against Srila Prabhupada or his Godbrothers,
simply to give vent to whatever anger he happens to be feeling at
that particular time.
He has tried to justify why the Gurukulis may want to blame Srila
Prabhupada for their troubles, but what is HIS excuse for not
defending Srila Prabhupada against this horrible blasphemy? Maybe
PADA would be better off being re-named the Prabhupada
DEFAMATION Association
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please
keep your letters, and e-mail addresses of other devotees who should
be added to our list, flowing in.
A hard copy of our main position paper
'The Final Order' is available on request.
If you would like to receive any of the back issues of the
Newsletter please let me know.
No 1.
Invitation to Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja
No 2.
GBC Lose First Round of Court Case
No 3.
The Story VNN Refused to Publish
No 4.
Poison Theorists Accuse Adri of Complicity
No 5.
Iskcon Continues to Promote Child Abusers
No 6.
Invitation to Malaysia
No 7.
United World Body Formed
No 8.
Does Srila Prabhupada Support Poisoning Theory?
No 9.
PADA Attacks IRM Position
No 10.
PADA Continues to Present False Evidence
No 11.
GBC Funded Video says Ritvik Spiritual
No 12.
Child Rapist Selected by Gurus to Defend their Legitimacy
No 13.
GBC Facing Perjury Charge in Calcutta High Court
No 14.
Sahajiyaism Makes a Comeback in Iskcon.
No 15.
Govt. Minister Inaugurates Bangalore Rathayatra
No 16.
Iskcon Calcutta Triumphs Following Arson Attack
No 17.
Fighting Lies with Truth Not More Lies
No 18.
GBC Resolutions Continue to Provide Laughter
No 19.
Indian Leaders Endorse IRM Position That GBC Confused
No 20.
Convicted Child Abuser Officially 'Returns' To Parampara
No 21.
GBC Chairman Admits ISKCON 'Disintegrating'
No 22.
Krishna Confirms ISKCON Re-Birth |