ISKCON Bangalore bricht das Schweigen

Es herrschte jahrelanges Rätselraten – was genau ist die Situation in Bangalore?

Madhu Pandit Prabhu berichtet nun über seinen Kampf in den vergangenen Jahren und die Ungewißheit was noch kommen wird.  JPS lasse nicht locker und habe die besten Anwälte angeheuert um per Gerichtsbeschluß den Bangalore Tempel räumen zu lassen.

Der jahrelange Psychoterror mit endlosen Prozesslawinen ist ein kaum zumutbarer Zustand für all die Devotees in Bangalore, die aber dennoch das Unmögliche möglich machen und nicht nur die meisten Bücher verteilen, sondern täglich für 1 Mio Schulkinder ein warmes Mittagessen zubereiten .

Legal History of ISKCON-Bangalore Society

ISKCON-Bangalore was registered under Karnataka Societies Registration Act at Bangalore in May 1978 as a legally independent society with objectives similar to the objectives of the first society, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. that Srila Prabhupada founded personally in 1966 at New York. Since then, ISKCON-Bangalore society is functioning in Bangalore as a member of the worldwide confederation of ISKCON temples.

ISKCON-Bangalore was registered by Shankabrit Dasa under the direction of Hamsadutta Swami, the then member of the original Governing Body Commission appointed by Srila Prabhupada, who was in charge of Bangalore.

In the year 2001, several hundreds of fanatic disciples of the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ made a vain attempt to physically storm Bangalore temple and throw out the devotees of ISKCON Bangalore and take illegal possession of the temple property. In defense of this ISKCON-Bangalore was obliged to file a suit being OS No.7934/01 seeking an order of injunction restraining ISKCON Bombay Society and others from interfering with our possession of the temple property. The Trial Court did not grant the injunction, but an appeal filed before the Hon’ble High Court granted the injunction sought for. The said order was confirmed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The matter is pending adjudication.

When the matter stands thus, absurd propaganda is being made by the agents of the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ that Madhu Pandit Dasa ‘created’ the ISKCON-Bangalore society to grab the property of the temple on Hare Krishna Hill. This misinformation is indeed entirely false, baseless and ridiculous since Madhu Pandit Dasa joined ISKCON movement only in 1981, whereas the ISKCON-Bangalore society was registered as early as 1978.

It was the direction of Srila Prabhupada to register legally independent societies in the name and style of international Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) all over the world. In Dec. 1972, Srila Prabhupada wrote to one of his senior disciples, “Never mind there may be botheration to register each centre, take tax certificate each, become separate corporations in each state.” (Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Karandhara Das, Bombay, 22nd Dec 1972). Accordingly, today, there are hundreds of ISKCON societies incorporated all over the world. It was on the basis of this worldwide practice, that the then GBC member in charge of Karnataka, Hamsaduta Swami, directed Shankabrit Dasa to register the ISKCON-Bangalore society in Bangalore.

Struggle by the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore

Since 1999, the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore took upon themselves to seriously question this faulty guru system and made an appeal that ISKCON embrace the system planned by Srila Prabhupada.

The devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore are not the first to make this attempt. Nor are they alone in this struggle. They are joined by thousands of sincere devotees all over the world. Unfortunately these sincere devotees, having been driven out of ISKCON temples due to their questioning of the guru system in the past, are no more within the walls of ISKCON temples. Having raised their voice of dissent against the guru system, they became victims of persecution by the gurus and have been driven away from the ISKCON temples. They warned the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore,“Do not raise this issue, lest you be driven out of ISKCON by the guru mafia!”

The irreverent oxymoron ‘guru mafia’

For several years, the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore had also been misled to follow the self-proclaimed guru system. Being used to the wrong culture, the first time they heard the expression ‘guru mafia’, they were alarmed. It sounded very irreverent and overstated. But as soon as they made an attempt to clarify their concerns about the guru system, and plead that the system set by Srila Prabhupada be followed, they had to face the wrath of the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’. The Governing Body Commission (GBC, now consisting mostly of self-proclaimed ‘gurus’) resolved to expel the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore and take over the Bangalore temple. There was no place in their system for doubts or inquiry. Anyone who ‘dared’ to raise a genuine question with concern for the Movement at large had to suffer such dire consequences.

Subsequently after seeing the various vicious devices that these self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ have planned and executed to attack the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore, they now realize the expression ‘guru mafia’ is not overstated.

Torment and test for the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore

ISKCON-Bangalore has always attracted well-educated full-time devotees from cultured backgrounds. These missionaries have given up promising and lucrative careers and bright futures to pursue the spiritual path taught by Srila Prabhupada. Since 1999, they are in the midst of the struggle, come what may, to question and sort out the wrong practices of the ISKCON guru system.

Much to the dismay and horror of the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore, they have had to face unimaginable trauma caused by the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ and their fanatical disciples who jumped into action. The self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ tried to drive them away from the Bangalore temple, malign them within ISKCON and in public, challenged their right to serve in ISKCON. They even went to the extent of threatening some of their lives!

