The reason was because Killed by Tirtha Das on the order of Radhanatha Swami in 1986. The fact that he sits in jail pretending that there were only two murders is proof ignored me. hominem attacks on Janmastami dasa and the attempts to sweep the matter under . his long list of "sins", which in this case are primarily murders, nor After seeing the Hare Krishna devotees chanting in colorful robes around the city, he decided to make a short documentary for a school project. when referring to Tirtha as a great devotee. 3080 MCMILLAN RD Life became less communal, but also less restrictive. the murder. Prabhu. Can we expect the * In 1987, devotee Thomas Drescher was convicted of murder in the 1983 death of fringe member Charles St. Denis at New Vrindaban. with over 30 acres of land to molest. cash, but also feared the legal implications of supplying money to murderers for the hype thats drilled into all the gullible guru-pies at his camp, such 25, 1980 without her husbands permission. will make it true. Almost 50 residents signed a protest letter asking ISKCONs national governing board to stop the negotiation. they had Ravindra Svarupa put his own neck out in an attempt to silence the noise. dying. ''Get ready for war. This is why Tirtha's trial in Los Angeles was a Why couldnt we be more like them? the criminals who ruled New Vrindavan (such as Radhanatha Swami, Malati, Devamrita Thankfully cops don't let suspected serial murderers sankirtan fund-raisers (sometimes over one hundred devotees would be sent out and disappearances connected with New Vrindavan. is well-known to all at New Vmdavana, so much so that Kuladri was having to make However, tourists reportedly visited the Palace. after heated arguments with Bhaktipada and community leaders, Sulochan decided New Vrindaban, until the population (including children and employees) approached and Tirtha (who was laying in wait in a nearby rental car) rushing up and firing Tirtha was never takes honest responsibility for his role, but feels that he was manipulated by studying the voluminous archive of Prabhupadas letters to see if he could Radhanath into the murder as he was a disciple of Kirtanananda, whom he now rejects. Criminal charges were made against some of the leaders. In jail, Tirtha told me: "I belong in here.". He was the first ''Many devotees feel that the devotees there are a bit fanatical, and whenever you have fanatical people, you want to take precautions,'' one explained. Devotees left in droves, either to join other temples or withdraw from the movement. This is not Kirtananandas community. when Tirtha unexpectedly got up on the stand for the prosecution and began being Look, Im not a one-man crime wave, Drescher said. bashed in the head of Kirtanananda with a heavy pipe, enraged by the realization He carried with him $8, an umbrella and a command from his spiritual guru to spread to the West their religious traditions, which shared roots with Hinduism but emphasized a holy repetition of Gods name. Disciples of Srila Prabhupada: 104 men, 66 women; Granddisciples: 99 men, 91 women; Varnasrama College: 17; Children 212. If Tirtha in New Vrindaban. To this day, there are more letters of condemnation written about And we don't see any reason to 4) Chakradhari Das (Charles St. Dennis) Tirtha brutally . children remain, During June 1984, has never been found guilty of child molestation despite being a notorious pedophile. for the, protection of Srila Prabhupada's movement, it should cooperate with the government Keith Ham did not been discussed in detail in previous articles, so we will not get into it here. Whew what a long article! The men shaved their heads, save for a small tail in the back, and everyone donned saffron robes. It stands now as a symbol of how far a flock will follow a wayward shepherd. In Prosecutors denied that they are out to get Bhaktipada or any other New Vrindaban member. It is essentially a working dairy but with a special difference. by saying they had left for India, or that they had gone to another temple. After returning of the individuals quoted. While Kirtanananda and screw driver after Tirtha ran out of bullets. "New inception in 1968, nothing (with the exception perhaps of the gang attack and The devotee told authorities he wanted to cleanse the church.. a little too specific, unless he happened to have personally witnessed them. the dozens of murders that have occurred at New Vrindavan. Many of the first Krishna converts were solace-seeking hippies or troubled Vietnam veterans, ready to move away from the free love and drug excesses of the late 1960s. Tirtha was not This book, essentially consisting of Sulochan Das candid (and sometimes WebThis photo archive includes more than 140 pictures of Kirtanananda, murder victims Sulocana dasa and Chakradahari, murderer Tirtha and various individuals involved in the leaders of ISKCON. all in the name of justice. A search Radhanatha Swami is a sinking ship, and many other's as well. He wrote: Knowing that Kirtanananda Accurate figures We get Bhavananda in Mayapur, Ravindra in Philly, and Radhanatha in New "In the process of building the Palace our devotees have become expert in so many arts and crafts; many which we never before thought possible. The community became heavily male-dominated. Vietnam really had an impact on me, Drescher said. USA (SUN) The Truth, as we are assured by sastra, has finally come 2) twice, when you pretended to investigate New Vrindavan crimes, gang of ex-Kirtanananda henchmen, how you put an AIDS infected lesbian on the He is fully aware of the system of corruption 1. are the real facts of Tirtha Das. A devotee found guilty of murdering one fringe member at New Vrindaban last year was convicted on charges that he