Response to Radhanath's Comments, Unmade
BY: JANMASTAMI DAS
Jan 16, WEST VIRGINIA, USA (SUN) — In response to the recent GBC Statement on accusations against Radhanatha Swami.
Regarding this facade, and all the upcoming pro-Radhanath propaganda about to
unfurl, we respond thusly:
"Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. New discussions have recently been going on about criminal activities
that took place in New Vrindavana in the 1980s. These events were thoroughly investigated by the United States Attorney's Office, which contains some of the finest attorneys in the country, and several individuals were prosecuted and convicted. The case has now been closed for almost two decades."
Radhanath paid good money to get this closed and it will stay closed or this ISKCON will pay serious consequences. That is not "a threat", as New Vrindaban and Kirtanananda have claimed, that is "the law of karma, explained". You "get it?" or "you don't!", it matters not to us. The effort is "one who explains this secret to My devotee", not "being 'physically' present" when those instructions fructify and produce their results. It's certainly not "closed!" from the Yamaduttas point of view. For them, it's just getting ready to start. And for all those 5,000 plus disciples with him.
"The GBC is not a legal or law enforcement agency. It is an ecclesiastical body that lacks the resources to match the ability of the federal government to deal with these matters. All it can do is refer such matters to the appropriate legal authorities. We can simply state below the facts of the case as we understand them:"
Our Miriam Webster's defines "ecclesiastical" as -- from the Greek, meaning 'an assembly, a meeting, a calling out of the church', examples of which are: "ecclesiastical commissioners for England"-- a body of commissioners appointed in 1836 to investigate the affairs of the church and to report back with their condition. ecclesiastical courts; their business is to consider all cases pertaining to the disciple of the church.
We welcome this promised ISKCON body and we wait their illustrious findings. The Iraq study group completed their research, complete with worldwide junkets some are so fond of taking, and published and distributed copies of their findings within two weeks. As Srila Prabhupada has trained us all, "surely we can work as hard as these karmis!"
"The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spent several years investigating the Sulocana case, and other serious legal problems with the New Vrindavana community. These were conducted in tandem with the United States Attorney in West Virginia.
In addition, the Los Angeles Police Department investigated the murder of Sulocana dasa as a California state case, and they also gave evidence in the federal case. Law officers from West Virginia were also involved. There were two federal trials and a major grand jury hearing regarding Kirtanananda dasa. Tirtha dasa was also tried, both in California and West Virginia. (Kirtanananda served a lengthy prison term. Tirtha is still in prison.) These extensive government investigations and trials contained nothing to substantiate the allegations brought forward by Janmastami dasa against Radhanath Swami.
There were no charges of any kind brought against Radhanath Swami. This was despite the fact that as part of the overall investigation Radhanath Swami was interrogated by the Western Region FBI Director, LAPD investigators, federal prosecutors, and two grand juries. He was cleared by all these agencies of any involvement in wrongdoing."
The trial of Kirtanananda also cleared him of all involvement with the plotting and planning of the murder of the dissident who attacked him. Does this mean that there was no conspiracy? No, that can't be true, because Tirtha admits there were at least three of them, including Kuladri (who contacted Bordenkircher), Gaura Shakti (who transcribed Sulocan's diary), whoever distributed the copies of that list, and all those involved in the knowing and unknowing transfer of funds after the three surveillances and the murder. The GBC made Radhanath's "not getting indicted" a pre-requisite for his being able to return to the fold of ISKCON. Unfortunately, honesty was not a requirement. "He was
cleared by all of these agencies of any involvement in wrongdoing", does not mean that that exoneration might not be a part of his plea bargain, which we all admit he made. We just do not have an accurate account of what that deal was. Clearly, this is within the "ecclesiastical court's" jurisdiction, and we look forward to their published findings.
"A week ago, on January 3rd, 2007, Michael Stein, United States Attorney and the lead federal prosecutor for the case, after hearing the recent allegations from Janmastami dasa, stated: "We looked at everyone in New Vrindavana, particularly those higher on the ring. Radhanath Swami could have been an influence [in this crime] but he wasn't." Stein went on to say that there was no evidence whatsoever that Radhanath Swami had any involvement in the crime and that Radhanath Swami was never considered a defendant. When asked, he said there was no question of further investigations based on the allegations of Janmastami. US Attorney Stein concluded by saying that he personally "vouched for" Radhanath Swami's credibility."
