Суд над Бхагавад-гитой / Attempt to ban Bhagavad-gita

The Saga of Sulochan, Part 3
By Hrishikesh dasa (Henry Doktorski)
One chapter from my forthcoming book—Gold, Guns and God: A History of the Hare Krishnas in West Virginia
Sulochan’s campaign loses steam
After nearly two months in jail, on April 3rd, 1986, Sulochan was found guilty by a Marshall County Magistrate court on a charge of carrying a deadly weapon. His attorney wrote: “I went to see Bryant in jail. He was crushed, truly defeated. The Sheriff had betrayed him, and everything had gone terribly wrong. He thought he was on a holy crusade, but now he’d been arrested and painted as a killer, not a savior. He said he didn’t want to live if this sort of thing could happen. He said he was going on a hunger strike, and for a few days he did.” i
Kirtanananda Swami said: “I remember that while Sulochan was in jail, he was trying to contact reporters and media people, and they wouldn’t come and talk to him. In other words, whatever credibility he had before being arrested he lost. Whatever threat he was—whatever motives there were to get rid of him before, didn’t exist anymore. No one was listening to him.” ii
When Sulochan was finally released, he made a motion to appeal the case, and left West Virginia for Royal Oak, Michigan, where he stayed with his parents from April 11th until April 30th. iii
Tirtha and Randall Gorby followed him, with Tirtha’s two children in tow. Gorby explained: “We were there approximately around the house three hours. The kids were in the car. There was a park down the street that we took them down there, and they played in the park. I took a Snoopy bumper sticker—“Are we having fun yet?”—from Tirtha’s vehicle and put it on the back bumper of Sulochan’s vehicle.” iv
Tirtha explained: “Gorby thought this would unnerve him [Sulochan].” v
Gorby continued: “After that we left the Detroit area and went to Kent, Ohio.” vi
Bhaktipada aware of plot
At first, Bhaktipada had been unaware of the plot to seek out and murder Sulochan, but eventually he was informed—perhaps as early as January 1986—and he did not oppose the proceedings. Hayagriva reportedly first spoke to Bhaktipada about it, who replied that “It would be better for New Vrindaban and me if Sulochan was not around.” vii
Tapahpunja Swami also spoke with Bhaktipada about the plot, as did Tirtha, who requested his spiritual master’s blessings before he executed the important “holy inquisition.” Tirtha said: “The final authority to kill Sulochan could only come from one person; that was Kirtanananda himself. For my own satisfaction, I had to hear Kirtanananda himself say the words. I asked him if he felt that it would be best for Sulochan to be killed. And his direct response was, ‘Yes. It would be best.’ I was acting in defense of my spiritual master’s life. I was given a rather gruesome task to perform. Had I not been given authorization personally by Kirtanananda, I would not have been in California to eliminate Sulochan.” viii
Bhaktipada’s servant noticed: “I was constantly around Bhaktipada, taking care of him, but a couple times I was asked to leave the room when high-ranking New Vrindaban leaders wanted to talk to Bhaktipada privately. I think this happened once at the end of December 1985 and then again in January 1986. At the time I did not know what was going on, but in retrospect, I think I was asked to leave because they were discussing sensitive and secret details regarding the surveillance of Sulochan.” ix
Tirtha receives $2,500
On April 30th Sulochan left Michigan in a van he had purchased a week before, and began his journey to California. Sulochan telephoned his mother on May 11th to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. That was the last time she heard her son’s voice. x
Around May 18, Tirtha received $2,500 dollars in expense money for his forthcoming trip to California. Kuladri explained: xi
Bhaktipada was going to India, and as was customary before leaving, he left final orders for different people. And I remember him authorizing a number of, amount of money to a number of different members. And there were a number of people. I think it was in the limousine, four or five people were in his house before going to the airport. And during that period he mentioned instructions on printing, some other things, and said Hayagriva could have twenty-five hundred dollars. He also said that if he could go to the office and get the money, I have authorized it. If the office doesn’t have money, you can go to Dharmatma if he needs cash. Bhaktipada left that date for India, and the next morning in the temple I went to the people that had been given authorization by Bhaktipada that their request had been okayed. And I told Hayagriva also. He said, “Okay, please be sure to tell Dharmatma that Bhaktipada has authorized money.”
Dharmatma confirmed: xii
Kuladri approached me during the morning program. We were walking around Tulasi Devi, an auspicious plant that we worship, and Kuladri came up to me during that time and told me that Hayagriva was going to come to me for twenty-five hundred dollars and to give it to him. I asked, “What is up?” He said, “It is for surveillance of Sulochan.” So I asked, “Is it cool to give it to him? Is it authorized by Bhaktipada?” and he said, “Yes. Go ahead.”
But Hayagriva never came to get the money; instead Tirtha personally appeared to get it. Dharmatma continued: xiii
I received a telephone call from Tirtha sometime after that. And during that conversation he asked me, basically told me, that Hayagriva says that you have got twenty-five hundred stickers for me, referring to the bumper stickers that we distribute on sankirtan. I immediately put two and two together, and said, “Yes. I have got twenty-five hundred stickers.” And he said, “I will be over to pick them up.”
Tirtha came over. I had people in my house, so he kind of stayed outside. And we went along, kind of alongside my house, and sat down on some logs or something that was there. And he started talking to me about how upset he was at the fact that Sulochan had been criticizing and blaspheming Bhaktipada and writing all of these horrible things and saying all of these horrible things about him. He was very vehement and angry at the fact and said he has to be taken care of and this can’t go on. And how it is really horrible that he is blaspheming a pure devotee. And he kept saying, “You know, we got to do something about him. He has to be taken care of.”
And then he showed me an article which Sulochan had written. I guess it was some of his writings. And in there, there was a large paragraph criticizing Bhaktipada. There was another paragraph criticizing Kuladri, and another paragraph criticizing myself. I had heard all of these things before, so I wasn’t very disturbed at what he was saying about me. And I proceeded to go in and get the money for him, give him the money.
Tirtha returns to California
Sulochan’s van was spotted near the Los Angeles temple by Krishna Katha, who immediately placed a telephone call to Janmastami: “Sulochan’s back in town!” “I first saw the van that fit the description in front of Nistraigunya’s house.” xiv
Tirtha confirmed: “I received information from Janmastami who was then staying in Philadelphia, that Krishna Katha (KK) had called him to say that Sulochan had arrived in the LA area and was living out of his van with Michigan license plates. Shortly thereafter I traveled to LA and met with KK.” xv
Tirtha caught the next plane to Los Angeles and rented a 1981 Chevy Caprice at the Ugly Duckling Rent-A-Car agency, Los Angeles airport branch. He put down a $300 cash deposit for the car. The receipt was dated May 20th. The time: 8:00 a.m. xvi
On the application form Tirtha indicated he was employed by ISKCON Cleveland at 15720 Euclid Avenue. He claimed he had been employed there for twelve years. He also listed three persons as references: Daruka (who had assisted him in murdering Chakradhari three years earlier) in Culver City, California, and Parambrahma and Kuladri in Moundsville, West Virginia.
