Don't worry, be happy.
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PURUJIT'S WEIRD AND SCARY AI ART IMBROGLIO
These AI photos of acharyas are all distorted, not authentic and disgusting. This is a clear sign of no proper guidance or understanding. The irony is they label this as "an authorized biography of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada". It is not authorized because the people creating this AI fantasy have no understanding how to respect the images of the saints and acharyas.
Who has "authorized" them to create these hideous AI images, which at best depict random likenesses of Indians from the AI database. It has zero connection to the personalities being discussed. These are not images of Srila Prabhupada, nor Bhaktivinoda Thakur, nor Gaura Kishora Das Babaji. They are just AI creations of people with generic random Indian likenesses, now being passed off as representations of the Lord's pure devotees and acharyas.
They could have filled this book with archival black and white real photos of most of these people, and it would have been excellent. Instead they fill it with hideous AI images that look nothing like reality. It is a display of bad judgement and discrimination.
Pointing this out does not imply they are bad people or that they have demonic intentions. I don't know them personally to judge what their intentions are. It could just be over enthusiasm with bad judgement. They are clearly not as good at using AI as they think they are. Everyone should know their own limitations and the limitations of technology. There are some people who can use AI and create excellent images, and there are others who just post random prompts and think they have created an accurate masterpiece. Most people fall in the second category and should not be using AI to create spiritual content.
Pointing this out does not imply they are bad people or that they have demonic intentions. I don't know them personally to judge what their intentions are. It could just be over enthusiasm with bad judgement. They are clearly not as good at using AI as they think they are. Everyone should know their own limitations and the limitations of technology. There are some people who can use AI and create excellent images, and there are others who just post random prompts and think they have created an accurate masterpiece. Most people fall in the second category and should not be using AI to create spiritual content.
PADA: Purujit folks are trying to advertise themselves as authorized because their book is accepted by ISKCON's molester messiah project's leaders, including the head honcho of Auschwitz for kids and BVKS etc. Sorry, that is REALLY a bad advertisement. ISKCON's killer clown acharyas love our book, really?
Of course the GBC people never advertise our materials, and there is a reason. Meanwhile! The images they used inside the book are not very well done, and sometimes look just a little bit creepy, menacing, and just spooky and scary. But in any case, not authentic.
They have NOT done a good job here, according to a lot of critics. I think they were doing a rush job, and they did not consult with any of us on the content, and they made some serious errors. At the same time HKC Jaipur's Third Reich clan member Mathura Pati has been hanging out with Purujit, and not us, and this explains why he does so. They just don't pay attention to details.
They are still clinging to the old guard for approval, recognition and authorization, and we aren't. Yeah -- someone said, the people advertising Purujit's book look just as scary as the AI pics he has made inside his book. Whole thing is frightening! As per usual, whenever we comment on these issues, the Purujit guys make fun of us, hey just like the GBC people!
Did I forget to mention, when I told Jayapataka we will suffer if we take sins, he thought that was a comedy hour joke? Is he still laughing now? Meanwhile Mukunda UK, who has lifted much of his material off our PADA web sites, is crying that Purujit stole his "Lilamrita" book, and made it as his own.
These guys are always trying to self promote themselves and not so much promote Srila Prabhupada. I see PADA's stuff being "stolen" all the time and it makes me happy, our stuff is getting out there. Goody. Some guy steals our images and quotes all the time, using his name and not giving us credit.
That means, he likes our stuff and wants to get out there. I am happy the info is being promoted, not crying that it is being stolen. These people want credit for promoting "their work," and that explains why they are going to the wrong places, including ISKCON leaders, for validation and credit.
