21 Questions to the GBC


21 Questions that the GBC Refuses to Answer
By Pratyatosa Dasa, April 16, 1998

[Except for the first two, all of these questions were asked of the GBC more than a month before this year's Gaura Purnima, but so far, no answers have been received for any of them.]

Dear GBC godbrothers,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Here is a list of 21 questions that I have for you:

Unless I receive satisfactory answers to these questions by Gaura Purnima, 1998, I intend to upload them to a Web page for all the world to see. I also intend to list this newly created Web page on all of the major Internet search engines.

I reserve the right to publicly post, or to send copies to whomever I choose, any replies that I may receive which I consider to be threatening, abusive or slanderous. I also reserve the right to post, or to send copies to whomever I choose, these types of letters which I may have received from GBC men or their so-called "disciples" or supporters in the past, unless a written apology is received by Gaura Purnima, 1998.

[This list of questions also contains some additional information on the latest controversies concerning Muralivadaka Dasa and "Tamal Krishna Gosvami".]

21 Questions for the GBC

1. Why did Devakinandana Dasa, the cowman in Gita Nagari at the time, say in late 1976, "Tamal Krishna is the cruelest man in the world!"?

[In 1976/77, "Tamal Krishna Gosvami" (a.k.a. Thomas Herzig) was the GBC of New York's 55th Street temple and the Gita Nagari farm in Pennsylvania, then called "New Barsana". Having become very unpopular in NY, he moved to Gita Nagari, where my family and myself were also residing. Paramananda Dasa and Devakinandana Dasa were managing the farm. One time Devakinandana told me the above statement in private, completely "out of the blue" with absolutely no prompting on my part. To this day, his words are still ringing in my ears.]

[When TKG heard that Srila Prabhupada was feeling ill, he flew directly from Gita Nagari to Vrindavan to be with Prabhupada.]

2. Why was I told by Romapada Dasa, in 1977, in a very heavy, threatening tone of voice, "Adi Keshava says that no one should go to Vrindavan and disturb Prabhupada!"?

[At the time, because Adi Keshava Swami (a.k.a. Angus Murphy), the regular temple president of New York's 55th Street temple, was with Srila Prabhupada in India, Romapada Dasa Brahmacari was the acting temple president. Having just left Gita Nagari, I had a high paying computer job in New York. My wife and I had heard that our beloved spiritual master was extremely ill, so I got a leave of absence from my contract programming job, got passports and visas for myself, my wife, and our 3 year old son, Madhava , and were just about to buy plane tickets for the three of us to Delhi, to be with Prabhupada. Just before purchasing the tickets, I called Romapada on a pay phone to inform him of our intentions. It was then that he made the above statement. These words are echoing in my ears, to this day.]

3. Why did the GBC try to hide the July 9th letter?

[As late as 1991, it was still not included in Prabhupada's computer "Infobase". This letter was supposed to have been sent to all GBC men and all temple presidents. Isn't 14 years a little long for it to have been lost? Isn't there something a little suspicious here?]

4. Why, even though "Tamal Krishna Goswami" said that he was recording Prabhupada's every word, are there no tapes of Srila Prabhupada for 1 1/2 entire months soon after the July 9th letter?

[What does TKG have to say about this?]

5. Why did the GBC try to hide Srila Prabhupada's will?

6. Why did the GBC try to hide many of Srila Prabhupada's letters?

7. Why are many of Srila Prabhupada's letters still missing?

8. Why does the GBC and their supporters often try to avoid the issues being presented by attacking the character and/or the style of the presenter?

9. Why are the GBC men who used fraud and deceit to take control of ISKCON in early 1978, who voted themselves in as "zonal acharyas"/"Srila Prabhupada's successors", while pretending to have been appointed to that position by Srila Prabhupada, who forced their godbrothers to worship them, who never publicly apologized for these abominable acts, and who are still committing many of these same offenses, still on the GBC? Why aren't they in jail where they belong?

10. Why are the GBC men who voted Adi Keshava, a pathological liar, and Bhavananda, an active homosexual, onto the GBC in early 1978, right after Srila Prabhupada's physical departure, still on the GBC? Why aren't they in jail where they belong?

[Srila Prabhupada knew both of these men very well, and he never put either of them on the GBC. I remember thinking at the time; "They have given Srila Prabhupada a slap in the face! They are telling him that he doesn't know what he is doing!" Time has proven that it's these self-appointed bogus gurus who don't know what they are doing.]

11. Why did the GBC pass a resolution in the 1980s that the Pancha-tattva Mantra should be changed from "Sri-advaita" to "Jayadvaita"?