The years that followed 1999 have been years of intense torment and testing for the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore. The self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ under the support of ISKCON-Mumbai (which is represented and controlled by the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’), have left no stones unturned in their ferocious attempts to destroy the lives and spiritual pursuits of the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore.

Self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ twist to the struggle

The ISKCON Sri Radha Krishna Mandir at Bangalore was built by the donations of the people of Karnataka. And it is regarded as the richest ISKCON temple in the world. The self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ naturally grew jealous of the wealth associated with this temple. They have been unable to tolerate that this opulence is not available for themselves. And over and above this, the devotees of this rich and popular temple were shaking the very foundations of their guru system! This became unbearable to the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’.

The self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ have been making various attempts to get hold of the ISKCON Bangalore temple and convert the good work being done by the devotees here to add to their following, wealth and assets.

The devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore have been taking shelter of the judicial system of the country in order to protect their services to Srila Prabhupada’s movement and the society. Only the orders from the various courts have helped them in this matter. The self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ and their disciples have been restrained, by the court orders, from interfering with the affairs of ISKCON-Bangalore.

When the grapes turned sour for the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’, they quickly turned the tables around. They started projecting to the public, the struggle against the flawed guru system by the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore, as strife for personal gain.

Next, the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ began to malign the character of Madhu Pandit Dasa, who has been leading this struggle against the current guru system, in an attempt to discredit the position he advocates. They have described the struggle as a battle for “personal gain” and an attempt to “siphon off funds and assets to trusts of family members”! Damaging attempts have been made in the media, among our supporters, government officials and the general public to tarnish and taint the cause of the devotees of ISKCON Bangalore.

Ironically before 1999, the GBCs praised Madhu Pandit Dasa and others, for their service to the movement in developing the Bangalore temple project since 1984.

Until the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore started questioning the flawed self-proclaimed ‘guru’ system, and Madhu Pandit Dasa was regarded as “an asset to our leadership in ISKCON,” and appreciated for “maintaining excellent standards ethically and morally.”

* “Madhu Pandit Dasa has been the President of the Bangalore center for the past 14 years. His dedication and contribution to the movement is laudable. He has maintained excellent standards ethically and morally. He is an asset to our leadership in ISKCON and is highly respected by other leaders of our society. He has contributed immensely for the growth of the movement in Karnataka.” Letter by Gopal Krishna Goswami (GBC member and one of the self-proclaimed guru) dated November 4th, 1998.

* “I have known him (Madhu Pandit Dasa) for 18 years and I stand for his personal integrity in this matter. …Hence it is unfair and unethical on the part of any one who is indulging in this personal vilification campaign.” Letter by Jayapataka Swami (GBC member and one of the self-proclaimed guru) dated November 4th, 1998.

This compliment was bestowed as late as in November 1998. But once the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore started questioning the flawed guru system post 1999, the impressions were turned around 180 degrees overnight! All of a sudden, Madhu Pandit Dasa became the black sheep.

Harassment to Life Patron Members of ISKCON-Bangalore

It was Srila Prabhupada’s mandate that the Life Patrons enrolled by all the ISKCON centers be honored as guests in every other center all over the world, and be provided with accommodation. This is the basis of the International Life Patron Membership program. Lakhs of Life Patron members have been enrolled all over the world under this scheme. Thousands of Life Patron members from all over India and abroad have availed of the Guest House facility at ISKCON-Bangalore in the last ten years. Similarly thousands of Life Patron members enrolled by ISKCON-Bangalore have availed of the guest house facilities in ISKCON centers around the world, wherever available, over the last two decades.

Since the past few months, ISKCON-Mumbai and ISKCON-Tirupati have started denying guest house accommodation to the Life Patron members of ISKCON-Bangalore. This is yet another device to harass the Life Patrons enrolled by ISKCON-Bangalore. However, in ISKCON-Bangalore we continue to follow Srila Prabhupada’s instruction, and continue to graciously offer guest house facility to the Life Patron members of other ISKCON centers in India and abroad.

In spite of the order of the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka against interfering with the affairs of ISKCON-Bangalore, mischief is being created by ISKCON-Mumbai by misusing the list of life patrons of ISKCON-Bangalore by shooting out unsigned letters of allegations against Madhu Pandit Dasa to all the donors. This has necessitated clarifying our position to all of you through this supplementary issue.

Those patrons/donors needing accommodation in Mumbai, Tirupati and Chennai, are requested to call directly to 080-2347 1956 / 2357 8346 Extn: 4107 / 351. ISKCON-Bangalore has made alternative accommodation in these places for ISKCON-Bangalore life patrons/donors.

The devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore were shocked and horrified to learn of an email correspondence among the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ revealing diabolical plans to suppress Madhu Pandit Dasa! The very same self-proclaimed ‘guru’ whom Madhu Pandit Dasa had been misled to worship for over fifteen years as ‘as good as God’ (on his claim that he was appointed guru by Srila Prabhupada), was planning to fabricate false criminal cases against him to quell the deliberations that he and the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore had raised against the current guru system:

* “By the way, our new legal advisors have given us some new ideas that civil route is very slow, but the criminal route is quicker. Madhu Pandit Dasa has good reputation, but it does not take long to lose it if we do criminal cases against him.” Jayapataka Swami (GBC member and one of the self-proclaimed guru), (2001) email message TEXT PAMHO:4259580.

