Download or read book Eleven Naked Emperors written by Henry Doktorski and published by . This book was released on 2019-11-28 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DURING A SCANDAL-FILLED DECADE, after they had buried the saintly Founder of the institution, eleven "spiritual" leaders and managers of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)--more commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement--(along with the Governing Body Commission which spawned them), utilized deception and collective fantasy to enact what some called "a bloodless coup." This ultimately resulted in the hijacking of a Gaudiya-Vaishnava religious institution, the banishment of dissenters, the abuse of innocents, the alienation of the public, the brutal murder of one outspoken reformer, and the near-fatal hemorrhaging of the Society. Thousands of formerly loyal members defected, were blacklisted, or, in some cases, even committed suicide. This decade-long reign of self-aggrandizement and political intrigue by the leaders appointed by the GBC, periodically characterized by strong-armed tactics, tainted the Society which had been painstakingly cultivated for more than a decade by the ISKCON Founder and spiritual preceptor, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977). After Prabhupada passed away, eleven senior disciples were installed by the GBC as his successors. Each of the eleven ruled their own zones, where they were worshiped as good as God. Known among their supporters as "The Magnificent Eleven," they claimed their orders came directly from Lord Krishna, whom devotees consider the Absolute Truth and Cause of All Causes. They also claimed that Prabhupada had appointed them as perfect and pure "Acharyas." Unfortunately they, like the main character in Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 tale of The Emperor's New Clothes, pretended to be something they were not, and were eventually revealed as frauds. The system of succession that they and the GBC established collapsed like a house built upon sand. This book chronicles the ISKCON era of the zonal-acharyas from their first appearance in 1978 through their meteoric rise to power, their ten-year reign, their fall in 1987, and beyond. For fifteen years (1978-1993), the author served as a faithful disciple of one of the zonal acharyas, and he lived through many of the events described in this book. Recently, he has interviewed major players in this drama, who have contributed important inside information to help everyone interested more fully understand this unfortunate and little-documented chapter in the history of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Download or read book Killing for Krishna written by Henry Doktorski and published by . This book was released on 2018-01-08 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1986 murder of Hare Krishna devotee Steven Bryant (Sulochan dasa) was arguably the darkest moment in the fifty-two year history of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness-a new branch of the Chaitanya-Bengali-Vaishnava religion founded in New York City in 1966 by an Indian spiritual teacher and guru, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977). A mere nine years after the disappearance of this beloved spiritual father, one of their own was hunted down and assassinated. This brutal killing was achieved through a cooperative effort by "spiritual" leaders, senior managers and hit men enforcers from West Virginia, Ohio, and Southern California ISKCON temples. The murdered whistle-blower had discovered many secrets and threatened to reveal to the world the immoral acts and criminal dealings of a set of self-appointed, illegitimate successors to Swami Prabhupada: a corrupt oligarchy of new ISKCON "gurus." He had also, perhaps foolishly, advocated using violence against the gurus to evict them from their posts. ISKCON leaders took his threats seriously, and they hunted down and assassinated the passionate reformer. How did the peaceful, shaven-headed, saffron-clad Hare Krishna devotees regress from their blissful activities of chanting, dancing, and selling incense in the streets to this? The author, himself a former ISKCON devotee, probes deeply into the disturbing direction of a new religious movement. In this book, he exposes the danger of philosophical errors and deranged devotion that practically ensured that bloody tragedy would eventually occur. The author has engaged in years of painstaking research by poring over tens of thousands of pages of trial transcripts, newspaper and magazine articles, ISKCON publications, and confidential ISKCON documents, while also interviewing dozens of eyewitnesses. His effort culminates in a thoroughly-engaging and extremely well-documented thesis exposing the hidden inside story of the conspiracy to murder Steven Bryant, including its genesis, development, blunders involved in it, execution, cover up, as well as a stunning aftermath after the deed was done.
Download or read book The Emperor written by Ryszard Kapuscinski and published by HMH. This book was released on 1983-03-01 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This account of the rise and fall of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie is “an unforgettable, fiercely comic, and finally compassionate book” (Salman Rushdie, Man Booker Prize–winning author). After Haile Selassie was deposed in 1974, Ryszard Kapuściński—Poland’s top foreign correspondent—went to Ethiopia to piece together a firsthand account of how the emperor governed his country, and why he finally fell from power. At great risk to himself, Kapuściński interviewed members of the imperial circle who had gone into hiding. The result is this remarkable book, in which Selassie’s servants and closest associates share accounts—humorous, frightening, sad, grotesque—of a man living amidst nearly unimaginable pomp and luxury while his people teetered between hunger and starvation. It is a classic portrait of authoritarianism, and a fascinating story of a forty-four-year reign that ended with a coup d’état in 1974.