This is not too impressive IMHO. Anyway, the Mukunda book does have many good quotes -- to his credit, but unfortunately most people steer away from his works because his other stuff is so nutty, he has damaged his trademark brand. Anyway I agree, the images are not good and that has damaged credibility of the book. And then getting validation from the GBC's clown car gurus and leaders, worse validation.
ys pd angel108b@yahoo.com
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CONSPIRACY TO MURDER
June 29, 1986: On or around this date in history, a few weeks after the assassination of the Bhaktipada critic and whistle-blower, Sulochan (Steve Bryant), Radhanath Swami, deeply troubled in his mind, confesses his involvement in the murder conspiracy to his godbrother Jagad Guru Swami, while both sit on a Pacific Ocean beach in San Diego.
Jagad Guru Swami (1946-2020), a disciple of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who later became known as Bhakti Gaurava Narasingha Maharaja, claims Radhanath spoke to him in great anxiety, "What was I supposed to do under those circumstances? We were convinced that Bhaktipada was a pure devotee and that Sulochan was determined to murder him, so we thought we were obligated to stop some demon from killing a pure devotee by any means possible.”
Although I had heard this story earlier, Bhakti Gaurava Narasingha Maharaja confirmed it to me in a February 7, 2019 Facebook message a year before his death.
For more, see Killing For Krishna, p. 481.
http://henrydoktorski.com/Killing4Krishna.html
PADA: I have to give Henry some credit for naming names on the Sulochana hit team, and the advisors / behind the scenes enablers and promoters of the hit team. He gets some merits here, and demerits in other places. But it took a lot of courage to point to these guys by name. And most devotees would never go public despite knowing all sorts of things -- even worse stuff than me or Henry knows -- because they are fearful, acquiescing, enabling and compromised. ys pd
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UKRAINE IS NOT BEING "SAVED"
PADA: Yeah prabhu, sorry but my Hindu nurse friend was in Mariupal, she says they levelled her apartment and all the others in the city, taking out tens of thousands of people and then there was a stink of dead bodies all over the place. She only survived because she was in a heavy bathtub and that absorbed the shrapnel, but there was a lot of screaming people all over who did get shrapnel in them, including many children.
For more, see Killing For Krishna, p. 481.
http://henrydoktorski.com/Killing4Krishna.html
PADA: I have to give Henry some credit for naming names on the Sulochana hit team, and the advisors / behind the scenes enablers and promoters of the hit team. He gets some merits here, and demerits in other places. But it took a lot of courage to point to these guys by name. And most devotees would never go public despite knowing all sorts of things -- even worse stuff than me or Henry knows -- because they are fearful, acquiescing, enabling and compromised. ys pd
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UKRAINE IS NOT BEING "SAVED"
PADA: Yeah prabhu, sorry but my Hindu nurse friend was in Mariupal, she says they levelled her apartment and all the others in the city, taking out tens of thousands of people and then there was a stink of dead bodies all over the place. She only survived because she was in a heavy bathtub and that absorbed the shrapnel, but there was a lot of screaming people all over who did get shrapnel in them, including many children.
It is amazing that Russians think people like a Hindu nurse living in an apartment are a threat to their national security. She finally walked for days and eventually made it to Poland, but she says she will never forget all the bodies everywhere, the screaming, the smell of the bodies etc. She still has nightmares.
So yeah, taking out Hindu nurses is the way to make Russia more secure, hee hee. But now Russia is running out of gas, maybe they will stop taking out nurses when they run out of gas. Every day these guys have gas, another Hindu nurse gets whacked somewhere in Ukraine. The way Russia saves things, is to blow it to pieces until there is not one building left standing. That is not saving these cities, it is levelling them to rubble and killing the inhabitants. I fail to see how this is svaing these cities. ys pd
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Dayananda's Post
Dayananda Das Vanachari
RE: Vipramukhya, Wayne Boyd
Vipramukhya left. I was not irritated, just indifferent. Now he has come back with a vengeance, trying to attack the faith of the followers. That is damn irritating. With this opening, I took considerable time writing a response to what I perceive as Wayne Boyd's unacceptable attempts to attack the faith of the faithful.
In the back of my mind, it was an open letter to him, attacking his irresponsibility. However, due to my language, tone, or perhaps my lack of properly strategizing, it did not communicate the way I had intended. Some wonderful devotees spent time commenting on my post, so they remain here. I think their comments stand well independent of my article.
