New Vrindaban Body Count, For the Record
BY: NAVADVIPCHANDRA DAS
Jan 7, USA (SUN) — For more than a month we have all been witness to daily shocking confessions and revelations about the Sulochan murder and allegations of Radhanatha Swami's link as the leader of the murder conspiracy. Despite such important breaking news, which has serious implications for the entire GBC and the guru system in ISKCON, both of ISKCON's main news websites were busy with much more important news:
After nearly a month of murder confessions flying all over the Internet and daily front page coverage on the Sampradaya Sun, Chakra.org provided us the breaking headline of a new health spa opening up in Mayapur. Not to be outdone, Dandavats.com took investigative journalism to an all new level with the front page headline of Steve Jobs' Interest in Krishna Prasadam, a reprinted article from perhaps 10 years ago. The question that all the devotees are asking is why the great silence from ISKCON on this most serious case? Well what would you do if one of your biggest gurus (with 5,000 disciples) was alleged to be a murderer, and a large number of GBC members were alleged to have been involved in the murder conspiracy? You would probably do just what Dandavats.com and Chakra.org did, remain silent and hope for everything to just disappear.
Unfortunately for them, the news didn't go away. With each day more witnesses and participants in the conspiracy confessed, providing even more incriminating evidence against Radhanatha Swami and other GBC members. Finally, after a month of such revelations and many devotees asking the GBC for a public statement, Ravindra Svarupa was forced to say something. Even then, the GBC refused to put a public statement on record, because they don't want to be stuck on a sinking ship. Instead they had Ravindra Svarupa put his own neck out in an attempt to silence the noise. Exactly who this Ravindra Svarupa is, and what his connection to the New Vrindaban conspiracy is, we will deal with a little later. First let us look at what he had to say to all the "full time fault-finders" who dare to ask questions about ISKCON's dark past.
Warning: Some of the things you will hear in this article will be shocking for the weak sentimentalists, so if you fall in that category it is better for you to change the channel now.
The sum and substance of Ravindra Svarupa's letter is about the notorious devotee murderer, Thomas Drescher, whom Ravindra Svarupa likes to call "Tirtha Prabhu". From the very first line he sets the tone, that Tirtha is a devotee and should be respected with such titles as "Prabhu" (master). This is more of the same we had already heard from Malati and Umapati, who both glorified Tirtha as a great devotee, completely reformed from intense absorption in chanting of the Holy Names. Ravindra Svarupa obviously thinks the same. He states:
"In my experience, Tirtha Prabhu, in jail, shows much evidence of sincerely cultivating the Holy Name. I have had much more association with H. H. Radhanatha Swami. In my experience, he clearly exhibits the symptoms of one advanced in sincerely cultivating the Holy Name."
Ravindra Svarupa then goes on to suggest Tirtha should be forgiven because he has acknowledged his sins and is full of regret:
"When there is full acknowledgment of sins and deep regret, Krishna accepts his fallen servant back…"
What Ravindra Svarupa doesn't inform our readers of is that Tirtha has never acknowledge his long list of "sins", which in this case are primarily murders, nor has he ever felt any regret. In fact, in every single interview Tirtha has ever done, he has ridiculed Sulocana time and time again. He still hates Sulocana and feels Sulocana deserved to be killed. Till today, he has still not apologized to Sulocana for the murder.
Tirtha at his first trial
What else Ravindra Svarupa doesn't tell you is this: Tirtha killed Sulocana not because of fear for his guru's safety or any other devotional sentiment, but because he was offered $80,000 US dollars to carry out the hit. Tirtha was not a practicing devotee at all at the time of the murder, he was just a pot smoking low class criminal bum who happened to hang around New Vrindavan because Kirtanananda needed a strong man. Being in the court room at the time of Tirtha's cross examination, Ravindra Svarupa obviously is familiar with the following FBI wire tap, which is a conversation between Tirtha and Randall Gorby (one of the main witnesses against Tirtha and an FBI informant, who was later found murdered before he could testify in the Kirtanananda trial). In this conversation, Tirtha tells his close friend, Randall Gorby, that he was offered $80,000 US dollars to kill Sulochan:
Randal Gorby: "What agreement did you make...
Tirtha: "Well its just that 8 figure.... they actually thought that was a bargain basement price and they were all happy with it.… It was bargain fuckin' basement. I mean you couldn't get any lower than that.... But I don't think he is setting me up. I really don't think Bhaktipada is trying to set me up. That's who Tapahpunja was with."
