A Reply to Umapati Swami, Asked & Answered
BY: HRISHIKESH DASA (ACBSP)
Dec 17, OAKDALE, PENNSYLVANIA (SUN) — Dear Navadvipchandra dasa: Please forgive me for any offenses I might commit in this letter. None are intended. --HD.
I am a former resident of New Vrindaban and served there under Kirtanananda Swami from 1978-1994.
I am greatly concerned about some of the vituperative allegations directed against particular individuals in ISKCON who have in the past served under Kirtanananda Swami, such as contained in the recently-published letter by Navadvipchandra dasa addressed to Umapati Swami.
I wholeheartedly support Navadvipchandra dasa in his quest to investigate current ISKCON sannyasis and gurus who may have played a part in immoral and/or criminal activities, such as those crimes which were committed at New Vrindaban during Kirtanananda Swami's tenure as leader.
However, I find the tone of his letters to be unnecessarily confrontational, and this creates the impression of undisciplined fanaticism, which only serves to discredit Navadvipchandra dasa in the eyes of intelligent and discriminating readers.
As an example, I draw a comparison with Sulochan dasa, who around 1984 began an investigation into the immoral behavior of Kirtanananda Swami and other ISKCON gurus. He wrote a book "The Guru Business," and threatened to destroy Kirtanananda and his second-in-command: Kuladri Prabhu.
Certainly Sulochan had stumbled onto a great many carefully-guarded secrets which desperately needed to be made known to the world, but he also discredited himself by (1) his advocation of violence and (2) his inability to separate fact from fiction, due to his
intense hatred of Kirtanananda whom he accused of stealing his wife and children.
Because of his sloppy scholarship, Sulochan's "Guru Business" contained many rumors, lies and inaccuracies, which unfortunately only served to discredit the legitimate facts presented in his book.
I personally knew Umapati Swami during his tenure at New Vrindaban and found him to be a devout and faithful disciple of Srila Prabhupada. Umapati had chosen to serve Srila Prabhupada at ISKCON's North American Place of Pilgrimage, the largest community of
Prabhupada disciples in North America at the time, under the leadership of his long-time friend and godbrother Kirtanananda Swami.
Umapati Swami was not the only ISKCON devotee to serve at New Vrindaban: many dozens and dozens of senior Prabhupada disciples came to live and serve at the community during the early 1980s, as the completion of Prabhupada's Palace of Gold in 1979 and the subsequent construction projects for the proposed Radha-Vrindaban Chandra Temple of Understanding and Land Of Krishna Theme Park propelled the community into a veritable cornucopia of opportunities for preaching Krishna Consciousness.
Let us not forget the effect which Prabhupada's Palace had on national and international preaching. Practically overnight, Prabhupada’s Palace became the cynosure of ISKCON, the unofficial logo for the Hare Krishna movement in America. Even ISKCON devotees who might have previously criticized “Kirtanananda’s Folly,” now praised the Palace. Badrinarayan Das, the president of the San Diego ISKCON temple, was distributing Prabhupada’s books at a big fair in Idaho during the Palace opening festival. He reported that there were television broadcasts and newspaper articles about the Palace for two weeks before the grand opening, and declared, “anyone who found out that we were Hare Krishnas said something favorable for a change.” (from my forthcoming History of New Vrindaban)
Like Sulochan’s “Guru Business,” Navadvipchandra dasa’s letter to Umapati also contains rumors and inaccuracies. “We all know that New Vrindavan was a cesspit of criminal activities, including drug running, murders, prostitution, and child molestation.”
Not true at all. New Vrindaban was not a “cesspit of criminal activities.” Certainly these things went on, as we discovered years later, but to my knowledge only a handful of our 700 residents knew about or participated in these heinous activities. I believe most of us (at least I speak for myself and my friends and associates) loved New Vrindaban, and we were for the most part happily spending our days chanting Hare Krishna and rendering service to Radha-Vrindaban Chandra in one way or another, at least until our faith was shattered by reasonable proof of Kirtanananda’s crimes and deviations.
I am glad that Umapati Swami was notified of this letter published in the Sun, and that he graciously chose to respond. It shows his compassion, and also the fact that he has nothing to hide.
If Umapati Swami did not respond personally, I would have written something in his defense to try to balance the negative allegations contained in Navadvipchandra dasa's letter. Umapati Swami left New Vrindaban and Kirtanananda's service in 1988, if I remember correctly; soon after Kirtanananda began his Great Experiment of adding cultural elements of Christianity to the temple services, wearing monks' robes, chanting in English, awarding women sannyas, etc.
I believe it is significant to note that Umapati Swami left New Vrindaban and severed his connection with Kirtanananda at least five or six YEARS before some other prominent leaders-- today serving as ISKCON gurus and GBC members--who did not leave Kirtanananda's service until 1993 or 1994.
In conclusion, I wish to reiterate that I applaud Navadvipchandra dasa in his quest for truth and I wish him well, but I humbly caution him to be very careful of making accusations in such a way which might be perceived as offensive to a Vaishnava.
Sincerely,
Hrishikesh dasa (Henry Doktorski)
henrydoktorski at yahoo dot com