Damodara Dasa
I have also noticed Wayne’s re-emergence as interesting. I don’t know him well enough to have a particular take on his motives that would be anything other than speculation.
But I would observe that those who abandon religion - and perhaps their vows in particular - tend to feel the urge to continually justify their position. Perhaps there is an element of “misery loves company” - that I will feel more affirmed in the validity of my rejecting the guru, the movement, the philosophical stance, if I can get others to agree with me….. and of course most atheists are anything other than detached from religious thought.
Dayananda Das Vanachari
RE: Vipramukhya, Wayne Boyd
Vipramukhya left. I was not irritated, just indifferent. Now he has come back with a vengeance, trying to attack the faith of the followers. That is damn irritating. With this opening, I took considerable time writing a response to what I perceive as Wayne Boyd's unacceptable attempts to attack the faith of the faithful.
In the back of my mind, it was an open letter to him, attacking his irresponsibility. However, due to my language, tone, or perhaps my lack of properly strategizing, it did not communicate the way I had intended. Some wonderful devotees spent time commenting on my post, so they remain here. I think their comments stand well independent of my article.
Damodara Dasa
I have also noticed Wayne’s re-emergence as interesting. I don’t know him well enough to have a particular take on his motives that would be anything other than speculation.
But I would observe that those who abandon religion - and perhaps their vows in particular - tend to feel the urge to continually justify their position. Perhaps there is an element of “misery loves company” - that I will feel more affirmed in the validity of my rejecting the guru, the movement, the philosophical stance, if I can get others to agree with me….. and of course most atheists are anything other than detached from religious thought.
They feel compelled - for reasons they don’t typically examine - to keep espousing their rejection of religious thought, often even going as far as to ridicule theistic thought. They argue that it is important to contest religion as it is a societal harm. While there may be some truth to this - often in Kali Yuga religions are unwholesome, full of hypocrisy and cheating - it also reads as a rationalisation. They completely overlook their own bias - often due to some adverse experiences with religion - and claim that their position is purely rationally informed. The sheer amount of emotional loading in their critiques suggest otherwise.
Those who give up their vows - and particularly abandon disciples - likely have a lot of guilt to reckon with. Of course, it is tempting to invalidate the whole endeavour - which gets them off the hook psychologically. Now they are no longer a failed disciple, a vantasi, weak-willed, etc. All of a sudden they become a discerning critical thinker.
I fully support anyone engaged in sincere and genuine epistemological inquiry. I take no issue with the world’s agnostics and probably have more in common with them than I do with dogmatic religious fanatics.
But atheism often masquerades as being a fully rational position. And that is intellectually dishonest. It is rarely a carefully reasoned position.
Wayne now professes full conviction in “scientific conclusions” such as evolutionary theory. He makes it his daily business to criticise his former guru’s arguments. Who is he actually trying to convince? Is he trying to recruit others so that he doesn’t feel so alone in abandoning Prabhupada and his vows? Or is he still trying to assuage his own guilty conscience?
I honestly don’t know. And these are questions for him to resolve for himself.
Dayananda Das Vanachari
Damodara Dasa: Yes, I agree with you. I know him fairly well; he and I served together in Iran. I decided to take an aggressive approach.
Vrajasevika Dasi: I don't personally know Mr. Boyd / HG Vipramukhya Das, but i have read many of his recent posts. My feeling was not at all that he is full of vengeance, nor is he trying to destroy anyone's faith, nor is he looking for followers. He is just explaining his views and why it makes sense to him.
Sometimes devotees, and maybe also others, ask him why he has left ISKCON, so he is explaining why. That is my understanding.
I didn't find this irritating. I found it kind. He is taking the time out to explain. I find it very inspiring how he is not blaming anyone for having left, nor for having been in ISKCON. He takes full responsibility. I find his dealings very fair and respectful. He joined ISKCON because he then believed in Srila Prabhupada's teachings, and at one point he got doubts, and slowly his beliefs changed. And now he believes something else.
