Hridayananda's Falldowns
BY: ANIRUDDHA DAS
Nov 06, VRINDAVAN, INDIA (SUN) — Dear devotees, I could provide a lengthy narration of Hridayananda's falldown with a lady disciple, named Devamrita, an attractive woman from Brasil who was mentioned in Rocana dasa's recent article, "Aparadhi to the Sannyasa Order". I was his personal servant at that time, and was an eyewitness of that particular scandalous affair. In advance of writing a detailed narrative, I will recount the following incidents by way of a refutation of Candrabhanu's blind defense of Hridayananda.
Hridayananda ordered Brahmatirtha to install a personal phone line to Devamrita's room at the so-called Govinda's Vaikuntha's Building, so he could communicate directly and privately with her at all times. He would spend hours upon hours talking to this woman, either talking to her personally or using the phone. I timed the hours of his association with this woman, and many days he would spend more than 8 hours talking directly or indirectly with her (via phone and letters.) This must be record-breaking for a so-called sannyasi.
I remember perfectly (because it etched in my mind) that one day he woke at 4:00 a.m. and immediately called her. I was assisting, watching him at all times. So this particular day Hridayananda stayed on the phone for a period of more than 3 and half hours. All through the brahma-muhurta. In order for me not to hear the details of the conversation, he asked me to leave his bedroom and lock the door. I waited anxiously all this time because as a good servant, I wanted to protect Hridayananda from this woman's advances. But actually, the one who is responsible for establishing and supporting this intimate relationship was Hridayananda himself.
At the condominium where Hridayananda was staying, several nights he would wake up disturbed. He was so engrossed with this woman that he forgot to take basic "preventive" measures. I would wake up also to attend his needs (getting his clothes ready, etc.) and would then go into the bathroom to clean them. So on these occasions I found his koupinas wet, emanating the distinctive stench of semen. These nocturnal emissions were obviously due to his being sexually agitated by his association with this woman. And this so-called "acarya" was translating the Tenth Canto "for the welfare of all conditioned souls"!
With a deep feeling of disappointment and sadness, I would proceed to wash thoroughly the semen-soaked koupinas. Yes, shortly after that I left the company of this man forever.
While talking to the woman Hridayananda was quite frivolous, cutting jokes and sometimes relating to her only as a lover would treat a beloved. Sometimes he would call her "monstrua", a Portuguese word for "a she-monster", or "bonitinha" ('very pretty'.) While he was alone with her, and I sometimes be close enough to hear or watch.
I would massage Hridayananda on a daily basis, sometimes up to 3 times. A few times, while massaging him at the condominium, he would call the woman and make her sit directly in front of him. Barely 2 meters away at the most, she would sit on a kusa mat on the floor, with him wearing only a gamsha. I would always start the massage by standing behind him, applying my hands to work on his head and back. But the forceful, continuous movement of my hands would invariably pull up the gamsha and in this way, Hridayananda would have his genitals exposed, covered only by the brahminical underwear.
The woman would try unsuccessfully not to stare directly at the bundle of genitals, but obviously this was impossible. So, in order to rectify the situation, I would turn around, stand in front of him and very deliberately pull down the gamsha in order to cover him again, at least up to the knees. But again, the gamsha would inevitably fold over and expose that private part of the body to the eyes of the woman.
So every man knows that this is a subtle sexual game. The level of sexual agitation between the two was not only obvious, but shameless. I would warn Hridayananda: "Beware of this woman's intentions..." A couple of times he retorted: "Being in my place you would feel overwhelmed with lust. You are only projecting it on me".
Once I told him: "Maharaha, this relationship can ruin your reputation. You are translating the Srimad-Bhagavatam, and devotees would want you to behave as a bona fide spiritual master." He never heeded my advice. He also scoffed at the many complaints lodged against him by well-intentioned but worried Godbrothers and followers. In fact, he stopped overtly associating with the woman (who I now see more as a victim than as a woman trying to make this so-called guru fall down) only after Gopiparanadhana and Dravida threatened not to work with him anymore on the translation and editing of the Bhagavatam, respectively.
Hridayananda was aware that I was acting as a loyal bodyguard, protecting him at all times from the woman., so he would consciously keep me on duty, because that way he would have a third party confirming "he was doing nothing wrong."
I'm in India right now and on two occasions, I have had to restart this article because the electricity went off. I could write a whole book of the saga between Hridayananda and Devamrita, but for any brahmanical devotee wishing to arrive at a correct conclusion about Hridayananda's status, this information is more than enough. This account is similar to the pictures Hridayananda that Harinamananda das published here at the Sampradaya Sun.
It's a very sad but true history that needs to be undisclosed, so devotees all over the world can come to know who the real Hridayananda is, directly from a person who served as his personal servant for more than five years – and from someone who is not a fanatic ISKCON cheerleader.
The details I have provided are the truth, and I am willing to repeat this history in front of Srila Prabhupada, the Deities and the GBC.
Aniruddha das