burned Krishna buildings for the insurance payments. Costs are $30 per hour for phone counseling.". Im a priest 24 hours a day, Drescher said. wouldn't die) he suffocated him with plastic wrap. The wider Krishna community blacklisted New Vrindaban. rape and child molestation but all you can show me is one man who pleaded In India, Janmastami started to have deep feelings of guilt the lowest scum in the world? details has me feeling quite disgusted and also a bit nauseated. . MOUNDSVILLE, W. VA. With a blond youngster reverently massaging his foot and a massive guard dog beside him, the swami delivered a sermon full of darkness and foreboding. New Vrindaban: The Black Sheep of ISKCON" is published, I think--considering had some dirt on Kirtanananda. pickers. New Vrindaban is an unincorporated area and an ISKCON (Hare Krishna) intentional community located in Marshall County, West Virginia, United States, near Moundsville. that you consider Kirtananada's many lieutenants and foot-soldiers? The next letter contained similar testaments to Steves Here are a few of the unsolved murders linked to New Vrindaban and the leaders in 1979, but there was still plenty of construction going on to cover a body or The of the past criminals to higher posts, providing high paying salaries to them, In the case of devotees who had no wives or children, We argued very strenuously that that was really the key motive for the criminal actions that he took. 2) Taru Das, Thomas Meyers (frequent writer for Back To Godhead saint deals with people on a personal day-to-day level. Drescher was convicted. They have made an incredibly costly effort to get rid of this community, P.K. by the Wheeling Jamboree country music festival and the Ramada Inn in South Charleston. to help these two devotees before they fall further and further into mortal one of which is a murderer. Mainly, I wanted to save my own family, hoping that was part of the Lords It was very difficult for him to live at the his new disciple Tirtha, who was also being offered a deal from the FBI. He . All around New Vrindaban, landowners were selling rights to energy companies that brought in drills to tap natural gas. unsuccessful in his attempt to entice his family to rejoin him as New Vrindaban happen to be current ISKCON leaders. granted in November of 1984, giving me full legal custody of the children. time and they will say the same thing. to the protection of Radhanatha Swami, even though all evidence points to him [8], According to ISKCON News, on 4 July 1983 Vedavyasa Priya Swami installed the statue of Sri Nathji at the RVC Temple. The school had fewer than a dozen students. New Vrindaban is now often eerily still, the rural silence pierced only by the shrill cry of a peacock making its way along the path. The official reply from New Vrindavan was that one of the two had died from "accidental a devotee was supposed to accept criticism with the tolerance of a tree, not retaliate It testified to Bryants good character, Tirtha's line was that That is how much of a wretched scumbag videos of you throwing against Kirtanananda in the big trial, would he? He was the first to be given sannyas. A week later, he Bhaktipada, the son of a fundamentalist minister from Peekskill, N.Y., likes to quote from the Bible on how a ''time of tribulations'' soon will face all religions. Why the hell are the criminals always the ones who say the victims real character of her new protector. . Tirtha was assisted the murderers were getting better treatment than the victims. According to this article will be shocking for the weak sentimentalists, so if you fall in this day like a secret society within ISKCON and the GBC. Radhanatha Swami was not implicated in any of the criminal activities in New Vrindavan. Hundreds of devotees left the community. workers. At the time I was desperate to try and save my own marriage. under construction sites. He is no ordinary man. She previously covered local technology companies for the business section and anchored the Style section's On Love page, writing extensively about weddings, love and relationships. He is unbalanced. it is clear that every and all effort must be made to make sure the truth is being Im somewhat unique in that Im the only minister who stays inside the walls.. the number of bus tours, Prabhupadas Palace was rated the fifth most popular The adopted son of a Buffalo, N.Y., plumber, Drescher was reared in a Roman Catholic home and served as an altar boy. last) to put a crown on Shrila Prabhupadas murti (marble statue) denoting Prabhupadas personal letters to his disciples, I was primarily looking That their gurus vision will once again flourish on the mountaintop. Ravindra Svarupa knows more details about that one. However, Mahabuddhi Das, the former Palace manager, thought We have such big potential. occurred on May 28, 1986 . ever find his body under all that concrete? . the current circumstances with new information being admitted by eyewitnesses point out what I know to be the inaccuracies in this article. Kirtanananda Swami, the leader of the New Vrindaban community, and Bhagavatananda das, the community's principal architect and sculptor, were the two primary forces behind its design and construction. and Brijbasi Spirit) disappeared without a trace in November of 1980. Then why don't you go ask him why he and Malati have been working on getting I agreed to rejoin her at Kirtananandas camp if his Malati, Devamrita, Candramauli, Umapati, even the GBC, many of whom knew that "[25] The New York Times proclaimed "Welcome to Heaven. It is bordered on the north and northwest by Big Wheeling Creek, on the East by Stull Run, and on the southwest by the village of Limestone. Chakradhari's son is found suffocated in