Iskcon gurus face lawsuit in Calcutta 

By Dhiman Chattopadhyay 
Calcutta, June 19 

The Iskcon Revival Movement has filed a criminal lawsuit in Calcutta against the establishment's present 90 gurus for "disobeying clear instructions left by founder Srila Prabhupada" and bringing the institution into disrepute.

Most of those named in this suit are already fighting the $400 million lawsuit filed in the US accusing these men of sexual abuse. This suit filed in the Calcutta high court, alleges that many of those named in the US lawsuit were the same "corrupt gurus" who violated founder Srila Prabhupada's written instructions on how to behave with young students.
It also accuses that these men usurped power after Prabhupada's death in 1977. Among the 90 gurus named are several men based in Mayapur and Vrindavan, like Guru Gopalkrishna and Guru Radhanath. IRM president Adridharana Das said, 

"Our saintly founder had laid down certain rules of conduct. Any abuse that has occurred are in violation of his preachings." 

The suit quotes extensively from official letters written by Srila Prabhupada regarding the running of boarding schools. In 1972, for instance, he wrote to the headmaster of the Iskcon school in Dallas: 

"Encourage students to chant as much japa as possible, but there is no question of force or punishment. If there is need, you may shake your finger at them but physical punishment is not allowed."

Later, he wrote to a teacher at the same school:

"Children should not be beaten at all. They should simply be shown the stick. If one cannot manage this way, then he is not fit as a teacher."

In the lawsuit, Adridharana Das and others state:

"The last letter from Prabhupada was sent to Satsvarupa, who was one of the movement's leaders at the time. Interestingly, Satsvarupa is named as one of the accused in the US child abuse suit."

The suit filed in Kolkata states, 

"Clear instructions from our founder were disobeyed and abuse was perpetrated against innocent children as some of Srila Prabhupada's disciples set forth to enjoy themselves at the expense of the movement. This disobedience by his disciples in their mad pursuit to exercise power over innocent victims were repeated by many of those accused in the recent lawsuit filed in the US."

Adridharana Das told The Asian Age on Monday, 

"Following Prabhupada's departure from this world in 1977, they deposed him as the Guru and instead set themselves up as his successors. This, despite Prabhupada having left clear signed instructions to the contrary." He said the Iskcon Revival Movement was a "world-wide group of Iskcon members set up to provide an alternative to the abuses and corruption that has crept into the movement."

"Unlike the child abuse case in US which is a civil suit only, the IRM has filed criminal charges as well. The IRM hopes it can clean up the mess and kick out present gurus,"

"We deplore the stain that has been cast on this great spiritual movement. The IRM has dedicated itself to rooting out the abuse and corruption that exists in it," Mr Das said.

Calcutta, 20 June, (B.P.)

The ISKCON Revival Movement (IRM) has filed a criminal suit against ISKCON's 90 gurus in Calcutta. 

This suit has been filed due to the movement's disobedience against the founder's clear directions regarding initiations.

Some of the defendants in this suit are already fighting a suit for $400 million in which they have been alleged to have covered up sexual abuse of children. Some of the corrupt gurus who are defendants in the suit in the Calcutta High Court, are named in the US suit since they have disobeyed the clear written directions of Prabhupada as to how to behave with students as alleged in the suit at the High Court in Calcutta. It has also been alleged that they grabbed power after the demise of Prabhupada in 1977. Guru Gopal Krsna & Guru Radhanath are amongst the alleged 90 gurus, and are living in Mayapur & Vrindavan. The Chairman of IRM, Sri Adridharan Das said that our saintly Founder has framed several laws, and the disobedience of his preachings has caused several troubles.

The directions of Prabhupada, through his letters, regarding residential schools have been dealt with in detail in the suit. For example in 1972 in Dallas he wrote to the Headmaster of an ISKCON school that students should be encouraged for maximum chanting but question of force or punishment does not arise. You can raise your finger to them but physical punishment is not allowed.

Adridharan Das & others have stated in the suit that the final order of Prabhupada on initiations was sent to Satsvarupa who was a leader at that time. Interestingly Satswarupa is also one of the accused in the child abuse case in the US. Adridharan says that after the demise of Prabhupada in 1977 the said accused deposed Srila Prabhupada as the Guru & declared themselves as his successors. This happened contrary to the clear written directives of Prabhupada. He said that the purpose of IRM is to root out corruption & bad elements from the movement.

Dated: 17/6/2000 Nation Briefs 

ISKCON Body Files Plea in HC 

The ISKCON Revival Movement (IRM) has filed a case in Calcutta High Court against some defendants named in the Dallas child-abuse suit for having illegally taken over the International Society of Krishna Consciousness. An IRM statement issued in Calcutta on Friday said the case has been filed against the defendants for having illegally usurped Srila Prabhupada from his position as the founder of the movement and installing themselves as his successors. The IRM according to the release said,

" Unfortunately, any abuse that has occurred would have been as a result of the movement's members disobeying the clear instructions set out by ISKCON's saintly founder." 

UNI, Calcutta.