Of course Ravindra Svarupa is familiar with this FBI wiretap recording, but for some reason he doesn't want to mention it to our readers. Why? Because it shows that Tirtha is the scum of the earth, a low class money grubbing dog, who killed devotees just to get paid. But he did it at "bargain fuckin' basement" prices. So maybe Ravindra Svarupa takes that into some type of devotional consideration when referring to Tirtha as a great devotee.
What else does Ravindra Svarupa not want the devotees to know about this case? Well for starters, it wasn't just the murder of two people. If you counted the New Vrindavan bodies on your fingers you would need to continue on your toes. Here are a few of the unsolved murders linked to New Vrindaban and the leaders of that time (which include Radhanatha Swami, Devamrita Swami, Malati, Umapati Swami, and others):
1) Todd Schenker (former security chief of New Vrindaban for over 10 years) - found shot with a bullet to his brain on April 5th, 1988. Kirtanananda called it a suicide, but amazingly this devotee managed to shoot himself in the head, dispose of the gun, and then set his body on fire - all before dying. Another witness who wouldn't make it to the trials. The police were 100% certain it was a murder:
Sheriff Donald Bordenkircher is not sure whose body was found on property bordering a Hare Krishna commune, or how the man died, but he is certain the death was not suicide.
"While some want us to believe the person found dead was Todd Schenker and that he inflicted a gunshot wound to his head," the sheriff said, "the tale they weave does not seem plausible."
"It was impossible for the victim to shoot himself in the head, burn himself and then dispose of the weapon," he said.
Bordenkircher said authorities recovered two barrels from a semiautomatic pistol and spring and hammer parts from a revolver but failed to find a gun frame.
Bordenkircher said a .22-caliber slug was extracted from the brain. A search through fire debris produced gun parts that were not relative to the case. He said it appears someone took measures to plant evidence at the scene.
What's more, the sheriff said, the fire marshal's office determined the fire was not sufficiently hot to melt the steel or gun frame alloys.
Based on those findings, Bordenkircher said he concluded the death weapon was not to be found but "it appears that some effort was made to put evidence at the fire site.
"The real basis of our investigation is that it's impossible for the victim to shoot himself, burn himself, and then throw the gun away," Bordenkircher said. "It wasn't spontaneous combustion."
Next on the list of murder victims:
2) Taru Das, Thomas Meyers (frequent writer for Back To Godhead and Brijbasi Spirit) - disappeared without a trace in November of 1980. The FBI has been searching for his body for 25 years without any luck. Everyone knew he was murdered, but without a body the FBI has no case. How would the FBI ever find his body under all that concrete? The Palace of Gold had been opened in 1979, but there was still plenty of construction going on to cover a body or two. Ravindra Svarupa, were you the one who made the deal with the FBI not to dig up Prabhupada's Palace of Gold to look for bodies? What was the other deal you made, something about not seizing New Vrindavan's drug money? That money disappeared pretty quickly with the creative accounting at New Vrindavan. Why don't you let the readers know if you got a cut?
Next murder victim:
3) Randall Gorby - He was an FBI informant who became the chief witness against Tirtha in several of the trials. Tirtha had loose lips, and would often brag about his crimes to friends. As soon as Randall heard about the murders, he contacted the FBI and agreed to have his phone tapped (thereby becoming an FBI informant). Gorby was found killed in his pickup truck in July of 1990 with a gunshot wound to his head. Looks like he wouldn't make it to testify against Kirtanananda in the big trial, would he? Radhanatha Swami, you were still a big Kirtanananda man at this time, weren't you? Were you the one taking care of Bhaktipada's loose strings?
Randall Gorby had already survived a murder attempt by New Vrindavan hitmen in 1986. The day after Tirtha had been arrested, Randall Gorby's house blew up, leaving him in critical condition. The official statement was that someone opened up his gas line and filled his house with gas. When he lit a cigarette, the entire house exploded and became a pile of fiery rubble, with him in it. Kirtanananda's public answer: he must have been trying to get free gas by bypassing the gas meter.
Some people say he was also connected with the Philadelphia temple. I'm sure Ravindra Svarupa remembers him, at least the "him" before there was a bullet in his head. There was one other murder attempt on Randall Gorby which occurred on May 28, 1986. We think Ravindra Svarupa knows more details about that one.
