Download or read book Gold Guns and God Vol 3 Swami Bhaktipada and the West Virginia Hare Krishnas written by Henry Doktorski and published by . This book was released on 2020-10 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SWAMI BHAKTIPADA (1937-2011)--also known as Kirtanananda Swami--was the charismatic and highly controversial Hare Krishna guru who established in 1968 what became the largest Krishna community in the United States: New Vrindaban in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. The son of an Upstate New York Baptist preacher, Bhaktipada (born Keith Gordon Ham) in 1966 met A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977)--the Gaudiya-Vaishnava guru from Calcutta who founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Keith became one of Prabhupada's first American disciples and in September 1966 was given the name Kirtanananda. Less than a year later, in August 1967, he became Prabhupada's first sannyasa disciple and became known as Kirtanananda Swami. During the 1970s and 1980s, Kirtanananda Swami was recognized as a key leader of the Hare Krishna movement and, after Prabhupada's death in 1977, became a "guru" in his own right. In 1979 he adopted the honorific name "Bhaktipada." At New Vrindaban, Bhaktipada presided over the construction of the ostentatiously-lavish Palace of Gold, billed as "America's Taj Mahal"--a marble and gold memorial shrine for Swami Prabhupada, dedicated in September 1979--which reportedly became the second-most popular tourist attraction in West Virginia. Summary of Volume 3 Gold, Guns and God, Volume 3, covers a ten-year span from 1973 until 1983. During this period, due to the construction and completion of Prabhupada's Palace of Gold, the New Vrindaban community was dramatically transformed from a primitive, often unsanitary, rural farm village of a few dozen people who used horses and oxen for plowing fields and hauling firewood, into a bustling, wealthy and popular center of Hindu pilgrimage inhabited by several hundred devotees who used automobiles, tractors, bulldozers, dump trucks and computers. Hundreds of thousands of tourists reportedly visited the Palace each year, and this helped bring about an increase in revenue and renown. Despite the inexorable progress of the community during this decade-long period, there were several unfortunate and serious setbacks. In June 1973, the temple was attacked by a small posse of men armed with a shotgun (some claimed the men also carried pistols and automatic weapons). The inmates (residents) of New Vrindaban were inconvenienced also in 1976, when a West Virginia college professor died from a virulent strain of hepatitis contracted at the community, and the state governor ordered the community quarantined to contain the spread of the infection. State police set up roadblocks which prevented travel to and from the commune. High points, on the other hand, during this period include the third and fourth visits of the ISKCON Founder/Acharya A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to the community, in 1974 and 1976 respectively. These visits were a source of great inspiration and pleasure for the Brijabasis (residents, or inmates) of New Vrindaban. The terminal illness during the summer of 1977 and the death in Vrindaban, India, on November 14th, of A. C. Swami Prabhupada, were incredibly sad and depressing times for all ISKCON devotees. Kirtanananda Swami played an especially important role in the final pastimes of the ISKCON Founder/Acharya, during which his affection and love for his spiritual mater was revealed to all. The September 2nd 1979 dedication of Prabhupada's Palace of Gold, an incredibly joyous event for all the Brijabasis, is described in detail, and the remainder of this volume delineates the rapid growth of the community and the establishment of a veritable Hindu place of pilgrimage complete with a guest house, restaurant, gift store, rose garden, and parks. On the surface, Swami Bhaktipada's leadership at New Vrindaban seemed remarkably successful, but underneath, something was eating at its roots, and this would be exposed in due course.
