Regarding Jayatirtha's Murder by Ameyatma das

Regarding Jayatirtha's murder.

The way I heard it was that previously JT had married the man who killed him to another of his disicples. But, at some point JT decided to have an affair with the girl. He told the man that the girl was one of his consorts. After some time she became pregnant and JT was then 'done with her'. He sent her back to the man and told him that it was now his duty to raise JT's child. JT was so messed up he thought it was the greatest blessings he could give them, his own child ... I was told that the young man couldn't take it and that's what led him to behead JT.

I don't recall who told me this, was long time ago, I was living in Detroit at the time, JT's zone.

Prior to this, on JT's last trip to Detroit an incident occurred. First, for perspective, JT was Temple President in LA when I joined. I really liked him. I tell devotees, in a genuine loving way, that he was a very wonder devotee, but, he lost his head over LSD. He was always nice to me. And his wive Manjuwali - they were very devoted at that time, 1973-74.

Anyway, prior to his last visit to Det a devotee, Brajendralal, got a phone call from a devotee friend in England who informed him that JT was taking LSD and was having affair with a mataji - Sucarya. Brajendralal reported this to Naveen Krsna who was the zonal GBC secretary in Detroit. This was a major fall down. When JT arrived some days later Naveen confronted him on it. A meeting was called for all of SP's disciples, to met with JT - The meeting was held in SP's room - Maybe you were there Pratyatosh? If you were, I am sure you'll remember what took place.

SP's murti is there in the room, and the question was put to JT - was he taking LSD? Was he engaged in illicit affair? Jayatirtha went before SP's murti, and before him he said, "I swear to you and before my spiritual master, on Srila Prabhupad's name, I swear to you this is not true. These are horrible lies meant as an attack on me and the GBC and Gurus of ISKCON".

He seemed so damn sincere. He swore to us on Prabhupad's name, before SP's murti that all of this was a vicious lie. Then he turned on Brajendralal, who was a sweet non-political devotee, he has passed away now, his wife is now TP of Alachua, ah - her name is on the tip of my tongue, starts with an M ahh, anyway... (really it's not old age, I've always been horrible with ah, ah, what do you call it, ah, oh names, yeah, names... now what was i saying... oh yeah, its' not old age... ) anyway, he turned on Brajendralal and said, "Why are you spreading such vicious lies about me? How could you do this?" 

And we all turned and looked at Brajendralal and thought, 'yeah, how could you do this to poor innocent JT?" Brajendralal was banned from coming to the temple - but it only lasted a month or 2, because eventually JT got caught and the whole GBC found out the rumors were true. Braj was apologized to.

Why did JT go to Sridhar? First, most of the GBC had been meeting regularly with Sridhar since SP left. They went to him for formal GBC managerial advice, and personal advice and association. When JT was found having broken the principles the GBC tried to rectify him, but he was too far gone. He didn't listen to them. So, they asked him to seek Sridhar's help. The GBC sent him to Sridhar.

[PADA: That is correct, the GBC was working with -- and heavily promoting -- Sridhara Maharaja as "the shiksha guru of ISKCON" at that time. Now they are saying anyone who goes to the Gaudiya Matha is a rascal -- if not an anti-ISKCON demon. 

That would mean in reality, the GBC's gurus are at the top of their own list of such demons, since they are the ones who started the whole mass exodus to drive off huge sectors of ISKCON over to the Gaudiya Matha. Yes, they sent Jayatirtha there, they also sent Sudhir Krishna there, in fact they said that Sridhara Maharaja is the "higher authority" of the entire ISKCON society in 1978, so really -- they sent the whole of the ISKCON society over there. Danavir now writes that we should not accept outside authorities, except that has been his whole program from day one, taking ISKCON off to other authorities like Sridhara Maharaja.   

ISKCON has subsequently lost thousands of people due to their program of siphoning off ISKCON devotees over to the Gaudiya Matha. Now they are saying they never had such a policy, well they did, they were ordering people to go to Sridhara Maharaja, and later they were telling people to take shelter of people like Narayana Maharaja, BV Puri mj, BP Puri mj, Fakir Mohan and the babajis of Vrndavana etc. ad infinitum. In other words the GBC's gurus have spawned ISKCON's competition and they are the ones who keep leading the society into these various opposing camps.]

AD: I've did some background study on this for a presentation i will be making soon. The GBC had been meeting with Sridhar regularly, but, they were keeping it secret. Only the GBC and a few sannyasis were to know about it. Why? Why keep it secret from the rank and file members that they were meeting with Sridhar? I'll get to that in a second. First of all, WHY were they meeting with him and taking his advice in the first place?

According to Tamal, a few days before SP's departure he told Tamal that after he departs that the GBC can consult Narayan M on how to perform the Samadhi and last rites, as SP knew his disciples wouldn't know, and he knew that Narayan M had experience and knew how to handle this. SP suggested Narayan because he said Narayan was near by, having an ashram in Mathura. Tamal supposedly asked if there was any one else they could consult with, and SP said of his Godbrother's Srdhar was the most knowledgeable, philosophically, that if the GBC had some questions on the philosophy they could seek Sridhar's advice.