Randall Gorby was the person Kirtanananda used to buy up all the land surrounding New Vrindavan. Since the locals didn't want to sell their land to devotees, Kirtanananda paid Randall to secretly buy the land on the devotee's behalf. As a result, New Vrindaban grew to over 3,000 acres. In the end he was rewarded for this work with a bullet to his head.
The next murder victim:
4) Chakradhari Das (Charles St. Dennis) - Tirtha brutally murdered him primarily due to the fact that he still owed Tirtha a $5,000 payment on a house Tirtha sold to him, and he wasn't paying it. Another proof that Tirtha is a money grubbing scumbag, not a great devotee like Malati, Ravindra Svarupa and Umapati claim. The murder was described by prosecutors as follows:
"Prosecutors said St. Denis was shot a dozen times, stabbed, beat with a hammer and finally suffocated with plastic wrap placed in his mouth before he was buried." - Associated Press (August 31, 1986)
For just $5,000, Tirtha shot him a dozen times, stabbed him with a kitchen knife continuously till the blade broke off inside his chest, then took a screw driver and continued stabbing him with it, and finally (when Chakradhari still wouldn't die) he suffocated him with plastic wrap. Dear readers, does he sound like an advanced devotee absorbed in chanting the Holy Name of Krishna, or like the lowest scum in the world? Ravindra Svarupa is an insane lunatic if he thinks this man is a saint. Tirtha has engaged in multiple murders, and each time the consideration has been money. This is why Tirtha's trial in Los Angeles was a "Murder for Hire" trial.
Next murder victims:
5 & 6) Radheya (son of Chakradhari) and Rohini (son of murder accomplice Daruka) - Just month's after Tirtha killed Chakradhari, Chakradhari's son was found suffocated in an abandoned refrigerator. Guess who else was found dead in the same refrigerator? Rohini, the son of Daruka, who was Tirtha's murder accomplice in the killing of Chakradhari. Tirtha had decided to kill the only eye-witness, his murder partner Daruka (because he knew where the body was - no body, no case). But in this instance, the chance to kill Daruka's son along with Chakradhari's son came conveniently along before he acted to kill Daruka. After killing the kids, Tirtha was stopped from taking out Daruka because Bhaktipada didn't approve. This later proved to be a big mistake for Tirtha, as Daruka was the main witness against him in the Chakradhari murder trial.
Daruka was the one who called Chakradhari for the meeting when he was murdered, and he was also the one who ran inside the house to bring Tirtha a kitchen knife and screw driver after Tirtha ran out of bullets.
The rumor New Vrindavan leaders spread throughout ISKCON was that the children were playing hide and seek. But why wasn't there another kid looking for them? How do you play hide and seek with only two people, when both of you are hiding in the same abandoned refrigerator?
Next murder victim:
7) 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.
Coincidentally, as mentioned above, Chakradhari's son also died mysteriously at New Vrindavan (in 1984) just months after his father was murdered by Tirtha Das. His son was found suffocated inside an abandoned refrigerator. Is it merely a coincidence that the two people Tirtha murdered also had their sons die mysteriously within a few months of their father's being killed? It is much more likely that the conspiracy leader ordered the sons to be killed, knowing that they would grow up to avenge their father's murders, likely killing the New Vrindavan leaders responsible. Tirtha was in prison at the time of the drowning, so there were many other murderers at the command of New Vrindavan's leaders. Randall Gorby had also been killed while Tirtha was in prison, as was Todd Schenker.
Next victim:
8) Unknown body from 1977 - The morning the Tirtha trial began, the FBI announced that an informant had told them the location of a body that had been buried in 1977 in the forest. Kirtanananda replies to reporters: "It certainly isn't what's his name… Chuck St. Denis. This body is from 6 years before."
Next victims:
9 & 10) Two unidentified bodies discovered in 1986 - In 1986, a construction crew repairing the temple pond accidentally uncovered the remains of two bodies (a male and a female). The FBI immediately came to investigate. The official reply from New Vrindavan was that one of the two had died from "accidental asphyxiation in his car". After further digging, more bodies were found along with these two.