Tirtha explained why he was in California: xvii
Sulochan had been targeted for death by the [New Vrindaban] community’s leaders. A few weeks later, Kuladri directed me to see Dharmatma to pick up additional expense money. Earlier, Kuladri had talked to me about taking another trip to California. He said he’d received a call that Sulochan was traveling between Berkeley and Los Angeles, rallying his forces again. Kuladri said that Sulochan had called him a few days earlier to tell him that he would “get even,” if it was the last thing he ever did. According to Kuladri, that could only mean one thing. Sulochan was determined to kill Bhaktipada.
“We have to finish this thing,” Kuladri said. “As long as that guy is walking around, he’s a threat to Bhaktipada. He won’t be thinking anyone’s after him out in California. At least no one from New Vrindaban. If something happens out there, there won’t be as much heat on us. In time the whole thing will blow over. If everything runs smoothly, they won’t be able to prove anything.”
Krishna Katha, who had found Sulochan’s van, followed him north on Interstate 5. When he passed the Bakersfield area, Krishna Katha assumed he was going on to San Francisco and turned back. When Tirtha arrived at the Los Angeles airport, he telephoned Krishna Katha, and asked “Where is the slime?” xviii
Krishna Katha told him that Sulochan was headed to San Francisco, some 400 miles distant, and so Tirtha turned north on the freeway to pursue his quarry. But Sulochan did not drive to San Francisco, he drove to the Three Rivers Hare Krishna farm in Tulare, County, some 200 miles north of Los Angeles, to see some friends, including his new girlfriend. After visiting for some time, Sulochan then returned to Los Angeles where he visited some other friends. When Tirtha learned of Sulochan’s whereabouts by telephone, he turned and headed back toward Los Angeles. In two days he put 1,082 miles on his rented car. xix
Sulochan’s last hours; visiting friends
Sulochan’s friend Nistraigunya dasa invited him over to his house near the Los Angeles temple during the evening of May 21st. Nistraigunya said: xx
On that evening Sulochan said he was more or less giving up on his crusade, and that he felt no one really believed him and he didn’t have much success with the press. He felt and it was like fighting the windmills. And he was interested in a young woman and wanted to get married. And he was more or less going to give it up to God, more or less, you know.
I asked him to stay overnight, but he felt that he was in danger. He felt he was in danger because of the work he was doing, and he didn’t want to jeopardize his friends by staying with them. He said: “I have decided to just depend on Krishna to protect me.”
When he declined to stay with me, he said he would drive in his van, drive a block or so away, and stay there. He left the house sometime after midnight, twelve-thirty, quarter to one, like that.
Sulochan had finally decided to give up once and for all his fanatical crusade against Bhaktipada and the other ISKCON gurus. He seemed to realize that his divorced and remarried and pregnant former wife would never return to him, and that he couldn’t save ISKCON if ISKCON didn’t want to be saved. He was disappointed that the Moundsville jurors took only twenty minutes to convict him. The whole time he was locked up, nobody called him. He decided that nobody cared. Why should he care? Sulochan thought his one-man crusade against Bhaktipada and the other gurus had become a “fight against windmills. He said he hadn’t had much success with the press. More or less, he was giving up the crusade.”
And Sulochan had recently met a woman who seemed to like him the way he was, with all his idiosyncrasies and bad habits; and best of all: she was not a brainwashed groupie for a bogus spiritual master, she was free to give her heart to him. Perhaps now he could settle down and have the wife and family he so much desired.
Sulochan had given up his fight; he was no longer a threat to Bhaktipada or the other ISKCON gurus. He decided not to protect himself with guns, but to simply “depend on Krishna.” But no one at New Vrindaban seemed to know this, only Sulochan’s closest friends. Tirtha was still on the prowl; he was tired of following Sulochan, and he wanted to get it over with.
Krishna Katha showed Tirtha where Sulochan was hanging out: xxi
Tirtha met me at my apartment. I told him that I would jump in my vehicle and for him to follow me and I would take him to where Sulochan’s van is at Nistraigunya’s house. But the van was not there. I had learned of another location that the van sometimes would be seen by another person at that time, the temple, and I had also checked on that and had seen the van there. So I said to Tirtha, “Drive your vehicle and follow me and I will take you to a second location. The van may be there.” As we drove down the street I went past Sulochan’s van, and I doubled around the block and Tirtha followed. I stopped along the curb and he pulled up in front of me, positioned his vehicle so that he could have a clear view of Sulochan’s van.
I went and sat in the passenger side of his vehicle. This would have been around the beginning of the afternoon just after noon on May 21st. We sat there a couple hours. Tirtha noticed that the van had just driven off slowly, and for me to get out and he wanted to follow. So I got out and got into my vehicle and followed him. When the van first made a stop at a gas station on Overland and Venice Boulevard. And I parked in a parking lot. I didn’t see Tirtha at that time, where he was. And then as the van pulled away, I continued following and it made its way to Nistraigunya’s house on National, and parked in front of his house.
I passed by the van and went around the block in my vehicle. And then I noticed Tirtha’s vehicle and again he pulled up in front of mine, positioned his vehicle on a side street so that he could get a clear view of the van. I got into Tirtha’s vehicle. He showed me a gun, a .45 caliber Star Model P. D. I saw him with a loaded magazine and I remember what bullets he had and I remember him loading the magazine into the gun. I recall him saying that he wanted to just storm the place and do everyone in there. He didn’t care, they were fringies anyway, and that none of them deserved to live.
I stayed there forty-five minutes, maximum an hour. After I left I went back to the temple on Watseka to do my service. . . . I was very scared. . . . But I did know that I felt at the time that I shouldn’t be there, so that is the reason I left.
Around one or two o’clock in the morning I received a phone call from Tirtha. I had to carry on my belt, two meter F. M. hand-held radio, that I had. One Star made it so that my telephone would ring, it would ring my radio and by pushing certain buttons would access through a phone patch the person calling. So it was like a phone, it was like a radio, it was both. But it wasn’t a cellular phone. They had not made those yet.
Tirtha said: “K.K., whatever you do, don’t come in the area. I repeat, don’t come in the area. I am going to disappear for a while. I will get a hold of you later.” And he hung up.