[PADA: Srila Prabhupada had just said Sridhara Maharaja is the leader of the severe offenders Bagh Bazaar (Ananta Vasudeva) party in 1977. Why would he then appoint Sridhara Maharaja as the shiksha advisor?] 

AD: The reason they went to Sridhar concerning the guru issue was simple. The GBC were convinced that SP wanted the 11 Rtvik - Representatives to become regular gurus when he left. But, after SP left they found themselves totally in the dark on how to set up such a multi guru zonal acharyas system. SP had Not given them ONE Single instruction - ZERO - Nothing, on how to set up such a system. Were the gurus to have their own Vyasasans? Should they remove Srila Prabhupad's paintings and murtis and sit in his seat? Should all the temples have all the photos of all the gurus on their altars all the time, or only a photo of the local or visiting gurus? Are Gurus to be Authorities over the GBC, or was the GBC still to have authority over the Gurus?

[PADA: Yes, to say that managers will oversee the acharyas -- has always been a foolish proposal from the start. Their idea is something like how the College of Cardinals establishes and monitors the Pope. This is the same problem the GBC gurus are still having today. They say ISKCON is ruled by the GBC, except when their gurus deviate, then the deviating guru simply says -- hey I am a guru, no one can challenge the guru. 

So they are simply spawning a pack of maverick gurus who answer to no one. When Jayatirtha left, he simply said, I am the guru, the GBC is challenging the guru, so that means they are violating guru etiquette, no one is allowed to challenge the guru. And Sridhara Maharaja said the same thing, since the guru has absolute authority "none can protest."]

AD: Jayapataka asked, how can a Non-Guru GBC member give instructions to a Guru-GBC member? The point was that since [which he actually did NOT] SP appointed those men to be Acarya, then obviously SP considered those 11 men to be MORE Advanced then the rest of the non-guru GBC.

So, how can a less advanced devotee give instructions to the most advanced devotees? They found that they had a million questions, and SP had given them one single instruction, not a word or a vague hint How in the hell was the whole damn things supposed to be set up and how was it to work? The GBC found themselves totally in the dark.

During a meeting when none of the gurus or GBC could agree on how to even take step one, how to proceed, Tamal mentioned that they can seek Sridhar's advice. So, from that day on for years the GBC secretly began holding meetings with Sridhar seeking his advice, starting with how to set up this Multi-Guru system.

But, why keep it secret from the rank and file members that they were meeting with Sridhar?

The reason was, and this I found on a Caitanya Sarasvati Math website, they have transcripts and mpg3 recordings - Bhatka Caru in 1983 or so explained the situation to Sridhar - he told Sridhar why the GBC had turned on him - which i'll get to shortly.

But, what Bhaka Charu told him was that the GBC claims that SP had appointed the 11 to be Acaryas after he departed. So, they were to be the new Gurus of ISKCON. The new Acaryas. The new Masters and Guides of the movement. How would it look if everyone were to find out that the new ISKCON gurus were going to a more senior Vaishnav for their own Guidance? Why would a new ISKCON devotee agree to accept one of them as their Guru and Master, if the new member finds out that the ISKCON gurus are themselves taking guidance from a more senior Guru?

The fear was that the new members would abandon ISKCON and all go to Sridhar. He was the new Guide of the new Gurus. Why settle with the lessor new gurus, better to take direct shelter of the senior guru. The fear was that if everyone found out that the GBC were going to Sridhar, it could lead to a major conflict, which could lead to the total collapse of ISKCON.

But, when did they turn on Sridhar and why?

That was because of Jayatirtha.... well, sort of. JT wasn't taking the GBC's help, so they sent him to Sridhar. JT was now back living with his wife, Manjuwali and went to see Sridhar with his wife. Sridhar preached to him, and genuinely helped him. He convinced him that his fall down caused SP a great pain, and that he must become strong again and reconfirm his faith in SP. Soon, Jayatirtha regained his senses, and re-renounced taking intoxications and illicit sex. Sridhar also convinced him that since he had already taken sannyas and was in the position of a Guru, he must re-affirm his Sannyas vows.

Jayatirtha agreed, and was well on the road to reforming himself. He came back and the GBC again reinstated his guru position - but, then JT did the unthinkable. He broke the code of silence regarding Sridhar. Jayatirtha felt totally indebted to Sridhar for helping save his spiritual life and regain his faith in Srila Prabhupad. Out of appreciation for this, Jayatirtha informed his disciples that it was Sridhar who had helped him regain his senses. He then asked his disciples to also place Srihdar's photo next to his and also offer Sridhar respects, for having saved JT.

