4^TH JULY 2001

1. Massive GBC Fraud Uncovered
2. Gurus Sabotage Calcutta Ratha Yatra
3. Gurus Face Trial By Media

4. Poison Theorists Finally Agree With IRM

 The fact that the GBC illegally hijacked the movement straight after Srila Prabhupada departed is well known. However what is not so well known is how this attempted take-over actually broke the law in a
very serious way. After incorporating ISKCON in New York in 1966, Srila Prabhupada also had to register the movement in India according to Indian Law. This he did in 1970, when he registered ISKCON in Bombay as a Society. However in setting up the movement in India, Srila Prabhupada did something very significant which is not widely known. He designated the Society as being constituted of 4 classes of members, each paying a different membership fee. Those who paid the highest fee, which at the time was 1111 rupees (in 1970 this was a lot of money!), where known as 'Life Members'. Srila Prabhupada then goes onto add the following clause:

 "Except life members no other member shall have a voting right in the affairs of the Society."
(Rule 2D)

That's correct. Total control of the Society was given not to the GBC or the Bureau, but to the Life Members only. They were the only ones allowed to vote in the affairs of the Society, and thus make any changes. This was a wonderful check and balance from Srila Prabhupada. Though the day to day affairs of the Society were to be managed by his disciples through a managing committee called the Bureau, any changes to the way he had set up the Society to be run could only be made by Life Members. In this way the movement would continue to be run exactly as Srila Prabhupada had set it up since he trusted the Life Members to not make any needless changes. However his disciples who he did not trust at all to adhere to his vision for how the movement should be run, were prevented from making any changes to how he had set things up, since they had zero voting rights. They could only manage the Society within the parameters he had set out. So legally this was a brilliant and water-tight plan. There was no way around it for his ambitious disciples.

However in an act of sheer criminality, as soon as Srila Prabhupada departed, the next year his disciples called an illegal meeting, and simply took away the voting rights of the Life Members, and instead gave it to themselves!!!

The details are given in the following resolution passed in the first meeting of ISKCON India held after Srila Prabhupada departed:

A meeting of the members of the Bureau of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, held at Hare Krishna Land, Juhu, Bombay-400 049, on 15, December, 1978 the following was resolved.

1. That the present Rules and Regulations of the Society be amended.

2. That the enclosed Rules and Regulations of ISKCON contained in the documents submitted herewith and for the purpose of identification signed by the President hereof be and are hereby approved and adopted as the Rules and Regulations of the Society in substitution for and to the exclusion of the existing Rules and Regulations.
3. That the President be and is hereby authorised to file the amended Rules and Regulations with the charity commissioner.

Dated this 15 December of 1978.
Giriraj Swami President of the Meeting
Gopal Krishna Das Secretary of the Meeting

 
The rules they changed were simple. They took away the rights of the Life Members to vote and instead gave the rights to vote only to a new class of member which they introduced, called 'practising member'. This 'practising member' was defined as someone who had been 'initiated' by an 'authorised representative'!

Now to understand the sheer magnitude of this criminality, one should note it is like the President of a country suddenly deciding with his cabinet that in the future no one could vote in elections except those citizens they select to vote, and then not even telling anyone about it. This is exactly what the GBC Guru club did as soon as they got their first opportunity after Srila Prabhupada departed.

Unfortunately for them, their illegal past is about to catch up with them. Life Members from Calcutta have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the illegally dis-enfranchised Life Members, to return control of ISKCON in India back to them and to remove all the GBC Gurus who currently control the Society. Following this test-case in Calcutta, we are sure more Life Members from all over India will also be interested to file cases, once they are in formed about what has occurred . Bhakti Caru Swami even visited one of the Life Members who has filed this suit in Calcutta, begging him to withdraw. He was shown the door, and told that once they return the disciples and assets of the movement which they have stolen from Srila Prabhupada back to him, then there will be no need to take action of behalf of Srila Prabhupada.