Nistraigunya continued: xxii
After he [Sulochan] left, I turned out the lights and went directly to bed. In the time when I laid down just nodding, not even long enough to drift off, I heard what I thought to be one gunshot, and then a second gunshot. The first one I didn’t react, though, and the second one, I did jump out of bed because I heard a car starting up, from what appeared to be the same direction. And I thought something is going on.
I ran out to my front step which was just ten or fifteen feet from my bed. A second vehicle seemed to come from the same area and did go past me while I was standing there. I listened and heard nothing [more] and went back to bed.
Sulochan murdered
At approximately one a.m. Pacific time (4 a.m. Eastern time) during the early-morning of Lord Nrsimhadev’s appearance day, Thursday, May 22, 1986, a decisive event occurred which inevitably and irrevocably changed the destiny of New Vrindaban: while the 33-year-old Sulochan sat rolling a joint xxiii in his rusted 1976 Dodge van parked at the intersection of Flint Avenue and Cardiff Street, a half-mile from the Los Angeles ISKCON temple, his brains were blown apart by two bullets from a hand gun fired through the driver’s-side window at close range.
The coroner reported: “Gunshot wound number one was to the left lower jaw region of the cheek, and it caused injury to the jaw bone, caused injury to a vessel of the carotid artery, and went through the cervical spine, that is, the spine in the neck region, and a bullet was recovered. There was injury to the spinal cord as a result of this gunshot wound. The second gunshot wound . . . also entered the face and the entrance was in a region just in front of the left ear. This gunshot wound went through the cheek region of the left side to a bone called the maxilla, went into the oral cavity and came out through the right maxilla, the cheek bone, and exited, that is came out, in the right cheek region. . . . The bullet was recovered from the musculature behind and lateral to the neck spine on the right side. . . . Surrounding the entrance of gunshot wound number one there were multiple abrasions or scrapes in which there was some glass pieces.” xxiv
The news of Sulochan’s murder traveled fast. Lightning fast. Tirtha made a speedy getaway from the Los Angeles temple to the airport, where he dumped the car and made a quick telephone call to New Vrindaban authorities while waiting for the next flight back east. During the japa period preceding the mangal-aroti morning program at New Vrindaban, hushed whispers of the news of Sulochan’s death brought great excitement to the devotees in attendance. The news couldn’t have taken longer than fifteen or twenty minutes to reach them after the murder was committed. Dharmatma remembered: xxv
It was the morning of Lord Nrsimhadev’s appearance day. Nrsimha is a form of Krishna that protects the devotees. He is half-man, half-lion. When I came in [the temple room] in the morning everyone was very excited and jubilant and the whole temple was buzzing. Everyone was talking in little circles. It seemed to be a very upbeat mood in the morning. I asked someone what is going on because it was like a festive atmosphere. The devotee told me, “Haven’t you heard? Sulochan was killed in California last night!”
During the question and answer period after class, a devotee asked Bhaktipada “how should we understand it when a demon is killed?” Bhaktipada responded that “A devotee isn’t disturbed when a snake is killed.”
When Ramachandra, a New Vrindaban sankirtan picker, asked Radhanath Swami: “Do you know who killed Sulochan?” Radhanath replied: “I don’t know, but whoever it was, he was doing devotional service to Krishna.” xxvi
Janmastami’s trip to California, scheduled for the next day, was cancelled, and Jaya Sri Krishna went back to Washington D.C., as he was not needed anymore to cover for Janmastami’s regular service in Philadelphia. xxvii
That morning at approximately seven thirty a.m. Pacific time, the Ugly Duckling Rent-A-Car agency received a telephone call from Tirtha informing them that “he had left the vehicle parked at one of the parking lots at Los Angeles International Airport, and that he had to leave unexpectedly and fly out.” An employee from the agency picked up the car about nine o’clock. xxviii
Dharmatma continued his recollection of the day of the murder: xxix
Later on after the morning functions, I had a discussion with Kuladri. He was quite disturbed. He mentioned . . . how it shouldn’t have been done like that. And that how Radhanath, Hayagriva and Tapahpunja were pushing like crazy for this to happen, and how he had told them not to do it.
Janmastami collaborated: “Kuladri was VERY, VERY frightened by the time it was coming to ‘reaction time’ because he knew that he and Radhanath were in very deep doo-doo.” xxx
Later that morning Randall Gorby received a phone call from Tirtha, stating: “I am in the Big ‘C’ xxxi and took care of everything in California and would like to talk to you.” The two friends met at the Dutch Pantry outside of Youngstown, Ohio, close to Kent State University. Gorby said: xxxii
We started to talking and Tirtha said that he had flown to California, rented a motel and a car, and that he had made contact with Sulochan within a matter of three hours after arriving; that he had a person with him from the temple in Los Angeles [Krishna Katha dasa] and that he had trailed Sulochan. He said that he and the other fellow were in the automobile sitting behind Sulochan’s van and that the other fellow had forgotten his weapon, or went away to get his weapon, and that Tirtha decided, “I might as well get this over with now.” And he climbed out of the car, walking up alongside of the van and shot Sulochan twice in the head. He said, “Randy, do you remember a scene in the Deer Hunter [movie] where they were playing Russian roulette? The brains come out identically that way in slow motion.”
Backlash
However, Sulochan’s murder prompted law enforcement agencies to treat his accusations against Bhaktipada seriously; perhaps, they suspected, Bhaktipada was responsible for Sulochan’s death. One police officer said: “Bryant was a martyr for his faith. He was one lone voice in the wilderness and he was killed because he talked about corruption. He went up against the heavyweights and he lost.” xxxiii
“Bryant’s murder was the beginning of a long downhill slide for Swami Kirtanananda, mainly because it happened in California, beyond the reach of his millions. The two investigators assigned to it, Paul ‘The Stump’ Tippin, and Leroy Orozco, were experienced Los Angeles detectives who had worked on several high-profile murders. There would be no cover-up.” xxxiv
Even ISKCON leaders who were aware of the plot to murder Sulochan began to distance themselves from New Vrindaban once the federal government became involved in the investigation. Janmastami confirmed: “Only after the murder had been committed did any of ISKCON’s leaders challenge the philosophy that prevailed at New Vrindaban at that time.” xxxv
Los Angeles ISKCON guru Srila Rameshvar claimed that Sulochan had no bad feelings toward him: “As far as I know, Sulochan didn’t have any bad feelings toward myself and similarly, I had no bad feeling toward him. He wasn’t disturbing us. He came and went very secretly. A number of our core members attended his funeral in Los Angeles; they wanted to show their sympathy and outrage.” xxxvi
Bhaktipada denied that he had anything to do with Sulochan’s murder and said that the fact that New Vrindaban was in the news did not concern him. He said: “I don’t care what they say about me as long as they say it. All I know is that more people than ever are coming to visit the Palace. Business is wonderful.” Regarding the murdered Sulochan, Bhaktipada said: “He had a lot of enemies. Mostly, he had the Lord as his enemy.” xxxvii
Bhaktipada attempted to discredit Sulochan: “Who is Bryant? Even his parents admitted he was unstable. For years he wandered around lost; he beat his wife, abused his children—he slowly became crazed, and his only objective in life was to tear down the authorities.” xxxviii
Bhaktipada insisted: “An investigation will only show that we are what we say we are—religious people who have no other business than to serve God.” xxxix
Devotees cautioned not to speak to media or police
Scarcely a week after Sulochan’s murder, one high-ranking ISKCON sannyasi who had just come to live at the community a few months earlier—Devamrita Swami, a powerful preacher who had worked behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe under the direction of his sannyasa guru Harikesh Swami—wrote a feature article for the New Vrindaban News titled “A Word To The Wise Is Sufficient” which warned devotees to keep their mouths shut if questioned by the media or police. If anyone knew of any criminal activities, he said, they should report it not to the police nor to the media, but to the temple authorities, who would, it was implied, take appropriate action: xl
Life in the material world is constantly full of upheavals, and a fruitive worker never ceases his efforts to squeeze out some sense gratification, regardless of whether the situation is one of so-called happiness or so-called distress. Right now the media and some law enforcement officials are amusing themselves by harassing the New Vrindaban Community about the death of one great Vaishnava-apradhi (offender) on the west coast.