The GBC was totally bent. What was JT doing? No one was supposed to know about Sridhar. Especially the Grand Disciples and new members. So, they told JT to STOP this IMMEDIATELY. To tell his disciples to Take Sridhar's photos Off the altars, and STOP telling everyone that the GBC was taking guidance from Sridhar. Jayatirtha REFUSED.

Some time went on and the GBC was fuming over this. At the 1982 GBC meetings they gave JT a final last ultimatum. The GBC considered this SERIOUS. It could threaten the whole future of ISKCON - if new members learned that the gurus were all taking guidance from Sridhar, all the new devotees would leave ISKCON and accept Sridhar as their guru.

So, they GBC felt that had to take drastic measures to STOP JT. They gave him the ultimatum, they told him he must REMOVE Sridhar from his heart. And tell his disciples to remove his photos from the altars. If JT again refused, then the GBC would enact their most severe punishment, they would EXPEL JT from ISKCON. The GBC members took a gamble. They thought for sure JT would do anything to keep from being Expelled. They thought this would surely force him to comply. Instead, JT stood up, and told the GBC what they were asking him to do was offensive, He could never remove Sridhar from his heart. He walked out the door and walked out of the Mayapur Candrodaya property straight to Sridhar's ashram.

Not only did the GBC scramble to try and reach his disciples first to convince them to stay... . but, they felt that now that the cat was out of bag, so to speak, that a lot of devotees were hearing that the GBC had been meeting with Sridhar and taking his guidance, that this was Serious, they had to "Something" What they chose to do was very offensive. Some of these same men had just met with Sridhar a few days earlier and were glorifying him.

Ramesvar told Sridhar that hearing from him was the same as hearing from SP. They had just met with him, and they were all glorifying him. But, suddenly they felt he was now a major threat. So, they began telling devotees that JT's leaving was all Sridhar's fault. That Sridhar was just another of SP's envious God brothers That Sridhar had STOLEN JT away from ISKCON and SP.

They turned, like snakes, against the same man that just days before they were privately glorifying him as being As Good As Srila Prabhupad.

Imagine. They could turn so vile against someone whom they considered AS Good AS Prabhupad? They committed a grave offense.

Sridhar may not have been without faults, but, he certainly wasn't the envious snake the GBC were now telling everyone he was. The GBC just wanted to STOP devotees in general from going over to him, and leaving ISKCON.

Sridhar was deeply hurt by this. He cried over it, 'Why Srila Prabhupad's leading disciples had turned so viciously against him?' What sort of leaders was this? He told devotees that ISKCON was doomed. With GBC leaders like this, the future of Prabhupad's mission was doomed. (Some devotee told me that he was in the room when Sridhar made those comments, but he thought Sridhar was actually cursing - that he was upset because the GBC stopped taking his advice and that because of that he cursed SP's mission to fail But from my research that isn't what he said. He was hurt because the GBC turned so vile against him. They were glorifying him one day, and the next spreading untrue lies about him.

So, Bhakta Charu had gone to Sridhar in around 83 or 84 and told him why the GBC had turned on him, and that is where I got most of this info. Sridhar's disciples had recorded the meeting and they have transcripts and mp3 files of it. Plus other writings of his followers, and other sources.

After JT left ISKCON he tried to help Sridhar spread his Sri Caitanya Sarasvati Math organization, but, yes, JT fell back into his LSD world and illicit sex life. And, yes, he got into a bit of a cultish mentality. But, before he was guru, when SP was still with us, he was a nice devotee. I enjoyed his association and learned a lot as he shared many stories with me about his association with SP. It was a painfully dark day when i found out that he had lied to us, on SP's name, before his murti when he proclaimed that he was innocent. When i found out that he had lied, it hurt because i really liked him as a God brother. When I joined as a new bhakta he gave me good association. I miss those days.

What drove these men mad was they were committing so many offenses to SP. Personally, i would never accept any idea that JT was compliant in poisoning SP - I don't think that we will ever know in this world what really happened and who was involved. The only way I can imagine that any one other than 1 or 2 core people could have been involved would be if Tamal had convinced some that SP had asked for 'something' to help him leave sooner. Then maybe there was some compliance, if they thought they were doing what SP wanted. But, this is all speculative. I don't want to speculate on such an all important issue.

SP left this world according to Krishna's desire, thats all. He wasn't poisoned before Krsna wanted him to leave.

[PADA: Thanks for sharing this. Yes, the GBC can be saying you are their favorite God brother one day, or even that you are even a pure devotee as good as Srila Prabhupada, and then they can say you are a demon the next day, and that is why they are considered as envious snakes. We also heard a story from a Sridhara Maharaja follower that some of the GBC gurus had wanted to bomb the Matha of Sridhara, and this is one reason some people were making bombs on the ISKCON Mayapura property (which exploded while they were making the bombs).  

Of course the same thing also happens to us sometimes, someone  joins our camp one day, then the next day says we we are demons. Its the nature of Kali yuga that people are not loving, trusting and loyal to one another as they were in the Vedic days. What can be done? We just have to be happy that we can take shelter of Krishna and move along. ys pd]