Sri US Prosecutor Uvaca. Also, if Stein's statements are true, how is it possible that "Radhanath was never considered as a defendant"? It would be possible that he was considered as a defendant but later exonerated of any guilt, but it could not be true that "he was never considered as a defendant".
"Given the above, the GBC finds no reasons to take these allegations
seriously. The GBC recommends that any person in possession of newly
discovered evidence regarding the New Vrindavana events present such
information to the U.S. Attorney's Office or other appropriate legal
agency. If any subsequent investigation might ensue, the GBC will fully
cooperate with it."
That was the same option left to Sulocana, and it is because of his exercising those options that what happened did happen. The government's inability to bring a successful case without an insider turning on the organization is legendary. The New Vrindaban reaction to the attack on Kirtanananda was nothing Kirtanananda could have planned. The GBC concludes that since the FBI did not successfully prosecute anyone for the plotting of the conspiracy, no conspiracy must have taken place. Or, do they take that court-like stance of judgment and convict Kirtanananda, when 3 trials and 2 grand juries could not do that?
Over and above the criminal issues, the civil issue, life member's rights, which Ravindra Prabhu has denied us since we first took legal exception with their treatment of our life member claims in 1999, has not been resolved. We joined the recently settled lawsuit with the hope that justice would be served. We have our written copy of Radha Cornia, ISKCON's attorney of record in DC, that guaranteed that our claims would be dealt with in 1999. Half the books and other supporting documents Radha requested in court were returned, unopened, with a new cover letter stating that she was no longer an ISKCON representative and she didn't want any more correspondence sent to her. The responses from Allens Lane were of a like mood. Half of our life member books and such were never returned. Similarly, our claim to an "apartment for life" at New Vrindaban has been denied us for over 12 years now, Since the Kirtanananda supporter purge that Radhanath mentions in his all too brief confession.
"Finally, the GBC asked Radhanath Swami if he would like to make a statement regarding these allegations. He wrote: "I do not have the time, health, or energy to get into Internet debates, and as I'm trying to be a Vaishnava, I'm reluctant to defend myself from such assaults of character. "But for the purpose of clarification, my comments are as follows: "In 1993 New Vrindavana community members were informed about the spiritual problems Kirtanananda Swami was having. Janmastami dasa was furious, and told me that Kirtanananda Swami was the perfect acarya, and that anything said about him was all vicious lies. He said he held me responsible for being the leader of a conspiracy against Kirtanananda Swami and that I would be "destroyed." Since then he has repeatedly threatened me and other members of the New Vrindavana community.
"As far as what Janmastami dasa has written on the Internet, every single allegation against me is totally false. I was not involved in any criminal activity. "On a personal note, I have nothing against Janmastami Prabhu and only wish the best for him.
Your servant,
Radhanath Swami"
Your servants,
ISKCON GBC Executive Committee "
Our divesting of twenty years of secrets and semi-secrets has been a cleansing experience for us, and it is one that we wish Radhanath would avail himself of. SRILA Prabhupada, a real "Srila", was never one to shirk his duty on the plea of failing health. Rather, he gave his final bursts of apparent material energy trying to preach to others, while trying to keep "the wolves" at bay within his own organization.
Radhanath's depiction of a conversation that never took place serves as "his only proof" that our mindset was to threaten him and other New Vrindaban community members in 1993. When Radhanath and I last spoke, one on one, I told him that before going before the grand jury, we had to get our stories straight, no glaring errors and his response to me was, "Janmastami, you are trying to intimidate me!" If that be "threatening him", then I suppose I have. From that point on, he took Chandramauli as a part-time body guard when he thought I might be around. He had Garga Rsi das pay me $8,000 US to void the five year lease they had drawn with us on the big greenhouse that Kirtanananda had built at New Vrindaban.
In Tirtha's letter, he states that in 1994 (corresponding with our dates of the exile) "the community" excommunicated me, and what we seek is a record of that vote and/or a refund of our four life memberships, $4,032, and the refund on the "apartment for life", $10,000, and we will be satisfied to walk away from this organization. This is not, as mother Malati Swami has suggested, extortion, any more than Sakshi Gopal extorted the brahmins to be honest. It is an attempt to hold so-called Vaisnavas, so-called brahmins, at least to the minimum standard of honesty. Clearly, one of the two of us is lying. I stand before the assembled devotees, The Deities, and the sacred fire and I swear, as I swore when I broke my brahmin thread and threw it into the fire, that in the interests of justice, I would pursue this wherever it wanted to go. As Pragosha Prabhu has pointed out, "this thing now has a life of it's own!", and perhaps that is as it should be. Then no one individual can be held as "at fault" when all these events come to their logical
conclusions.