The media and some police are clearly more interested in creating a sensationalistic atmosphere and profiting from it than in reporting truth or stopping violence. Therefore, if our devotees engage in wild rumors and gossip about the mundane affairs of LA street crime, they can actually help the karmis toward their sublime goal of an endless stream of “juicy” news to report and “suspicious” hearsay to interrogate innocent devotees about.
Naturally, if anyone ever has any factual knowledge of someone performing criminal acts, he should inform the temple authorities. Otherwise what is the use of exchanging who-dunit speculations about the illusory activities of the gross materialists? This is called gramya-katha, “town talk,” by Sri Jagadananda Pandit, who warns devotees against indulging in such stale topics
This is not the first time controversy has been stirred up against the community nor will it be the last. Whenever there is powerful preaching, maya always supplies resistance. Obviously, the best thing we can do both for ourselves and all other living entities is to absorb the consciousness in talks of devotional service, specifically how to sacrifice everything to build Srila Bhaktipada’s project.
Other articles warning devotees to keep quiet appeared again in New Vrindaban publications:
Maintain the purity. . . . Srila Bhaktipada has stated that he does not know of any illegal activities in New Vrindaban and he flatly disapproves of such things. Any devotee who may know of illegal activities in New Vrindaban is requested to report them to the community administration. Srila Bhaktipada has also requested that devotees refrain from indulging in idle gossip and rumor-mongering about individuals and issues, and that they maintain the purity of New Vrindaban by speaking of the nectarian pastimes Lord Krishna and His devotees. xli
Be Careful Who You Talk To, Prabhus—. . . This is a warning to devotees not to talk about these allegations with any unknown men or women who suddenly appear in our community. Although we have nothing to hide, there are those who will distort even the simplest truths. Also, remember that there is an organized conspiracy to destroy this community, and demons can come in many disguises. Putana came as a lovely lady and fooled the residents of Vrindaban, but she came to kill Krishna. The devotee has to be just as desirous to protect Krishna as the demons are to destroy Him. Then the devotee is always victorious. The U. S. Navy has a tagline: Loose lips sink ships. xlii
Escape money denied Tapahpunja and Tirtha
Tapahpunja and Tirtha had successfully orchestrated and accomplished their objective, but they still had to make their escape: they both desperately needed to leave the country until things cooled down. But they didn’t have enough money to purchase plane tickets. New Vrindaban still hadn’t delivered them in full the promised amount of $8,000. But for some reason, the community was dragging its feet; the money was not forthcoming.
Randall Gorby called the police and claimed that his “good friend” Tirtha had murdered Sulochan. With Gorby’s permission, State Police put a wiretap on his telephone and shortly after a call was received from Tirtha. xliii
Gorby: Do you have a place to go?
Tirtha: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Gorby: Well, I’d really get on ‘em. I can’t understand them not coming through with it.
Tirtha: It’s just ridiculous because they’ve got a hundred thousand coming in every week.
Gorby: What agreement did you make with. . .
Tirtha: Well, it’s just that eight figure.
Gorby: Yeah.
Tirtha: I mean it was just like they, a . . . liked it. They actually thought that was a bargain basement price and they were all happy with it.
Gorby: Yeah.
Tirtha: It was a bargain fuckin’ basement. I mean you couldn’t go any lower than that. . . . But I don’t think he’s setting me up. I really don’t think Bhaktipada’s trying to set me up. That’s who Tapahpunja was with.
Gorby: Oh.
Tirtha: He was with him for ten straight hours.
Gorby: And Dharmatma gave him? Had the money?
Tirtha: No. He got it right out of his hand.
Gorby: Oh, from Bhaktipada?
Tirtha: That’s right. He counted it out personally.
Gorby: Well why the hell didn’t he give you the full amount, Tom?
Tirtha: I don’t know.
Dharmatma refused to give Tirtha any more money. He explained: xliv
Tirtha called me on the phone and asked me if I had any more money for him. I said, “No. I didn’t know anything about any more money.” He said, “Well, there is supposed to be some more money for me. Talk to Number One, and I will get back to you.”
When Tirtha called back, first of all, he asked if I had talked to Number One. And at this point I was really freaked out because the murder happened and I knew that I had given him twenty-five hundred dollars, so I realized somehow I was implicated and I was very frightened. So I told him, “Well, no. I looked for him but I couldn’t find him,” when in fact I had not really looked for him. I didn’t want to involve myself anymore.
Tirtha got very angry at that and said, “You both, you are bull shitting me.” I said, “No, no, you know how he is. He is hard to find. Sometimes I can’t find him.”
And then Tirtha got very angry and he started swearing, and saying this is just fucking me around, they are just screwing around with me. Bhaktipada always screws me around. I am supposed to have more money. I got to leave the country. I did the job, you know. I need my money.” He kept yelling and screaming. . . .
Tapahpunja arrives at New Vrindaban. Dharmatma explained: xlv
A few days after the murder, Tapahpunja arrived at my house, which was also the sankirtan department, and he was getting things out of my garage. In the garage there were lockers that a lot of the sankirtan devotees kept their personal belongings and different things. . . . He had camouflage pants on, an army shirt on, black boots. . . .
