A Reply to "New Vrindaban Body Count"
BY: HRISHIKESH DASA
Jun 28, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (SUN) — A Reply to "New Vrindaban Body Count, For the Record", by Navadvip- chandra das, posted on the Sampradaya Sun on January 7, 2007.
Dearest Vaishnavas, I have been meaning to reply to the points in this article for nearly a year and a half. The article is chock full of false rumors and nonsense. Some things are correct, I admit, but many are not. This particular author I find to be particularly lax about researching actual truth. I really didn't want to write a detailed rebuttal (I don't believe it would change the author's opinion), but recently I have had some conversations with non-devotees who had been influenced negatively by this article. I do not have the time nor inclination to respond point by point, but I will respond to one particular allegation the author makes: that Sulochan's son, Nimai Bryant, who drowned at New Vrindaban, was murdered.
Navadvipchandra das speculates:
"Next murder victim: Nimai Bryant (the son of Sulochan) - In November of 1986 Sulochan's son, Nimai Bryant, mysteriously drowned at New Vrindavan, just months after his father was murdered. He was just three years old and he didn't have any past habit of entering the water at all."
This boy was NOT MURDERED. Regarding the deaths of children at New Vrindaban: certainly there were some sick adults, teachers and monitors who abused the children in the school. But I don't believe any wished to cause permanent harm or death. The parents were extremely fond of their children, and the children of others. I do not believe these children were murdered. Sulochan's three-year-old son Nimai drowned in a New Vrindaban lake while playing with other youths on November 23, 1986. He was playing with his friends. This was not a murder. It would be a simple matter to contact his mother, who still lives at New Vrindaban to confirm or disprove this. I know her, and I believe if she had the slightest thought that her child was intentionally drowned she would have raised hell about it. In any case, Sulochan's other son has grown to manhood, and I assume has a normal life, unless I am mistaken.
I followed up with a letter to the mother of Nimai Bryant about this, and she responded in an e-mail letter dated June 24, 2008:
"Dear Hrishikesh, You are correct. He was playing with a group of boys on the chatra. They were all young boys around 5 years old and it was definitely an accident. Mudakari was the first adult on the scene and she ran to get me. Why are people wasting their precious energy uselessly speculating about the past? If there is any more misinformation floating around I am willing to speak to these people directly."
Granted, crimes and murders were committed at New Vrindaban, but posting one's speculations on the Internet does more harm than good. I humbly request writers to maintain higher standards of integrity and honesty.
Sincerely your servant,
Hrishikesh dasa
(Henry Doktorski)