Press Release 

ISKCON Leadership Now Facing Court Case From Inside the Movement 

A widely publicised $400 million child abuse case was filed this week against ISKCON (International Society For Krishna Consciousness, or Hare Krishna Movement) and its leaders by former pupils of its boarding schools. The movement has so far issued various statements ranging from admitting to problems with abuse to saying that the case is 'exaggerated'.
However what is not widely known is that the movement's leadership has a long history of disobeying the teachings of the movement's saintly founder - A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami or Srila Prabhupada as he is commonly known - in order to perpetrate abuses against its innocent members, and that this court case was a direct result of such flagrant disobedience.
Srila Prabhupada was very clear on the policy that should be followed at the schools which were set up in ISKCON. Very early on he ordered:

"The important matter is that the children are taken care of nicely. [...] If they are not healthy then how they can prosecute their education? If they are undernourished it is not good for their future activities. [...] A big building is also very good for the children's health. They can move freely and run and jump."
(Letter sent to ISKCON leader and child abuse defendant, Steven Guarano a.k.a. Satsvarupa Das Goswami)

"Now the thing is, children should not be beaten at all, that I have told. They should simply be shown the stick strongly. So if one cannot manage in that way then he is not fit as teacher."
(Letter sent to a Teacher at the first ISKCON School in Dallas in 1972)

Thus Srila Prabhupada was emphatic on how the children should be treated and continually instructed that the children were never to be mistreated. Instead these clear instructions as well as many others were disobeyed by the movement's leadership as they set out to enjoy themselves at the expense of Srila Prabhupada's movement. This disobedience of Srila Prabhupada's instructions by his disciples in their mad pursuit to exercise power over innocent victims was executed by many of the same named defendants in the child abuse suit when, following Srila Prabhupada's departure from this world in 1977, they deposed him as the Guru for the movement, and instead set themselves up as his Guru successors. This despite Srila Prabhupada having left clear signed instructions to the contrary. This has led to a landmark court case currently before the High Court in Calcutta, which is the birthplace of the movement's founder, Srila Prabhupada.

Nexus Between Child Abuse and Guru Court Case 

The ISKCON Revival Movement (IRM), a world-wide group of ISKCON members set up to provide an alternative to the abuses and corruption that has been present in the movement, had filed a case in the Calcutta High Court, over a year ago, against many of the same defendants named in the child abuse suit. This case had been filed against the defendants for having illegally usurped Srila Prabhupada from his position as the Guru of the movement, and instead installing themselves as his successors and grabbing control of the movement. Unlike the child abuse case which is a civil suit only, the IRM has filed criminal charges as well as a civil suit. With clear signed evidence from Srila Prabhupada, it is believed that the IRM has a great chance of winning, and thereby helping to clean up the mess the movement is in by kicking out the present Gurus in ISKCON, some of whom, as previously mentioned, are also named as defendants in the child abuse case.

That there is a nexus between these two cases is highlighted by the fact the man selected by ISKCON's leadership to defend them in the Calcutta 'Guru' case was one Stanley Fedorowski, a.k.a. Satyadhanya Dasa, who was known by the ISKCON leadership to have committed acts of anal sex on children. Recently the former headmaster of the Vrindavan Gurukula, Dhanudara Swami, who is also one of the current Gurus, was allowed by the movement's leadership to carry on accepting disciples and act as a Guru, when he had already been convicted of child abuse, and in doing so they overturned the recommendation of their own Child Protection Office. It seems clear that the issue of child abuse is merely one of a larger issue of the exercise of power by those who have joined the movement simply to use the great spiritual movement set up by Srila Prabhupada for their own aggrandizement, and this is symbolised by the setting up of an unauthorised Guru system to replace Srila Prabhupada.

ISKCON Revival Movement Vows to Purge Movement of False Gurus The genesis for such a court case came about in 1996 with the publication of a philosophical treatise entitled "The Final Order". This paper, which carries a foreword by Dr. Kim Knott, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Leeds University in the UK, and an academic authority on ISKCON, revealed how a massive hoax had been perpetrated by the movement since the departure from this world of Srila Prabhupada in 1977. Citing directly from the books and the recorded and transcribed words of Prabhupada, it revealed that there had been a cover-up over Prabhupada's final wishes, which would have kept him as the sole Guru for the movement. Instead his leading western disciples, most of whom are also named as defendants in the child abuse case, mis-represented these final orders to the movement and assumed power for themselves. The paper immediately captured the attention of many of the movement's temple presidents and members around the world, particularly in India where, for example, The Calcutta Statesman - India's oldest English language newspaper - published a damning expose on this 'guru hoax'. As a reaction to suppress the dissident uprising, the ISKCON leadership announced bans on supporters of the 'The Final Order' paper from entering ISKCON temples and censured all discussions of the paper amongst its own rank and file devotees. In some areas, ISKCON leaders ordered the burning of the document in scenes not too far removed from Berlin in 1933. This however only increased support for a fledgling movement that was to become the IRM - for as the great American transcendentalist and student of Vedic thought Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

"Every burned book enlightens the world."

The movement's leadership was also not expecting that support for the 'Final Order' paper would take hold within its main temples, who would then use the newly discovered information to file the court case mentioned to restore the movement back onto its righteous path. As well as Calcutta, the IRM has branches inside ISKCON in many countries of the world, and controls ISKCON's largest temple situated in Bangalore. Some other prominent IRM branches are the temples in Vrindavana, India and Singapore.

The IRM deplores the stain that has been cast on the great spiritual movement founded by such a pure and saintly teacher as Prabhupada. The IRM has dedicated itself to rooting out the abuse and corruption that exists in the movement, which is epitomized by the presence of the self-appointed Gurus currently occupying a seat that rightly belongs to Prabhupada. We believe that the case we have filed will go some way to achieving this. The avowed goal of the IRM is simply to restore the Hare Krishna movement to its original purity, potency and philosophical chastity by reinstating the Founder, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, as the sole Guru for the movement, while purging all the corrupt elements, as highlighted by the self-appointed gurus, from ISKCON.

Following the filing of these court cases, the membership of ISKCON is having a crisis of faith in the movement's leadership and is turning to the IRM in increasing numbers, as the only means to save ISKCON