Added to this, the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ are unable to come to terms with the stellar growth of ISKCON-Bangalore’s activities all over India, especially through the Akshaya Patra program, which is feeding about ten lakh children everyday! This has been possible only by the blessings of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Krishna-chandra and Srila Prabhupada. However, this growth is perceived by the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ as an implicit strengthening of the position advocated by the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore in the guru system debate.

The devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore are determined to stand together against all odds to see that ISKCON-Bangalore, a legally independent society registered in Karnataka, is dedicated unto Srila Prabhupada’s service alone, and not for the self-aggrandizement of the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’. ISKCON-Bangalore is Srila Prabhupada’s society and only his will may prevail here.

Why have the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore kept this issue away from public eye?

On the basis of utmost reverence and respect for their Acharya, Srila Prabhupada, the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore have kept volumes of information about the atrocities that go on (in the name of spirituality) within ISKCON at large, away from the public eye. Their beloved spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, struggled hard to establish a worldwide spiritual movement during the twilight of his life, and it deeply pains them to propagate the condition of the institution he left behind, to one and all. They consider his teachings as good as God’s, and they never desired to associate his divine self with any foul play that is presently going on in the ISKCON movement. Hence they had remained silent on these issues publicly, hoping that time would cure these maladies.

However their silence has been exploited by the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ and is being projected as guilt. At this time, for protecting the very cause that had kept them silent, they are forced toexpose the reality of ISKCON, post its Founder Acharya’s time, to the life members and donors.They are currently working on compiling this vast information and it will be made available shortly.

Is ISKCON-Bangalore a family controlled enterprise?

ISKCON-Bangalore is being managed and governed by dedicated, sincere followers of Srila Prabhupada, whose only desire is to follow his instructions and take the movement forward as per his desire. It is absolutely false to say that it is a “family controlled enterprise” as the agents of self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ have been propagating. The members of the Governing Council of ISKCON Bangalore are a group of educated, discriminating, independently thoughtful individuals from different parts of the country, who have chosen the spiritual path inspired by Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. They wish to spend their lives in his service despite the barrage of untrue allegations and attack. Click here for further information on all the Governing Council Members. It may also be noted that all the Governing Council members are rendering voluntary services to ISKCON-Bangalore and are not involved in any activity for personal gain. A voluntary disclosure of the assets held by the Governing Council members and its source was published in news papers on April 19, 2007. Click here for the same.

A sample list is given below. These sites are not our websites, but their contents have been compiled by different groups of ISKCON devotees who have had close encounters with the flawed guru system over the years. It deeply pains us that we are now forced to divulge this disturbing information. This sensitive information, however throws some light on ISKCON’s situation post Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance.

www.harekrsna.org/pada/ks/tirthadrescher.htm

www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/muster_

nori cancultschangecaseofiskcon.htm

www.iskconirm.com/great_guru_gamble.htm

www.vnn.org/editorials/ET0011/ET08- 6404.html

www.harekrsna.org/gbc/black/bogus4.htm

www.harekrsna.org/satsvarupa-hist.htm

http://members.tripod.com/gurupoison/tamal.htm

http://www.harekrsna.org/pada/themes/bagwahn.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesvara_Swami #cite_note-2

www.vnn.org/world/WD9905/WD19-3905.html

www.harekrsna.org/gurupoison/support/nityananda.htm

www.indiadivine.org/audarya/vedicculture/18s5556-srila-prabhupada-poisoned.html

www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/specialreports/s_448591.html

www.prabhupada.org.uk/sp_poisoned/sp_poisoned.htm

books.krishna.org/Articles/2000/11/00219.html

http://bookchanges.com

http://adi-vani.org/articles.php?articleId=6

http://www.prabhupada.de/Books/dspobfco.html

Sulochana Dasa murdered in Los Angeles in 1986 as he was about to publish his book Guru Business that was an expose of the ISKCON gurus. (Chapter 15 1986:The Year of Crisis, Betrayal of the Spirit by Nori J. Muster, University of Illinois Press).

Also see Chapter 17, After the Absolute by David Gold.

In 1999, the devotees of ISKCON Bangalore witnessed how Adridharan Dasa, a longtime president of Calcutta temple was expelled and falsely charged in fabricated cases of crime – all because of his dissidence of the guru system.

A Prayer

Dear Srila Prabhupada,

On the occasion of your 112th birth anniversary, we earnestly pray to you, the Acharya of ISKCON, for your guidance and mercy to always follow your direction and take your shelter. Please give us strength to overcome the various sinister plans of the self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ of ISKCON and their agents, in our struggle to follow your will. We only desire your service for ever.

Your humble servants,

The devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore