11/04/97 - 1159

20th Anniversary of Srila Prabhupada's Disappearance Day Overshadowed By "Poison Tapes"

USA (VNN) - On the 20th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada's disappearance day allegations of foul play are running rampant in the Vaishnava world. So-called "Poison Tapes" have been circulated in which Srila Prabhupada is said to be stating that he was being poisoned. Several postings have been made on Internet newsgroups as well as on some web pages about this issue.

VNN has obtained a first generation copy of a complete set of original audio tapes of the last days of Srila Prabhupada in Vrindavan, 1977. The tapes have recently been the center of much controversy as they contain recorded room conversations in which Srila Prabhupada states that he was being poisoned. This has lead to much disturbance among Srila Prabhupada's followers reaching as far as calls to exhume the body of Srila Prabhupada for forensic testing.

"I was given a complete set of tapes by Satsvarupa Swami, when he returned to Dallas in 1977, to copy and send to the GBC and BBT. At this time I made a set of tapes for myself. Later a few of the cases were melted in a fire 1980 in the Baltimore temple. Last week I had them restored. I have given a set to VNN , Tamal Krishna Goswami and Agrani das (Miami temple president) to review.", says Isa das, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada.

A few of the original 20 audio tapes had to be put into new casings by a professional company because the casings of the original set of tapes had been damaged in a fire in Baltimore. The copies were made before they were sent to the Bhaktivedanta Archives. Isa das says: "There was no attempt to hide the tapes from anyone. All the senior devotees listened to them in Dallas at the time."

VNN's preliminary investigation found the following conversations on the tapes. Some of the transcriptions match the transcriptions found on the Srila Prabhupada Folio, others could not be found on the folio.

(The sound files attached to sections below are in Quicktime format since the Real Audio format had such audio quality loss to make the conversation not understandable. So it may take longer to download but you will be able to understand the conversations.)

(Transcriptions)

Room Conversation, Vrindavan 10/31/77

Prabhupada: Huh. No more, no more trial. Adri-dharana?
Adri-dharana: Yes, Srila Prabhupada.
Prabhupada: What do you think?
Adri-dharana: About this man?
Prabhupada: Yes. Follow strictly.
Tamala Krsna: Do you agree that we should follow strictly his advice?
Adri-dharana: From my experience I think he's a very good man. He's a Vaisnava.
Tamala Krsna: We certainly have... We might as well try. We've tried everyone else.
Prabhupada: Hm.
Tamala Krsna: So let us try.
Bhavananda: He did agree with your own diagnosis, Prabhupada. He said makaradhvaja at this point would be poison and today you said that it was poison.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Bhavananda: So that was...
Prabhupada: Mm. Mm?
Tamala Krsna: Satadhanya asks whether he looks like the man you saw in the dream.
Prabhupada: He has tilaka?
Tamala Krsna: Yes, he has nice tilaka.
Prabhupada: (indistinct). The other man, he has nice tilaka?
Tamala Krsna: Govardhanaji has tilaka?
Adri-dharana: No.
Tamala Krsna: No.
Prabhupada: That's all right.
Adri-dharana: Also Govardhanaji was not very, extremely helpful. He said he would not come to Vrndavana. He said he would not...
Tamala Krsna: Now this man said in fifteen days Prabhupada would be better.
Adri-dharana: He said there will be improvement, in a few days, two or three days there will be improvement.

Above section in Quicktime Sound File (2.6 MB)

Room Conversation Vrindavan 10/77

Prabhupada: So... Kaviraja he might ...
Tamala Krsna: What Srila Prabhupada?
Prabhupada: That Kaviraja .. some how another it does not happen.
Tamala Krsna: I don't feel this is conclusively not happened.
Prabhupada: Simply, one after another.
Tamala Krsna: Yeah.. First we had that Madva.. not Madva - Ramanuji from Sri Rangaji temple he seemed to be a cheater... then this one we got this medicine from that Shakti...Shakta Kaviraja and that medicine turned out to be poison.
Prabhupada: Hmm...
Tamala Krsna: And now this Kaviraja, who is supposed to be coming from Calcutta has become a mystery where he is. The temple was called they said had left...
Devotee: Twice...
Tamala Krsna: ...they called twice to Calcutta...they said they left and yet he is not here.
I don't know what to make of it. A very puzzling situation.
I think if by tomorrow noon they have not arrived, then Satadanya can go to Calcutta.