Please note in taking this action, we are simply asking that ISKCON be returned 100% in line with the way Srila Prabhupada set it up. And please note the key distinguishing feature of this case. It has nothing to do with philosophy of interpretation of the scriptures. The Gurus simply have to answer a very simple question:

Why did they illegally take away the voting rights of tens of thousands of members, and instead give them to a new group of persons whom they chose, without any vote being taken, and in defiance of the wishes of the Society's founder, Srila Prabhupada?

The case is up for hearing on July 7th, and not surprisingly the GBC Gurus have not yet even been able to submit an affidavit-in-reply!

The GBC Gurus have been running Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON as their own personal fiefdoms for over 20 years now, without any regard for the devotees, Srila Prabhupada or the law. They have been able to get away with the most blatant acts of cheating simply because no one has dared to expose them or stand up to them. Well those days are over. The IRM was set up specifically to fight the GBC to the finish, until ISKCON functions exactly how Srila Prabhupada wanted it. And despite numerous attempts to expel us from the Society, remove us from our temples, and now even take away our festivals (see next story), we are still here, ready and able to fight for Srila Prabhupada, and we are not going anywhere soon.

 Having failed in 4 different attempts to remove me as Temple President of ISKCON Calcutta, the GBC Gurus have now sunk to a new low.

The Calcutta Ratha Yatra and has grown under the aegis of the Calcutta temple to being the largest in the world with over 1.5 million participants, massive prasadam distribution, VIP guests of honour, and a spectacular festival program, which last year involved crowds forming a 1 KM queue to see our exhibits. We have been able to put on such a show due to intense preparations and much planning and organisation. All for the glory of Lord Jagannatha. Not only that, but it is also a huge media event, and a great opportunity to get maximum publicity and favourable coverage for ISKCON, which we have achieved year after year.

However out of sheer spite, this year Bhakti Caru Swami and Jayapataka Swami set out to sabotage this glorification of Lord Jagannatha. Unknown to us, their disciples had submitted a fraudulent application for permission to conduct the Calcutta Ratha Yatra on behalf of ISKCON Calcutta on ISKCON Calcutta letter-head. The Police simply thinking it was the same permit they give to ISKCON every year simply granted it. By the time everyone found out what had happened it was too late to do anything, as the festival was only days away, and the courts were not prepared to take action so late in the day. The GBC Gurus had taken away our right to perform Lord Jagannatha's Ratha Yatra, simply out of enviousness that it is the IRM which puts on the largest festival in ISKCON. Mayapur which eventually attempted to put on the Ratha Yatra knew at the outset that whatever they would stage would be a flop, since they had made no organisation, nor did they have any resources or experience. They knew that the outcome of their action would simply be to ensure that Lord Jagannatha would not be feted with the usual pomp and splendour, but rather would have to put up with a 4th class Ratha Yatra. And the festival was a huge flop and embarrassment as reported by a number of different impartial newspapers:

SANMARG

 June 24^th 2001
"ISKCON's Rathayatra celebration in Metro city of Calcutta became a dull & dry show because of infighting between Dharma gurus. Since the last 20 years the Rath Festival in this metro was known as the third biggest Rath Yatra festival in the world, but because of the infighting very few people attended the Rath Yatra celebrations as compared to last year and the size of Lord Jagannaths chariot was also much smaller in comparison to last year."
 

Hindustan Times

 June 24th 2001
"Kolkata, the annual car festival today turned out be a poor show."
 

Vishvamitra

 June 24th 2001
"After the internal disagreement & charges and counter charges ISKCON's Rathayatra parade today was lifeless and devoid of fervour. The Calcutta High Court gave the right for this years Rathayatra parade to the Mayapur based ISKCON Bureau. In the over 20 year history of the parade, it was for the first time that this religious parade was piloted by Dayaram Das. In this the third largest Rathyatra of the world, there was a lack of feeling and togetherness, which has always been very tangible in the previous years."
 

