You might say that the Hare Krishna Movement was conceived on a fateful evening in 1922, when Abhay Caran De met his spiritual master and predecessor Bhaktisiddhanta Swami. As a young man of 26, Abhay was caught up in India’s independence movement, convinced that the world would never pay heed to India’s spiritual wisdom as long as she was a subjugated state. But the masterful Bhaktisiddhanta impressed upon young Abhay that the only lack in this world was the lack of genuine God consciousness, and he requested Abhay to take this greatest of messages to the world, especially the English speaking world, and that by doing so not only would India be heard, but that the entire world could be changed.Over the course of the next thirty years Abhay tended his business affairs and raised a family of four children. Abhay had been born into a family which practiced Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the ancient tradition of Krishna Consciousness, but in his youth had become dismayed by so many charlatan yogis and bogus swamis who had no spiritual understanding, what to speak of vision and leadership. Bhaktisiddhanta was however, clearly different, and Abhay was thoroughly convinced that he was the genuine article. That first meeting with his spiritual master was sufficient to move him to become Bhaktisiddhanta’s follower. All the while tending to his family duties Abhay wrote on the subject of bhakti, spiritual devotion, and his writings were published regularly. His writing and his guru’s instruction for him to preach the science of Krishna Consciousness in the English language set Bhaktivedanta’s mind in motion and he dreamed how one day people the world over would be engaged in worship of the Lord through the sublime practice of Bhakti Yoga.
He not only dreamed however, but tried his best to do what he could to achieve that end, and in 1944 began to publish a monthly magazine, Back to Godhead, on topics of The Absolute Truth and Krishna Consciousness. He wrote, printed and distributed the magazine himself for many years, all the while planning how he would create a spiritual institution through which he would accomplish the goals established for him by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta.
In 1956, after retiring from both business and family life, he began his preaching activity in earnest, and created the the forerunner to ISKCON, the League of Devotees, in Janassi, India. The League however met with little success. It seemed that the Indian public was not very interested, and they mostly thought that they had heard this same message many times from all varieties of holy men. What the Indians wanted was to imitate the West, particularly Americans. Bhaktivedanta therefore reasoned that he would take his message to the Americans, and if he could convince and change them, then the world would follow. Of course it was a daunting proposition. Firstly, he had no funds with which to travel abroad, and perhaps more importantly, the Americans could certainly be considered the most materialistic people in the world, and it was entirely reasonable that they would have absolutely no interest in his message whatsoever. The one thing that he had however which made all the difference was his unflinching determination. He was determined to go and was prepared to die in America unsuccessful in his efforts if it came to that.
In preparation for this grand attempt he determined that his mission would be soundly established upon the authority of India's timeless Vedic scriptures themselves, and he began to translate what is considered the cream of all Vedic literature, the Srimad Bhagavatam. By 1965 he had hammered out the first three volumes of his manuscript on an ancient mechanical typewriter, and found the funds to print them. Armed with a single trunk of these volumes, and having begged passage on a ocean freighter, he set sail from Calcutta. His destination was Pennsylvania where he had a sponsor: the son of one of his friends and well-wishers.
Bhaktivedanta spent his first three months in the States in Butler, Pennsylvania, speaking at local gatherings. He was something of a spectacle in those years, as he was completely uncompromised in his dress and behavior. He didn’t come to America to become an American like most other Indians, or to be kept as some sort of interesting pet of the privileged class, as some other Indian swamis had become. Rather he came to bring change. So he dressed in the traditional saffron robes of an aesthetic, kept his head clean shaven, and most strikingly of all, wore tilak, clay markings on his forehead which depicted him as a worshipper of Vishnu, or Krishna. His unusual appearance made him something of a local celebrity and people came to hear and see him mostly out of curiosity. He realized quickly that nobody was taking his message seriously and determined that he would have better chances for success in a place where he had access to large numbers of people. His next stop was New York City.
Out of all the places in Manhattan, Bhaktivedanta settled in a small storefront on the lower east side. The site was chosen more for its affordable rent than any other consideration, but those circumstances quite serendipitously placed him squarely in the midst of the most progressive enclave of America’s counterculture. Here he would find a willing audience, as his new neighbors were precisely the segment of the population who were looking for something radically different from the consumer culture being thrust on them. Quickly the bohemians of the neighborhood found him and filled his storefront, listening patiently to his message, chanting Sanskrit mantras as clouds of incense wafted through the room, and finishing this exotic evening with an amazingly delicious multi-course vegetarian feast. This approach brought results and within months the Swami had found serious followers who were adopting the renunciate’s dress, and lifestyle of spiritual practices. After one year in New York the center was solidly established with a core group of some 15 practitioners, young men and women, eager to carry the message of Godhead to the streets of New York. It was now time to expand.
