Expelled devotees hunger strike in front of ISKCON Vrindavan

Vrindavantoday.org, 2011.10.04 (VT): The following article appeared yesterday in the Dainik Jagran:

A group of four devotees claiming to have been mistreated in the ISKCON Krishna Balaram temple have started a fast to the death on the Bhaktivedanta Road in front of the temple. The festoons on their booth accuse ISKCON authorities of “corruption and torture.” Other persons from the sadhu community have also started a campaign against the society.

A few days ago, Krishna devotee Navanita Das has written a letter to the District Magistrate complaining against harassment by the ISKCON managing board and asking for legal action to be taken against them. He accuses the managing board director Pancha Gauda Das and Vaishnava Das of beating him with metal rods, causing him bodily injury.

No report or complaint was filed with the police, however.

On Saturday, Navanita Das’s possessions were thrown out from the ISKCON premises. At that time he warned that if the police did not make a case against the temple authorities before Oct. 3, he would start a fast to the death. But when three other devotees, namely Janaki Das, Syamantaka Mani Das and Pundarik Das, who all claim to have been mistreated, showed their intention to support him, he changed his mind and thought it better to begin on Monday.

On learning of the protest across from the Krishna Balaram temple, a number of other local activists came to give the protesters their backing. This included Mahanta Hari Shankar Das from the Braj Akhara Parishad, Swami Ghanasyam Das, spokesman for the Bharat Jagriti Abhiyan (India Awakening Campaign), Vivek Mahajan, the Lokdal political party’s town director, and a number of others.

Vivek Mahajan said that the ISKCON temple management was exploiting Brajavasis. Ghanashyam Das said that ISKCON’s business like approach to religion was having a negative effect on the local culture.

I have to comment here, since this article is typical of the sloppy reporting that we often get from Indian newspapers, especially at the local level. Apparently no one thought to ask ISKCON authorities why they threw Navanita Das out. No one has asked Navanita why he was thrown out. No one asked the other three brahmacharis how they were mistreated or “tortured.” Moreover, these other people who have come and joined the protest are saying things that have no bearing on the specifics. Why are they being given a voice? At least, not before we know what is going on.

I spoke briefly with Navanita Das yesterday. I admit I did not take him very seriously. I asked whether it was really worth “fasting to the death” because he had been tossed out of ISKCON. He seemed to think it was.

I asked why he did not just take it as an opportunity to pursue his devotional life in some other society, like the Gaudiya Math or another ashram. Navanita Das said that he had served here for 13 years and that he felt he had been treated unfairly. In other words, his true desire seems to be reinstatement.

Lastly I asked him who his guru was and why he did not ask for his guru to intervene. He would not divulge his guru’s name and said that he did not want to bother his guru over such matters. That generally guru’s don’t get involved with temple business. I asked, “Isn’t this what gurus are for, to seek the welfare of the disciple and to mediate in matters such as this?” Navanita answered in the negative.

At any rate, at this point I am not much wiser. I am rushing to and from the Bhagavata Saptaha and have not much time for looking into this right now. We will see how long these four bhaktas last.