He isn't trying to make a come back in iskcon. Some devotees were interested to understand why he left, and he was reflecting on that and replying them.
Dayananda Das Vanachari
Vrajasevika Dasi Thank you for your opinion. I do not share your view on this. However, I have removed my original article.
I wrote it not in the spirit of philosophy. Instead, it was written to a younger brother who decided, after fathering several children (disciples), to abandon them. He left the children for some time, did not pay child support, then returned to criticize the mother of his children and the rest of his family.
I did not mention this father-children analogy in my article, nor is that precisely the point I made, but for the sake of brevity it is close enough. In any case, I have decided not to progress any further. In fact, if you want me to agree with everything you have written here, I am happy to do that.
Damodara Dasa
The hilarious irony is that although progressed atheists nearly all subscribe to the protest / trope that “theists are shoving religion down everyone’s throat”, they are also “evangelical” about pushing their own epistemological conclusions, every bit as insufferable religious zealots. Hypocrites. And not as bright as they imagine themselves to be - certainly lacking self insight.
Science is a legitimate “knowledge acquiring strategy”. But to try hold up non-belief as a virtue is to claim that distrusting others is, in and of itself, some kind of intellectual accomplishment. Why should others’ convictions be something that this group of people feel compelled to attack - and unkindly at that?
Das Goravani
I haven't seen anything from him. Where does he post his views?
Those who give up their vows - and particularly abandon disciples - likely have a lot of guilt to reckon with. Of course, it is tempting to invalidate the whole endeavour - which gets them off the hook psychologically. Now they are no longer a failed disciple, a vantasi, weak-willed, etc. All of a sudden they become a discerning critical thinker.
I fully support anyone engaged in sincere and genuine epistemological inquiry. I take no issue with the world’s agnostics and probably have more in common with them than I do with dogmatic religious fanatics.
But atheism often masquerades as being a fully rational position. And that is intellectually dishonest. It is rarely a carefully reasoned position.
Wayne now professes full conviction in “scientific conclusions” such as evolutionary theory. He makes it his daily business to criticise his former guru’s arguments. Who is he actually trying to convince? Is he trying to recruit others so that he doesn’t feel so alone in abandoning Prabhupada and his vows? Or is he still trying to assuage his own guilty conscience?
I honestly don’t know. And these are questions for him to resolve for himself.
Dayananda Das Vanachari
Damodara Dasa: Yes, I agree with you. I know him fairly well; he and I served together in Iran. I decided to take an aggressive approach.
Vrajasevika Dasi: I don't personally know Mr. Boyd / HG Vipramukhya Das, but i have read many of his recent posts. My feeling was not at all that he is full of vengeance, nor is he trying to destroy anyone's faith, nor is he looking for followers. He is just explaining his views and why it makes sense to him.
Sometimes devotees, and maybe also others, ask him why he has left ISKCON, so he is explaining why. That is my understanding.
I didn't find this irritating. I found it kind. He is taking the time out to explain. I find it very inspiring how he is not blaming anyone for having left, nor for having been in ISKCON. He takes full responsibility. I find his dealings very fair and respectful. He joined ISKCON because he then believed in Srila Prabhupada's teachings, and at one point he got doubts, and slowly his beliefs changed. And now he believes something else.
He isn't trying to make a come back in iskcon. Some devotees were interested to understand why he left, and he was reflecting on that and replying them.
Dayananda Das Vanachari
Vrajasevika Dasi Thank you for your opinion. I do not share your view on this. However, I have removed my original article.
I wrote it not in the spirit of philosophy. Instead, it was written to a younger brother who decided, after fathering several children (disciples), to abandon them. He left the children for some time, did not pay child support, then returned to criticize the mother of his children and the rest of his family.
I did not mention this father-children analogy in my article, nor is that precisely the point I made, but for the sake of brevity it is close enough. In any case, I have decided not to progress any further. In fact, if you want me to agree with everything you have written here, I am happy to do that.