Bhaktivedanta himself went west to San Francisco after having sent several of his young followers to find out a suitable place. Where else would he wind up but one block from Golden Gate Park in the Haight-Ashbury district, the next most radical place in America after Greenich Village. Again he found a willing audience, and quickly the youth of the area joined what was becoming a spiritual movement. Other Movements were developing—the anti-war movement, the black movement, the women’s movement. The Swami gave them a decidedly different alternative with his spiritual movement. He challenged the youth that if they wanted to change the world they would have to change the consciousness of people, and that could be done by chanting the names of God in public. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. The chant was ringing out every day. The public chanting with drums and cymbals, and the unusual appearance of these young people was something of a spectacle and drew lots of attention. All the better to get the word out.
Disciples were sent to London, and the Swami’s next step was Montreal. Quickly youth joined what seemed to them to be an attractive alternative to the confused society that the events of the 60’s was giving shape to. Bhaktivedanta Swami knew that the appeal of genuine spiritual life was universal, and he had a world-wide vision of people from all walks of life finding happiness and peace by rediscovering their relationship with God through the simple process of chanting, dancing and feasting. And his formula was working. The Hare Krishna Movement took off in America and by the end of the 60’s there were almost thirty centers in the U.S. alone. Centers opened quickly in many large cities, both throughout America and now Europe, South America, Australia, and even back in India. By 1972 the original volumes that supported Bhaktivedanta’s venture into America had been edited by an English professor from Harvard who became a follower, and reprinted. Additionally, a translation of the Bhagavad-gita, had been printed by MacMillan, as well as several other short books on the subject of Krishna Consciousness, and the Back to Godhead magazine he started in 1944 became a monthly publication produced by his followers and distributed to the public during their daily chanting. But the Seventies were the decade that the Hare Krishna Movement came of age.
Although Bhaktivedanta Swami, known affectionately as Srila Prabhupada since 1968, began circling the globe and traveling to the established centers to personally train his followers, he nonetheless carried on a disciplined program of translating the scriptures. By 1975 he had completed translating the Chaitanya-Charitamrita, an 18 volume work, and he had completed 18 volumes of the Srimad Bhagavatam, almost one-half of that prodigious undertaking. Additionally a Book Trust had been established to see to the preservation and continued printing of his work, a tape ministry had been established to make his lectures available to those who could not be personally present, large and expensive temples had been constructed in India, free food distribution which benefited thousands daily was established at centers around the world, and his books had been translated and printed in at least a dozen languages. The number of followers by 1975 easily numbered in the tens-of-thousands, and through the sale of literature millions of dollars were generated each year. These funds were to a large degree plowed back into printing more literature. Prabhupada had wanted his society to be financed through the sale of his books, and by and large it was.
The Decade of the Swamis
Such a large organization as ISKCON was coming to require management, but where do you get dedicated management when the organization pays no salaries? With no income, families can’t be supported or children raised. The vast majority of participants were in their twenties, and as most twenty-somethings do, many were marrying. But it was the dedicated single men that would take on the management of the society, and this was largely by design. Prabhupada often gave significant portfolios to those who showed their dedication, either by previous accomplishments, or by the willingness to take vows of lifelong celibacy, or both.The spiritual order of Sanyass, or lifelong celibate monk, was only offered to men—categorically and historically women had never taken these vows in the Vaishnava or Hindu religion. Such dedication freed the sanyassis (pronounce san-yas-sees) from other concerns and allowed them to focus entirely upon the activities of the society. In exchange for their dedication and personal sacrifice, sanyassis were offered special reverence not afforded to anyone else except the guru. Members of the society would show respect by actually bowing down to the floor when a sanyassi entered the room.
In traditional Indian society, the order of sanyass was generally accepted by a man after he had raised his family and attained a mature age, and as he approached the transition from this world which we call death, dedicate himself entirely to spiritual pursuits. Such maturity, experience and spiritual orientation generally qualifies people to be good advisors and counselors, and sanyassis were considered to be the spiritual guides and fathers of all society, their family now expanded to include everyone as their son or daughter.