Download or read book The Emperor of All Maladies written by Siddhartha Mukherjee and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-08-09 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a documentary from Ken Burns on PBS, this New York Times bestseller is “an extraordinary achievement” (The New Yorker)—a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with—and perished from—for more than five thousand years. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out “war against cancer.” The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist. Riveting, urgent, and surprising, The Emperor of All Maladies provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments. It is an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to demystify cancer.
Download or read book The Book of Immortality written by Adam Gollner and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of one of the most universal human obsessions charts the rise of longevity science from its alchemical beginnings to modern-day genetic interventions and enters the world of those whose lives are shaped by a belief in immortality.
Download or read book A Source Book for Medi val History written by Oliver J. Thatcher and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2019-11-22 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Source Book for Mediæval History is a scholarly piece by Oliver J. Thatcher. It covers all major historical events and leaders from the Germania of Tacitus in the 1st century to the decrees of the Hanseatic League in the 13th century.
Download or read book A Little History of the World written by E. H. Gombrich and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: E. H. Gombrich's Little History of the World, though written in 1935, has become one of the treasures of historical writing since its first publication in English in 2005. The Yale edition alone has now sold over half a million copies, and the book is available worldwide in almost thirty languages. Gombrich was of course the best-known art historian of his time, and his text suggests illustrations on every page. This illustrated edition of the Little History brings together the pellucid humanity of his narrative with the images that may well have been in his mind's eye as he wrote the book. The two hundred illustrations—most of them in full color—are not simple embellishments, though they are beautiful. They emerge from the text, enrich the author's intention, and deepen the pleasure of reading this remarkable work. For this edition the text is reset in a spacious format, flowing around illustrations that range from paintings to line drawings, emblems, motifs, and symbols. The book incorporates freshly drawn maps, a revised preface, and a new index. Blending high-grade design, fine paper, and classic binding, this is both a sumptuous gift book and an enhanced edition of a timeless account of human history.
Download or read book Antiquities of the Jews Book XVIII written by Flavius Josephus and published by Alpha Edition. This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book, "" Antiquities of the Jews; Book - XVIII "", has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies and hence the text is clear and readable.
Download or read book Empress Dowager Cixi written by Jung Chang and published by Random House Canada. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the beloved, internationally bestselling author of Wild Swans, and co-author of the bestselling Mao: The Unknown Story, the dramatic, epic biography of the unusual woman who ruled China for 50 years, from concubine to Empress, overturning centuries of traditions and formalities to bring China into the modern world. A woman, an Empress of immense wealth who was largely a prisoner within the compound walls of her palaces, a mother, a ruthless enemy, and a brilliant strategist: Chang makes a compelling case that Cixi was one of the most formidable and enlightened rulers of any nation. Cixi led an intense and singular life. Chosen at the age of 12 to be a concubine by the Emperor Xianfeng, she gave birth to his only male heir who at four was designated Emperor when his father died in 1861. In a brilliant move, the young woman enlisted the help of the Emperor's widow and the two women orchestrated a coup that ousted the regents and made Cixi sole Regent. Untrained and untaught, the two studied history and politics together, ruling the huge nation from behind a curtain. When her boy died, Cixi designated a young nephew as Emperor, continuing her reign till her death in 1908. Chang gives us a complex, riveting portrait of Cixi through a reign as long as that of her fellow Empress, Victoria, whom she longed to meet: her ruthlessness in fighting off rivals; her curiosity to learn; her reliance on Westerners who she placed in key positions; and her sensitivity and desire to preserve the distinctiveness of China's past while overturning traditions (she, as Chang reveals--not Mao, as he claimed--banned footbinding) and exposing its culture to western ideas and technology.
Download or read book Utopia written by Thomas More and published by e-artnow. This book was released on 2019-04-08 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utopia is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More published in 1516 in Latin. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. Many aspects of More's description of Utopia are reminiscent of life in monasteries.
Download or read book The Rights of War and Peace written by Hugo Grotius and published by . This book was released on 1814 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Divine Or Demoniac Spiritual Movements and the Enemies Within written by Dhanesvara Das and published by Shastra-Chakshusa Press. This book was released on 2019-04-15 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Divine Or Demoniac? examines the eerily parallel histories of two spiritual movements, one ancient and one modern, exposing the infiltration of demoniac elements camouflaged as saints within them. This book examines the differences between a spiritual movement and a religious institution, explaining why and how spiritual movements tend to become institutionalized, and why spiritual institutions inevitably deviate from their original intended purpose. Divine Or Demoniac? specifically reveals the actual truths of the Eternal Religion that Jesus and his followers believed, the practices they followed, as well as how the Roman powers infiltrated the group, and replaced its original teachings with a religion subservient to the State. When the Eternal Religion manifests in 1960s in America as the Hare Krishna Movement, again the agents of the state infiltrate to destroy its truths, its followers, and its message. The author as an early follower and has witnessed, and reports, the transformation of the group to uninspired followers of the status quo from its inception as once enthusiastic spiritual revolutionaries determined to raise up the world so that everyone could be happy and fulfilled. The opposition of the political powers to that happy life for all is explained.Divine Or Demoniac? is a valuable guidebook for those pursuing a connection to God free from interpretations of a priestly class. Anyone on a path to establish their eternal relationship with the Absolute Truth will find this book a revolutionary boost to their journey.