Download or read book Gold Guns and God Swami Bhaktipada and the West Virginia Hare Krishnas written by Henry Doktorski and published by . This book was released on 2020-11-29 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SWAMI BHAKTIPADA (1937-2011)--also known as Kirtanananda Swami--was the charismatic and highly controversial Hare Krishna guru who established in 1968 what became the largest Krishna community in the United States: New Vrindaban in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. The son of an Upstate New York Baptist preacher, Bhaktipada (born Keith Gordon Ham) in 1966 met A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977)--the Gaudiya-Vaishnava guru from Calcutta who founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Keith became one of Prabhupada's first American disciples and in September 1966 was given the name Kirtanananda. Less than a year later, in August 1967, he became Prabhupada's first sannyasa disciple and became known as Kirtanananda Swami. During the 1970s and 1980s, Kirtanananda Swami was recognized as a key leader of the Hare Krishna movement and, after Prabhupada's death in 1977, became a "guru" in his own right. In 1979 he adopted the honorific name "Bhaktipada." At New Vrindaban, Bhaktipada presided over the construction of the ostentatiously-lavish Palace of Gold, billed as "America's Taj Mahal"--a marble and gold memorial shrine for Swami Prabhupada, dedicated in September 1979--which reportedly became the second-most popular tourist attraction in West Virginia. Summary of Volume 3 Gold, Guns and God, Volume 3, covers a ten-year span from 1973 until 1983. During this period, due to the construction and completion of Prabhupada's Palace of Gold, the New Vrindaban community was dramatically transformed from a primitive, often unsanitary, rural farm village of a few dozen people who used horses and oxen for plowing fields and hauling firewood, into a bustling, wealthy and popular center of Hindu pilgrimage inhabited by several hundred devotees who used automobiles, tractors, bulldozers, dump trucks and computers. Hundreds of thousands of tourists reportedly visited the Palace each year, and this helped bring about an increase in revenue and renown. Despite the inexorable progress of the community during this decade-long period, there were several unfortunate and serious setbacks. In June 1973, the temple was attacked by a small posse of men armed with a shotgun (some claimed the men also carried pistols and automatic weapons). The inmates (residents) of New Vrindaban were inconvenienced also in 1976, when a West Virginia college professor died from a virulent strain of hepatitis contracted at the community, and the state governor ordered the community quarantined to contain the spread of the infection. State police set up roadblocks which prevented travel to and from the commune. High points, on the other hand, during this period include the third and fourth visits of the ISKCON Founder/Acharya A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to the community, in 1974 and 1976 respectively. These visits were a source of great inspiration and pleasure for the Brijabasis (residents, or inmates) of New Vrindaban. The terminal illness during the summer of 1977 and the death in Vrindaban, India, on November 14th, of A. C. Swami Prabhupada, were incredibly sad and depressing times for all ISKCON devotees. Kirtanananda Swami played an especially important role in the final pastimes of the ISKCON Founder/Acharya, during which his affection and love for his spiritual mater was revealed to all. The September 2nd 1979 dedication of Prabhupada's Palace of Gold, an incredibly joyous event for all the Brijabasis, is described in detail, and the remainder of this volume delineates the rapid growth of the community and the establishment of a veritable Hindu place of pilgrimage complete with a guest house, restaurant, gift store, rose garden, and parks. On the surface, Swami Bhaktipada's leadership at New Vrindaban seemed remarkably successful, but underneath, something was eating at its roots, and this would be exposed in due course.
Download or read book Monkey on a Stick written by John Hubner and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P. This book was released on 1988 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When ex-Krishna Steve Bryant launched a one-man holy war against the Hare Krishna cult, his body was found murdered. It was the Krishnas' response to make Bryant a monkey on a stick, a gruesome warning to all other Krishnas that death was in store for those with dreams of defection. 16 pages of photos.
Download or read book Gold Guns and God Swami Bhaktipada and the West Virginia Hare Krishnas written by Henry Doktorski and published by . This book was released on 2020-12 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Swami Bhaktipada (1937-2011)--also known as Kirtanananda Swami--was the charismatic and highly controversial Hare Krishna guru who established in 1968 what became the largest Krishna community in the United States. The son of an Upstate New York Baptist preacher, Bhaktipada (then Keith Ham) met Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), the Indian guru and founder of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), in 1966 and became one of his first American disciples.During the 1970s and early 1980s Bhaktipada was recognized as a key leader of the movement and, after Prabhupada''s death in 1977, became a guru in his own right. At New Vrindaban, Bhaktipada presided over the construction of the opulent Palace of Gold, billed as "America''s Taj Mahal"--a memorial shrine for Swami Prabhupada dedicated in 1979--which became the second-most popular tourist attraction in West Virginia. In 1987 Bhaktipada was excommunicated from ISKCON "for moral and theological deviations" after he became a prime suspect in a conspiracy involving the murders of two dissident devotees who had threatened to reveal his secret involvement in homosexual activities and sexual child abuse. He refused to step down as the leader of New Vrindaban and formed his own splinter movement separate from ISKCON. In 1996 he pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge, was fined $250,000 and sentenced to twenty years in prison. He was released after only eight years due to poor health and spent the last eight years of his life in New York City and India. Despite his expulsion from ISKCON, his criminal conviction and sexual deviance, Bhaktipada is still worshipped by thousands of followers in India and Pakistan who consider him a "holy man" and follow his teachings as promulgated in his two dozen books.Bhaktipada