Another Witness Reveals...
BY: MAHA MANTRA DASA
Dec 31, CANADA (SUN) — [Editor's Note: It is not clear if "Maha Mantra dasa" is the author of this piece, or simply the contributor.
I was a witness in four trials, two against Tirtha and two against Bhaktipada, two in California and two in West Virginia. For whatever reason "devotees" have committed such acts, they should be willing to honestly express their reasons and accept the reactions for their deeds as that is the noble thing to do. Anything a devotee does is supposed to be in the service of Guru and Gauranga, therefore all acts committed by a so-called "vaishnava" should be fully disclosable to all, whether it was misguided or not.
I rode with Tirtha, Janmastami, and Krishna Katha das, together in looking for burial places for Sulocan's body prior to the murder. They, in their hearts, felt and stated they were out to serve their gurus, just as I was. For the record as I testified, Ramesvara (Krishna Katha and myself's guru), told us not to get involved, but if people from New Vrindavan were there to give Sulocan another body, then let them do it.
Ramesvara wanted us to keep Sulocana out of New Dwaraka because he was said to be carrying weapons and wearing disguises and had written a letter asking for any ksatriyas to help him kill all of the ISKCON gurus (I read that letter). Krishna Katha and myself acted as scouts in Los Angeles and like I say, traveled with those mentioned above to the high desert approximately 100 miles north of Los Angeles to show potential burial places (I knew the area). Once up there Tirtha mentioned placing more than Sulocan into abandoned mineshafts and mentioned Dhira Krishna's name (A previous New Dwaraka temple President Sanyasi). So certainly, Janmastami and Tirtha worked together to that point.
The detectives wanted to know who actually did the killing, and later who paid for it. At the second trial in West Virginia, it was becoming apparent that Kirtanananda and/or others would likely be found guilty of the "murder for hire", Kirtanananda's lawyers plea-bargained for guilty charges on the mail fraud and racketeering charges if the murder for hire case would be dropped. I heard that the judge didn't want to put Kirtanananda away for the rest of his life. The turning point in the trial was when Tirtha decided to tell about several of the murders he had committed, allegedly because of what he had heard about Kirtanananda's child molesting. In the previous trials, Tirtha had covered for Kirtanananda. This is the first I had heard about the children dying in odd accidents. I haven't heard from Krishna katha in many years, but surely he could if he wanted, reveal many things about Tirtha and Janmastami.
In closing, I would just say many of us were misguided and very devoted. I have absolutely regretted my involvement. However if someone is looking for people to help him kill your guru, and you as yet haven't been made aware of any wrongdoing by your guru, you would probably have acted similarly. The kids though........
And to Tirtha, my apologies for telling the truth in the trials, I had tried not to look at you during the trip so I couldn't finger you, but sometimes the truth is forced out by the Supersoul, and really facing the reaction for what you thought was serving your guru should be accepted as Krishna's and society's mercy.