Download or read book Kings of the Jews written by Norman Gelb and published by Jewish Publication Society. This book was released on 2010-03 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We all know about King David and King Solomon, but what about the kings Omri and Uzziah? Of the more than fifty monarchs who sat on the throne of the Jews for over 1000 years, most of us can recall only a few. What we do remember about them has been colored by legend and embellishment. In Kings of the Jews, Norman Gelb tells us the real stories of them all. And in doing so, he reveals how a remarkably resilient people survived divisions, discord, and conquest to forge a vibrant identity that has lasted to the present day. Kings of the Jews explores some of the most dramatic periods in Jewish history: those of the united Israelite kingdom under David and Solomon, the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the Babylonian exile, and the destruction of the Second Temple and the Roman conquest of Jerusalem. With illustrations, maps, chronologies, and index.
Download or read book Betrayal of the Spirit written by Nori J. Muster and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2013-03-15 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining behind-the-scenes coverage of an often besieged religious group with a personal account of one woman's struggle to find meaning in it, Betrayal of the Spirit takes readers to the center of life in the Hare Krishna movement. Nori J. Muster joined the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)--the Hare Krishnas--in 1978, shortly after the death of the movement's spiritual master, and worked for ten years as a public relations secretary and editor of the organization's newspaper, the ISKCON World Review. In this candid and critical account, Muster follows the inner workings of the movement and the Hare Krishnas' progressive decline. Combining personal reminiscences, published articles, and internal documents, Betrayal of the Spirit details the scandals that beset the Krishnas--drug dealing, weapons stockpiling, deceptive fundraising, child abuse, and murder within ISKCON–as well as the dynamics of schisms that forced some 95 percent of the group's original members to leave. In the midst of this institutional disarray, Muster continued her personal search for truth and religious meaning as an ISKCON member until, disillusioned at last with the movement's internal divisions, she quit her job and left the organization. In a new preface to the paperback edition, Muster discusses the personal circumstances that led her to ISKCON and kept her there as the movement's image worsened. She also talks about "the darkest secret"–child abuse in the ISKCON parochial schools--that was covered up by the public relations office where she worked.
Download or read book Seeing Like a State written by James C. Scott and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “One of the most profound and illuminating studies of this century to have been published in recent decades.”—John Gray, New York Times Book Review Hailed as “a magisterial critique of top-down social planning” by the New York Times, this essential work analyzes disasters from Russia to Tanzania to uncover why states so often fail—sometimes catastrophically—in grand efforts to engineer their society or their environment, and uncovers the conditions common to all such planning disasters. “Beautifully written, this book calls into sharp relief the nature of the world we now inhabit.”—New Yorker “A tour de force.”— Charles Tilly, Columbia University
Download or read book LSD My Problem Child written by Albert Hofmann and published by Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. This book was released on 2017-09-27 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of LSD told by a concerned yet hopeful father, organic chemist Albert Hofmann, Ph.D. He traces LSD's path from a promising psychiatric research medicine to a recreational drug sparking hysteria and prohibition. In LSD: My Problem Child, we follow Dr. Hofmann's trek across Mexico to discover sacred plants related to LSD, and listen in as he corresponds with other notable figures about his remarkable discovery. Underlying it all is Dr. Hofmann's powerful conclusion that mystical experiences may be our planet's best hope for survival. Whether induced by LSD, meditation, or arising spontaneously, such experiences help us to comprehend "the wonder, the mystery of the divine, in the microcosm of the atom, in the macrocosm of the spiral nebula, in the seeds of plants, in the body and soul of people." More than sixty years after the birth of Albert Hofmann's problem child, his vision of its true potential is more relevant, and more needed, than ever.
Download or read book The Emperor s Gift written by Aaron Dembski-Bowden and published by Games Workshop. This book was released on 2018-12-11 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two aspirants are recruited into the Grey Knights, and must hone their psychic talents if they are to join the hallowed and mysterious ranks of the Space Marine daemon hunters. The Grey Knights are all that stands between mankind and the ravages of Chaos. Since their secretive beginnings during the Horus Heresy, these legendary Space Marine daemon hunters have journeyed into the dark realms of the warp – and beyond – in pursuit of their supernatural enemies. Through an intensive regime of psychic training, new recruits are brought to the clandestine fortress of Titan to join the hallowed and vaunted ranks of the 666th Chapter. More than ever, these legendary battle-brothers must be vigilant and ever ready to defend the Imperium for the forces of Chaos are never truly defeated, and Armageddon beckons'