And we got into a discussion about the circumstances of the murder. He was saying “Wasn’t it neat that it happened on Lord Nrsimhadev’s appearance day! It was very auspicious, very wonderful that a demon was killed on this particular day!”
And then he went on to describe to me in detail how it happened. He said, “You should have heard how it happened. It was real neat.” And he proceeded to tell me how Tirtha approached the van from the driver’s side and came up to the window where Sulochan was sitting, and he told me that he was rolling a joint with his head down and Tirtha shot him twice with a .45. And he proceeded to say his brains were splattered all over the ceiling [of the van].
Then Tapahpunja said things were getting very hot; they had to leave the country. He said he was there [at New Vrindaban] to get money for himself and Tirtha to get out of the country. I told him he should talk to Number One [Bhaktipada] about the money.
Tapahpunja pleads with Bhaktipada for escape money
Tapahpunja Swami approached Bhaktipada for Tirtha’s traveling expenses: xlvi
I was in Columbus when suddenly Tirtha showed up and told me, “The tripe is gone.” I asked, “What are you gonna do?” Tirtha replied, “I dunno. Kirtanananda hasn’t finished paying me. He gave me some expense money, but he still owes me a lot. I’ve been calling New Vrindaban, Dharmatma, Kuladri and Dulal to get my money, but they just give me the run-around.”
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, I drove immediately to New Vrindaban and spoke personally to Kuladri and then with Bhaktipada. Kirtanananda said, “I don’t want to hear about it.” I countered, “I think you should listen to me; this has serious implications for New Vrindaban. Tirtha wants the rest of the money; he needs to leave the country immediately.”
But Bhaktipada didn’t want to pay up. He argued, “Tirtha still owes us $700 for his kid’s tuition at the gurukula.” So Bhaktipada gave me the title of a car supposedly worth $20,000.
Kuladri collaborated: “Bhaktipada and Tapahpunja were in Bhaktipada’s land cruiser, and they were speaking. And as I walked up to the land cruiser, I heard them talking, and I overheard two statements. Bhaktipada said, ‘Disciples should not ask their spiritual master for money,’ and ‘I am not going to give Tirtha any more money.’” xlvii
Tirtha couldn’t believe it, when he heard about it later. He explained: “The part about owing Kirtanananda some $700 for tuition is amazing. I remember his asserting that. My wife and I gave him $500 on one occasion and he said, ‘OK. That’s your donation as a disciple; now where’s the tuition?’ I was floored. I didn’t even have a kid gurukula age.” xlviii
Janmastami noted: “Their plan never went any further than doing the deed. They forgot about making the safe escape afterwards.” xlix
The dilemma of murderer Tirtha and conspirator Tapahpunja trying desperately to get sufficient cash to make their escape from the country when New Vrindaban sankirtan pickers were often collecting $100,000 each week defies the imagination. It is completely beyond belief. Why wasn’t the money forthcoming? Didn’t anyone realize the seriousness of the situation and the neccesity of quick action?
Although there are several possible reasons for this gross neglect, l the simplest explanation is that after Bhaktipada’s head injury his memory had degenerated to such an extent that he had actually promised the money, but later forgot all about it. Bhaktipada’s servant was unable to remind him of these previous commitments because he was usually asked to leave the room when confidential matters were discussed. Bhaktipada was on his own.
The escape money is delivered
Tapahpunja finally convinced Bhaktipada to pay Tirtha the rest of the promised “expense” money. li
I pleaded, “But Bhaktipada, Tirtha needs to leave the country right away. Give me the money so he can buy a plane ticket for him and his wife and son.”
So Bhaktipada called over his servant, Kumar, told him to open the safe and count out $3,000 in cash. Kumar pulled out bags of money and counted it out, mostly five and one dollar bills. Then Bhaktipada counted it also, note by note. He told me that Tirtha could stay with Nathjidas in Bombay. I wrote his instructions down in a little notebook I carried in my pocket. Then I returned to Kent, Ohio, to help Tirtha get out of the country.
Dharmatma described how Bhaktipada and Radhanath came to pick up the escape money: lii
The next day Bhaktipada, along with Radhanath, drove up in my driveway in Bhaktipada’s vehicle and tooted the horn for me to come outside. When I came to the car we engaged in some small talk, I don’t remember what. And then Bhaktipada asked me if I had six thousand dollars cash in the house. And I said, “I don’t know. I will see if you want.” He told me to go in and see if I had six thousand dollars.
I went in the house and went into my safe and . . . I counted out six thousand dollars and brought it out to him, and handed it in through the window. I don’t remember if I gave it to Radhanath and he passed it to Bhaktipada, or I gave it directly to Bhaktipada.
The mood was a little bit strained, and I said, “What is this? So they [Tirtha and Tapahpunja] can get out of the country?” And Bhaktipada and Radhanath smiled and nodded their heads: “Yes.” And then they said, “Hey, we’ve got to go,” and they left.
Bhaktipada said: “I remembered going with Radhanath to Dharmatma’s house. I don’t remember how much money we got. I remember Dharmatma came out with a bag of money. He gave it to Radhanath, and I never looked at it.” liii
Janmastami explained: liv
Tirtha flew back to Ohio from Los Angeles and Tapahpunja Swami picked him up at the airport and took him to Radhanath’s preaching center—his ‘loft’ in Kent, Ohio. After two days of muddled attempts, through Hayagriva, to get Dharmatma to turn over some cash it became necessary to inform Kirtanananda Swami that they needed getaway money. The rift between Dharmatma and Kuladri was so great that not even Radhanath could bridge it in Kirtanananda Swami’s absence. It became necessary to inform Kirtanananda Swami of the situation and the escape money needed. Kirtanananda Swami became aware, authorized the expenditure, and called Dharmatma to arrange for ‘a package’ that Radhanath would pick up. Radhanath delivered it to Kirtanananda Swami, who counted it, putting his fingerprints all over it, which later proved to be his downfall. Then Radhanath transported the money to the Kent temple, and then the FBI sprung their trap.
Police investigators indeed discovered that Bhaktipada’s fingerprints were on some of the bills. Kirtanananda presented his alibi in an interview published in the Brijabasi Spirit and titled “A Pure Devotee Faces A Fallen Nation.” lv
Dave Fitzgerald: But police say that Mr. Drescher [Tirtha], when arrested in Ohio, was found with $4,000 in cash, some of which had your fingerprints on it.
Bhaktipada: Yes, but there’s also a very logical explanation for it. The president of the Cleveland temple had just bought a vehicle from him, for which the Cleveland temple had borrowed $3,000 from me to purchase it. I did not know where they were buying the vehicle, but even if I had, I had no reason to think that it was not proper.
