VNN Editorial - Jagannath Das "Puripada"

EDITORIAL

September 10, 1999 VNN4699 Related VNN StoriesComment on this story

Jagannath Das "Puripada"

BY JAGADANANDA DAS

EDITORIAL, Sep 10 (VNN) — Jagannath Das "Puripada" (Geoffrey Giuliano) is something of a controversial figure in the Krishna Consciousness movement. His two recent postings on Chakra have elicited suspicious reactions from devotees on VNN forums and elsewhere. Those who know him say that he is an inveterate self-promoter. Is it any surprise that his motives should be suspect?

Background of the Poison CD controversy

In the his two letters dated August 18 and August 27 , Jagannath Das accuses Nityananda Prabhu and Rocana Das of having dishonest motives in conducting an investigation into Prabhupad's poisoning. (For more information on Rochan and Nityananda's investigation, see History of the Independent Vaisnava Council.)

As Chakra had previously called Jagannath Das's credibility into question (Who is Pur ipada?) it was somewhat surprising to see him writing there. Other questions about Jagannatha's credibility were previously asked on VNN by none other than Rochan Prabhu himself in an article dated May 24, 1998, Poisoning the Investigation. There Rochan states that he suspects Jagannath of being involved in turning over the master copy of the CD to the GBC:

It is also a fact that Jagannath's behaviour towards the other participants of the audio project resulted in our decision to exclude him and his facility from future endeavors on this project. As stated in the recent IVC Interim Report, we only have Jagannath's word for the circumstances that transpired around the theft of the master copy of the CD and the working DAT's. In fact, several of us associated with this project have, all along, had a suspicion that Jagannath himself may have been implicated in these materials coming into ISKCON's hands. Without proof to support these speculations, however, we are left to accept his version of events, which were duly reported.

This accusation recently resurfaced on VNN forums where it was added that Jagannath had sold the IVC's investigation materials to Harikesh Maharaj. And Nityananda Prabhu has also recently asked why the only response to his book has been to question his character.

Though I am not in a position to do any extensive investigation into this matter, I thought at least it may be good to interview Jagannath Prabhu and ask him to clarify some of the questions that have come up about him and his status within the Krishna consciousness movement.

"A supremely confident being"

I spoke to him on the telephone about his career as a devotee last Saturday morning. Jagannath's voice is brash. The accent is New York City, though he has never lived there for long periods of time. It is the voice of a self-promoter -- and Jagannath doesn't deny it: "If there is anything about me that is true, " he says, "it is that I am a supremely confident being."

Though I wanted to go straight to the abovementioned issues with him, Jagannath treated me to a lengthy account of his life as a devotee from his first encounter with Prabhupada's books in 1969, his brief sojourn in the Tampa Bay temple in 1971 with Pusta Krishna Das to his reincarnation as a Puripada, "a Hindu guru." Actually, Jagannath has not held back about the details of his life which the reader can find on his website at http://www.neonblue.com/sri.

Jagannath claims to have been on Prabhupada's initiation list in 1971, but left the movement before it took place. He continued to keep in contact with the movement and did meet Srila Prabhupada in London later in 70's. In an anecdote that tells volumes about his own character as well as Prabhupada, he tells the story of that meeting: "Prabhupada was passing through the crowd of devotees surrounded by his top men, I jumped out and enthusiastically started to tell Prabhupada how much I loved his books. I guess Prabhupada thought I was coming on a little strong. He fluffed me off as if to say Chill off!' But a moment later, he was merciful and turned back to me and said, Walk next to me but don't talk anything.'"

Later the same day, Jagannath had the ecstatic opportunity to encounter Prabhupada again. "This time Prabhupada said to me and my friend, You are nice boys, you will go back to home.' I don't know when that is supposed to happen, but it's encouraging to have heard it from Prabhupada himself!"

Material success

After leaving Iskcon, Jagannath went to SUNY and graduated in drama and then went on to his now fabled career as Canada's Ronald Macdonald. Though he had been a vegetarian since his stint as a devotee, he justified his apparent moral contradiction by saying to "an actor may portray a murderer, a homosexual, drug addict. Personal philosophy of life are not always germane to one's occupation. I was just playing a part to make a living."

