https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/yogi-bhajan-sexual-abuse-573603.html?
PADA: Exploiting the children? And we were thinking that would not happen in ISKCON, because we had the "really pure idea." Well yes and nope! We had a lot of contaminated people, and they brought their deviations into the process. As Srila Prabhupada says "do not make it a stool society." Ummm, yep! ys pd
PADA: Someone told me this works great on their dairy cow, which was formerly "covered with tons of flies." Now they report, "there is not even one fly on the cow." I don't know, but it is worth a shot, and it beats the all-chemical sprays that are bad for the environment, and the cow. Apparently, also good for other animals. If you try it, you can send me a report. Dang, I hate to see the poor cows (or any other animals) covered with flies! ys pd
angel108b@yahoo.com
Flyswatter- All Natural Fly Spray – Synergy Animal Products, Inc.
6/29/2022
angel108b@yahoo.com
Dear Tirtha Dasa,
This is Puranjan again. Thanks for writing back.
First of all I am not sure how you "do not know" who is Sulochana / Steve Bryant since, by all accounts you are in jail for his untimely demise. Me and Sulochana were working on various issues, including the widespread child molesting going on in and around ISKCON. Kirtanananda eventually admitted he was having oral sex with young men in his motorhome and other locations, but we know instances were going on well before that, apart from many other cases of child abuse going on in NV from other perps there.
New Vrndavana is mentioned in the $400,000,000 Windle Turley child abuse lawsuit against ISKCON. Some of the people there knew abuse was going on, not only Sulochana. For example, Chakradhari was saying Kirtanananda was having sex with young men early on. So this deviation was known in sectors of the community, and was known by me personally. Kirtanananda was formerly part of the Mott street boys, includes Umapati and Hayagriva. Bhavananda was also a former follower of Andy Warhol etc. Well known to us old timers.
In 1997 I started to help put together a second Dallas child abuse lawsuit. This time using the Dallas firm Windle Turley -- where ISKCON was sued for $400,000,000. This lawsuit is mentioned in many newspapers. You should be able to find the case or related news. There were allegedly about 4000 kids in ISKCON, and out of that number various victims claim about half of them (2000) were victims of various abuses.
I tend to believe the victims, and I know a number of them personally. Some of the victims were committing suicide by 1997, so we had to make some emergency effort to stop the process of molesting and suicides. Eventually, the ISKCON leaders pleaded "no contest" in the Dallas court, especially once they found out I was coming to Dallas to testify. They did not want to confront me in a public court case, so they pleaded out. Then they declared ISKCON as bankrupt to avoid paying the victims. They have had to pay, and I am told they are still paying monthly installments currently. I also helped with other lawsuits in India etc., all told -- some followers of Jayapataka blamed me for ISKCON losing $100,000,000. My fault really? Hee hee!
As for the "Auschwitz for kids" idea. That is what some of the ex-children victims assessed was going on for them. There were some very serious cases of beatings, breaking bones, smashing out teeth, in addition to sexual abuse, psychological abuse, lack of food and basic supplies like soap etc. for a number of victims. Some of this testimony was being collated by Sulochana and me for some time before 1997, and I then forwarded all this info to the lawyers. I also sent out my newsletters with the address and phone number for victims to sign up for the case.
About a thousand signed up initially, and many more would have, except the law firm decided to keep it at 500 maximum, since ISKCON could not pay for more victims. If some kids have been saying they have been in "Auschwitz for kids," this begs the question, why would they even say such things? And who are the persons responsible for creating, defending and enabling that regime?
Imagine my situation! I am telling hundreds or maybe thousands of "loving devotee parents" that there is a mass molesting program going on left, right and center -- among their society's children. Perhaps this is affecting their own children. And most of them responded by saying -- you are using bad language; you need to be banned, removed, exiled, maybe beaten, maybe killed. In other words, most of the devotees have been working hand in glove in favor of the molesting regime, either by commission or omission. And that placed my life in severe danger.
My own kids have been in anxiety that someone would come and "get me." And others were worried about my potential demise as well -- such as my friends in the police, FBI, media, Dr. Stilson Judah and others. They all agreed, I can die at any moment for defending ISKCON's children from this odious and dangerous child abuse regime.
