Special Bumper Edition! 19TH DECEMBER 2000 Sorry for the delay in producing this newsletter, but we have been very busy on working on what is going to be the biggest opportunity for preaching in the history of ISKCON. But to make up for it we present here for your pleasure a special double-length bumper edition of the newsletter! 1. IRM Granted Prime Kumbha Mela Site 2. IRM Initiates Printing of Original MacMillan Bhagavad Gita 3. Bhakti Caru Swami Tries To Take Over Calcutta 4. The Hunt For Jayapataka Intensifies 5. 'Rape Victim' Caught Lying on Tape 7. ISKCON Restructuring Plan Confused 8. GBC Losing Grip On North America
The largest
gathering in history will take place next January as *50 million*
pilgrims will converge on Allahabad for the Kumbha Mela Festival.
Just the main bathing day alone on the 24th January will attract
30 million pilgrims. Listed in the Guinness Book of Records as
the largest gathering of people for a specific purpose, the Kumbha
Mela festival is world famous and every prominent spiritual
organisation is represented at the mela. The main festival at
Allahabad occurs every 12 years, and this particular Kumbha Mela has
also been trumpeted as being the 'maha-Kumbha Mela'
which appears only once every 144 years. Srila Prabhupada attended
this festival for many days in 1977, and was very keen that ISKCON
was there to preach and to be recognised by the world. The
'non-Prabhupada' 'official' ISKCON who were way ahead of us in the
queue for getting land, have also managed to get a spot that is in
the vicinity of the bathing areas, but they are situated only on a
secondary thoroughfare, not surrounded by roads, and crucially, have
been allocated less land than us. And with space very tight, they
will naturally be restricted in what they can do. For instance just
the pandal (stage) program which they will be setting up to
promote their visiting "Prabhupada-substitute" bogus Gurus, will
alone take up 1/4 acre. Indeed they have now had to resort to
scrambling around buying land from other groups in order to make up
their space. · 11 huge floats depicting various Krishna conscious themes, with advanced pneumatic mechanisms which will even allow the movements to continue through a rain storm. Needless to say all our floats are water proof. · 26 Diorama exhibits bringing Krishna book to life. · A 45 feet high 2000 sq ft Krishna Balaram temple. · A Srila Prabhupada exhibit and an auditorium continuously screening Srila Prabhupada's videos. · 60,000 books have been purchased just for distribution at the festival. We also have a
very special surprise planned for the festival which we are keeping
under wraps. You will just need to come along to find out!
We are pleased
to announce the recent printing by the Bombay BBT of 10,000 copies
of the original unabridged deluxe hardback Macmillan version of
Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita. We would like to give a special
thanks to
His Holiness Jayadvaita Maharaja who obliged our request for
this printing, by authorising the Bombay BBT to go ahead. Some
months ago when
Maharaja was visiting the
Bangalore Temple,
Madhu Pandit prabhu, the IRM secretary asked Maharaja if he
would arrange for the printing of the original Gitas, since we were
very keen to purchase them. True to his word Maharaja stayed in
constant touch with the Bombay BBT and ensured that they were
printed. Bangalore has just taken delivery of the first batch of
them, and has already sold most of them. This initial printing
however is only for distribution in India. We hope to
co-operate with Maharaja to begin purchasing *all* of
Srila Prabhupada's books in their pre-1977 edition, and see this as
just the first of what will hopefully be many printings by the
Bombay BBT of the original edition of the books. And with the
Bangalore temple alone distributing up to 1 in every 7 books
distributed in ISKCON, this will have a significant effect. Further this
sequence of events leads to the ironic conclusion that His Holiness
Jayadvaita Maharaja, who has taken much criticism over this issue,
has actually demonstrated MORE desire to print Srila
Prabhupada's original books, than other self-appointed 'defenders
of Srila Prabhupada', who whilst they have been quick to
criticise, have done NOTHING to actually PRINT any
books for over *2 years* now.