Radhanath later claimed that the purpose of this money was not to get Tirtha and Tapahpunja out of the country after the murder, nor to purchase a vehicle for the Cleveland temple, but to bail Tapahpunja out of jail. lvi
Tirtha arrested
Five days after Sulochan’s murder, at 11:55 a.m. on May 27th, Tirtha was arrested in Kent, Ohio. The warrant for Tirtha’s arrest, however, was issued by West Virginia authorities in connection with the unsolved disappearance in 1983 of another former New Vrindaban devotee, Chakradhari dasa. Kent Police Ronald Piatt and his partner said that when they arrested Tirtha, they found on him eleven “surveillance notes” describing Sulochan’s van, his physical appearance and his movements in Los Angeles. Tirtha also carried $4,261 in cash.
Tapahpunja Swami was with Tirtha when he was arrested, and had clippings from three newspapers about the death of Sulochan and written instructions of unknown origin saying that if Tirtha were ever wanted by the police, he should be sent to a temple in New York, then flown to India, where he should go to the Juhu temple and contact Nathji. At the time of his arrest, Tirtha’s car was packed with clothing and other goods, and his rented mobile home was found nearly empty. “We think he was in the process of activating those plans [to leave the country],” Piatt said. lvii
Tapahpunja Swami was held for three days on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon—a hooked-blade utility knife—but the charged was dismissed. Soon after, Tapahpunja disappeared for three years. He first flew to Ireland where he tried to hide at the ISKCON temple on Inis Rath Island, wearing a white dhoti and going by the name “Ganga dasa.” Eventually the temple president’s wife recognized him and her husband asked him if his presence there had anything to do with the murder of Sulochan. Tapahpunja admitted: “I engineered it.” lviii
The temple president told him to leave, and Tapahpunja went to Australia, and later to India and Malaysia, where he was finally apprehended on June 14th, 1990 by federal marshals from Hawaii in the capital of Kuala Lampur. lix
Tirtha spoke about the first person who visited him in jail, the “most kind and compassionate” Radhanath Swami: lx
When I was first arrested and put in jail, it was Radhanath Swami who first came to see me. He spoke to me in a most kind and compassionate manner, explaining that my life was now completely in Krishna’s hands. Speaking with him through the thick security glass, I was ashamed and embarrassed to be in such a predicament. He told me to concentrate on Krishna and nothing else. Only Krishna could help me now. Before leaving he gave me copies of the all-in-one Srimad-bhagavatam, Caitanya-caritamrta, and Bhagavad-gita. Reading these books anew would mark the beginning of my new life in prison, and a new era of consciousness, not as a convict, but as a devotee. . . .
When I next spoke with Radhanath Swami he said that I was most fortunate, for Krishna was showing me great mercy by ripping everything away so abruptly. Perhaps if it didn’t kill me it would make me much stronger. Die before you die. Surely this is what death is like for the soul too attached to home and hearth. Indeed, it surely felt like death, with everything I held so dearly, now gone in an instant.
Government’s principal witness nearly killed by gas explosion, later found dead
The day following Tirtha’s arrest, a huge explosion at Gorby’s house, allegedly caused by him illegally tapping into a gas line, nearly killed him. “Mr. Gorby had suffered some trauma and shock as a result of being blown through the roof of his house. He was in intensive care ward at Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling. He had first-, second- and third-degree burns over forty percent of his body. Doctors at that time did not expect him to live.” lxi
Gorby was to be the principal witness for the prosecution. “Authorities have listed no cause for the explosion, but said Tirtha helped lay the natural gas line into Gorby’s home.” lxii
Gaurashakti said: “On three different occasions, Gorby approached me because he wanted me to help him or actually do the work for him, of running a gas line into his house, tapping off the gas main around through his front yard, to get free gas.” lxiii
Gorby said: “On the 28th of May I was at home. That morning, I was going to go back to the West Virginia State barracks in Wellsburg where I was giving statements to them at the time, and Trooper Knight had called me and woke me at 9:00 in the morning. I got out of bed and started to light a cigarette and my home totally disappeared. It was leveled to the ground. I was in critical condition for seven weeks, in intensive care, and in a coma for the month of June up until the center of July.” lxiv
Gorby recovered from the blast, and was enrolled in the Federal Witness Protection Program, but four years later in July 1990 he was found dead in his pickup truck. Police authorities labeled it a suicide; they said that Gorby had killed himself by running a hose from the tailpipe to the cab of his truck.
Tirtha takes full rap
Tirtha insisted that he was innocent and claimed that authorities offered him possible leniency if he testified that Bhaktipada paid him to kill Sulochan: “I could have accepted a deal for ten years if I would have implicated the ‘Swami,’ but then I would have become the villain.” lxv
Tirtha protected Bhaktipada: “I’m not going to bear false witness against an exalted spiritual leader,” he said. “I have no knowledge of any illegal activity by the Swami.” lxvi
Tirtha protected other members of the murder conspiracy: “They’re trying to use me to attack New Vrindaban. They’re going to try to prove a conspiracy between myself and New Vrindaban to kill someone. They aren’t going to find it. I consider myself a political prisoner.” lxvii
But privately Tirtha wrote a personal letter to Bhaktipada apologizing for any inconvenience he might have caused the community. “Swami Bhaktipada said Tirtha wrote him from jail to apologize if he had caused the commune any difficulty. The guru said he responded with a short note advising Tirtha ‘to chant the name of God and to depend on God’s help and mercy.’” lxviii
ISKCON leaders were understandably concerned about the bad publicity. At a special meeting of the North American ISKCON leaders held on August 18-19 in San Diego, Bhaktipada agreed, by telephone, to resign if indicted by the grand jury “in order to clear ISKCON’s name.” lxix
During July, Bhaktipada traveled to India, spending most of his time in Bombay and Vrindaban. In Bombay he had an important confidential meeting with Radhanath Swami, Tapahpunja Swami, and Janmastami. Bhaktipada’s servant and chauffeur candidly spoke about their conversation: lxx
I was sitting in the passenger seat of a car; Bhaktipada sat in the driver’s seat. In the back seat was Janmastami, Tapahpunja, and Radhanath. They were trying to decide what story they should present to the authorities if they were subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury. They wanted to make sure that they all had the same story. It would be very bad for their alibi if they spoke different things, if they weren’t perfectly consistent.
At one point, Bhaktipada stopped and asked me, “Priyasrava, I understand you’re from a Mafia family. How would you have gotten this job done?”
I replied without hesitation, “I would have hired a professional; someone with experience; someone with credentials; someone discreet, who wouldn’t blab about it to everyone he met. Not someone like Tapahpunja.”
After I spoke, Bhaktipada scornfully glowered at Tapahpunja, who shrunk in the back seat like a naughty child getting scolded by an angry parent, and chastised him, saying: “You’re useless, Tapahpunja! You messed everything up! It’s all your fault! You’re to blame for all this!”