[This is a prime example of the incredible arrogance of these madmen. This mantra had already been published as "Sri-advaita" in hundreds of places in Srila Prabhupada's books. If they had succeeded in making this change, it would have made Prabhupada look ridiculous. Instead, they made themselves look ridiculous!]

12. Why are the GBC men who voted for reinstating Bhavananda on the GBC in 1986, soon after he had been caught in yet another one of his homosexual "love"/sex affairs, while pretending to be a celibate renunciate, still on the GBC? Why aren't they in jail where they belong?

13. Why are the bogus, unqualified temple presidents, who betrayed the guru reform movement in 1987 by swallowing the "poison bait" ("If you let us keep our positions, then we'll make you gurus and/or GBC men."), still gurus and/or still on the GBC? Why aren't they in jail where they belong?

14. Why did the GBC let all of the teachers and administrators of the GBC created and maintained ISKCON "schools" ("gurukulas"), who sexually molested the poor, innocent children, allowed to go scott free? Why didn't the GBC turn them over to the police? Why didn't the GBC insist that all of these "scum-of-the-earth" criminals be fined and put in jail? Why does the GBC continue to try to cover everything up, not sending any official letters of apology to the victims, or to the parents of the victims, not g iving the victims, or the parents of the victims, money for much needed counseling, full tuition refunds, compensatory damage awards or punitive damage awards? Why does the GBC continue to harass the victims and the parents of the victims? Why doesn't the GBC even attempt to find out who the victims are, or try to communicate with them? Why aren't these obviously criminally negligent GBC men in jail where they belong???

[Many of these poor, defenseless children were sent to what for them was a very strange country (India), 10,000 miles from their parents, where communication with their parents was very difficult. They were placed under the care of these lowest of criminals by their well-meaning parents, who at one time had faith and trust in these "gurukulas" and in the GBC. Some of the parents, especially the so called "grand-disciples", were put under very great pressure by their so-called "spiritual masters" and/or oth er ISKCON leaders to send their beloved children away to these snake pits known as "gurukula ashrams".]

15. Why is one of these bogus, criminal GBC/"gurus", "Harikesa Swami" (a.k.a. Robert Campagnoli) blocking private email messages without the permission of either the senders or the receivers, thus violating the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights?:

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

"The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

"Article 12

"No one shall be subject to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."

Why isn't he in jail where he belongs?

16. Why did one of these bogus, criminal GBC/"gurus", "Bhavananda Swami" (a.k.a. Charles Backus), order his disciples to take their sons out of the gurukula that I had started and was administering in Detroit, without saying anything to me, sending them to the Lake Huntington gurukula where they were sexually molested, causing my eight year old son to be deprived of his friends, thus forcing my wife and I to send him away to live in an ISKCON so-called "gurukula ashram", where he was also sexually molested ? Why isn't he in jail where he belongs?

17. Why did one of these bogus, criminal GBC men, Badrinarayan Dasa (a.k.a. Robert Morrill), order my wife and I to not run a gurukula ashram?

[He said that it was because our oldest son, who was living with us at the time, had been sexually molested in the Vrindavan gurukula, and had not received proper counseling. The fact is that he had gotten excellent, confidential counseling at our own expense, but the counseling that Badrinarayan Dasa then proceeded to arrange was completely incompetent and bungled at almost every step. Badrinarayan Dasa harassed and abused us to the point where my wife had to threaten to take all of the ISKCON child abuse records, which were in our possession at the time, to the media, if he didn't leave us alone! She even told him that; "If you don't resign as head of the ISKCON International Board of Education then I am going to resign as a member of the International Board." The result of all of this is that he no longer has anything to do with ISKCON education, but before he resigned, he managed to get the GBC body to take away my wife's service of being in charge of counseling victims of ISKCON child abuse worldwide, and to give this service to Muralivadaka Dasa. He also got the GBC body to order that all of the child abuse records be transferred to Muralivadaka's care. When I recently reminded my wife of this she said, "Isn't that ridiculous?" This all took place in early 1995, I believe, which is well after Muralivadaka himself began sexually abusing some of the boys who had been placed in his care by well meaning parents. Is this what the parents, with their hard-earned tuition dollars, were paying him to do?]