Dear Ravindra Svarupa, is it common ISKCON practice to dump bodies under construction sites? Is that the official way ISKCON disposes of dearly departed Vaishnavas? All this time I thought we cremated our dead, and put the ashes into holy rivers. But perhaps Ravindra Svarupa wants us to believe it is ISKCON policy to dump dead bodies under construction sites? When New Vrindavan had 3,000 acres of land, why did they have to "bury" their dearly departed Vaishnavas under the concrete of Prabhupada's Palace of Gold? They couldn't find empty land anywhere on that 3,000 acres? They could only find a proper unmarked burial ground under the construction site of the Palace of Gold? Ravindra Svarupa, is that how bodies of departed devotees in Philadelphia are buried as well? Do you dump their bodies under the Philadelphia temple construction site?
When Kirtanananda was asked by a reporter why the bodies have been desecrated like this, he replied, "What does it matter what you do with a dead body? What's it worth? A dead body, as far as we're concerned, is another piece of earth. We put them in the ground and forget about them. And we don't see any reason to mark them." That's a pretty convenient answer, but unfortunately it isn't what is taught by Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada never taught us to dump dead bodies under the concrete construction sites of his temple projects.
Next murder victim:
11) Sulocana Das (Steven Bryant) - Killed by Tirtha Das, allegedly on the order of Radhanatha Swami in 1986. This has already been discussed in detail in previous articles, so we will not get into it here. As mentioned above, Sulocana's son was also killed just months after he was murdered.
In summary, New Vrindavan was a terrible criminal empire that engaged in every type of illegal activity, and openly killed anyone who got in the way, even if they happened to be lawyers, government officers, or devotees. For example, the FBI says Tirtha planned to kill attorney Dave Gold because he was representing a party in a property dispute against Kirtanananda. Tirtha had been overheard bragging that he had followed Gold into the forests at night on several occasions, and the only reason he hadn't killed him yet was because he didn't find a good spot for it.
The FBI has also said that Tirtha planned to kill the Marshall County Assessor, Alfred Clark, because he was attempting to levy heavier taxes on the commercial aspects of New Vrindavan.
Maha Mantra Das has also stated that, while looking for a place to dispose of Sulocana's body, Tirtha spoke of hiding other bodies as well, such as the body of Dhira Krishna (former Swami and former President of Los Angeles ISKCON temple).
The day Kirtanananda's first trial verdict was overturned, the main prosecutor, William Kolibash, was fired upon while driving down the road. The bullet only struck the car's tire. The shooter has never been identified, but we don't need to guess who was behind it.
The above list is a fraction of the murders that have occurred at New Vrindavan during the time Kirtanananda was in charge. Due to the wandering lifestyle of devotees, it was very easy to cover the disappearance of an unmarried devotee by saying they had left for India, or that they had gone to another temple. In most cases we have only come to know of disappearances when a family member has brought up the matter in public. In the case of devotees who had no wives or children, no one would even think for a second where they were if they disappeared. Thus the true number of murdered devotees at New Vrindavan can never be known. Anyone who disappeared after passing through New Vrindavan is a potential murder victim.
As has been proven by court testimony, many devotees at New Vrindavan were aware that these murders were taking place. It is ludicrous to suggest Radhanatha Swami, a senior leader and right hand man of Kirtanananda, had no knowledge that such murders were occurring. How was it possible for Sulocana to write in his book "The Guru Business" (in 1985 before the trial had even begun) that Tirtha and Daruka killed Chakradhari? He wrote:
"Many devotees within "ISKCON" have been attacked with deadly weapons. Indeed, Chakraddhari was murdered at New Vrndavana by Daruka and Tirtha with the help and inspiration of the Temple treasurer, Dulal Chandra. This incident is well-known to all at New Vmdavana, so much so that Kuladri was having to make frequent announcements to the devotees during Prasadam: "If the police come and ask any questions regarding Chakraddhari, you don't know anything." We personally heard this said." - Sulochan, "The Guru Business" (Chapter 6 was written around July of 1985)
How did he know Daruka was an accomplice in the murder? The reason was because everyone at New Vrindavan knew who had killed Chakradhari. That everyone obviously included the leaders of New Vrindavan such as Radhanatha Swami. Despite having full knowledge that such murders were taking place, Radhanatha Swami continued to support Kirtanananda till 1993, and allegedly personally ordered the murder of Sulocana himself.