Hindustan Times

June 30^th 2001
"But visitors have found this fare lifeless. "Despite all the arrangement, it is a dull and dry fare", say Rituparna Sen and Atul Bhattacharya of South Calcutta."
 

The Asian Age

July 2^nd 2001
"ISKCON feud over dismal fest. After a lacklustre Rathayatra, the Ultaratha, too, was devoid of the usual
glamour and religious fervour associated with the celebration of this Vaisnav festival in the city. [...] Each has blamed the other for the colourless rathayatra this year."

Pratidin

 June 24th, 2001
"An attraction of the ISKCON Rathyatra was special because of the presence of a "special guest", but due to the internal infighting there was no special guest. "

"dull, dry, few people attended, poor show, lifeless, devoid of fervour, dismal, lacklustre, colourless, no special guest".

The reports say it all. And please note how they also make unfavourable comparisons in respect of the previous year, when the festival was very succesfully organised by ISKCON Calcutta. Please compare these newspaper reports from many different sources with the lies that Bhakti Caru Swami has propagated, where he has stated that:

"Hundreds of thousands of visitors lined the streets through the entire route."
(Bhakti Caru Swami, Calcutta Ratha Yatra Report, 1/7/01)

 

We can only assume that all the many different newspaper men must have somehow failed to notice these many 'hundreds of thousands' of visitors, which only Bhakti Caru Swami, being a self-realised soul, was able to see with his special mystic vision! So regardless of what lies may have been spread by Bhakti Caru Swami about the 'success' of the festival, the impartial media clippings from a whole variety of newspapers tell the REAL story - that out of sheer envy and spite, the GBC Gurus were happy to sacrifice Lord Jagannatha's festival.

However Bhakti Caru Swami's lying does not stop there. He also claims that I:

"broke the chariots and damaged the dioramas on the floats the night before the Ratha Yatra."

(Bhakti Caru Swami, Calcutta Ratha Yatra Report, 1/7/01)

The truth was that having had our permission to hold the festival sabotaged by Bhakti Caru Swami and his followers, naturally our preparations for the festival ground to a halt, some 2 weeks before the festival was about to commence. Our 3 huge carts, along with everything else which still had to be completed, remained unfinished.

We have a picture taken by the newspapers 2 weeks before the festival which proves that the construction on the carts was halted, and that their condition remained the same right up to the time of the Ratha Yatra.

So they did not suddenly become inoperable the night before the festival. They had been unfinished for some time thanks to the GBC's actions, and thus they could not use them due to their own folly! And we could not fix them since they had asked the court to order that we could not 'interfere' with their arrangements for the festival! Indeed knowing this would be the case, a few days before we stopped construction on the carts, Mayapur had arranged to bring their own carts which were less than half the size of the usual carts.

So just as we exposed in our last newsletter regarding their shameful behaviour of trying to storm the Calcutta temple through violence - not only do the GBC Gurus and their followers engage in these despicable tactics to try and destroy the preaching, but they also have the audacity to try and cover up their shameful behaviour through lying!

So the net result was that what would have been an annual opportunity to glorify Lord Jagannatha to millions of people in a huge way, was instead sabotaged into being nothing but an embarrassment, and an opportunity for the media to comment on the 'in-fighting' which led the festival being destroyed. The GBC Gurus had a clear choice before making their fraudulent application: submit it and it would be guaranteed that the festival would be sabotaged, or do nothing and the festival would have been a huge success with millions turning out as in previous years. Their actions demonstrate that they have no concern for Lord Jagannatha, but only for thinking of yet another way to try and remove me from the temple. The following leaked memo from the GBC conference reveals that the real purpose behind their actions was to simply to make their position stronger legally in respect of trying to remove me as the Calcutta Temple President:

"By getting this permission and holding this Ry festival it has made us legally more strong."
(Bhakti Purosottama Swami, Calcutta Ratha Yatra Report to GBC)

Even the Police were aware that the real agenda behind Mayapur's attempt to stage the Ratha Yatra was to try and somehow take-over the Calcutta Temple:

Ananda Bazaar Patrika

 June 23rd 2001

"Because of the fear of attack, armed police kept vigil at the Albert Road ISKCON temple. The vigilance team has been deployed since Friday morning."