After this meeting, Radhanath began spending nearly all his time in India and rarely returned to the United States, except for brief visits. Janmastami remained in India for a long time hiding out in Kurukshetra. He explained: “After the whacking in LA I was picked up off the streets of Philly by the FBI. This was in mid-June 1986. I came back to the festival (July 4, 1986) and was ordered to go to India.” lxxi
Tapahpunja flew to Ireland, Australia, and then Malaysia, where he served at Bhaktipada’s temple in Penang. Other important New Vrindaban managers also left the community, some never to return: Kuladri moved to Arizona, Dharmatma and Parambrahma moved to Florida, Dulal Chandra moved to North Carolina, and Sundarakar moved to Vermont. Hayagriva may have also left the community at this time, but it seemed he was always coming and going from the United States to India and Mexico and back. Umapati Swami left New Vrindaban a few years later, in 1988. Even Bhaktipada stayed at New Vrindaban less frequently, spending perhaps half of his time in India. It appeared that among those New Vrindaban managers who might have been involved in the conspiracy to murder Sulochan, only Devamrita Swami and Bhaktipada remained.
Sulochan’s death effectively set off an avalanche of intensive government investigations by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Los Angeles Police, the West Virginia State Police and the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department, which resulted in formidable and continuous legal pressure against Bhaktipada and the New Vrindaban community which continued for a decade. Marshall County Sheriff Donald Bordenkircher was quoted in the newspapers saying: “This is the beginning of the end of New Vrindaban as we now know it.”
On September 11th, 1986, the New Vrindaban community announced the layoff of the entire 187-member work force of payroll employees in “an attempt to include the entire [non-devotee] community in the unfair, extravagant investigations of the community.” Toshan Krishna dasa, a community spokesman, said the layoffs were not based on economic necessity, but on principle: “We are doing very well financially. . . . This has been one of our best years yet. . . . [But] we are not separate entities out here. . . . The employees are part of the community and should feel the brunt of the problems we have also.” lxxii
On September 15th, a federal grand jury met to investigate a possible connection between New Vrindaban members and the death of Sulochan. Bhaktipada welcomed the investigation: “They are welcome to investigate as much as possible. It can’t hurt us. If we’ve done nothing wrong, there is nothing to hide. An investigation will only show that we are what we say we are—religious people who have no other business but to serve God.” lxxiii
Tirtha convicted of 1983 murder
Tirtha went on trial for the 1983 slaying of Chakradhari and was convicted on December 7, 1986, although the body had not been found. Jury foreman Timothy Shrout, county prosecutor Thomas White, and defense lawyer Robert McWilliam agreed that the key testimony came from four people who said Drescher bragged to them of how he had killed Saint Denis. The witnesses included two former senior aides at the commune, a police informer, and Nick Tsacrios, husband of St. Denis’ former lover, Deborah Gere. lxxiv
Chakradhari’s body was finally unearthed a month later on January 6th, when Daruka, who pleaded guilty in connection with the slaying, agreed to lead police to the body as part of a plea bargain arrangement. Daruka was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter because he was not “the principal killer,” said Marshall County Prosecutor Tom White. lxxv
At first, the community distanced itself from Tirtha, calling him a fringe devotee (one who lives outside the temple and does not follow strictly the four regulative principles), but later reconsidered after he proved his loyalty to Bhaktipada by refusing to “falsely” implicate his spiritual master in the murder, despite police harassment and cruel and inhumane treatment, such as being stripped to his shorts and left for days at a time in a cold cell with an open window in winter. He was considered a “hero” by the New Vrindaban devotees and his articles were published in the Brijabasi Spirit. He became the editor of the Brijabasi Spirit. He also wrote an account of his experiences in prison called Meditations on the American Gulag.
The FBI raid
Fifty Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, state and local police agents raided the community’s printing press building and administrative offices at 7 a.m. on January 5, 1987 and filled three semi trailer trucks with a dozen computers, financial records, filing cabinets, cash, and bumper stickers and baseball caps bearing the names and logos of professional and college sports teams.
An Associated Press Sports Writer, Kelly P. Kissel, reported:
Sports paraphernalia seized at a Hare Krishna community allegedly is part of a black market industry that drains millions of dollars from trademark owners, prosecutors and syndicators say. Sports caps, bumper stickers and other items bearing the logos of professional sports teams and colleges were taken during a day-long raid Monday at the New Vrindaban community in West Virginia’s northern panhandle. . . .
Major League Baseball lost millions of dollars to counterfeiters before it “finally awakened to the problem” six months ago, said MLB spokesman Rick Levin. [U.S. Attorney William] Kolibash said the alleged link to New Vrindaban was discovered three weeks ago when Krishna members selling items outside a New England Patriots game were stopped. Representatives of United Features Syndicate, Inc., which controls the rights to Peanuts and Garfield comic characters, seized stickers bearing the syndicate’s logos, and those selling the items were traced back to West Virginia, Kolibash said.
“I hesitate to give a figure (on United Feature losses), but licensing nationwide is a multi-million dollar program,” said Rachel Angeline, the contracts and approval administrator for the syndicate. . . .
Temple president Devamrita Swami said a member of the community “had some kind of business selling sports hats.”
Kolibash said the operation was run by Dharmatma dasa, who Krishna officials said was away from the community Tuesday. However, Phil Gere, a devotee who worked in the sports item business, said: “We buy the hats and put the stickers on here. Then we have about forty or fifty people that go to the different games and sell them. It’s a fairly substantial enterprise.” . . .
John Flood, the director of legal affairs for NFL Properties Inc., said, “We have a substantial problem with trademark infringement. Counterfeiters come out of the woodwork and sell your products without paying licensing fees,” Flood said, adding that he spends $1 million a year to fight black market goods.
I remember the raid, which occurred during a monthly sankirtan festival when all our pickers were back on the farm. All of the sankirtan devotees were concerned about hiding their sankirtan paraphernalia such as stickers and hats, and whenever we left the community, we went by the back road along Wheeling Creek past Richard Rose’s “goat farm” instead of the direct route past Bahulaban where the FBI raid was taking place. Bhaktipada said: “Obviously this was just a ploy to do something else. They just used this as an excuse to seize our records. If you ask me, I don’t think they’ll find a thing.” lxxvi
Bhaktipada continued: “The truth is they went fishing. . . . Our lawyers say we didn’t even break a civil law. Even if we did, it’s not criminal.” lxxvii
To protest the FBI raid, Bhaktipada threatened to close the New Vrindaban school and dump 150 children into the Marshall County public school system. The New Vrindaban school was closed, but only forty children enrolled in the public schools. Members of the community said they would seek welfare assistance because the community’s checks and cash were confiscated. Bhaktipada said: “I’m going to have to send women and children in for emergency relief.” lxxviii
Federal indictment
On May 24, 1990, a federal grand jury returned an eleven-count indictment charging Bhaktipada with racketeering: kidnapping, running a fraudulent charity scam, mail fraud, and conspiring to murder two devotees—Chakradhari and Sulochan. Bhaktipada was also charged with the kidnapping of Hayagriva’s son, Samba, in 1979. The indictment also included a separate count in which the government sought forfeiture of all of the property owned by the New Vrindaban community.