is a study in contrasts: he is adored as a saint by some and reviled as a psychopath by others. The author will attempt in this biography to reveal the many sides of his complex personality. Volume I begins with the birth of Keith Gordon Ham in September 1937, and ends thirty years later in December 1967 when Keith (now known as Kirtanananda Swami) is banned from the New York City ISKCON temple and moves in with his best friend and lover, Howard (Hayagriva), in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The genealogy of the Ham family; Keith''s childhood; his strict Baptist upbringing; and his affliction in high school with the dreaded paralyzing disease: polio, are discussed. In high school, Keith develops a reputation as a heavy drinker and party animal, although he also serves on the student council, is elected to the National Honor Society, and graduates with honors. Keith''s college days, and his rejection of the strict Protestant religious principles espoused by his parents, are discussed. As a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he meets the most influential person in his life up to that time: his life-long best friend and lover, Howard Wheeler. Keith and Howard are threatened with an investigation due to a sex scandal and resign from UNC. Subsequent chapters examine Keith and Howard''s adventures as Bohemian graduate students in New York City, discovering marijuana, peyote and LSD, taking pity on a homeless boy whom they give food, shelter, beer and marijuana in return for sex, and Keith''s inability to finish his course work at Columbia University due to his preocupation with anonymous sex in subway rest rooms. Keith and Howard''s fourth-month trip to India to search for a guru is discussed, and their meeting A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in the Lower East Side near their Mott Street apartment. Keith and Howard serve Swamiji and become Kirtanananda and Hayagriva. Swamiji suffers a severe stroke and Kirtanananda serves as his nurse. Finally, Swamiji and Kirtanananda travel to India where Kirtanananda becomes a swami, and Kirtanananda''s rejection of Swamiji and his banishment from the New York temple.
Download or read book The Guru Business written by Mukunda Dasa and published by . This book was released on 2020-09-24 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sulocana Prabhu was murdered May 22nd, 1986, 1:00 a.m., Los Angeles, two days after compiling his book "THE GURU BUSINESS", which describes how the Leaders of the Hare Krishna movement deviated from the pure path as taught and exemplified by its founder, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Sulocana was one of the first devotees to realize the complete hoax of the GBC policy to rubber-stamp eleven unqualified personalities as the exclusive 'diksa-guru' successors to Srila Prabhupada in 1977. Let us be quite clear that this policy was an unqualified lie as to the intentions of Srila Prabhupada post-samadhi 1977. As the eleven self-declared gurus "paramhamsa-parivakacaryas" established their zonal power centers by initiating anyone in sight and throwing out of ISKCON even the most slightly dissenting godbrothers, Sulocana researched Srila Prabhupada's statements and fearlessly wrote a book exposing this fraud in the name of disciplic succession. From his research he also realized the trouble Kirtanananda had been causing Srila Prabhupada right from the time of his sannyasa. This was pertinent, as Sulocana had lost his wife when Kirtanananda had maniplulated her away, initiated her, and married her away to one of his money collectors at New Vrndavana. Sulocana also came to know of the sexual and otherwise corruption that was rife amongst practically all the "exclusive eleven". Moreover, Kirtanananda in New Vrndavana was living a hypocritical life as an active predatory homosexual pedophile, simultaneously taking worship as a paramahamsa. "The Guru Business" was the first realistic and comprehensive view of the topic false gurus, based on quotes given by Srila Prabhupada. PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK (by Sulocana dasa) 1) It must be revealed to the world exactly who Srila Prabhupada is and how he has nothing whatsoever to do with the corruption going on amongst ISKCON's leaders today. 2) There is a crying need to increase and even rekindle love for Prabhupada from his own disciples. To a large extent, they have left Prabhupada's mission out of frustration and discouragement. 3) An effort should be made to clean up ISKCON and remove the influence of personally motivated leaders. In other words, we should fully awaken the devotees to the politics and duplicity going on behind the facade. 4) There is now a new imperative to inspire married couples to be bold and go out to open temples. This was Srila Prabhupada's desire from the beginning. "Anyone who has read The Guru Business will have at once felt the powerful and illuminating clarity in the words of Sulocana prabhu. The way in which he has strung together Prabhupada's words, like pearls on the thread of his own amazing realizations, came from his total surrender to the instruction of Srila Prabhupada. Sulocana prabhu was prepared to die rather than not execute Prabhupada's mission properly. Because of this faith not only did the Lord manifest Prabhupada's previously hidden letters to Sulocana but he revealed their purport in his heart." Mukunda dasa from Killing For Keith, Chapter Seven. "Sulocana prabhu, you totally abandoned all personal considerations and sacrificed your life to expose the demoniac activities of these rogues and nondevotees and their apa-siddhantic philosophy. Such a perfect disciple as yourself, who fought so bravely to take serious charge of Prabhupada's mission and execute it correctly, has surely seen the Supreme Personality of Godhead and become liberated back to Godhead, or at least you have become an exalted soul on a heavenly planet. "Mukunda dasa - Foreword to The Guru Business - March 2020
Download or read book The Hare Krishna Explosion English written by Hayagriva Dasa and published by Golden Age Media . This book was released on 2020-01-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first draft of The Hare Krishna Explosion was written in July 1969 just after Srila Prabhupada’s first visit to New Vrindavan. At that time Hayagriva realized that the details of the beginnings of the Krishna Consciousness Movement had best be recorded when the events were still fresh. Working from notebooks, diaries and memories he compiled the first edition in a month. Then the manuscript remained packed away until Srila Prabhupada left the mortal world in 1977.