Tirtha was one of the main hitmen in Kirtanananda's arsenal, but there were many others, as well. Many of the murders listed above were committed by Tirtha, but some were committed by his partners while he was in prison. In either case, as an accomplice in these crimes he is equally guilty of other murders that have occurred at New Vrindavan. He is fully aware of the system of corruption and the lead players involved in the killings, but refuses to reveal these truths. The fact that he sits in jail pretending that there were only two murders is proof that he has not repented for his crimes. Ravindra Svarupa is also aware that all of these murders have taken place, but he tries to portray Tirtha as a great saint and devotee fully absorbed in chanting the Lord's Holy Names. Ravindra Svarupa, you are a bigger fraud than Tirtha.
Let us first look at a few of Ravindra Svarupa's other statements before we talk about his spiritual qualification to judge Tirtha's remorse.
Ravindra Svarupa states firmly:
He speaks quite positively about this, almost as though he hopes his confidence will make it true. But with the number of dead bodies buried under New Vrindavan soil and Prabhupada's Palace of Gold it takes only a single witness to swing things around and bring the FBI back with shovels. In addition to this, there are countless cases that can be filed against individuals involved. For example, Kirtanananda has never been found guilty of child molestation despite being a notorious pedophile. Ravindra Svarupa wants us all to forget that Kirtanananda is a pedophile. He tells us there is no way the FBI will reopen cases against past criminal ISKCON leaders. But the truth is they may well open the case the second a witness agrees to testify against Kirtanananda. The same goes for all of the child molesters in New Vrindavan, including Ravindra Svarupa's good friend, Sri Galima. They pray that the cases are all closed and that they will never be reopened, but the second a new witness comes to testify, all of these rascals can be back in court waiting in line for their justice.
For New Vrindavan, it only requires the location of a single body for the FBI to be back with the digging equipment. Are you so sure, Ravindra Svarupa, that no one knows the location of a single body? Do you want to bet on that? Witnesses are coming forward every day now, and if ISKCON does not investigate and punish the criminals who ruled New Vrindavan (such as suspects Radhanatha Swami, Malati, Devamrita Swami, and Umapati Swami) then information will end up coming out in the public, and there may be digging equipment back at New Vrindavan before you know it.
You have never tried to prosecute any of the criminals at New Vrindavan, neither the murderers nor the pedophiles. You are the one rascal who has seriously betrayed the devotees twice: 1) once with your fake guru reform, just to become a guru yourself; 2) twice, when you pretended to investigate New Vrindavan crimes, but allegedly ended up taking a cut of New Vrindavan's drug money and reappointing every single Kirtanananda henchman back to power. As long as Kirtanananda was pushed aside to give you more zone to guru in, you didn't mind who stayed in power. Kuladri, Tapahpunja, Nityodita, Radhanatha Swami, Malati, Candramauli Swami, Varshana Swami, Umapati Swami - every last one was promoted by you! How does that work? In exchange for pushing Kirtanananda aside, did you promote all of his leading henchmen to power - plus you got a cut of the money? Sweet! We get Bhavananda in Mayapur, Ravindra in Philly, and Radhanatha in New Vrindavan. Now the nectar is flowing.
Ravindra Svarupa goes on to say:
"Some time later, Michael Stein told me that he had concluded--from his talk with Maharaja and whatever else he'd gathered from the government's investigation--that Radhanatha Swami was not implicated in any of the criminal activities in New Vrindavan. I think the federal prosecution had better judgment and more disinterested intentions than anyone now calling its decisions into question."
Ravindra Svarupa pretends he doesn't know what happened with Radhanatha Swami's involvement. Let me go along with your game of fake amnesia and remind you. After Kirtanananda went to prison, slowly Radhanatha Swami became the big guru in New Vrindavan, taking over where Kirtanananda left off. One of his main converts was Tirtha, the notorious murderer whom you love. Already Tirtha had been sentenced to death in California for the Sulocana murder, and he had nothing to look forward to in prison. At the same time, Radhanatha Swami was getting pressured by the FBI in the case, and he risked being implicated. At this point he got together with his new disciple Tirtha, who was also being offered a deal from the FBI. If Tirtha would testify against Kirtanananda, they would remove his death sentence and he would only have to serve life without parole. Tirtha then spoke to them about his friend and guru, Radhanatha Swami. He would agree to testify only if they agreed not to prosecute Radhanatha at all. The prosecutors did not have a solid case against Kirtanananda without Tirtha's testimony, so they agreed to let Radhanatha Swami go in exchange for catching the "big criminal cult leader". In this way Radhanatha Swami became the real card holder in the case. Tirtha wouldn't budge unless he gave the word, so the prosecutors had no choice but to play to the tune of Radhanatha Swami and keep him completely out of any accusation.