In 1986 I was interviewed by CBS TV and the newslady said, "First, I want you to look at this film we just made at New Vrndavana with Kirtanananda -- covered with with the hands of dozens of boys. Now my question is, is New Vrndavana pedophile's heaven or what"? I said "Yes, it is," and she said -- "Thank God we met you, we thought all of you were pedophile worshipers." Thus, any ordinary Joe six pack person on the street could figure this whole thing out in less than two seconds, but many devotees still cannot figure it out even decades later.
Anyway, thanks to these types of people we then had a well publicized media voice on the situation. And then the GBC realized -- taking me out would be too much trouble for them, it would be all over the news media, there would be more police raids etc. and they could not afford another big scandal. They had already lost many thousands of people after the Sulochana murder, they simply could not afford more big losses. Bascially, this was all decided by them on the "cash flow loss" issue and not the importance of my life, or the children's.
Should I hold a grudge against the people who supported the regime that wanted my friends and me dead? Well, most people in my situation would hold a grudge. I don't, especially at this stage. Rather, I feel bad for the people who supported the regime. They simply did not realize how evil their program has been, and they mistakenly thought they were doing the right thing. OK they were deluded. Most of the ex-children victims also boycott ISKCON and some of them around here even curse at the religion, and some eat meat out of protest etc.
I really cannot blame them much, they were alienated and badly. So there has been a lot of suffering caused to children, and I believe there will be a lot of pay back for all those responsible eventually -- since these were not ordinary children but were Srila Prabhupada's personal hope for the world.
Srila Prabhupada also says anyone who glares at a Vaishnava has to take birth as a vulture and sit and glare all day long. Imagine a guy like Kirtanananda training thousands of people to glare at the Lord's Vaishnavas. In sum, I do not believe anyone has EVER had any authority to orchestrate any of this process in any capacity -- either as a leader, subservient cheer leader, enforcer, supporter, enabler etc. ... to create so much suffering for the children, to bankrupt the ISKCON society, and to harass people like myself and make my life hell, and to actually take out my associates like Sulochana and others.
Thus, according to shastra, people who act without authority will have to pay for that. And I believe they will. Many of their leaders got sick, fell down, and / or died prematurely, and that is only the start of their reactions. Why would I begrudge any of them since karma is always due process eventually?
The good news is -- most of bogus guru's Western ISKCON went bankrupt in USA and Europe, and their temples emptied out. Then the snake had little or no teeth to come after us. The bad news is -- even now some poor mother with her own little tykes is getting threats of violence for her protesting their current pedophile guru named Lokanath swami. I am friends with Lokanath's female victim and she also suffered badly. In other words, there is still some ongoing effort to force / enforce their pedophile guru's process, although it is not nearly as dangerous as it was.
However, this mother now has her own protest blogs with thousands of followers -- so she is exposing them and she is gaining lots of nice sympathy and support. Of course, I am also advocating for this cause and thousands of people read my blogs and sites every day. I have helped many media presentations, and am also helping current professional books, news article writers, TV shows etc. which will come out in future. Overall, I would say our protest sites are gaining more steam and the regime's are dwindling.
I was just explaining to some media person that when I said "There is a mass child abuse problem," the answer I often got was "Well jeepers prabhu, are you saying that Krishna cannot make another pure devotee"? WTF? OK we are talking here about child abuse, maybe your own children are among the victims, not whether or not Krishna has the potency to make another pure devotee. In other words, it just seems to go over their heads that mass child molesting / pedophile worship is even a problem. Well, it is! Then after we had them sued, all sorts of these same parents, elders, seniors and big important leaders complained (some even yelled at me and wanted to do worse) that I did not address this "in house internally."
Umm what? I am being banned, beaten, threatened to be sued, chased with baseball bats, given threats etc. for addressing this internally already. Thanks, but we will address this externally, that way, at least we might survive the ordeal! Hee hee! Clearly without support from the police, FBI, courts and media, I would be dead a long time ago. In other words, most ordinary Joe six pack citizens understands that child molester messiah's programs are evil and must be contained, the devotees, ok not so much.
I think what it boils down to is -- most devotees never studied the actual siddhanta. Or they would know that a Mott St. boy is not going to catapult from there -- to assisting the gopis -- from 1967-1977, when people from the Gaudiya Matha could not catapult themselves to pure devotees even though some of them were brahmanas by birth. It is just not that cheap and easy. And trying to force people to worship deviants as messiahs only works very short term, and then the whole thing deteriorates and disintegrates -- as it did after 1936 in India and countless other bogus guru cults. The devotees were in sum arrogant and foolish and they thought they could cheat the universe with an artificial guru process, but Srila Prabhupada told us thousands of times -- that never works in the end.