The fact is that when Radhanath approached me to tell me of the Kirtanananda transgressions (I was in my van with wife and two children as witnesses), he was interrupted by Adwaita Acarya das, who said "forget about him!", because they had already gotten Kirtanananda to order us to leave New Vrindaban and return to DC and re- start a business we had just, a year and a half earlier, closed down.
From that point on, all proceeds from those collections went to Kirtanananda directly and we were no longer welcome, as were none of the Kirtanananda supporters, at any of the ISKCON centers, of which New Vrindaban had become a "probationary" one. If a vote such as Tirtha, an incarcerated murderer, knows about existed, surely the 501(c)3 organization laws being what they are, a record of this vote is a matter of public record, and we seek it at the GBC's earliest possible convenience. If it was "an unscheduled, impromptu meeting", held by certain members, without records taken, it is illegal and we would protest such an action. If we are forced by the GBC to seek legal restitution in the West Virginia civil courts, we will continue to do so. This is the course that Gupta Suggested we go.
Radhanath's admission that New Vrindaban became a divided camp regarding loyalty to Kirtanananda, while true in part, was only true until the point that Kirtanananda was ordered out. After that point, loyalty to Kirtanananda at New Vrindanba was pointless. At that point when Kirtanananda was ordered out and Radhanath took over, like any clever politician who had just used murder to put his career on the fast track, he had to consolidate his power and ouster the elements of the former regime. He did just that. I was a victim of that injustice, as were my wife and children. I seek only the refund of those life membership fees, but if it is required, we can make it another class action lawsuit against ISKCON, reorganized or not, we'll see.
While Radhanath professes his innocence on the basis, solely, of his not having been indicted, we question his nature with regard to Kirtanananda, and when he experienced his epiphany with regards to Kirtanananda's deviant behavior. We would like to know what he knew, when he knew it, and to whom he passed on that information. My family of four were overlooked when that information was finally disseminated by Radhanath to whomever it was that he informed. There are witnesses to the fictitious nature of Radhanath's claims.
Another of the witnesses to this twisting of the truth is Tirtha, himself. While Radhanath has denied the truth of "ALL" statements made by Janmastami (apparently even those he does not have the time to read and/or comment on), Tirtha has only chosen to call such revelations "faultfinding". As Tirtha has assured us, he was the center of attention at that time and only he knew "everyone's input", and yet he does not see fit to call the allegations of Radhanath's behavior as lies, but rather the more highly implicating offense of "faultfinding". It would only be "faultfinding" if the allegations were true, otherwise it would be "lying".
Thus we have five principles in the case, Kirtanananda, Tirtha, Dharmatma, Janmastami, and Radhanath, with only Radhanath denying his involvement. Of course, Tirtha does make his blanket absolution assertion about Radhanath's behavior (he didn't know anything, about anything, ever, concerning these affairs), but the all-telling "faultfinding" charge would only be true if Radhanath was as deeply implicated in the plotting and the cover-up as what we have claimed. We look forward to more of Tirtha's revelations on these matters in the coming weeks.
Finally, so far as Fadhanath's claims of "wishing only the best" for us, we are of the belief that The Absolute Truth is 'what's best' for us, IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, and this is certainly no exception. If he is in agreement with this policy, we might ask that he pray, that all concerned devotees pray for the Truth to come out on these matters. Surely, this is something we can all agree upon, not simply the current spate of "if the government won't indict, he must be totally innocent of all involvement" anti-logic that has been offered by some as reasonable discussion.
"It was so long ago" is never a problem when the subject matter is The Truth. That is the all-attractive nature of The Truth. The lies and daily politics of the mundane wranglers is that which has the limited subject capacity. They have bored themselves with their own defenses on their first airing. Radhanath has told us that his concern is that he is "trying to become a Vaishnava", and we fear that his current behavior is VERY "a-Vaishnava".
Since it is clear to the devotee community at large that one of us is lying, we pray to The Supreme Lord for the vindication of the innocent party in this dispute. We are convinced that this would be "what is best for us", for Radhanath, for the devotee community, and for Lord Caitanya's movement as a Whole. We invite the input of all those having concerns on these matters and we hope that such discussions are not swept aside in the flood of info about the irritable bowel syndrome support group and their progress.
ALL GLORIES TO SRILA PRABHUPADA !!!
In pursuit of The Absolute Truth,
OM TAT SAT
Janmastami das