Ravindra states:
"As some of you may recall, in 1987 the North American GBC decided that, for the protection of Srila Prabhupada's movement, it should cooperate with the government in its case against Kirtanananda Swami and others. On several occasions, I was able to observe at first hand the thorough and systematic way the team of prosecution lawyers and FBI agents made their cases not only against Kirtanananda but against many of his lieutenants and foot-soldiers. So far as I could see, the government was thorough and relentless."
If that is true, then please show me the big list of pedophiles, murderers and criminals who are now serving the life sentences that they deserve. The funniest thing is that the only criminals who were implicated besides Kirtanananda all happen to be current ISKCON leaders. Can you please give me the long list of names that you consider to be Kirtanananda's many lieutenants and foot-soldiers? Since you have made a very particular verifiable statement, please give me the long list of Kirtanananda's evil criminal henchmen who have been caught and punished by the government. The truth is, all of Kirtanananda's leaders escaped without punishment at all, except for some ridiculous plea bargain cases for "mail fraud". This was a criminal empire of murder, drug smuggling, rape and child molestation - but all you can show me is one man who pleaded guilty to mail fraud and served one year in jail. You're an idiot Ravindra Svarupa, that's all I can really say about you. You're a Ph.D certified idiot.
Ravindra Svarupa goes on to say:
"I am certain that any investigation of our own will serve only to cause distress, agitation, doubts, and so on, without getting us one millimeter closer to a firmer resolution."
Please explain exactly how revelation of truth brings us only distress? From what the rest of the worldwide devotees can see, the only distress will come to the criminals who you are propping up and protecting - the pedophiles, murderers and rapists. Hiding the truth about corruption, murder, rape and child molestation does not bring us closer to resolution, it takes us away from it. You have attempted to hide the truth for the last 20 years because the truth includes some unpleasant facts about yourself - like perhaps how you sold out ISKCON for a cut in Kirtanananda's drug money, how you propped up a known murderer to keep the silence amongst your gang of ex-Kirtanananda henchmen, how you put an AIDS infected lesbian on the GBC because she and her friends knew your involvement in the post-Kirtanananda "restructuring" of the zone.
Regarding murderer Tirtha, your letter is filled primarily with lies:
"Concerning Tirtha Prabhu: Shortly after the "Winnebago incident" in 1993 had undeniably disclosed Kirtanananda's sexual transgressions and shattered his facade for good, I happen to be at a former New Vrindavan center in Ohio. I was told that Tirtha was on the phone, and he wanted to talk to me. Speaking from jail, Tirtha told me that now he understood that Kirtanananda was not a pure devotee, and therefore that he himself, who had killed two devotees on Kirtanananda's order, was guilty of murder."
You make it out as though overnight, Tirtha had changed after hearing about Kirtanananda's sexual problems - suddenly he was a changed man. The "Winnebago incident" occurred in 1993, and Tirtha testified against Kirtanananda in 1996. Three years elapsed between the time Kirtananada was publicly exposed as a homosexual and when Tirtha testified. The Winnebago incident was not what led Tirtha to testify against Kirtanananda, it was the offer from the FBI: no charges against Radhanatha Swami, and no death penalty for him.
When he gave death to others he was a tough man, but when it came to his own death sentence he was a coward. Rather than accept it as " Krishna's wish" like you claim in your letter, he worked hard to get out of his due punishment. When he killed Chakradhari, he cited the seven aggressors who are fit to be killed - one of which is a murderer. Why then does he back out of this and no longer think he should be executed? He is a shameless coward who killed people for money. In other words, he is the lowest scum of this earth, and anyone who tries to paint him as a saintly devotee is of a similar nature.
You wrote:
On one side you say we shouldn't speak any of the truths surrounding this case, because it will only cause "distress", then you immediately say telling the truth is the best form of atonement. So make up your mind. Which one are you, a hypocrite or a liar? If you really are saying both things, then you are clearly a hypocrite, or if you don't actually believe that telling the whole truth is the best form of atonement, then you are a liar.
You said:
"He should go on record, answer all the government's questions truthfully, and he should ask for nothing in exchange. Tirtha said that other devotees had told him the exact same thing."