Bhakti Purusottama Swami also admits that they knew that their actions would guarantee that the festival was effectively sabotaged:

"Now this committee is trying to hold the ratha yatra depending upon the mercy of Lord Jagannath. There were only 9 days left for RY to prepare. This program takes two to three months preparation."
(Bhakti Purosottama Swami, Calcutta Ratha Yatra Report to GBC)

So they admit that they preferred that the 'three months' preparation we had done was discarded, and instead Lord Jagannatha be subjected to their 9 days of virtually no preparation.

As usual all their actions back-fire. After having spent all this time, effort and money, they achieved nothing except destroy the festival. The public were so upset with them, that no one would give them any donations for the festival as they themselves admit:

"Very few hardly some one giving us donation."
(Bhakti Purosottama Swami, Calcutta Ratha Yatra Report to GBC)

And even the organiser of the Ratha Yatra from Mayapur had to admit to the press that ultimately their actions were a mistake:

Vishvamitra

 24th June 2001
"The Rathayatra parade by the Mayapur Bureau was unfortunate said Jagadhatriya Das of ISKCON Mayapur. The Guru's Of ISKCON were seen, wandering around in their convoy of air-conditioned cars during the parade of their Lordship Jagannath, Baldev & Subhadra."

We never in our wildest fantasies had imagined that the GBC Gurus would stoop so low as to submit a fraudulent application that would destroy the Ratha Yatra. Consequently we did not pay much attention to what was simply a routine application for festival permit. We knew that they would do anything to destroy us, but we did not know that they had such disdain for Lord Jagannatha, that they would also be happy to sacrifice his festival just to satisfy their egos.

But you learn something new everyday! And thus from now on we will make sure that this will be the last time that they get an opportunity to sabotage Lord Jagannatha's festival.

 In last month's newsletter, we highlighted how the storming of the Calcutta temple by ISKCON Mayapur thugs had not only caused shockwaves throughout India, with the Indian print and broadcast media reporting the graphic violence, but had also spread to the British press. Specifically, "Asian Voice" - the UK and Europe's leading weekly newspaper for the Indian community - published a letter from myself under the large headline "Bimal's Biased Cover-Up" (this refers to the bogus report issued by ISKCON UK's press officer, Bimal Krishna Das).

Well, now it seems that the GBC-instigated violence has opened up a veritable Pandora's box of horrors for ISKCON's bogus Gurus. The coverage of the assault on the Calcutta temple has inspired one IRM supporter to bring the entire ritvik issue into the public limelight. The June 30th issue of "Asian Voice" has published a long letter from Mr. Ravi Patel, under the headline: "Will ISKCON answer these questions?".  The letter, as the headline suggests, poses a series of straightforward questions for ISKCON to answer.

Since Asian Voice, and its Gujarati-language sister publication Gujarat Samachar, are read widely every week by 650,000 people of Gujarati origin all over Britain, ISKCON will have no choice but to answer these questions. In fact, whether they respond to it or not, the letter from Mr. Patel has exposed to the Hindu community throughout the UK the cheating programme that has been going on for the past 24 years by ISKCON's charlatan Gurus. Indeed, the letter cites Srila Prabhupada's final signed directive on initiations, dated July 9th 1977, as well as the as yet undefeated (and banned) IRM paper,

The Final Order.

Congratulations are due to Mr. Patel for forcing ISKCON's "Gurus" to stand trial before the Hindu community for their 24 years of lies and deceit. No doubt the readership will return the only verdict possible in this case:
GUILTY AS CHARGED.