Unfortunately ISKCON has no such experienced elderly participants. Those in ISKCON were young and inexperienced and those who took sanyass generally had no qualification other than their good intention. Prabhupada therefore did what he had to do under the circumstances, even though giving sanyass initiation to a young man with a normal and healthy sex drive was a very risky proposition, and not likely to succeed in the long run. Yet there were many young and very inspired men who wanted the position, most probably for a wide variety of reasons, legitimate and otherwise, and in the 70’s scores of young men entered into that spiritual order and began to manage the society. Right from the outset the Movement developed a very top-down style of management which had great significance on the course of the Society, both during Prabhupada’s presence and after his departure. In large part this is due to the nature of the guru-disciple relationship.
The Guru-Disciple Relationship
In order to understand this top-down arrangement of the Society it is necessary to first understand the guru-disciple relationship as it is laid out in scripture. Vaishnava scripture states that a self-realized soul, one who has actually come to know God in fact, and has thus a full understanding of the attendant spiritual realities, is qualified to be a genuine spiritual guide, and may thus accept disciples for the purpose of guiding them to the same spiritual attainments. In return for this guidance the disciple agrees to do the bidding of the guru, to follow him blindly if need be, understanding that in spiritual ignorance one is incompetent to make the proper decisions for himself. This relationship is decidedly top-down and one-sided, but when the guru is properly qualified it is an appropriate relationship. When the guru is unqualified and materially motivated he may intentionally or unintentially use his position to exploit his disciples, engaging them in acts which benefit the guru but not necessarily the disciple.It is clear to his disciples and to most who have read his books thoroughly or met him, that Srila Prabhupada was a genuine guru with the highest qualifications. His behavior was a strong and consistent reflection of his teachings, and he never once deviated from the truth he spoke. Having realized the absolute truth, he had set out to bring this knowledge to as many people as possible, and his intention was nothing short of transforming the entire face of the globe, spiritualizing all of society.
To do so he accepted thousands of disciples, always qualifying them by insisting that they be able to follow his "regulative principles" for at least six months as a demonstration of their intent and sincerity. Factually, by following the spiritual process as he prescribed, meditating on the names of God on beads daily for two hours, associating with other devotees, eating only vegetarian foods offered in sacrifice, and by reading about the activities of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the regulative principles became almost automatic. This was the proof of the spiritual potency of the process—such a regimen was so satisfying to the spirit that the mind and senses automatically became pacified and the person peaceful.
Wherever Srila Prabhupada went in the 70’s there were always large numbers of people waiting to become his initiated disciples. The specific agreement in the initiation was that the guru would accept all the karma, or sinful reactions of the disciple, and in return for this spiritual freedom, tantamount to being let out of the cosmic prison and becoming eligible to enter the spiritual realm, the disciple would offer lifelong service to the guru. In service to each other, the guru would guide the disciple through the maze of the material realm, and back to the spiritual world at the time of death.
This material realm, although our home for the time being, is not the place where we are meant to stay. The spiritual nature of the soul, being immortal, full of happiness and knowledge is covered by the material body and thus we appear to be material beings who are mortal, struggling to acquire knowledge and happiness. The Vedas tell us that we can remain in the material realm if we choose, but our real happiness is to be found in the spiritual realm, and the spiritual master is the able guide who can take us back to our eternal home in the Godhead.
Such was the nature of the spiritual knowledge that Srila Prabhupada brought that thousands wanted to be his disciples and serve him in whatever capacity they could. In order to manage these many thousands Prabhupada established the Governing Body Commission (GBC) to oversee things. He also divided the world into zones and put one GBC man in charge of each zone. Prabhupada wanted the GBC to completely manage the society so that he could concentrate on his translating work and other spiritual interests. They managed as best they could, but because they were young, inexperienced and ambitious, Prabhupada’s intervention was frequently required. At the local level it was the president of each temple who managed affairs, but both the GBC and the temple president were to be considered as the representative of the spiritual master by the rank and file, and as such these men had great influence and authority.