Above section in Quicktime Sound File (2.8 MB)

Room Conversation, Vrindavan 11/8/77

Prabhupada: Sa eva go-kharah. (pause)
Tamala Krsna: Srila Prabhupada? You said before that you..., that it is said that you were poisoned?
Prabhupada: No. These kind of symptoms are seen when a man is poisoned. He said like that, not that I am poisoned.
Tamala Krsna: Did anyone tell you that, or you just know it from before?
Prabhupada: I read something.
Tamala Krsna: Ah, I see. That's why actually we cannot allow anyone else to cook for you.
Prabhupada: That is good.
Tamala Krsna: Jayapataka Maharaja was telling that one acarya, Sankaracarya, of the Sankaracarya line--this was a while ago--he was poisoned to death. Since that time, none of the acaryas or the gurus of the Sankaracarya line will ever take any food cooked except by their own men.
Prabhupada: My Guru Maharaja also.
Tamala Krsna: Oh. You, of course, have been so merciful that sometimes you would take prasada cooked by so many different people.
Prabhupada: That should be stopped. (pause)

Above section in Quicktime Sound File (3.1 MB)

Room Conversation, Vrindavan 11/8-9/77

Kaviraja: (Hindi)
Devotee: He's saying that in this condition, Prabhupada can't take makara-dhvaja. That any medicine that contains mercury and arsenic is poison ... what Prabhupada said.
Tamala Krsna: That is a fact. He found that to be true.
Kaviraja: (Hindi)...

Room Conversation, Vrindavan 11/9-10/77

Devotee: What did Prabhupada just say?
Unknown (Indian accent): Prabhupad just said that this morning his condition was bad.
Bhavananda: SP was complaining about mental distress this morning.
Kaviraja: (Hindi)... mental distress?
Prabhupada: (Hindi)... poison.
Kaviraja: (Hindi)
Devotee: Some one gave him poison.
Kaviraja: (Hindi)
Tamal Krishna: Prabhupada was thinking that someone was poisoning him. That was the mental disturbance.
Kaviraja: (Hindi)
Tamal Krishna: What did Kaviraja say?
Unknown (Indian accent): He said that when Srila Prabhupada is saying that there must be some truth behind it.
Devotee: What is ....?
Devotee: That someone gave him some poison - powdered (many voices - hindi)
Tamal Krishna: Srila Prabhupada, Shastraji says that there must be some truth to it if you said that. So who is it that has poisoned?
Pause......
Kaviraja: (Hindi - asking SP)
(Hindi conversation)
Devotee: What did he say?
Unknown (Indian accent): He said that it is quiet possible that Mercury is a kind of poison.
Kaviraja: Very poison...
Bhavananda: What medicine was he taking before that.
Unknown (Indian accent): He is referring to a big case husband poisoning the wife.
Tamal Krishna: No poison is strong enough to stop the harinam.

Above section in Quicktime Sound File (2.1 MB)

Room Conversation, Vrindavan 11/10/77

Jagadisa: Srila Prabhupada, can you tell us why you want to go on the parikrama?
Bhakti-caru: (Bengali) (break)
Prabhupada: ...good paddy.
Tamala Krsna: This seems like suicide, Srila Prabhupada, this program. It seems to some of us like it's suicidal.
Prabhupada: And this is also suicidal.
Tamala Krsna: Hm. Prabhupada said, "And this is also suicide." Now you have to choose which suicide.
Prabhupada: The Ravana will kill and Rama will kill. Better to be killed by Rama. Eh? That Marica--if he does not go to mislead Sita, he'll be killed by Ravana; and if he goes to be killed by Rama, then it is better.
Tamala Krsna: Who is this Prabhupada's talking about?
Devotees: Marica.
Tamala Krsna: Srila Prabhupada? I mean, just judging the symptoms, which is all that we can do, certain symptoms have certainly picked up. For instance, you're passing more urine, stool is coming naturally, and you're able to drink milk without getting any cough. These things were never there before.
Prabhupada: Hm. That will continue.

Above section in Quicktime Sound File (2.6 MB)

(End transcriptions)

Amazingly, even though these tapes have been in the possession of the Bhaktivedanta Archives for 20 years ISKCON officials has never made any attempts to investigate the poison references found in them.

Isa das plans to make the complete set of tapes available to devotees. He can be contacted at isadas@equalsouls.org.

Isa das is calling on the Vaishnava community to set up an independent panel of Srila Prabhupada disciples to investigate the tapes in order to put to rest this very painful issue. The VNN has learned that several devotees have already volunteered.

The mandate for the panel would be to:

• completely translate and analyze the audio tapes
• interview all devotees involved at the time
• interview all kavirajas involved in the treatment of Srila Prabhupada
• analyze the content of the medications given to Srila Prabhupada
• determine if there was ill intent or negligence on any party involved in Srila Prabhupada's care

Any Srila Prabhupada disciple interested in participating in this investigating panel or anyone who can bring eyewitness accounts or any other information to this case please contact VNN at contact@vnn.org or Isa das at isadas@equalsouls.org.

The VNN will continue it's own analysis of the tapes and investigation and will update this story as more information becomes available.