Nevertheless, the moral contradiction eventually got to him and he gave it up. He sees the experience of having worked as Ronald Macdonald as a positive one because it now gives him the opportunity to speak for Animal Rights' groups like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The Macdonalds' connexion has resulted in hundreds of newspaper articles and TV shows publicizing the cause of animal rights and vegetarianism. He calls it an "Instant entre to the media."

Throughout his teenage years, the Beatles had a great deal of meaning for him. Fearlessly promoting himself as an authority on them and their music, Jagannath got a contract with a publishing firm in Toronto to write a book. He wrote "The Beatles -- a Celebration" which became a great success and assured him a career as a writer on the Beatles and other pop musicians.

During this time, he was a "Friend of Krishna" for many years, keeping close contact with Iskcon. When he decided to write a life of George Harrison, he approached Mukunda Goswami who gave him a great deal of confidential information about Harrison. When the book Dark Horse came out, George Harrison showed his unhappiness with Mukunda as much of the information could only have come from inside sources. The result was that Mukunda and other members of Iskcon became disenchanted with Jagannath.

Of this episode, Jagannath says, "Mukunda accused me of being an opportunist, but I say, what's wrong with that? Everyone tries to take advantage of their position, and that's all I am trying to do. They must think that if I talk about Harrison's drug-taking that I put Krishna consciousness in a bad light. But I am not a PR man. As a journalist, I tell the truth. If I have to be brutally honest, so be it. My book on Harrison is the only one that goes into any depth about his spiritual interests. I have heard from some people that the warts-and-all account of Harrison helps them to understand why he was motivated to engage in spiritual life."

Initiation and relationship with Mangala Maharaj

In 1983, Jagannath took Harinama and thus became the first initiated disciple of Bhakti Hridoy Mangal Maharaj, a disciple of Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaj, founder of the Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. Mangal Maharaj was formerly known as Mangal Nilay Brahmachary. In his early years in America, Srila Prabhupada tried several times to persuade him to come and help with his mission, but the Brahmachary was refused permission by his guru at the time. After Madhava Maharaj's disappearance, Mangal Maharaj finally took the opportunity to come to respond to Prabhupada's request.

Jagannath's initiation by Mangal Maharaj also resulted in controversy in the Chaitanya Gaudiya Math as the Math had not authorized him to give initiation. Jagannath told me that a court case resulted, but I have not been able to confirm this.

Jagannath indicated to me his admiration for Mangal Maharaj's strict practice of Gaudiya Vaishnava sadhana, and appreciation for the extensive teachings he gave him. Since initiation, he has followed the regulative principles and chanted his rounds. However, he says that they ultimately had a falling out when Mangal Maharaja criticized Bhaktivedanta Swami on various fronts. Most significantly, he criticized Prabhupada's interpretation of the acintya-bhedabheda doctrine, calling it a "minigod" theory which fails to sufficiently distinguish between the jiva and the Lord. "He would say that the spark is not the fire; the hue of the diamond is not the diamond.'"

Mangala Maharaj further held that disciples of Srila Prabhupada will have to take human birth again after a stint in the heavenly planets before attaining perfection. Indeed they will have to take initiation in the Gaudiya Math before such perfection becomes possible."

Jagannath says, "I booted him out of the house. I have a quick temper. I feel overwhelming kinship to Prabhupada. I'm a Prabhupada man. I consider him to be my guru maharaj. If I have to go to hell, so be it. I am not shopping around for a guru anymore."

Other devotees deny that Mangal Maharaj has ever taken this kind of anti-Prabhupada position while testifying to his impeccable credentials as a sadhaka -- something that Jagannatha corroborates. Mangal Maharaj admits that his relationship with Jagannath was stormy. Indeed, he tells an anecdote about an incident that took place in Calcutta when he was riding with his disciple in a motor rickshaw. An accident occurred and the vehicle rolled over. Mangal Maharaj momentarily lost consciousness. The rickshaw driver shouted to his two passengers to get out of the machine before it burst into flames. According to Mangala Maharaj, Jagannath was in such a hurry to get out of the car that he stepped on his guru to save himself. "What kind of disciple is this?" asks the bewildered Maharaj.

Jagannath says that he later took a type of Ritvik initiation in Vrindavan from an Iskcon devotee "with fire sacrifice and everything, but in secret." On Sept 5, 1998, Jagannath took an apparent pro-Ritvik stance on VNN "SRI/The Spiritual Realization Institute initiates only for and on behalf of His Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. His Holiness Jagannatha Dasa Puripada is the founder, but certainly not the guru and initiates only in the physical absence of Srila Prabhupada."

