Spotlight on Laguna Beach ISKCON
BY: BHAKTIN DAWN
Jan 24, 2011 — LAGUNA BEACH, CALIFORNIA (SUN) — Breaking Vaisnava principles - Part 1.
As we all know from the days of Srila Prabhupada, he established many preaching programs that would help him spread the message of Lord Chaitanya. Book distribution, Hari Nama, Prasadam distribution, college preaching and having strong temple programs were the key to success in Krsna Consciousness. All those programs brought many devotees into the fold and we can't calculate the number of people that were spiritually awakened.
There has been through the years a great loss of the very system that Srila Prabhupada wanted us to follow. It is a very simple format that would be very easy to follow. Or so you would think. I have read through the last few years the heart wrenching stories about devotees having so much trouble within ISKCON because of very BAD leadership, and no real solution to fix the terrible injustices to those devotees that want to serve Prabhupada and his instructions. I myself never met Srila Prabhupada, but I have been told "You didn't need to meet him to know his desires or mood".
I sit here today with a heavy heart, troubled by what I see and know. ISKCON Laguna Beach with it's leader Tukaram das (if you can call him that ) along with the GBC Badrinarayana das have and continue to do a great injustice that Srila Prabhupada would clearly be displeased with, to say it mildly. I have heard many stories about Srila Prabhupada becoming very upset at his followers. So much so that you would almost melt. I wonder how Tukaram das and Badrinarayana das sleep at night; my guess is with no guilty conscience.
Let me explain the details to this story: For many years now the Laguna Beach Temple has been engaged in the Christmas Marathon, if you can call it that. Tukaram has developed a widespread business that is called The Calendar Club. This he does in all the malls from San Diego to Los Angeles. I don't know the number of locations he has, but I personally have seen 10 locations, each making a lot of money. I talked to a devotee and asked him how much he makes in a day. He told me that during the month of December, he made $10,000 a day. WOW!
Now I along with most people don't mind the effort to make money, but in this case I have a huge problem with what is sold and who sells it. All the locations are staffed with devotees. Some very young, some married women and some men with sikhas, all wearing Tulasi neck beads.
Now as the plot thickens, I went from location to location looking at the inventory. What a SHOCK!!!! There are games that are totally sexual in nature. One item says on the box 'SEX and many ways to have it', another says the WINE LOVERS Calendar. In another area were the most explicit calendars showing women with skimpy sexual attire. Some from PLAYBOY, some from MAXIM, both considered pornographic material. Yes, that's right, the temple president selling calendars with almost naked women on them.
I have many pictures, so Tukaram Das cannot talk his way out of this one, which he and Badrinarayana are so expert at. The pictures speak for themselves. Most are too offensive to post, but if you want to see them you can request them from me at: dawnelsberg@yahoo.com. I will be glad to send anyone a FULL file of Playboy, Maxim, etc., naked girls with all kinds of skimpy outfits full of sex porno.
I remember once I stood by the gift shop in the San Diego temple and overheard Badrinarayana say his system is to "check and verify". Well Badrinarayana das, have you checked and verified the temple president's business concepts and his sale items? Where is your checking on him? Or are you getting money from him to fund your own lifestyle? Of course, you'll deny this. You never come out for the truth, do you? You hide behind your title and the cult you have created.
How an officer of ISKCON stoops so low to make money is clearly offensive and stinks of corruption. We have been given the greatest gift, the chanting of the Holy Name, Prasadam, and all the wonderful things Srila Prabhupada wanted for ALL his followers.
You can just picture Srila Prabhupada taking a tour of Tukaram's business locations and seeing these images. What would he say, what would he do? Well most of us know that answer. Tukaram das would be replaced and disqualified as a representative of ISKCON.
How can you call yourself a follower of Srila Prabhupada and sell porno? The temple devotees should rise up and call for his resignation. He is not fit to have the service of temple president, is he? I say again, when will you rise up and stand for the principles that Prabhupada has left us?? Show the new devotees like myself that what I see is clearly a fraud and will be stopped. You can't play both sides. It's being a fake and phony. Tell me I'm wrong if you can, spin doctors...
Also, just ask them when they go out on book distribution, Hari Nama, Prasadam distribution, etc. You won't get a straight answer because they don't do these activities. As I heard Tukaram say, "It's just too much work." Strange, because I thought that when you serve as the temple president, that means hard work. But you won't see Tukaram doing that. You will see him going to the martial arts studio to practice Jujitsu all during the week. When I visited Laguna Temple on various holidays we all went out on Hari Nama. This is done only a few times a year, but I never saw Tukaram. If you do see him or Badri, they are always with some Indian devotees, trying to pull down some money.
This state of affairs has nothing to do with following Srila Prabhupada. It's all about MONEY, that's the long and short of it. It is very clear that they have little concern for the principles of Vaisnavism. Now they are selling porno!! I also wonder why it is that NO Prabhupada men or women come forward? Why no one but a new devotee comes out and calls a spade a spade.
I have also been told that Srila Prabhupada was very fair, frank, firm and most times, friendly. So let's be those things, let's call for Tukaram's resignation NOW. Get him out of that wonderful temple and make a new start.