Tamal Krishna Goswami
One of the early followers was Thomas Herzog. He joined the Movement in New York, went to Los Angeles, and married. Being married in ISKCON however didn’t offer the freedom and excitement that the single men enjoyed traveling all over the country, or even the globe, distributing the message of Krishna Consciousness. Not long after being married, Thomas, by now Tamal Krishna Das, desired to travel and preach. He hooked up with Vishnujan Swami and together they got a bus and began to travel to college campuses all over the country. Vishnujan had formerly been a singer and guitar player for the Jefferson Airplane and he developed a forte of weaving the most enchanting melodies accompanied by singing Vedic hymns. While he attracted a crowd of appreciative onlookers, Tamal Krishna would buttonhole them, and convince them that the real purpose of their lives could be found in understanding and distributing the message of Godhead, recruiting them on the spot. He offered these young men the allure of traveling around the country, having fun and doing God’s work as an alternative to college which would only make them another cog in the great materialistic wheel cranking out more and greater illusions. Not only that, but Tamal Krishna was a master intimidator with an extremely sharp mind. He would find the other person’s weakness and close in for the kill. He took no prisoners. If you didn’t acquiesce and join him you left feeling humiliated and foolish.It was a successful team. They had begun their "bus program" in the early 70’s. They came to Gainesville, Florida in the summer of 1973 during the time when I had just started going to the temple. City parking regulations prohibited them from parking near the temple and this presented the opportunity for me to host them at my house out in the country. This also gave me a first hand experience with this pair of preachers.
Tamal Krishna Takes Sanyass
By this time Tamal Krishna had taken the order of sanyass. How he did so is important to our story and instructive as to his character. Not long after marrying Tamal’s preaching activities took him outside the home and as we have already mentioned he began to travel. Having some experience and success with the bus program he realized that this was what he wanted for his future, not family life. He determined that he wanted to become a sanyassi and he approached Prabhupada with this request while present at the annual gathering and festival in India during the spring of 1971.Now in the guru-disciple relationship the disciple is supposed to be submissive to the instructions of the guru. Whatever the guru instructs the disciple should accept. Such submissive behavior makes it possible for the guru to guide the disciple around the pitfalls of material life, just as accepting the instructions of an able guide while traveling in a hostile environment insures safe passage.
Prabhupada wanted to establish the institution of marriage in ISKCON because many young women were joining the Movement and they needed husbands. So when Tamal approached Prabhupada to allow him to marry he gave his consent. Now however, after just a short while, Tamal wanted to reject his young wife and become a sanyassi. In Indian culture there is no remarriage. If a woman’s husband takes sanyass the woman will remain a social widow for the rest of her days, and the culture is arranged to give the necessary social support to these women. American culture was different however. There was no social support in the larger culture for unmarried women, and even in the late sixties in the greater culture women were beginning to remarry. It was particularly unlikely that a young American woman would be able to avoid future relationships with men, and this would destabilize the society which Prabhupada wanted to create. Prabhupada therefore denied Tamal’s request and instructed him to stay with his young wife.
Tamal Krishna was not happy with this reply. He sensed a great opportunity for himself if he were a sanyassi and he didn’t want to be denied. He petitioned Prabhupada again, and again received no as a reply. Tamal decided to demonstrate his intention to Prabhupada using an approach found in the Hindu tradition. He sat outside of Prabhupada’s door fasting and speaking to no one, and would remain there night and day until he had his way. This was to become a test of wills, and an early indication of Tamal’s mentality. He was determined that Prabhupada should accede to his will rather than the other way around.
What was Prabhupada to do? He worked so hard to establish ISKCON and attract followers. Getting people to renounce their worldly pursuits was difficult enough and after gaining members he was particularly loathe to see them leave. He preached constantly to the GBC and Presidents to be careful not to drive people away. After all, it takes so much effort to bring a person in, and it is all too easy through offense or indifference to drive them away. Now Prabhupada was faced with a similar situation. Tamal wanted Prabhupada to agree to a decision which would not be in the woman’s interest, nor set a very good example for the society. He had what seemed to be an extremely able yet stubborn young man who didn’t want to accept his instruction, but just as any organization wants to keep their best talent, so did he. The contest of wills went on for three days, and seeing this determination Prabhupada relented and told him that he could take sanyass. This incident would portend future altercations between Prabhupada and Tamal, as Tamal frequently thought that he knew what was the best thing to do for the Movement despite the fact that his vision was often at odds with Prabhupada’s.
Many who have had close contact with Tamal over the years have attested to the fact that he is an autocrat whose demands never go unmet. Person’s have reported hearing Tamal in strong shouting arguements with Prabhupada, sometimes storming out of the room in anger, cursing Prabhupada’s "mismanagement." Such is the nature of the man who plays the principal character in the conspiracy that we uncover in this drama. Please see The History of Tamal Krishna in Nityananda's book, for more details of his past in ISKCON.