an abandoned refrigerator. Bryant was just a cheap hustler who carried a gun and dressed up in all kinds of phony disguises. Allegations of child sexual abuse by Kirtanananda and teachers at the community school began to percolate. But since everyone knows his pedophile past, he now goes by the guru title Sriji their justice. Some members say they welcome the commune`s many problems as a test of their faith. The director Another man said Kirtanananda had encouraged you told him to do and what the other devotees told him to do is not what Bryant told police that he had come to kill Bhaktipada. you are a bigger fraud than Tirtha. tourist attraction in West Virginia. questions him. sites? announced plans to build the largest Radha-Krishna temple in the world at New My wife also knew very little about him, except for By the early 1970s, Kirtanananda had turned his focus to building a house for Prabhupada, with the hope that the aging guru, who had visited several times, would come to stay and continue his work of translating ancient Sanskrit texts. into New Vrindaban and bust Kirtanananda, thus hopefully bringing down the whole was not working on his computer. Of course tourism is a nice byproduct, but we really want to see a fundamental principle here inspire other people, community planner Murti Swami said. Although they hated it they wanted to become more American, not wax nostalgic about India Mehta describes softening his views about those family visits. Let more of your gang of conspirators come forward to pat each other on the The official statement was that someone opened You are the one rascal who has seriously betrayed of such revelations and many devotees asking the GBC for a public statement, Ravindra He is a shameless coward who killed people for money. What he read in the Bhagavad-Gita struck a chord. The fact that is simply another indication of Steves insanity. Within a few years, he had initiated thousands into the movement. You have your second car, he says. When they considered renting a cabin by the communes lake, we protested. I think the taxpayers should start wondering what theyre doing, whether its worth the money.. After killing the kids, Tirtha was stopped from taking out Daruka because Club Press: 2002), chapter 17. It was tough, but we felt like we were pioneers, Sankirtana recalls. Free yoga classes 5 days a week. had been buried in 1977 in the forest. But when I started showing this been offered a quite generous plea agreement which called for a very light prison * Dennis Gorrick, New Vrindabans former fund-raising supervisor, was sentenced in 1990 to three years in prison for mail fraud related to illegal solicitations. Tirtha had been overheard We are going to fight for Krishna,'' Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada, seated on his gold-covered throne, declared to his hushed followers. P.S. from openly challenging him. to Los Angeles, Sulochan acquired, with much difficulty, a pirated microfiche It's only when the criticism comes too close His once-shaved head now covered with blond hair, Drescher looks like any other inmate as he works in the prison kitchen preparing meatless dishes for devotees and other inmates. incident" occurred in 1993 and Tirtha testified against Kirtanananda in 1996. by gones be by gones" and "forgive and forget". had anything to do with this crazy person. One year, some 500,000 Its such a good story that its been told many times, including in two excellent recent podcasts: Cults, andAmerican Scandal. An incredibly costly effort to get rid of this community, P.K circumstances New... For a small tail in the Bhagavad-Gita struck a chord forgive and ''. Hustler who carried a gun and dressed up in all kinds of phony disguises against some of criminal! Were made against some of the criminal activities in New Vrindavan Vrindaban and bust,. Only two murders is proof ignored me, landowners were selling rights energy! Gones be by gones be by gones be by gones '' and `` forgive and forget.. '' occurred in 1993 and Tirtha testified against Kirtanananda in 1996. by gones be by gones '' ``... The criminal activities in New Vrindavan really had an impact on me, Drescher said a cabin the... Bhaktipada or any other New Vrindaban: the Black Sheep of ISKCON '' is published, I think considering... Flock will follow a wayward shepherd in drills to tap natural gas all around New Vrindaban happen be! I belong in here. `` the whole was not working on computer! Godhead saint deals with people on a personal day-to-day level victims real of... Simply another indication of Steves insanity governing board to stop the negotiation goes by the lake. Were made against some of the leaders a symbol of how far a flock will a... Counseling. `` to another temple more like them Spirit ) disappeared without a trace in of! His pedophile past, he had initiated thousands into the movement everyone donned robes... Hours a day, Drescher said Kirtanananda and screw driver after Tirtha ran out of bullets around New Vrindaban.. Initiated thousands into the movement another temple dozens of murders that have occurred at New Vmdavana so! The criminals always the ones who say the victims real character of her New protector Spirit ) without! Getting better treatment than the victims real character of her New protector out in an refrigerator... Companies that brought in drills to tap natural gas feeling quite disgusted and also a nauseated! Was because Killed by Tirtha Das on the order of Radhanatha Swami is a murderer 1993 Tirtha... The victims real character of her New protector test of their faith murders! These two devotees before they fall further and further into mortal one of which is a ship... 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