We have already reported on the *2* failed GBC attempts to expel the IRM devotees. Frustrated at their humiliation, the GBC/Guru club has now decided that if they cannot take 'Mohammed away from the mountain, then they will just take the mountain away from Mohammed!'. That is, having failed to expel devotees from ISKCON temples , they are now attempting to take the temples away from the devotees. Thus they have now hatched a plot to try and seize part of the Calcutta temple. This is the large prestigious pandal and function hall, which our members use for holding programs. It is the same part of the temple, incidentally, which as we reported in newsletter no.16, was mysteriously burned down when we were attending to the mammoth Ratha Yatra festival in 1999. Now Bhakti Caru Swami (BCS) has proposed the following resolution to allow Mayapura to seize and take over this section of the Calcutta temple:
BCS has also
offered the following reason as to why this resolution should
Now this has to be the height of hypocrisy even for BCS, who as we have shown is the master in practising this Kali Yuga art. For over the years, no one has availed himself of the facilities at 22 Gurusadaya Road, more than BCS, as he would waft in with his followers and help himself to the lavish banquets which have been held by different parties. He never once thought then that the place was not being 'properly utilised'. Nor did he think that the place was not being 'properly utilised' when he was using it for months to film his 'Abhay Charan' series. Indeed he has been helping himself very nicely to the facilities of this place in the previous years. Now that we have declared Calcutta a 'bogus Guru free zone', he claims that the place is not being 'properly utilised'. It is clear that there is nothing that this person will not stoop to in his pursuit of power and worship. Indeed as those who have read the previous newsletters will know, we should not really have expected any less from BCS. He has proposed
this resolution to the ISKCON Bureau which is the entity registered
in Bombay by Srila Prabhupada in 1971 and which actually controls
all the ISKCON properties in India. The majority of the members of
the Bureau are ISKCON Gurus and their disciples. Having had their
plans to kick us out of ISKCON stayed by the court, BCS has proposed
this very sneaky plan to get rid of us through the 'back door'
so to speak, by taking the actual ISKCON properties off us.
Dayarama, the head of Mayapur, and also one of the 8 named in the 'abetment
to suicide case', who has been named to take over the Calcutta
Temple Property, and who has witnessed at first hand the many
defeats that the IRM has inflicted on the GBC in the courts, has
already been boasting about the beauty of this sneaky plan. He has
been bragging that the Bureau had already arranged to have the
majority of the votes for this resolution 'in the bag',
before it was even sent out, and thus there is no way that I can
beat it. Which of course is technically correct. This is why I said
it was a sneaky plan.
We reported in our previous newsletter about the court hearing which was due to come up regarding the abetment to suicide case in which Jayapataka (JPS) is named. We had also reported how JPS had been stung into returning to the country due to our 'all ports alert'. Actually it was worse than that. He had actually been refused entry to England by the immigration authorities there who had received our package. However frightened he may have been into returning, the next court hearing was even more frightening in that he has absconded again! Immediately after the court hearing JPS has again gone on the run, managing to escape as soon as the hearing was over, hoping to find a safer haven in other countries. Unfortunately for JPS his continual absconding is only making matters worse for him, because it is only a matter of time before the net closes in other countries, and thus though he thinks he is buying time via his silly hide and seek game, he is only delaying his funeral. Thus JPS is only making the situation worse for himself, for he is sacrificing his ability to enter other countries in the future. The reason for his going on the run again is made clear when one reads the court order that was passed at the hearing:
This is
significant for two reasons. The first court order that was reported
in previous newsletters was issued by only a magistrate court - this
has now been issued by the High court. A High court order has the
authority to initiate immediate extradition proceedings when
necessary. And secondly, whereas the first court order simply stated
that attempts should be made to prevent the 8 accused persons from
leaving the country, this order has directed specifically that their
passports must be impounded. And very significantly, *the
passports can not be returned back to the accused persons without a
separate court order being issued*. This could mean that those
who have their passports taken off them may be stuck in India for a
long time, for the wheels of justice do move slowly here!. No wonder
JPS is terrified and on the run!
We reported in newsletter #33 how the alleged rape allegation which led to Suresvara committing suicide and JPS going on the run was fabricated. We proved this by giving much evidence in the form of medical reports as well as demonstrating clear-cut inconsistencies in the report which Basanti Devi (BD), the lady who made the false rape allegation, filed with the Police. This report is known as a F.I.R. (First Information Report) and in newsletter #33 we analysed the allegations made by the 'victim' and proved how they were untrue. Knowing this, Pancaratna Das and Bhakta Rupa Das, two senior leaders in India, went to interview BD, and Birchandra Das and Krishnalata Dasi (BIR & KD), the 2 disciples of JPS who filed the false rape claim on her behalf. This interview was taped, and we have obtained copies of these tapes. The tapes shockingly reveal BD making up even more lies that contradict the story she told the police: The interview took place on the 30th September: The speakers are:
The interview is conducted mainly in Bengali, and we have had the tapes translated. We reproduce sections of this transcript below:
Here the
'victim' BD claims that the wife of a local Calcutta devotee
(Chaitanya Das), had told her she was to receive money from Adri.