Anyway, now I am helping a sort of loose knit alliance of "Prabhupadanuga" followers, who are making new devotees, temples and programs emphasizing that the actual guru is Srila Prabhupada (not his imitations) and we are making good progress. Srila Prabhupada gave me the name Puranjan in 1971 and when I asked what that means, he said you will find out everything later. And later the Puranjan story was printed in 1974, and it said that after the spiritual master departs -- there will be chaos in the name of bogus gurus, swamis etc. and the sincere persons will have to address that.
How could we avoid addressing that issue when we got the name Puranjan, and it tells us these bogus gurus will manifest, and it is our duty to challenge them. So I was sort of awarded the post of being ISKCON's sewage cleaner. I would not want anyone else to be in my shoes and have had the horrific experiences I have had, but on the other hand, I would not want to be in the shoes of my opponents, who will be held accountable for all this. Despite all the troubles I have had, I'd rather be me than them.
In short, if God orders Noah to build and ark and put all the animals in it to save the world, and some goondas come over and start the ark on fire to destroy the animals who are supposed to be the future salvation of the planet, it would seem to me, those goondas would be number one on God's "Yamaraja, please put these bogus people into the crapper" list.
Sulochana used to say he would not trade one billion years of his past karma for 10 minutes of their future karma, and -- I believe he is right. Some of the former enforcers have apologized to me and we became friends and I really appreciated that they did that. It is a start. Anyway, all we can do now is try to pick up the pieces, and that is gradually happening by Krishna's grace. If you wanted to write a clarification of what your position is on all this currently, I will post it for you on my blog. We must never forget that Lord Balaram took out Romaharsana for being a false spiritual authority, the Lord has Zero Tolerance for such offenders and their help mates.
Hope you are well, your servant Puranjan das
PADA: Bhakti Caru was clearly playing all sides against one another for his own benefit. He kept saying that Srila Prabhupada is being minimized, but gave no clear indication how and why. He said that there is some corruption in ISKCON's management, but sits down and takes lunch with the self same "corruptors," pats them on the back, and hugs them in a loving embrace. And he says these corruptors are in fact, diksha gurus.
"I love these guys (who are minimizing Srila Prabhupada!)" Then he gets sick, and some of his followers say he is sick from taking their sins, which means he is acting as a diksha guru and not a priest. OK he is all over the map on the issues. At the same time, he is one of the prime people in the room when Srila Prabhupada complains of being poisoned, and he just covers up that issue and make pretends nothing is wrong.
So he was saying he is acting on Srila Prabhupada's behalf, aka as a ritvik, at least to some extent, at the same time numbers of his followers assumed he was taking their sins because he is a diksha guru. Meanwhile, he never really addresses the issue of all the banning, beating, molesting, lawsuits and assassinations going on. So he is associated with the regime, but not part of it, sort of like Gaura Govinda Maharaja, Kirtanananda, Jayatirtha, Hansadutta etc. ... ok I am one of their gurus, but I am not one of the guru gang. I am the one pure apple on the tree full of rotten apples.
Having your cake and eat it too? Anway, he was a cheer leader for the wrong side. And there are big repercussions for supporting a false guru regime. Pretty sure he has already found that out. You are supposedly acting on Srila Prabhupada's behalf, and yet supporting an illicit sex guru lineage, that makes you implicated in the regime and the victimization it creates. ys pd
Cult NewsHare Krishna teacher abuses children in Dallas - Cult News
PADA: Yep, and this was reported to the CPO?
angel108b@yahoo.com
====================
Cult News
Sponsored by the Cult Education Institute
Hare Krishna teacher abuses children in Dallas
Clergy Abuse, Uncategorized 2022-06-26
By Brian Birmingham
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (also known as ISKCON, or colloquially as “the Hare Krishnas”) was founded in New York City in 1966, by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In its heyday in the late 1960s and early 1970s, ISKCON was one of the most recognized new religious movements introduced to the United States. ISKCON enjoyed some positive attention in the media. George Harrison of the Beatles was one of the most noteworthy of the celebrities who helped to promote ISKCON.
