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“…. New Vrindaban is a sprawling place, governed by stricture... Most of the people here are white, almost all are Americans, and almost all are long-timers, having lived here for more than a decade. Almost all have developed a reflexive defensiveness about their jailed leader: He is a martyr to their faith, they believe, victimized by a nation that boasts religious freedom but squelches it when you act too weird. They say he is no more a fanatic dictator than was Christ.
... On this morning at New Vrindaban, two Krishna kids -- Sukadevi Bauer, 12, and her sister, Narahari, 10 -- hugged their mother goodbye. She, along with other devotees, packed a beat-up navy blue Ford Econoline van with T-shirts, hats and other paraphernalia and headed out on a one-month fund-raising trip. The sanskrit word for what they will do is sankirtan, though most Westerners probably would call it begging. The hollow walls of the van are packed with pink Fiberglas insulation -- devotees sleep in the vans and shower by dousing themselves with buckets of water, even in winter. They will crisscross the country, asking for donations in exchange for their goods. This community survives on these funds, as well as on outright cash gifts, mostly from wealthy Asians. ... While their mother is away, Sukadevi and Narahari will be cared for by others, by the vast extended family that is New Vrindaban. The girls do not see this as an abandonment or an imposition; it is simply part of the cadence of their lives.
… For the past two decades, since they first hacked out their 4,000-acre commune in an inhospitable tract of muddy bramble and forest in West Virginia's northern panhandle, the Krishnas have been "out there" to Marshall County residents. ... The resentment that exists toward the Krishnas is easily explained by the way they look, the way they dress, the exclusionary lifestyle they practice. But it also comes from seeing them in welfare lines, from seeing them buy groceries with food stamps, from seeing them go to free clinics. In a county such as Marshall, where unemployment runs more than twice the national average, that makes the Krishnas ordinary citizens, though many in town will raise this point: The people of Marshall County didn't ask to have the hard times brought on them; the Krishnas willingly relinquished their wordly belongings to join the movement. If they are victims, the locals maintain, they are victims of no one except themselves. … Bhaktipada was found guilty of two principal crimes. The first was that he commandeered a criminal enterprise that solicited funds fraudulently, by claiming to represent more mainstream religious or charitable organizations. The second was that Bhaktipada tacitly authorized a murder; that when a devotee requested permission to kill his wife's lover, Bhaktipada advised that such a thing was authorized under ancient Hindu law. His appeal, to be handled by celebrity constitutional lawyer Alan Dershowitz, is expected to contend in a December oral argument that the jury was tainted by religious prejudice fostered by the prosecution. … As we approach the top of the hill above the temple, "simple living" is not the phrase that comes to mind. "Ornate," "extravagant," "bizarre" seem to fit better. … Well, that's one side of the story. ISKCON says it kicked Bhaktipada and New Vrindaban out for breaking religious tenets; that he's a greedy megalomaniac who exerts unusual control over his disciples. At Bhaktipada's May 10 bail hearing, the head of the Philadelphia Krishna temple -- an ISKCON temple -- testified that Bhaktipada's followers would encircle him if he were allowed to return to New Vrindaban and that authorities were risking a Jonestown-like holocaust by releasing the guru. … The newest, biggest thing at New Vrindaban is the interfaith movement. Structural steel is being raised for a huge, $2 million cathedral, a place where people of all faiths can come, experience different religions, keep what they like and throw out what they don't. A spiritual salad bar, of sorts.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/hare_krishna/main.htm - by Frank Ahrens, Special to The Washington Post, Sunday, September 8, 1991;
“This government just plain can't or won't take the responsibility. they are too busy passing laws allowing abortion, pornography, prostitution, intoxication etc., or they're too busy spending the payoff money they get from the men thriving off those "businesses." So they won't help us get justice... Judge Warmuth there in Moundsville is a perfect example of one such corrupt government representative. On [Kirtanananda Swami] KS's behalf, he gave my wife a divorce and custody of my sons without even thinking it necessary to notify me of the hearing. That makes him responsible for my wife's now being one of KS’s common hors... So there is no way to deal with this country's legal system. They are worse than the violent criminals because they pass laws which allow and even encourages degradation in society...
For instance, for the past year I've been interviewing many of KS’s victims. I have numerous testimonies of how he directly breaks up marriages, forces young 13 year old girls to sleep with 26 year old men of degraded character, even ignores it when these young girls are raped as in the case of Ambarisha who raped two girls around 12-13 years old. He tells men to beat their wives; forces women out on the streets against their will and puts their infant babies in a nursery with 20 other infants to be looked after by one 10 year old girl, etc. etc. Do you think these country's courts are interested in these testimonies? Hell no! To press charges against this kind of thing requires too much money, and KS is the only one who's got money. And if someone presses charges they have to live in fear for their lives. So he is free to go on exploiting women any way he likes. It's incredible what he's gotten away with over the past 20 years.” http://www.surrealist.org/pdf/bryant_plan.pdf - by Sulochan dasa, letter to Triyogi das
Kirtananada’s trail: http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/getcase/4th/case/945507P.html - PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT |
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Kirtanananda’s followers have this to say about their self-proclaimed Guru: “They say he is no more a fanatic dictator than was Christ.” - The Washington Post |
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Kirtanananda Swami[middle] in India with his old friend Gopal Khanna Goswami[left] |
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The list of main Kirtanananda’s followers and supporters:
1. Radhanatha Swami aka Richard Slavin 2. Gopal Krishna Goswami aka Gopal Khanna 3. Kuladri das aka Arthur Vila 4. Malati d dasi 5. Tirtha Swami 6. Umapati Swami 7. Dharmatma das 8. Tapapunja ex Swami 9. Nityodita ex Swami 10. Chandramouli Swami 11. Chandrashekar Swami 12. Daruka das 13. Sri Galima das 14. Devamrita Swami
“Perhaps Garuda dasa Jr. was not on the receiving end of some of the abuse meted out by the New Vrindavan regime... http://harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/03-07/editorials1347.htm - from Abuse ....What abuse? By Mahavidya das |