[Another one of this same GBC man's great exploits, besides his ongoing sick, perverted habit of being a pathological liar and slandering many of Prabhupada's disciples whom he considers to be one of his or the GBC's political enemies, is that he, as the GBC in charge of restaurants, demanded that an independent grhastha, who had started a restaurant, stop using the name "Govinda's" because he (Badri) didn't like what the restaurant was serving. He immediately told the Govinda's owner that he was going to sue, that "it was an open and shut case", that he'd better change the name "or else", etc. The Govinda's owner got completely turned off by this "hot-head" GBC man's attitude and told him to "Go to hell!" Then Badri found out that he had no legal basis to sue, because there was no legal protection for the name "Govinda's". After weeks of the GBC man's harassment and abuse, Badri finally agreed to pay the restaurant owner $2000 if he would "please, pretty please", just change the name from "Govinda's" to "G avinda's"!!! Thus Badrinarayan Dasa, after coming in like a "ton of bricks", simply went away like a dog with his tail between his legs, thus becoming the laughing stock of that entire community of about 100 devotees. This man is one of the "poison bait" swallowers that I mentioned previously.]

18. Why did one of these bogus, criminal GBC/"gurus", "Hridayananda Dasa Goswami" (a.k.a. Howard Resnick), write a letter to my 16 year old daughter telling her to take initiation from him right away, even though she had just sent a letter to him telling him that I had told her to wait until after she was married, and then get permission from her husband? Why isn't he in jail where he belongs?

19. Why does another one of these bogus, criminal GBC/"gurus", "Tamal Krishna Goswami", have a very bad reputation in St. Louis?

[I spent a half a year in the St. Louis ISKCON temple just recently. On more that one occasion, I heard it gleefully proclaimed that TKG, the former GBC of St. Louis, was "kicked out by Sura". (But if you tell these same devotees, "So why not kick out that rascal, Badrinarayan, who is co-GBC of St. Louis now?", they are afraid for their own positions.) Last summer, the temple president of St. Louis told me that TKG's name was "mud" in St. Louis after Gopijanavallabha Swami committed suicide by blowing his brains out! This TP also said that the reason this happened was that this bogus GBC/"guru" was telling Gopi that "Only through me can you have a connection with Srila Prabhupada." It was right after this incident that TKG got the "royal boot" in both St. Louis and Chicago, he said.]

20. Doesn't the GBC believe in the law of karma? Don't they believe in a Supreme Controller? Aren't they afraid of the hell that's awaiting them after they are forced to give up their present gross material bodies? Do the disciples of these despicable criminals not think that they themselves are going to have to suffer a similar fate for worshiping these charlatans? Now the unqualified, karmi-like disciples of these criminal "gurus" have even been installed as temple presidents, in such ISKCON temples as T el Aviv, St. Louis, Berkeley, Toronto, etc. I've noticed that even Srila Prabhupada's disciples, what to speak of his "grand-disciples" who serve or cooperate with these criminal GBC/"gurus" also begin to take on the qualities of these crooked men, thus becoming like karmi prostitutes, karmi child abusers, karmi child molesters, karmi sex mongers, karmi homosexuals, karmi slanderers, karmi drug addicts, etc., etc. Where is it all going to end???

[I'm tired of hearing these so-called "grand disciples" blaspheming the sincere disciples of Prabhupada, who are simply trying to prevent Srila Prabhupada's beloved ISKCON from "going down the tubes". I'm tired of hearing them praising their so-called "gurus", who are causing ISKCON to "go down the tubes", offering bhoga to these rascals, putting pictures of these madmen on ISKCON temple altars, on the same level as Srila Prabhupada, and the rest of the disciplic succession! Put all of these atheistic crim inals in jail where they belong!!!]

21. The following question is from Pracetana Devi Dasi, but I would also very much like to know the answer:

"On 30 December, l980 Tamala Krishna Goswami said the following:

'ACTUALLY PRABHUPADA NEVER APPOINTED ANY GURUS. HE DIDN'T APPOINT ELEVEN GURUS. MYSELF AND THE OTHER GBC HAVE DONE THE GREATEST DISSERVICE TO THE MOVEMENT THE LAST THREE YEARS, BECAUSE WE INTERPRETED THE APPOINTMENT OF RITVICS AS THE APPOINTMENT OF GURUS.'

"Why [did] he change [this] very heartfelt statement, which was spoken in truth, by acting in a completely opposite way, re-endorsing the self-appointed acharya system?"

"[Krishna consciousness] is simple for the simple, but it is very hard for the crooked." (From an initiation lecture by Srila Prabhupada, 26 December, 1969, in Boston. This was the first time that I saw Srila Prabhupada in person, and by Krishna's divine arrangement, I was able to make the one and only original tape recording of this lecture.)

Your servant, Pratyatosa Dasa (ACBSP)
pratyatosa@hotmail.com
http://www.pratyatosa.com/