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 Gold Guns and God written by Henry Doktorski and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Encyclopedia of Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories written by Michael Newton and published by Checkmark Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 500 alphabetically-arranged entries provide information regarding historical events, organizations, and people associated with unsolved mysteries or covert actions.
Download or read book Complete Works of Guido Deiro written by Henry Doktorski and published by Mel Bay Publications. This book was released on 2010-10-07 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Count Guido Deiro (1886-1950), Italian-born composer and accordion virtuoso. Deiro was a major force in the popularization of the accordion in the early 20th century. Concert accordionist and scholar Henry Doktorski has transcribed and edited all of Deiro's original music for accordion-45 pieces including waltzes, rags, marches, polkas, fox trots, tangos, and popular Deiro favorites: My Florence Waltz, Egypto Fantasia, Sharpshooter's March, and the Broadway hit, Kismet.A lengthy essay and rare photos from the Deiro family archive complete the 192-page book.
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 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 Homegrown Gurus written by Ann Gleig and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring homegrown movements and figures, proclaims American Hinduism as a distinct religious tradition. Today, a new stage in the development of Hinduism in America is taking shape. After a century of experimentation during which Americans welcomed Indian gurus who adjusted their teachings to accommodate the New World context, American Hinduism can now rightly be called its own tradition rather than an imported religion. Accordingly, this spiritual path is now headed by leaders born in North America. Homegrown Gurus explores this phenomenon in essays about these figures and their networks. A variety of teachers and movements are considered, including Ram Dass, Siddha Yoga, and Amrit Desai and Kripalu Yoga, among others. Two contradictory trends quickly become apparent: an increasing Westernization of Hindu practices and values alongside a renewed interest in traditional forms of Hinduism. These opposed sensibilitiesinnovation and preservation, radicalism and recoveryare characteristic of postmodernity and denote a new chapter in the American assimilation of Hinduism.
Download or read book Killing for Keith written by Mark Whiteley and published by . This book was released on 2020-09-24 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Henry Doktorski's recent book called Killing For Krishna - The Danger Of Deranged Devotion, falls in the same category as ISKCON's biography of Srila Prabhupada. It is an offensive book of poisonous slander that is nicely sugar coated with false glorification, so that the foolish will swallow it and thus commit spiritual suicide. The only difference between the two books is that Killing For Krishna lacks any of the subtleness of ISKCON's biography. Doktorski's slander of Sulocana is totally gross and in your face, unlike Satsvarupa's slander of Prabhupada which has a more covert nature. The amazing thing is that so many "devotees" claiming to be Prabhupada followers praise this offensive book that slanders Sulocana on page after page!" (Mukunda dasa - Killing For Keith Chapter One) "Doktorski wants to pervert true history with his offensive books. It has been the standard sinister practice for the last 120 years for the demoniac to distort world history and Doktorski being cut from the same cloth tries to do the same with the history of ISKCON!" "This is why you have tried to use this "deranged devotion" as an equalising tactic. This is the driving force behind your slander of Sulocana prabhu. You cannot allow Sulocana to be recognised and glorified for who he truly is. If Sulocana is rightly celebrated as Prabhupada's perfect disciple then year after year as his glorious fame shall increase more and more, simultaneously the infamy of Kirtanananda shall also increase year after year of the golden age." (Mukunda dasa, Killing For Keith - Chapter Two - The Insidious Muddying Of Clear Waters)
Download or read book Hare Krishna in America written by E. Burke Rochford and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the growth of the Hare Krishna movement in the U.S., describes the experiences of individual followers, and analyzes recruitment patterns, activities, and leadership of the movement.
Download or read book My Glorious Master written by Bhurijana Das and published by . This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remembrances of Prabhupada's Mercy on a Fallen Soul
Download or read book Christ and Krishna written by Swami Bhaktipāda and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