But you left off the real facts of the matter. Tirtha did not go to them asking for "nothing in exchange". Tirtha specifically asked for his death sentence to be dropped and for Radhanatha Swami to be protected from prosecution. What you have done here is tried to intentionally mislead the readers. You knew Tirtha asked for these conditions, yet you carefully worded your letter so readers would assume Tirtha never asked for anything.
Just see the nonsense you have attempted here: "He should ask for nothing in exchange" …… and "Tirtha said other devotees also told him to ask for nothing in exchange"….. but you left off the real fact that Tirtha actually did ask for everything in exchange for his testimony. What you told him to do and what the other devotees told him to do is not what he actually did. But you intentionally left that out to fool the readers.
This was without doubt intentionally done on your part to mislead the devotees into thinking Tirtha was selflessly interested in testifying only for the sake of truth. He killed for money and he testified to save his own neck - these are the real facts of Tirtha Das.
You state:
In jail, Tirtha told me: "I belong in here."
Then why don't you go ask him why he and Malati have been working on getting a pardon so he can be released? Everything you people say is just rubbish and lies to fool the kind and trusting devotees.
You state:
"When there is full acknowledgment of sins and deep regret, Krishna accepts his fallen servant back, for which undeserved mercy the servant feels unlimited and unending gratitude. In this way the fallen soul goes back to Godhead."
But in the case of Tirtha Das, he has never fully acknowledged his roll in the dozens of murders that have occurred at New Vrindavan. He has never acknowledged his roll in any of the crimes, except for the purpose of being freed from his death sentence. In all of his personal trials he has always declared himself completely innocent. Only in the trial of Kirtanananda has he admitted to the murders, and that also only to have his death sentence dropped. He has never admitted regret for his killing of Sulocana. In all of his interviews he has always blamed Sulocana for the killing, saying he deserved it for what he was doing. He has never publicly apologized to Sulocana for the terrible offense he has committed against him and to all the devotees in the world whom he has harmed. He is a greedy hitman who killed devotees just to get money to buy drugs. Ask anyone who knew him at the time and they will say the same thing. If you gave him money and told him to kill Srila Prabhupada, he would have tried it. That is how much of a wretched scumbag this person was.
Up till this day he has been unable and unwilling to acknowledge his sins in this matter. Additionally, you also have been unwilling to acknowledge your sins in the New Vrindavan plunder that followed Kirtanananda's arrest. You yourself state in your letter the following, which fully explains why you have stopped progressing:
"If, however, a devotee becomes unwilling or unable to acknowledge his sins and offenses, his progress stops."
Instead of seeing you progressing in spiritual life, the devotees are seeing videos of you throwing a water bottle at the face of another devotee and yelling "how is your slut wife and your bastard kids". Quite shocking language coming from an ISKCON guru who is supposed to be a pure devotee of the Lord. The obvious reason for this fallen behavior is because you are unwilling to acknowledge your sins and offenses to Srila Prabhupada. By reinstalling all of Kirtanananda's henchmen as leaders of New Vrindavan, allegedly in exchange for a cut of the drug money, you have offended all of the victims of their past crimes.
In an attempt to keep the secrets of your past covered you are again coming to the protection of Radhanatha Swami, even though all evidence points to him as being the leader in the Sulocana murder conspiracy. Radhanatha Swami is a sinking ship, and whoever comes to prop him up is going to go down with him as well. It is wonderful that you have come forward to make your defense of him public, so that when the truth is fully revealed you will have sunk along with him.
Let more of your gang of conspirators come forward to pat each other on the back in public, because when the FBI files are released to the devotee community you will be the ones on the Titanic.
Ravindra Svarupa concludes his letter by threatening all of the devotees searching for the truth behind the Sulocana murder:
"I pray to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna to send one of their agents to help these two devotees before they fall further and further into mortal danger."
Which agent does Ravindra Svarupa plan to send to threaten us about our impending mortal danger - that danger that brings mortality or death to our physical bodies? Now that Tirtha is in prison for life, has Ravindra Svarupa found a replacement hitman to take care of all the truth seekers? Does Ravindra Svarupa plan to bury all of us whistle blowers under the Philadelphia temple construction site, like they used to do at New Vrindavan? Who can tell for sure, but I am certain Ravindra Svarupa will explain his threat more fully in his next letter.