Bhaktipada prophesied: “When the facts come out in court, you’ll see that this whole thing is a scam. You’ll see that. I’m as sure of that as I am of anything. God has a great purpose for this.”
Bhaktipada indicated that a “political figure” wanted to use the case against him for personal gain, such as winning the election for West Virginia governorship. He refused to identify the person. “This has become some sort of a vendetta with him.” lxxix
Another time Bhaktipada said the federal government was trying to get rid of the cults.
Bhaktipada also said that the coal company that holds the mineral rights to much of New Vrindaban wants his devotees off the land so it can mine coal under the commune. “They can’t mine it as long as we are there.” lxxx
Bhaktipada also said that ISKCON wanted the land. ISKCON was cooperating with the federal government so that they could own and occupy the New Vrindaban land. Ravindra Swarupa denied any truth to the allegation: “All I know is that I haven’t been approached by the federal government on anything like that. This has been really hard for a lot of people. It’s almost like a civil war, brother against brother.” lxxxi
“Religious per-secution”
Despite the pointed accusations and legal tribulations, Bhaktipada was able to convince many of his followers that he was simply being per-secuted by religious bigots in government for his spiritual acumen and not because of any alleged illegal or immoral actions on his part. He said: “We can see that actually the whole thing is a matter of religious per-secution. Actually this is being called the ‘ARM’—the ‘Anti-Religious Movement.’ . . . There was a decision made on the federal level about eighteen months ago to get rid of the cults. . . . Actually, it’s a good sign. Jesus Christ says in the fifteenth chapter of St. John that ‘If you were of the world, the world would love you. But because you’re not of the world, because I’ve called you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.’ He said, ‘Be of good cheer. Before they per-secuted you, they per-secuted me.’ So to be per-secuted for one’s beliefs is not a bad thing. It puts us in very good company. After all, Socrates was made to drink the hemlock cup, reportedly on a charge of child molestation.” lxxxii
Bhaktipada continued: “Jesus Christ said to expect it. . . . Every real active devotee of God will be per-secuted—always has been, always will. That’s the way you know whether he’s doing his job. . . . Remember, not only was Christ crucified, but everyone of his disciples were put to death as well. Still, the message lived on.” lxxxiii
It appeared that those involved in the Sulochan murder became extremely concerned about their own skins. Several worked out deals with the government in return for important testimony. Some hired expensive lawyers to represent themselves. In the scramble for survival, Tirtha was neglected. No one hired an expensive lawyer for Tirtha; he had to depend on a public defender for his defense. Tirtha had performed the supreme sacrifice, and now he was practically forgotten and abandoned. He thought he would get the death penalty.
Tirtha wrote: “I thought we’d all stick together. But it’s true: the rats started to escape from the sinking ship. People were not as devoted and dedicated as I assumed. It showed to be a house of cards. . . . My point is: all these guys were up to their eyeballs in the plots and sub-plots. They were the ones promoting and encouraging all of it. They were giving the guidance and counseling for me. We were aspiring to be their servants. We were like putty in their hands. The people who disagreed were banished, ridiculed, spat upon, beat up or killed.” lxxxiv
Devotees believed allegations were “rumors and hearsay”
Despite the overwhelming and damning evidence against Bhaktipada, most New Vrindaban residents believed the charges were all fabricated. Bhaktipada was their beloved spiritual father, a pure devotee of Krishna, and no one could imagine that he could ever do any wrong. One observer wrote about the devotees’ blind allegiance to their master: “For the devotees, Bhaktipada’s every word was a source of childlike marvel and glee. Every dictum, no matter how capricious (or just plain wrong), was considered to be divinely inspired, therefore absolute. The devotees would say, ‘Even when he is wrong, he is right.’” lxxxv
Bhaktirasa Swami said: “I know personally that most of the charges that they brought against Bhaktipada were completely untrue. I know that because I’ve been with Bhaktipada all of this time.” lxxxvi
Sacimata dasi said: “The charges were really ridiculous. If you’ve been here and know all of the people and know what they said about him [Bhaktipada] you know there’s no way they could have been true.” lxxxvii
Murti Swami said: “In this country it’s become fashionable to assassinate the character of your opposition. And so he [Bhaktipada] was subjected to character assassination. That’s all.” lxxxviii
Ishani dasi said: “I’ve known Srila Bhaktipada for over twenty years and the one overwhelming desire in his life is to serve Krishna. It would be impossible for him to conceive of killing someone, or having someone killed. That’s not in his character.” lxxxix
Paramahamsa Krishna Swami said: “Our doors are open every day. We have people coming and going all the time and over the years, through twenty-five years of history, there have been some people who have committed some crimes. There’s no question about it. But it’s distressing to see this community branded. . . . It’s not fair.” xc
Narasimhaguru dasa, Bhaktipada’s gardener and former leader of the Athen’s Ohio preaching center, said: “I see it as a conspiracy. I feel I can trust my own intimate knowledge of the man more than I can trust the rumors and hearsay.” xci
Sankirtan dasa, the head of the community’s theater department said: “The per-secution is going on because of envy . . . of the success our community has had.” xcii
Jayamurari Swami, head of the community’s plumbing and heating systems, believed the court cases were a divine message of self-purification: “I think Krishna has waited too long to cleanse us. It got real loose around here. You could go into garbage and find remnants where people were eating meat.” xciii
Madhava Ghosh dasa described another rationale behind his staunch faith in Bhaktipada: “You are well aware of the many stories circulating about Srila Bhaktipada and New Vrindaban. Point by point arguments are useless just as when Krishna entered the wrestling arena of Kamsa, everyone perceived Him according to their consciousness. Facts can always be interpreted many ways. When Srila Prabhupada visited New Vrindaban, he told us to just do what Kirtanananda says. On that basis, I am simply trying to stay here and serve. I really haven’t an option. Wherever the twists of logic lead, I can only cling to Srila Prabhupada’s instruction.” xciv
Sister Piety said: “Bhaktipada is one of the most honest people I ever met in my life.” xcv
Bhaktipada concluded: “It’s per-secution; pure and simple.” xcvi