The Radha-Damodar Party Runs Roughshod Over America
The bus program quickly became known as the Radha-Damodara Party, after the beautiful brass Deities of Radha-Krishna that would travel on the bus with Tamal and Vishnujan. These beautiful figurines were exquisitely cast, and decorated in gorgeous outfits. Krishna playing his flute and Radha, His consort, delicately holding a flower in her hand, are the worshipful objects for all Hindus. They were the Deities of the faithful, and by Vaishnava siddhanta, or tradition, they were the personal presence of the Lord in both the masculine and feminine features. To simply see this form of the Lord frees the onlooker from many sinful reactions, and the Deities were therefore dutifully carried around the country and displayed for the benefit of all onlookers.As Tamal and Vishnujan continued to tour the country they recruited dozens of young men. They began to add more and more buses to the party, until by 1975 they had six buses criss-crossing the country and over 80 enthusiastic young men chanting and distributing books all over the country. Whenever they were in the vicinity of an established temple they would stop in. The temple devotees liked to have the enthusiastic men of the bus party join them in singing and dancing, and the men from the buses enjoyed having a warm shower and other facilities that the bus didn’t offer them. But however enjoyable the meeting may have been it became fraught with discord.
In the early 70’s the focus of the devotees shifted from public chanting on the streets to the distribution of Prabhupada’s books. It was the sale of books which supported the temples and the society. Proceeds from the books accrued at the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and the Trust sponsored the development of various aspects of the society, particularly the building of large temples in India. ISKCON, firmly established on a foundation of Vaishnavism with a history in India of thousands of years, needed properties in the holy lands where followers could go to deepen their faith and gain the perspective that this history afforded. Tracts of land were purchased in the state of Uttar Pradesh, in Vrindavana, the holy city where Lord Krishna came to this Earth some 5,000 years ago, and in Mayapur, West Bengal, where the latest incarnation of the Lord, Shree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, appeared a mere 500 years ago. At these sites large temples and facilities for pilgrims were established. Additional properties were purchased in Bombay and other holy places in India.
Prabhupada’s directive was that 50% of the proceeds of book sales should be used for maintaining the society, and the other 50% would be devoted to new temple construction. Thus there arose amongst the devotees a competition to see who could distribute the most books, and in this way send the most money to the BBT for these grand projects. Temples the world over were vying to be in first place and in this way get the attention and recognition of Prabhupada. This is what led to the devotees’ presence in America’s airports, as these places were never empty, and often had people with time on their hands for a conversation about life and spirituality. Besides the airports the devotees went wherever they could find people, and in this consumer oriented society, this usually meant the parking lots of the malls and shopping strips.
The Radha-Damodar team figured prominently into the book distribution competition. With their six buses and 80+ men they had the capability to get thousands of books out, and often did on any given day. Problems arose however when they were in the vicinity of a temple. Young, sometimes foolish men using extremely aggressive tactics would often infuriate the local populace, sometimes ripping them off while changing bills, and often pushing books on people against their will, the bus parties would often "hit and run," leaving the local temples to deal with the aftermath. The temple devotees had a stake in the communities they were in and had little interest in alienating people. But for the men on the buses it was an adventure where they could often do whatever they felt like and be miles out of town before the local police would come looking for them.
As if such ordeals were not enough, the men on the bus parties would often convince the single men in the temple to join them in their adventure and when the bus left town the temple was suddenly and without notice short on manpower.
Episode after episode like this was occurring all over the country and complaints to the GBC were worthless. The situation continued to get worse and worse and as the leader of the Radha-Damodar party Tamal was repeatedly petitioned to control the situation, but to no avail. It continued to get worse.
Tamal’s Censure
Things came to a head in 1976 in Mayapur, India at the annual GBC-Temple Presidents Meeting. As a joint force the Presidents banded together and went directly to Prabhupada demanding that something be done about the Radha-Damodar Party. Prabhupada could understand that this had become an extremely serious situation in which Tamal had ignored any sense of mutual respect and cooperation with his Godbrothers. It was time to demonstrate clearly who was in charge of the Hare Krishna Movement.Prabhupada had Tamal called to his quarters. Visibly shaking in anger he told Tamal that he was dismantling the entire Radha-Damodar Party, and that the buses were to be sold. He further removed Tamal from any position of authority anywhere within the Movement, and he told Tamal that his only portfolio of service would be to go to China to preach. China was of course at this time not open to foreigners. In effect Tamal was not a part of the Movement any longer. He had been all but kicked out.
