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11/20/97

Re: Poison Allegations

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Thank you for having created a forum for this kind of discussion. Since within ISKCON there is no environment for loving, vaisnava discussions, free from the potential of reprisals a la TKG and Prithu dasa formula of tongue mutilations, devotees have no choice but to take to the cyberspace forum. If you decide to publish this letter, please delete my name and address. The mood where I am at present is a dangerous one. Thank you.

Just got done reading the transcript of your most recent "Chat Room". Prabhu, it seems to me that we are spending a lot of time trying to ascertain the truth of Srila Prabhupada's statement that he was being poisoned. Srila Prabhupada is Founder-Acarya, satya-vak, satya-sankalpa. He cannot lie. His word is truth. If he said he was being poisoned, he was. Our job now is to find the culprits. Whispers on a tape may not mean anything in the final analysis. What we do know is that Srila Prabhupada's death is cloaked in mystery. He was not happy during that time, and he admitted to his doctor that he was being poisoned. He was not lying because his word is truth. We may try to make so many material calculations about this and that, all of which may end in futility. Why not accept Srila Prabhupada's word as fact? Then our job becomes easy. Find the culprits. Who handled his care, who administered his food and water etc?

There may not be sufficient evidence even after exhuming his body to convict anyone of a crime here, but so what? Prabhupada said he was being poisoned. If no human agent was deliberately involved in this poisoning, and it was only just a case of negligence, that could have been easily discerned. Then Prabhupada would only have said something like "the medicine is poisonous--bad decision to give it or take it". Instead he said, "I am being poisoned". Prabhu in any context, such a statement implies the speaker believes there is deliberate intent. In fact, this statement is taken as such by his listeners.

While I would like to see the culprits get their comeuppance, the veracity of Srila Prabhupada's words must not and cannot depend on whether we or some investigative body can find evidence of their crime. How is the stool of an animal pure? How is the Ganges with mud, foam, debris and dead bodies floating in it pure? Srila Prabhupada's words are all the evidence we need at this point. Do we have unflinching faith in the words of gurumaharaja?

So we cannot convict anyone in a mundane court of law based on Srila Prabhupada's words, but at least, within the Vaisnava community we can act to remove those whose actions prompted Prabhupada to make such a terrible statment. Let them be removed from office and expelled from ISKCON, minus the assets and money under their control. Some blind followers will still want to serve them, but what can we do? Have not these men expelled and banned many from ISKCON for merely voicing an opinion? And was not Solocana murdered for pointing out the excesses of Kirtanananda? Prabhupada said he was being poisoned. We may not after 20 years be able to discover the exact details of this, but under such a dark cloud of suspicion, the men who managed his care must be removed immediately.

This has been a problem all these years, not accepting Srila Prabhupada's guru-vakya with unflinching faith. If we just accept Srila Prabhupada's words with unflinching faith we can never go wrong! Who can challenge this statement? So what if our puny, contaminated, material efforts produce no good result? Why waste time in this endeavor? Does the veracity of the guru's words depend on our activities? No. If we cannot after so much investigating uncover any evidence, we may conclude that Prabhupada did not know what he was saying, or arrive at some other speculative conclusion that will show Prabhupada's words to be false.

Act now. Continue whatever investigation is going on, but the main thing is to accept the guru's words as true and thus remove from office and expel all those who are implicated by virtue of their management of his personal medical and nutritional care-- in short, anyone who might have assisted in this poisoning affair. The consequences of not doing so are too great. We are talking about Srila Prabhupada, the one who gave us life, and the pure servant of Krsna. Shame on ISKCON for doubting the guru's words and not taking the appropriate corrective action. Of course, ISKCON is the same men who are implicated in this affair. What to do, prabhu?


Your humble servant,

(removed on authors request)