However, in our phone conversation, he made it clear that he thinks though he is sympathetic with the causes for Ritvik philosophy's arising, he believes that it goes against the principal of disciplic succession. As someone who makes no secret of his own aspirations as a "Hindu guru, " this is not surprising.

So what's with the "Puripada"?

So I asked Jagannath about his career as a guru. He tells the story as follows:

"When I had gained success as a writer, I began to live quite opulently. I bought this mansion in Lockport in the Buffalo suburbs. But at some point I woke up and realized that I only thought I was cool, but was actually a fool. At that point, I converted my house into a temple and founded SRI.

"One day I heard that Boy George had gone to the London temple and been told by the devotees that if he wanted to become a devotee he would have to give up being gay first. Boy George did not take kindly to this message and left. I thought that I would never have spoken to him in this way. I would have said, Let's work from where you are.'

"At that moment I thought that I would start a preaching program in my neck of the woods, preaching to Rainbow people, New Agers, Yuppies. I don't claim to be teaching an advanced level of Krishna consciousness, kindergarten stuff really, but I am not adulterating the basic message about the soul and Krishna that Prabhupada gave. I may use language which is more appealing to my audience, like "higher power, " "lord of the heart", etc. to get my message across.

"I have a lot of confidence and I consider myself a good preacher. Besides, there is no preaching going on in northwestern New York. There has been no Iskcon temple in Buffalo for more than 20 years and the area has been completely neglected by preachers.

"I also thought how could I appeal to these people. I realized that I had to promote myself. Westerners like Swamis and other people with some kind of exotic allure. Some of the Bengali devotees who were serving as pujaris in my temple had started calling me Puripada. So I started using that title. I got an engagement in Lillydale and thousands of people came and listened closely to everything that I was saying.

"I grew my hair long, and started walking, talking like a guru. I consider it necessary for the sake of spreading the message. I don't claim to be a nitya-siddha or a mah³-bh³gavata. I may even water down the philosophy somewhat in order to make it appealing to my audience. I am putting a spin on the ball, but it's not megalomania. It's a genuine desire to serve by preaching.

"The title Puripada was never meant for my Godbrothers and I have agreed to give it up. As a matter of fact, I asked that Chakra not publish it with my letters. I don't know why they did so."

So what's the deal with the CD

"When I read on VNN about the IVC initiative to investigate Prabhupada's poisoning, I volunteered the use of my personal recording studio and offered my services as narrator for the CD, which had the format of an indepth investigative news report. I was shocked by the possibility that Prabhupad could have been poisoned and wished to make a contribution to the effort to find the truth.

"I was particularly disillusioned by Nityananda Das, when he asked me to use the audio equipment to displace whispers on the recording to make them more damaging. I have since made further investigations about him and learned that he is a convicted felon. There are other things about Nityananda that disturb me and this convinces me that he is not someone to be trusted.

"Rochan struck me as a used-car salesman -- a slippery character. I'm a journalist and I can smell bull a mile away. The more I dealt with these people, the stronger the smell became."

What happened with Dhaneswara Prabhu, who was working on the CD at your temple? Why did you kick him out of your house?

"Well, first of all, I felt that his theories on "reverse speech" -- that the truth of any sound vibration can only be established by listening to it backwards -- far fetched. He had goofy ideas and I didn't find him credible at all. But I got really fed up with him because I felt that he repeatedly overstepped the bounds of proper behavior as a houseguest."

What about the accusations that you turned over the CD and tapes to the GBC?

"A disciple of Jayapataka Swami, Gauradaya Das, was living at my house at the time and working as a pujari. I entrusted him with my personal copy of CD after it was finished. I was going to India. During my absence he left and gave the CD to Iskcon authorities. But I had absolutely nothing to do with the theft. I reported the theft to both Buffalo police and the FBI."

Jagannath claims to have no axe to grind with anyone in any of the branches of the Krishna consciousness movement. He considers his preaching mission to be his life's work. His financial independence makes it possible for him to remain aloof. It is not clear, however, what made him decide that now was the time to come out with this very public condemnation of Rochan and Nityananda. It looks like a deliberate ploy to ingratiate himself with Iskcon. And hey, any publicity is good publicity...