To say that this was devastating to Tamal was an understatement, who by many accounts was an extremely proud man. He was humiliated before the other leaders of the society and this was intolerable to him. One eye-witness to this scene personally described it to me and explained that Tamal's countenance was burning with hate at the end of this exchange, and as we shall see and hear in Tamal’s speech reversals, this shame became one of his motives for the poisoning! Although he never went to China he assumed a low profile for the next year or so, and it was in February of 1977 that Tamal became Srila Prabhupada’s personal secretary and became part of his entourage until the end.
The Beginning of the End
In the summer of 1976 the New York temple had achieved what was a glorious success to Prabhupada. They had arranged to have the ancient Festival of the Chariots, proceed down 5th Avenue. The most important street in the most important city of the world, as Prabhupada once put it, and his devotees and his movement would be a colorful and poignant declaration that the spiritual forces of Krishna Consciousness were no longer hidden in India, but were there for the entire world to see, hear, and appreciate. But it was on this very day that Srila Prabhupada began to take ill. His arrival at the procession was delayed due to serious stomach trouble, and he attended the festival at the end for only a brief time before repairing to his quarters.His ailments seemed to increase in intensity and duration over the coming year. He left India in July of 1977 intending to go to stay in America to introduce his disciples to the concept of Varnashrama Dharma, the social system for a spiritual culture. He was only able to get as far as England when he was forced to turn back due to his failing health. A detailed account of Srila Prabhupada's health history is given in "Someone Has Poisoned Me" chapters 20-31. (Follow this link to those chapters). As a determined preacher he had wanted to die in action, "on the battlefield with the forces of illusion" as he termed it. His failing health denied him the strength for any action however, and over the last year of his life he was barely able to walk or even sit upright by himself. Nonetheless, despite his failing condition he continued to translate the Srimad Bhagavatam into English, dictating while one of his disciples held the dictaphone close to his mouth.
Throughout 1977 devotees all over the world carried on 24 hour prayer vigils for Srila Prabhupada. It was almost taken for granted by many disciples that Prabhupada’s time was not up, that he would certainly recover and continue to lead his flock and complete his translation of the Srimad Bhagavatam. After all, he was the most intimate servant of the Lord, and as such he would have the world if he wanted, what to speak of his life here. The drama of his passing was intense for his thousands of followers who had come to love and appreciate him for who he really was—the empowered personality predicted by Lord Chaitanya, his senapati bhakta, the great devotee commander who would flood the world with the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. For the devotees, mostly young adults who had never lost a dearly beloved friend or relative the drama was intense. Prabhupada however was almost indifferent. Although, as you will read later, he was very eager to continue his work, he accepted with nonchalance the prospect of his death from this world. He knew very well that he would be reunited with his Lord at that time, but he would be content to let heaven wait while he continued to do heaven’s work in this world.
However much he wanted to continue the fight he was under no illusions of his condition. In the fall of 1977 Prabhupada had put out a call to his followers the world over to come to see him for the last time. Many came, but it is said that most had not even heard the request. How could this have happened? It was the secretary's responsibility to see to it that the wishes of His Divine Grace were communicated throughout the mission. Tamal being the secretary would have had that responsibility. It is speculated by some that at this point Tamal was already making significant decisions about matters like this and had considered that it would be too great a loss of revenue if so many devotees left book distribution activities to visit Prabhupada on his death bed. Many of these devotees were greatly angered when they learned later that Prabhupada had passed on and that they were never notified to visit him to pay their last respects.
What Was Prabhupada's Health History?
