Kirtanananda's Return
BY: HRISHIKESH DASA
Aug 05, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, USA (SUN) — Hare Krishna, Bhakta Charlie. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada. This is in response to your recent article, "Kirtanananda at Henry Street".
The reason why Kirtanananda Swami was permitted to preach in ISKCON temples in 1972 (and I think Mahananda Prabhu probably intends to address this in a future article in his series) was because Srila Prabhupada ordered his disciples to "forget about our past incidences with Hayagriva and Kirtanananda. Treat Kirtanananda as bona fide and address him as Kirtanananda Maharaj. He should be first offered obeisances and he will return the respect to his Godbrothers. . . . Please be brotherly with Hayagriva and Kirtanananda." -- letter to Brahmananda (July 29, 1968)
Yes, Kirtanananda had blooped and lived in maya for nearly a year, smoked marijuana during this time (as told to me personally by his brother & sister-in-law, Gerald & Elsie Ham) and attempted to form his own non-sectarian spiritual movement in West Virginia. But on May 13, 1968 he wrote to Prabhupada and begged forgiveness.
During July of that year, Kirtanananda and Hayagriva traveled from New Vrindaban to Montreal to visit Srila Prabhupada. They stayed for five days. The long-awaited reunion was highly emotional, and both Prabhupada and Kirtanananda cried tears of joy. Kirtanananda presented Prabhupada with a quart of blackberry chutney and one of raspberry jam, made from wild berries picked at New Vrindaban. Hayagriva later wrote that Prabhupada “forgave his renegade disciples in Montreal with a garland of roses and a shower of tears.” --Hayagriva dasa, “Chant,” Brijabasi Spirit (November 1981), 20.
From what I understand, Kirtanananda's preaching was on-the-mark during those days in the 1970s. He inspired many devotees, including myself, to surrender to Krishna, chant Hare Krishna, follow the regulative principles, and engage in sadhana bhakti. Unfortunately, he was unable to pluck the weeds of material desires from his heart, and he began falling down secretly, and instead of seeking counsel from his godbrothers, he sank deeper and deeper into maya, until finally he was ultimately forced out of his leadership position at New Vrindaban in 1993-1994 (although the GBC had expelled him from ISKCON six years earlier in 1987).
Yet even today, there is still hope for Kirtanananda. You might recall the 1983 movie by George Lucas: "Star Wars--Return of the Jedi." In this film, Darth Vader, the evil former-Jedi Knight who has turned to the dark side, redeems himself at the conclusion of the story by saving his son and killing his evil master, Darth Sidious. I hope that Kirtanananda, like Darth Vader, will someday also return to the path of light.
Sincerely,
Hrishikesh dasa
(Henry Doktorski)