Damodara Dasa
The hilarious irony is that although progressed atheists nearly all subscribe to the protest / trope that “theists are shoving religion down everyone’s throat”, they are also “evangelical” about pushing their own epistemological conclusions, every bit as insufferable religious zealots. Hypocrites. And not as bright as they imagine themselves to be - certainly lacking self insight.
Science is a legitimate “knowledge acquiring strategy”. But to try hold up non-belief as a virtue is to claim that distrusting others is, in and of itself, some kind of intellectual accomplishment. Why should others’ convictions be something that this group of people feel compelled to attack - and unkindly at that?
Das Goravani
I haven't seen anything from him. Where does he post his views?
PADA: Well yeah, why was Vipramukhya made into a sum total of the demigods messiah, when he was borderline atheist? Vipramukhya lost faith in the religion, and so did a lot of others, and that means their faith was not very connected in the first place.
A person who is truly connected to Krishna, even on the neophyte level, will never be able to break that connection, despite hell, high water, or threats from GBC bozo enforcers etc. Sorry they did not really lose faith, their faith was superficial and sentimental and not based on any solid realization.
Of course us neophytes can be shaken up and fall down into all sorts of abominable behaviors, as we see in spades. But a neophyte who has actually realized that Krishna is God, even if he fails into abominable material attachments on many other levels, will continue to know Krishna is God, no matter how badly he fails in other areas.
So there are different levels of kanistha, and some kanisthas have very weak connections, some have more solid ones, but those who give up on Krishna were never really connected to Him in any factual manner from square one, that is my understanding. And this is why people write to PADA, why does the GBC keep making these falling down if not boderline atheistic people into acharyas? Yup. ys pd
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GOOD ADVICE
IZZY: I was a part of a cult.
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GOOD ADVICE
IZZY: I was a part of a cult.
I know, it's crazy. I get weird looks, laughs, and a mix of other reactions whenever I share about this. I was, for years, heavily connected to and involved with the International House of Prayer in Kansas City MO, and I eventually moved there and became a worship leader intern in 2009. I remained heavily connected with the movement throughout my 20s, and spent years in leadership of the local house of prayer in Indianapolis, IN.
But, it was a cult.
For decades, the leader of the ministry Mike Bickle was sexually abusing women and using the ministry to target the women. Everything came to light a few years ago, and the ministry did a horrendous job of cleaning up the mess and actively attempted to avoid accountability and cover things up. The whole organization then collapsed.
If leaders can't do the right thing when something as aggregious as assault and abuse occurs, how can they be trusted to lead anything else? My experience there, and the ministry's eventual downfall, had a deep impact on me at the core level, and it shaped me profoundly as a leader.
It's why, as a brand new commander of a Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Company, I did what I did. After 9 drilling days with my unit, I uncovered sexual assault and harassment that had been occurring for 3 years at the hands of a senior NCO in the battalion staff. People knew about it, and chose not to act.
When I tried to initiate an investigation, I was told to "point the victims to the Brigade Equal Opportunity Laison, and then table it."
I knew this was the wrong answer, and because of what I witnessed at the cult, I knew that "tabling it" would lead to the immediate and drastic erosion of trust within the unit. So, I called the lawyers at State JAG and kicked off an investigation that eventually led to the predatory NCO being fired from the Army. I paid a heavy price for it - but I would make that decision 10x over, time and time again.
If you are a leader - a leader within a church, a business, a community leader or influencer, or a leader who wears a uniform -- DO NOT tolerate things like assault, harassment, bullying, hazing, or prejudism. These behaviors will destroy your organization. You will "lose the good ones" if you sweep these things under the rug, and you will watch victim after victim leave.
Do the hard thing. Pursue justice. Choose righteousness. Protect your people, even if it puts a target on your back. Because at the end of the day, when you look at yourself in the mirror, you can be proud of yourself for doing the right thing, and know that God is proud of you, too.
"Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17 (NIV)
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