The diagnosis of Prabhupada's failing condition was considered to be the degenerative condition caused by an untreated diabetic condition, along with his old age in general. Prabhupada had an aversion to Western medicine and preferred to be treated by the Ayurvedic physicians of India. However, he had never taken insulin and would regularly have sweets made with refined sugar. How can a diabetic do this without totally compromising his health? Some say that this is the reason for the breakdown of his health. Others say that this is because Prabhupada actually was not diabetic at all! In his book, Nityanada presents the symptoms of diabetes and shows from Prabhupada's health history that he had no symptoms of diabetes, and further that no doctor had ever given such a diagnosis. Therefore, blaming Prabhupada's health problems on diabetes offers proof of the extremely poor quality of health care which he was receiving. Although a thorough review of Prabhupada's health history is important for anyone who wants to understand this matter we mention it here only to bring it to our readers attention as a pertinent piece of evidence. A detailed analysis is beyond the scope of this book, and the reader is referred to Nityananda's book.Abhirama Das, who acted as Prabhupada’s nurse for some time in 1977 has said that the devotees who surrounded Prabhupada during his dwindling months were only the most devoted and loving followers who were doing their best to assist their beloved guru as he made his transition from this world back to the spiritual realm. He told me when I spoke to him about the poisoning issue that if Prabhupada’s caregivers were indeed poisoning him then they would have to have been the most cunning, beguiling people in the world. Nobody could have believed at the time that such a thing could have been going on, yet I specifically recall hearing a rumor in November 1977 that Prabhupada had been poisoned. We all presumed that it must have been given accidentally via the wrong medication or the wrong doseage, as no one could even think that poison had been intentionally given.
For twenty years or so everyone thought as much. In 1995 however, a devotee in California had been listening to the Conversations tapes of Srila Prabhupada (from which this analysis is taken) and listened to a section wherein Prabhupada himself had stated that he had been poisoned. Alarmed by this, he carried this information to the world via the World Wide Web, and a controversy erupted. Had Prabhupada indeed been poisoned? To some the mere fact that Prabhupada himself said so was conclusive evidence and they needed no more proof. Who Dunnit? became the only question. To others it was ludicrous at it face. Impossible.
The information presented herein constitutes conclusive proof for me, and you have already read why. Soon you will read and hear for yourself, and this evidence may help you to make up your own mind on the matter. We will get to this evidence shortly. First however, there is some additional history of ISKCON that is relevant to the discussion at this point, and which will help to set the scene for the murder of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Who Would Succeed Him?
On May 28, 1977 three of the GBC, Tamal Krishna, Satsvarupa Goswami, and Jagadish Goswami met with Srila Prabhupada to ask him about future disciplic initiations and how they should be conducted. Prabhupada stated that he would recommend some of his disciples to act on his behalf as officiating acharya, or ritvik. Although this short exchange was not the final word in the matter it has been given significance way beyond what is even reasonable because it partially gives an answer that Tamal wanted to hear, that they could initiate disciples after Srila Prabhupada had passed on. The misinterpretation of this five minute conversation the became the basis of the Zonal Acharya System, and is the basis for the M.A.S.S. (Multiple Acharya Successor System) initiation system current in ISKCON until this day.Just over one month later, on July 9, 1976 Srila Prabhupada issued a formal letter instructing how initiations should be carried out in the future, (click here to read the letter) and a copy was sent to every temple and every leader. In that letter he stated his intention that specific devotees would take responsibility for initiation on his behalf, as a ritvik, or representative priest. This last written instruction on the matter it is used by those who have become known as the "Ritvik vadis," those who espouse the idea that Prabhupada had meant that henceforth, all future disciples would be his disciples. Because this instruction was written rather than verbal, and because it was chronologically later than what was spoken on May 28th, and because it was the last instruction on this matter, the ritvik's position is that this is the system which Srila Prabhupada wanted established for all posterity. Such an understanding would have prevented the creation of individual disciplic branches as a part of ISKCON, an important feature to prevent fracturing the cohesion of Prabhupada's society.
But for that very reason the "ritvik officiating acharya" system was ignored and the 11 men whose names appeared on the July 9th letter assumed positions as Prabhupada's equals immediately after he left this world. These 11 wanted to be guru and acharyas, and by bold moves did so in spite of the protests of many of their godbrothers. This issue, more than any other, would become the most divisive issue in ISKCON, and contiunes to be until now, twenty-two years after Srila Prabhupada's passing.