We reproduce the entire letter below:
 

 Ever since the so-called 'poison' controversy regarding the alleged poisoning of Srila Prabhupada emerged, the IRM has pointed out 2 simple facts:

 
1) That Srila Prabhupada HIMSELF NEVER claimed that he was being poisoned - he only REFERRED to talks/discussions on this subject by others.
 
2) That the person claimed as being in the room with Srila Prabhupada, who responds 'yes' to Tamal Krishna Maharaja's statement that:
 
"Prabhupada was thinking that someone had poisoned him?"

 was NOT myself, but Bhakti Caru Swami.
 
This point was known to the poison theorists from the beginning, since this fact was stated correctly in the Someone Has Posioned Me poison book written by Nityananda Das. However certain parties persisted in deliberately stating that it was myself who says 'yes' to this 'poison complaint', and thus "did nothing about it", simply to dis-credit the IRM, even though it had already been shown that it was not myself on the tape.
 
 We are pleased to announce that belatedly, over 2 years later, the poison theorists have finally acknowledged these points. In their latest 'official' translation of "T-45, SIDE B, beginning on Page-365, line-31 of the Conversation book, Vol:36", they have finally given the following correct translations:
 
 
1) Regarding Srila Prabhupada uttering the famous "someone has poisoned me" phrase:
 
"Srila Prabhupada: (Hindi): Wohi bat jo koi hamko poison kya.
Translation: That talk (that) someone has poisoned me"

Please note that it is finally admitted that Srila Prabhupada is NOT saying:
 
"The same thing I said ... That someone has poisoned me",
 
but rather he simply REFERS to 'that talk that' he has being poisoned. 'Talk' which did not even originate from Srila Prabhupada, but from other unidentified sources.
 
2) Later on the translation is as follows:
 
"Tamala Krishna: Prabhupada was thinking that someone had poisoned him?
Bhakticaru (not Adhridharan): Yes.
Tamala Krishna: That was the mental distress?"
 
 
So it admitted that it was Bhakti Caru who responds to Tamal's talk regarding the poisoning. Indeed it is also now admitted that there is no evidence that I was even in the room when this discussion was occurring!
 
Of course the admission of these facts by the poison theorists do not in of themselves mean that Srila Prabhupada was NOT poisoned, anymore than they mean that he WAS. Our point was simply that any investigation should proceed based on the FACTS and EVIDENCE, and not on the basis of how it can be used to smear either the IRM or any other party. Only then will any sane person give it any credence.

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
No 23. Hare Krishna Explosion Begins In New York as IRM Temple Opens 
No 24. IRM Launches Media Campaign to Defend Srila Prabhupada
No 25. GBC Teaches That 'Living Gurus' NOT Required 
No 26. BBT Admits Books Changed To Fit GBC Philosophy 
No 27. Big Breakthrough For Krishna In Singapore 
No 28. Bangalore Tops World Book Distribution
No 29. City of New York to Honour Srila Prabhupada
No 30. Gurukula Lawsuit Special - The Facts
No 31. BBC Glorifies Srila Prabhupada to the World 
No 32. Harinama Revived in World Famous Times Square
No 33. ISKCON Guru on Run From Police - Suicide Case Special

No 34. GBC Declare All Out War
No 35. GBC Fail Again in Second Expulsion Attempt
No 36. Indian Press Glorifies New York IRM
No 37. ISKCON Temple In Bangladesh Joins IRM
No 38. All Ports Alert For Jayapataka To Be Issued
No 39. The GBC's Best Trick Yet
No 40. Biggest Prasadam Distribution Program Ever Begins
No 41. Double Edition - IRM Granted Prime Kumbha Mela Site
No 42. Danavir Invents A New  Philosophy
No 43. IRM Makes World Headlines

No 44. GBC Meetings End in Fiasco

No 45. GBC Paralysis Documented In Resolutions

No 46. Mayapur Attempt to Storm Calcutta Temple Ends in Fiasco

No 47. Mayapur Attack Cover-Up Exposed