ISKCON is a dangerous extremist cult

Monday, August 17, 2009

ISKCON is a dangerous extremist cult

Is ISKCON a cult? What is a cult? Generally a cult is thought of as a secretive, ultra-authoritative organization, demanding blind and absolute surrender from it's members.

Radhanath Swami (Richard Slavin) ordered and paid for the murder of Sulocana http://blogs.myspace. com/52199499

If you judge Iskcon by its murder gurus like Radhanath Swami, it sure is!

We have compiled a list of symptoms of a cult, and we will be analyzing each point in comparison to ISKCON. And thus we will try to answer the question, "Is ISKCON a cult?"

Cult Symptom #1:
Inability to make decisions without consulting a cult leader or guru: One of the signs of dependency upon a cult leader is the loss of personal autonomy.

Sound familiar? Does anyone else get tired of the dogma in ISKCON that you have to ask your guru permission simply to brush your teeth? That may be a slight exaggeration, but I think it drives home the point. We are expected to blindly and totally surrender to some guru, and we are not even allowed to intelligently question his actions, for fear of committing "aparadha".

I sometimes heard Srila Prabhupada disciples saying "These younger devotees are not as surrendered as we were". Well yes, you are damn right that we are not as surrendered as you were to Srila Prabhupada. None of you modern gurus and senior devotees are on the same level as Prabhupada, and yet you are demanding the same level of surrender? This is why all these gurus are going to hell, because they are trying to imitate Srila Prabhupada and demand the same level of worship. Most of these gurus exhibit the symptoms of kanisthas and madhyamas, and yet they are accepting worship on the level of an uttama-adhikari. This is why they are falling down.

Cult Symptom #2:
What's the background of the leader of the organization? Does the leader have a criminal record?

This is a very, very good question to ask before joining any spiritual organization. How many of the present and past leaders in ISKCON had criminal records, or at the least, quite a degraded personal past history? Most of these gurus were beef-eating mleccha hippies. Many of them were homosexuals also.

Now, in my own history, one of my first bhakta leaders admitted to me that he was a ex-hitman for the Chicago mafia. He described to me how he used to murder people and torture them to death by slicing off pieces of their bodies piece by piece, such as their fingers, toes, or other parts we won't mention here. So, this is just one case. I am sure that there are many cases like this, where the leaders of ISKCON have been brutal ex-criminals, homosexuals, pedophiles, drug addicts, etc. Of course, people can change, but generally, they still may retain some of their past conditioning. So, be very careful in dealing with various leaders in ISKCON. You never know what kind of sick and horrible background they may have come from.

Cult Symptom #3:
What's the power structure of the organization?

Generally cults have an ultra-authoritative power struction. Whatever the top leaders say must be blindly accepted and followed by junior members. Nevermind how insane the demands of the leaders may be, such as Kirtananda Maharaja's demand of one of his associates to go and murder another fellow member. How strictly should we follow the orders of leaders? Would you be willing to kill someone if the guru told you to do so? Or would you be willing to engage in illegal activity, as was done in New Vrindavan? Would you be willing to cheat others, as is done on fundraising, by devotees going around asking people for donations in the name of "feeding hungry children", etc?

The point here is, how much surrender do the leaders demand of it's members? Is it blind surrender? Is it even to the point where the members might have to commit crime, theft, or even murder?

Cult Symptom #4:
It uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate and retain potential members.

Ever experienced this before? ISKCON brainwashes it's members to to "never ever leave ISKCON, and if you leave ISKCON, you'll go to hell". Is this not coercion and indoctrination? ISKCON's leaders preach that ISKCON is the only way, that everyone else is a demon, even if they are Vaisnavas in a different institution such as the Gaudiya Math. We are brainwashed in ISKCON to never question the leaders, and to blindly surrender to their every order. ISKCON's members are not allowed to use their intelligence to question various issues in ISKCON. Bluntly, we are told to just "shut up and surrender, don't ask any question". So yes, ISKCON certainly has the symptom mentioned here.

Cult Symptom #5:
It forms an elitist totalitarian society.

The GBC are the "elite" of ISKCON. They live like kings, traveling all around the world, getting honor and worship, opulent food, comfortable material conditions, and so on. Can we ask one question here. Is it even a remote possibility that most of ISKCON's leaders are not as pure as they claim to be, and that they enjoy on some level all of the graduer that is given to them? Being an ISKCON guru is good business. You get free money for traveling, free opulent food, a very nice comfortable room to stay in, public speaking opportunities, worship and praise, and lots of blind followers who are ready to do whatever you say.

It is clear that the GBCs, gurus, and leaders of ISKCON fit into this symptom of being an "elitist" organization.

Cult Symptom #6:
It believes 'the end justifies the means'.

ISKCON brainwashes it's members to believe that unless you are a member of ISKCON, you are a demon, and thus we can feel free to exploit you. After all, they're all just "karmis", and thus there is nothing wrong with cheating them and taking their money. Or, as in New Vrindavan, if by selling drugs and weapons we can raise money to build a new temple, then no problem! The end justifies the means!

Cult Symptom #7:
Its wealth does not benefit its members or society.

Ah, now this is a major point. ISKCON's members spend their whole lives working hard to raise donations through book distribution, food distribution, etc, but where does all of that money go? It never goes into the pockets of the rank and file devotees who worked hard to collect it. It generally goes into the pocket of some guru or temple president, who then uses the hard-earned money to maintain their own comfortable position and lifestyle. Is this not injustice? Is this not exploitation? The gurus and GBCs receive so much wealth to maintain their opulent lifestyle, but when the poor rank and file devotee needs help, they hang him out to dry. Is this called love and gratitude? I worked hard for ISKCON raising money, and then whenever I get sick or need help, ISKCON doesn't help me?

Does anyone ever wonder how ISKCON's gurus and elite maintain their opulent and comfortable lifestyle? Through exploiting the rank and file devotees for money. So, who in their right mind would surrender to such demoniac people?

The summary: ISKCON is a cult. If you at all care for your own spiritual life and well being, you might want to seriously consider leaving ISKCON and taking shelter elsewhere. Otherwise, after you get exploited and cheated, then it will be too late.

ISKCON is a dangerous extremist cult that has a past history of murdering it's own members who speak out against the corruption of the top leaders of ISKCON. ISKCON brainwashes it's members to never question the authority of the senior members of the organization, and if someone dares to do so, he is immediately kicked out, and sometimes even murdered.

ISKCON has also allowed hundreds of children living in it's ISKCON-run schools to get molested, abused, tortured, and raped, which resulted in a $400 million dollar lawsuit filed against ISKCON in the late 1990s.

In regards to marriage, ISKCON has not done very well. The divorce rate in ISKCON is somewhere around 70 to 80 percent. As a reaction to this, most people in ISKCON now want to marry a person who is not a member of ISKCON. So the widespread failure of marriage is another very dark spot on the ISKCON cult.

This blog is dedicated to exposing the corruption, lies, abuses, and crimes of the ISKCON cult, so that the public at large can be fully aware of the dangers of this cult.

Please visit: http://harekrishnadiary.blogspot.com/

FACT: ISKCON gurus have opposed, oppressed and driven out many sincere Godbrothers and Godsisters.

FACT: ISKCON gurus have usurped and misused money, and diverted other ISKCON resources for their own personal prestige and sense gratification.

Fact: ISKCON gurus have had illicit sexual intercourse with both women and men, and possibly children as well.