Everyone Can Become a Leader
Was the movement to be passed on only to these 11 men? There is so much evidence which indicates that this was not Prabhupada's intention. Just two weeks before he passed away several Indian men came to visit Prabhupada and wanted to speak with him privately. After they left Prabhupada revealed to his disciples what the discussion was about: they wanted to know who would succeed him. Prabhupada told them: "Everyone will take [leadership], all my disciples. If you want, you can take also. But [only] if you follow. They are prepared to sacrifice everything, so they’ll take the leadership. I may, one, go away, but there will be hundreds and they’ll preach. If you want, you can also become a leader. We have no such thing that "Here is leader." Anyone who follows the previous leadership, he’s a leader."This statement is very clear and needs no interpretation. Prabhupada had arranged things so that they could continue nicely in his absence, as long as the devotees could cooperate together. Yet the fact is that this desire of Prabhupada’s was thwarted because a handful of the leaders who controlled the management of the society claimed that they were the sole successors to act as initiating gurus. The claim was made that they were appointed by Prabhupada during the May 28th meeting. They divided up the world into zones, and created the "Zonal Acharya System," wherein the guru in each zone would have exclusive dominion over that territory, and would initiate any followers of Krishna Consciousness from that area. Further, these eleven were somehow suddenly elevated to the status of pure, self-realized souls who had the full potency to deliver their new disciples from the clutches of material nature and admit them to the spiritual world. Somehow in an instant they became Prabhupada’s equals. This was simply an amazing because two weeks prior to Prabhupada’s departure many of these eleven were known by their peers to be ambitious, scheming, rascals whose highest inspiration was to be worshipped and adored as Prabhupada was. They had the audacity to think that as soon as Prabhupada was gone they could simply step into his shoes and that everyone would simply follow them, and they worked together to arrange a system to make that work.
What they attempted worked officially, though this system served nobody except these eleven men. For all practical purposes this arrangement destroyed what Prabhupada had created, as thousands of followers, who still had minds of their own, voted with their feet and left the Movement they had loved, realizing that it died along with Srila Prabhupada. It is my opinion that most of Prabhupada's disciples who left the mission did so as a result of this issue.
Prabhupada had stated that the Krishna consciousness movement, as a pure spiritual movement could withstand any attack from outside and could only be destroyed from within. No better plan than this bogus guru issue could have been devised to destroy the movement, and the results after 22 years plainly show this to be true.
In an unusual moment of weakness in 1980, Tamal later admitted that Prabhupada didn’t appoint any successors, and confessed that they had done the Society the greatest disservice by putting that system forward (Read the Topanga Canyon Pyramid House Confession by Tamal). Disservice indeed. To say it was just that would be a great understatement. Nonetheless, despite this direct and recorded, confession, nothing changed. In the ensuing years one by one these "great" souls were revealed for who they really were and forced to leave their high seat. One was exposed as a child-molesting homosexual. Another as a gun-toting, booze guzzling, womanizer who became involved in drug smuggling. Another became exposed as a child-molester who ran a racketeering operation and who was implicated in the murder of two men who just wouldn’t get in line. And yet another started taking and giving LSD as a "sacrament" and becoming sexually involved with his female disciples. This last "pure devotee" was decapitated by one of his own disciples.
After 8 years of putting up with all manners of behavior that are an anathema for what Prabhupada stood for the protest was finally too much. After a near mutinous meeting in 1986 the situation was defused by expanding "the guru club" to include those who were complaining, in what has been called the Multiple Acarya Successor System (MASS). (If you can’t beat them, then let them join). Rules were then adopted which would allow any of Prabhupada’s disciples initiate their own disciples, if they were proven qualified by the vote of the GBC. Unfortunately, these rubber-stamped gurus, as well as what’s left of the original eleven (in 1998 only 4 in number) are still paraded as being absolute, devotees of the purest heart, and the charade goes on until they finally expose themselves for who they are.
In the process the caretakers of Prabhupada's Movement allow innocent and naïve newcomers, who become attracted by the joy and purity of Prabhupada’s writing and wisdom, to step into this trap. After a few years of blind following most of these devotees (who sometimes must accept guru after guru because these "self-realized" zonal gurus kept falling victim to the "devil") finally wake up and realize that they have been misled and leave the Movment. But that’s been all right, as there are plenty more behind them to keep the revolving door filled to capacity. Instead of leading the world to a new spiritual age as could have happened, the ambitious caretakers have let the society dwindle to the point where it now has little of substance to offer an intelligent person, and former disciples have come to file suit after suit against their guru and other leaders for all manners of misconduct.
Tamal Krishna Goswami was one of the original eleven, and by some accounts was the mastermind of the entire take over. Although his dominance of the institution has become less obvious over the years, he hasn’t been found out to be a homosexual, or a drug pusher, or a child molester, or even simply a womanizer. However, he is now being exposed as the principal figure in a conspiracy to kill the founder of the Hare Krishna Movement, and make himself, in his own words (backwards) — the Emperor! Push on dear reader. As they say—the plot sickens, I mean, thickens.