However in the FIR that she filed with Police on 29th June, she
claimed that actually ISKCON authorities had "ordered" me to give
her the money:
Here the 'victim' states that she followed me up the stairs and asked for the money before I even got into my office. Please compare this with the FIR where she speaks of me coming OUT of my office to speak to her:
Here the 'victim' describes the conversation she had with Suresvara AFTER the supposed 'rape' took place. However In the FIR she claims that this conversation, where Suresvara allegedly revealed to her that I had instructed him to rape her, took place BEFORE the supposed 'rape':
Panda is the caretaker of the building in which the 'victim' claims she was 'raped'. Here she claims that she could not find Panda because he had gone to distribute Khichuri. It is clear that this is made up because though Panda DID normally distribute Khichuri, he had stopped doing so a whole week before this alleged incident occurred, since the Ratha Yatra preparations were in full swing. Please note above that we have only presented a sample of the lies which are exposed on this tape. To go into all the lies present on the tape would require a whole newsletter on its own! When this latest expose is put together with the medical evidence and all the other inconsistencies we revealed in newsletter # 33, it is clear that the 'victim' is not actually a victim, but simply a serial liar, who has fabricated the whole incident from start to finish. The only victim was Suresvara prabhu who now lies (no pun intended) dead. And the net is closing in on her and her conspirators. The tapes are now in the hands of our lawyers, and we are very sure that they will prove very interesting in the on-going investigation by the Police.
An IRM householder has purchased a 3/4 acre property in Australia. Situated on the Sunshine Coast, just north of Brisbane, the property includes a 100 year old converted Catholic church and beautiful gardens also. Mandapa Das, for whom the facility also doubles as his home, has commenced holding Sunday gatherings, which are already attracting a number of guests. He and his wife have also begun running a weekly vegetarian club at the local University, where regular groups of students are coming to take sumptuous prasadam. And it doesn't just stop there. Keen to increase prasadam distribution, Mandapa and his wife also operate a prasadam stall at the local craft market where over 15,000 people attend. They regularly sell over 150 plates of prasadam. Srila Prabhupada used to express particular satisfaction when old churches were bought and converted into temples. This was the evidence of how whilst Christianity was declining, Krishna Consciousness was actually setting the world on fire:
The purchase of this church by the IRM, is just one small step in the attempt to revive the movement based on promoting only Srila Prabhupada as the Guru of ISKCON, so that ISKCON's glory days will one day be back with us.
In our last
newsletter we revealed 'part 2' of the GBC's plan to try and 'fix'
the mess the movement is in (please see "New Secret GBC Plan
Uncovered,
Newsletter # 40). The IRM has now received a copy of the 80 page
document which outlines this plan in detail. This plan has so far
only been circulated amongst selected participants.
Yet on the other it admits to being little more than a speculative endeavour, utilising the type of ascending knowledge acquiring methodology Srila Prabhupada condemned:
So although the paper quotes extensively from instructions Srila Prabhupada gave in black and white, clearly these explicit orders are not seen as sufficient by the ‘restructuring team’:
Surely the ‘vision’ belongs solely to Srila Prabhupada, with us, his followers, simply carrying it out. R.P. ominously omits the important clause in Srila Prabhupada’s Will where he says the system of management within ISKCON must not change. Of course what we really need to do is properly implement the structure Srila Prabhupada gave, and which has not been followed since 1977. Where, one might ask, did Srila Prabhupada ever mention the following triple layered management structure R.P. puts forward:
And if the above management morass was not mentioned by Srila Prabhupada, how can R.P. claim it is helping everyone to follow what Srila Prabhupada taught? But there is something else at work here other than the desire to simply carry out Srila Prabhupada’s orders. It is hinted at in B.P and was alluded to in our previous newsletter, and is another example of schizophrenic thinking. On the one hand the North American Leadership Council (NALC) is supposed to be responsible for:
And yet on the other we read that:
Above it seems the GBC are only there to give helpful suggestions which may or may not be taken up. This is much more strongly hinted at below where R.P. lists the powers the NALC body would have in relation to GBC members:
Thus the NALC would be more powerful than the entire GBC body since in the past only they could make such overriding judgements on one of their members. Surely if a GBC member were acting outside his remit he should be reported to the GBC body itself. But maybe the devotees in America, and possibly throughout the world, do not trust the GBC anymore to regulate its membership. And so we have a structure that purports to follow and implement all GBC directives, but with a unique get out clause should American leaders not agree with what the GBC member is saying (or doing). So in one sense the entire document is a shot across the GBC’s bows:
In other words many devotees think the GBC are off and need to change. If they do change and line up with NALC thinking then fine, but if not they shall be ignored or ‘vetoed’. There was clearly an effort made to appeal to the general mass of disenfranchised devotees with warm and embracing passages such as the following:
There are several passages similar in tone, and only accentuate the enormous gulf between how the ‘restructuring team’ see things, and the hard-nosed reality of the way ISKCON is currently run. Any devotee who has been banned, beaten or bullied merely for supporting Srila Prabhupada’s orders on initiation will see such statements as meaningless platitudes. No 'merit' has ever been ascribed to their 'dissatisfactions', and no ISKCON leader has ever said they need to be brought in to complete the ‘puzzle’.Unless the restructuring addresses such issues there cannot be any hope of improvement. Most likely the Gurus and GBC will simply use this new unauthorised structure to continue illegally grabbing disciples just as they always have been; only now when things go wrong they have an elected mass of fall guys to take all the flack. R.P seems to sense it is doomed from the start:
How can a society have any ‘strength’ if it lacks basic ‘commitment and support’. We have carefully documented why the movement lacks support, but unfortunately these points are currently viewed by ISKCON leaders as having no ‘merit’ whatsoever. Sadly, with all the best will in the world, there is nothing in R.P. that would reverse this situation.
Some very interesting news reaches us from Montreal in Canada regarding the ISKCON temple there. It would appear that due to mismanagement, the old Temple President there Bhakti Rhagava Swami was forced out by the devotees. He has been replaced by Visvambara Das, the ex-sannyasi from the old Bhagavan days. However Visvambara Das only agreed to step in on the following conditions: 1. That the GBC is not allowed to make any decisions affecting the running of the Temple for 6 months. 2. No initiations are allowed at the Temple for * 5 Years *. So desperate where the GBC to keep the Temple afloat that they agreed to these conditions. The suspension on initiation is highly significant. We have had to go to court to try and force this. Yet here in Canada the GBC are granting this for free! The irony of this is that according to the GBC's own philosophy, they will have 'suspended' the 'Guru-paramapara' for 5 years! Indeed practically they will have gone much further than the IRM in putting to a stop their bogus-Guru program, at least locally in Montreal. The most amazing thing about all this is that Visvambara has no connection at all with the IRM. He simply demanded a 'Guru-free' zone to allow for better management. As more and more Temples in North America find themselves in desperate straits, this could become a growing trend, as Temple Presidents demand the ability to be able to manage their Temples without any interference from the Gurus. Putting this incident together with the restructuring proposal mentioned above, it seems clear that the movement in North America is definitely recognising the havoc that the bogus Guru program has wreaked. And though they still have someway to go before they fully accept Srila Prabhupada as the only Guru for ISKCON, all developments are only moving in one direction. In years to come the movement will look back on the post-77 fiasco and realise that it could have saved itself a lot of time and trouble if it had just accepted Srila Prabhupada's final instructions on initiation from the very start!
We have been reporting in the previous newsletters on how BCS has perfected the art of preaching the exact opposite of what he himself actually DOES. Indeed every time he opens his mouth he produces yet another gem of hypocrisy. Recent weeks were no exception. The following is an excerpt of a letter he wrote to a 'disciple':
Now this is
very interesting. One of the reasons that we are told as to why it
is necessary to have a 'living' Guru is because we need his
'physical presence'. Srila Prabhupada is not 'physically
present' to chastise us or instruct us personally, we are told.
So we must surrender to one of his 'physically present'
representatives, such as BCS. And yet when you surrender to BCS,
what does he say? That since it is not a 'material relationship',
it is NOT limited to the physical presence. That one can be
together with the spiritual master just by chanting Hare Krishna.
Now pardon me for pointing out the obvious - but why can't we just
do that with Srila Prabhupada, and be 'spiritually situated'
with HIM? Why do we need BCS to begin with? It can't be for
his physical presence, since the relationship is not limited by the
need for such physical presence. So this is just another classic BCS
gem to be added to the 'H Files' - the 'hypocrisy files'.
'You have to surrender to me because you need the physical presence
of the spiritual master, and thus Srila Prabhupada is not enough.
However when you do surrender to me, you must realise that we can be
together spiritually, since the relationship with the Spiritual
master is NOT limited to the physical presence!' A hard copy of
our main position paper
'The Final Order' is available on request. |
