Is Yuga Avatar Living in ISKCON or in a Dream?
BY: KIWI SPIRIT
Nov 27, NEW ZEALAND (SUN) — We have been following the writings of Yuga Avatar das for some time now with
much interest. It is certainly surprising how Yuga writes as if he is an
accepted member of ISKCON, when actually he is not. As was pointed out by Krsna
das in his article entitled, "Yuga Avatar - Supporter of the Zonal Acraya System:
“Oh the irony of it! Reading Yuga Avatar’s submissions of late, one would be convinced that he is an active ISKCON member in good standing. However, I know for a fact that in the past Yuga Avatar has been banned from temples in New Zealand and Australia, banned by the same persons he now glorifies in his articles.”
We first met Yuga in the 1980’s and were warned by our ISKCON authorities, (rightly so), to keep a safe distance. Yuga Avatar was one of those guys who was always traveling around and would unexpectedly show up at the Sunday feast or some temple function, when it was most difficult for temple authorities to deal with him. His reputation was that of being very aggressive, which I had first hand experience of. Yuga Avatar would try to convince new bhaktas to come on “traveling sankirtan” with him. This, as pointed out by Krsna dasa Prabhu, was nothing more than selling illegally reproduced clothing.
One day the Temple President (at that time) showed me a letter officially banning Yuga Avatar from all Australiasian temples. This was signed by all the local GBC's and all Temple Presidents in Australasia. So, although I was already convinced of Yuga Avatar's dubious nature and activities, it was good to see that I was not alone.
Even though Yuga Avatar talks about “our ISKCON,” does he live in ISKCON? Which temple? Does he give classes, lead kirtan, worship the Deities; is he in anyway a part of the temple or community structure? Which ISKCON authority does Yuga work under today? Maybe one of our local Temple Presidents or GBC could enlighten the Sun’s readers in this regard.
It also appears rather strange that Yuga Avatar writes so much about the importance of having a diksa guru, his being Bhavananda! Does ISKCON accept Bhavananda as a diksa guru? Does Bhavananda accept the position of Yuga’s diksa guru? It’s seems Yuga Avatar lives not in ISKCON, but in a dream.
