Once Prabhupada realized that he was physically unable to manage the affairs of the worldwide movement on a day-to-day basis he appointed 11 senior disciples to leadership positions. This proved problematic. The individuals appointed who joined the Krishnas in the early days were not the most stable folks around in the late 1960s. The core of the early movement was a motley assortment of genuine truth-seekers as well as a variety of drug dealers and counter-culture types who had serious issues with living the way Prabhupada prescribed. Alcohol and drug use were fairly common and mental abuse and intimidation of followers was the rule rather than the exception. The appointed diciples immediately set out to consolidate their power at the expense of the devotees.
Perhaps the best example of a guru gone bad is that of Keith Ham, aka Kirtanananda. Kirtanananda was one of Prabhupada’s earliest diciples and was formerly a student of religious studues at NYU. Upon Prabhupada's death in 1977, Kirtanananda was one of the 11 gurus selected to initiate disciples. Most of Monkey on a Stick is taken up with an in depth analysis of Kirtanananda’s excesses and the effect he had on the world-wide movement, but his transgressions were not unique.
In 1968, Kirtanananda signed a 99-year lease on 130 acres of land in West Virginia, which was the beginning of what Prabhupada called New Vrindavan. In 1990, the US federal government indicted Kirtanananda on five counts of racketeering, six counts of mail fraud, and conspiracy to murder two of his opponents in the Hare Krishna movement. The government claimed that he illegally amassed a profit of more than $10.5 million over four years through copywrite infringement (remember those stickers of snoopy ‘Are we Having Fun Yet?’ you bought in concert parking lots in the 1980s?-All Krishna related). It also charged that he ordered the killings because the victims threatened to reveal that he sexually abused minors. In 1996, before Kirtanananda’s retrial was completed, he pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released in June 2004 due to failing health.
From what I’ve read, Kirtananda was a total sociopath who controled every aspect of his follower’s behavior. He also controled a vast network of sanrkirtan teams who fanned out across the country and ran fundraising scams at airports and sporting events.
There are a number of movement apologists who attempt to pass off Kirtanananda’s excesses as an aberration and indeed the Swami was thrown out of ISKCON in the late1980s when the reform movement was gathering momentum. However, Kirtanananda wasn’t the only swami with an exaggerated sense of his own importance. Another swami, Hansadutta das (Hans Kary) had his own run-ins with the law. For shits and giggles Swami Hansadutta enjoyed taking fistfuls of vicodan, drinking liquor and driving around downtown LA in his SUV shooting up plate glass windows with his machine gun. At the time he was arrested Hansadutta was carrying nearly eight thousand dollars cash as well as a small arsenal of firearms (see picture at left). After spending a small fortune on legal fees the swami was let go with probation. His explanation to the judge: "If you have all kinds of drugs, alcohol and women, won't you go crazy too"?
Perhaps the best example of a guru gone bad is that of Keith Ham, aka Kirtanananda. Kirtanananda was one of Prabhupada’s earliest diciples and was formerly a student of religious studues at NYU. Upon Prabhupada's death in 1977, Kirtanananda was one of the 11 gurus selected to initiate disciples. Most of Monkey on a Stick is taken up with an in depth analysis of Kirtanananda’s excesses and the effect he had on the world-wide movement, but his transgressions were not unique.
In 1968, Kirtanananda signed a 99-year lease on 130 acres of land in West Virginia, which was the beginning of what Prabhupada called New Vrindavan. In 1990, the US federal government indicted Kirtanananda on five counts of racketeering, six counts of mail fraud, and conspiracy to murder two of his opponents in the Hare Krishna movement. The government claimed that he illegally amassed a profit of more than $10.5 million over four years through copywrite infringement (remember those stickers of snoopy ‘Are we Having Fun Yet?’ you bought in concert parking lots in the 1980s?-All Krishna related). It also charged that he ordered the killings because the victims threatened to reveal that he sexually abused minors. In 1996, before Kirtanananda’s retrial was completed, he pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released in June 2004 due to failing health.
From what I’ve read, Kirtananda was a total sociopath who controled every aspect of his follower’s behavior. He also controled a vast network of sanrkirtan teams who fanned out across the country and ran fundraising scams at airports and sporting events.
There are a number of movement apologists who attempt to pass off Kirtanananda’s excesses as an aberration and indeed the Swami was thrown out of ISKCON in the late1980s when the reform movement was gathering momentum. However, Kirtanananda wasn’t the only swami with an exaggerated sense of his own importance. Another swami, Hansadutta das (Hans Kary) had his own run-ins with the law. For shits and giggles Swami Hansadutta enjoyed taking fistfuls of vicodan, drinking liquor and driving around downtown LA in his SUV shooting up plate glass windows with his machine gun. At the time he was arrested Hansadutta was carrying nearly eight thousand dollars cash as well as a small arsenal of firearms (see picture at left). After spending a small fortune on legal fees the swami was let go with probation. His explanation to the judge: "If you have all kinds of drugs, alcohol and women, won't you go crazy too"?
According to his web-site, “Hansadutta das is famous amongst the devotees for his ecstatic kirtans.” There is no mention of his gunplay and drinking.
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