In the meantime, let me bring the readers up to date with Ravindra Svarupa's involvement in truth, reformation and justice. He is the first person I have seen who defined "guru reform" as making himself one of the corrupt gurus. In 1985, while pretending to fight for "guru reform," he ended up throwing out all of his godbrothers after getting the Zonal Acarya's to accept him as a member of the elite guru club. Even though he knew Bhavananda was engaged in homosexual activities, he still went along with him and supported him to continue acting as a guru in ISKCON. Later after his "guru reform" years, he took to reforming ISKCON justice by bringing the desperado criminals to justice at New Vrindavan. He made an agreement with the FBI so they wouldn't go after the New Vrindavan drug money in exchange for getting Kirtanananda behind bars. But to do that, he had to let the entire New Vrindavan leadership off the hook, and left them all in power. Together they allegedly divided the leftover money from the drug smuggling days, and they declared that justice had been served.
Ravindra Svarupa didn't care that not a single pedophile child molester in New Vrindavan had been brought to justice. He did not care that there were dozens of unsolved murders and disappearances connected with New Vrindavan. He did not care that some of the murderers were getting better treatment than the victims. He had to cover for them because they covered for him. Like the old saying of using a thorn to remove a thorn, Ravindra Svarupa expanded his zone, and apparently increased his bank balance, by using these criminals to remove the big criminal leader, Kirtanananda. But in exchange he needed to rewrite the meaning of justice to include promoting all of the past leaders to higher posts, providing high paying salaries to them, letting them take over all of the New Vrindavan lands, and letting the child molesters move next door to him.
For example, rather than pushing for Kirtanananda to be retried for his rampant child molestation, he demanded devotees to not dig up the past. "Let the bygones be bygones" and "forgive and forget". The only problem with this is that all of the victims are out in the road begging, while Ravindra and his compadres are enjoying the fruits of Kirtanananda's crimes - all in the name of justice.
Another example, rather than get New Vrindaban's number one pedophile, Sri Galima (Gary Gardner), sent to prison, Ravindra Svarupa told everyone to forget about it, and welcomed him to move next door. He didn't want to disturb anyone by bringing up all the past bad news. Instead he invited him over to Pittsburgh, where he has set up his own religious society (Krishna Ministry), and collects around $100,000 USD a year (see TaxExemptWorld.com).
If you're in the neighborhood, go ahead and say hello to Sri Galima (Gary Gardner). Mention that Ravindra Svarupa sent you:
KRISHNA MINISTRY
c/o GARY GARDNER
3080 MCMILLAN RD
PITTSBURGH , PA 15205
KRISHNA MINISTRY
620 LEE DR APT 138
MOON TWP, PA 15108-1250
Ravindra Svarupa's pedophile friend, Sri Galima, spends his free time trying to create another New Vrindavan in Austin, Texas, one where he himself is the Kirtanananda, with over 30 acres of land to molest:
But since everyone knows his pedophile past, he now goes by the guru title Sriji instead of Sri Gamila. The good news is that ex-pedophile Sriji offers counseling through email to troubled and confused people, for just $30 per session:
"Here you have various methods to engage in counseling for any problem you may have, either it be spiritual or material, the source is spiritual. You can e-mail Sriji das to setup counseling times, in which you can communicate over the phone or via e-mail. Costs are $30 per hour for phone counseling."
And when he isn't busy trying to spiritually counsel people for $30 an hour, he is looking for a hot date at VeggieDate.org. You can see his dating ad here, but for some reason he left off the part about himself being a child molester. In the ad, he states: "Forgiveness and the ability to move on are important to me." Hey, that's the same thing Ravindra Svarupa keeps telling us. Why are the criminals always the ones who say the victims need to forgive and move on? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they do not want to be held accountable for their past crimes.
So in summary, I would just like to say, "Thank you Ravana Svarupa". Because of rascals like you, New Vrindavan's pedophiles and murderers are walking free and being glorified as saints who have "developed strong absorption in the Lord's Holy Names," while honest questioners like Giri-nayaka das are criticized as "full-time fault finders". Thank you, Ravana Svarupa, for the justice and reform you have brought to ISKCON.
Having concluded my 2 cents worth on "New Vrindavan, for the Record", I will now sit quietly and await your philosophically charged reply: "Navadvipchandra Das, how is your slut wife and your bastard kids." ….just wait one second while I get my video camera ready.