History of scandal
As it grew in the US, ISKCON became increasingly controversial and was one of most notorious groups called “cults” drawing increasing attention based upon the behavior of its leadership and devotees. At times families tried to rescue their loved ones through interventions with cult deprogrammers.
ISKCON devotees
ISKCON was likewise plagued by scandal. This included its most influential leader in the 1980s. Ultimately that leader Swami Bhaktipada (aka Keith Gordon Ham) was criminally charged. Ham was one of the first Hare Krishna disciples in the United States and he ruled over the largest Hare Krishna community in the country near Moundsville, West Virginia. Ham eventually pleaded guilty to racketeering, fraud and conspiracy to commit murder. But he ended up only serving 8 years in prison.
ISKCON moved on to more scandal, which involved child abuse that took place within ISKCON boarding schools in the United States and India.
The reportedly horrific physicals and sexual abuse began in the 1970s and continued through the 1980s. A class-action lawsuit was filed in Dallas, Texas on behalf of the victims in 2001. ISKCON subsequently sought refuge in Federal Bankruptcy Court, which ultimately forced the adult children to accept a greatly reduced settlement.
ISKCON claimed it would implement sweeping changes to ensure that no such abuse would ever occur again.
Changes
One of the most important changes is that ISKCON temples became independent and autonomous legal entities. This insulated ISKCON regarding legal liability. So certain temples today are not officially “ISKCON” temples, but rather only ISKCON-affiliated. Under this arrangement, if a temple is sued for misconduct or abuse, the larger organization ISKCON itself theoretically cannot be held liable, leaving liable only the local temple and its leadership.
In Dallas, Texas the local leadership does business as the “Texas Krishnas, Inc.” This supposedly means that Dallas temple is wholly independent and not an ISKCON temple at all.
ISKCON has made a tremendous effort at public relations to burnish its tainted image. In the past twenty years, the organization has become adept at PR. Anuttama das, is now ISKCON’s “Minister of Communications” and he has done his best to soften the media perception of ISKCON and persuade the general public that ISKCON has changed, and for the better.
ISKCON has apparently curtailed most of its questionable activities.
But has it essentially changed, at least at the local level in Dallas, Texas?
Recent events prove that the answer to this question is “no.”
Abuse in Dallas
It has come to light the families of several students in the Dallas Hare Krishna school were interviewed by ISKCON’s “Child Protection Office,” which revealed that their children were being abused by a certain teacher there.
Dallas Krishna temple
The mother of one abused boy has written about abuses in the school on her Facebook page. She describes physical, psychological, and emotional abuse that her son endured. The boy was forced to urinate and defecate on himself, and was humiliated by the teacher in front of his classmates. The teacher would ridicule the boy, denigrating him and encouraging his classmates to do the same.
Investigation
Quotes from an ISKCON mother’s Facebook page as follows:
“The ISKCON Child Protection Office investigated this abusive teacher, and found her guilty of child abuse. She was removed from her position and is not teaching in the school today. However, at every step of the investigation the Dallas temple management, headed by the temple president, blocked the investigation by telling school administrators and others to lie, and by threatening families in various ways. After the Child Protection Office made their decision regarding the abusive teacher, the Dallas temple management further tried to undermine their judgment by threatening legal action against that office, in an effort to have their judgment and decision reversed.”
The only way that this family found resolution in their situation, was to physically move and leave Dallas entirely.
They’d been banned from the Dallas temple, and told that their services at the Dallas temple were no longer required.
Accountability
The leadership of the Dallas Hare Krishna temple is no more accountable or transparent than they were in 1972. And the abuse within the local Hare Krishna school in Dallas is still apparently going on as the hierarchy of this temple chose to side with the teacher, not the students and their families.
Despite all of the public relations efforts of Anuttama das and whatever he might say to sway the media, the Hare Krishnas, at least in Dallas, have not substantially changed, it seems, very much at all.
Note: Brian Birmingham is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts in Boston with a BA in Psychology and Sociology. He is a native of Dallas.
child abuse, Hare Krishna, ISKCON
[PADA: Some folks are suggesting taking this to the broader media such as the Dallas Newspapers, or even the New York Times. That seems to be the problem, the GBC does not listen to complainants very well, and thus more people feel they have to go to the outside authorities and medias etc. ys pd]
