VNN Editorial - Response To Puripada And ISKCON Regarding Srila Prabhupada's Poisoning

EDITORIAL

September 14, 1999 VNN4725 Related VNN StoriesComment on this story

Response To Puripada And ISKCON Regarding Srila Prabhupada's Poisoning

BY NITYANANDA DAS

EDITORIAL, Sep 14 (VNN) — For 22 months the investigation into the poisoning of His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, has been pursued by primarily two entities.

ONE: Balavanta Prabhu was appointed by the 1997 GBC Chairman Madhusevita Prabhu through his executive powers, without approval by the whole GBC. Had Madhusevita Prabhu not acted spontaneously in response to the initial flurry of "poison whisper" discoveries, it is doubtful that the GBC would have acted to investigate the poisoning evidence at all. It is known that many GBC's and ISKCON gurus were disturbed by Madhusevita Prabhu's action and thus we can explain the almost two years of silence by ISKCON in this matter.

According to the persons themselves, Balavanta Prabhu, former GBC Chairman, and his assistant Naveen Krishna Prabhu, longtime GBC and ISKCON Foundation officer, are both firmly convinced that Srila Prabhupada was indeed maliciously poisoned in 1977. Apparently Naveen has a number of GBC's and other ISKCON senior men convinced of the same, and the official silence of Balavanta and Naveen Prabhus is simply part of their investigative strategy. When their report is finally issued, it WILL definitely confirm that Srila Prabhupada was poisoned, according to trusted sources.

TWO: Restore The Mission, the other, "grass-roots" investigation, has been conducted by a loose-knit group of devotees worldwide. I have simply organized, researched and chronicled the evidence in a book which is now available to anyone interested as a letter from me in the form of a report.

This private investigation continues to gather ever-more damaging materials and evidence; our mission is to discover the complete historical truth in the matter of Srila Prabhupada's poisoning. Whoever committed this unimaginable crime will be pursued to the farthest ends of the universe until the whole truth is known and justice is done.

The evidence presented in my book/letter (Someone Has Poisoned Me) is summarized as follows:

1. Srila Prabhupada's hair, collected by Hari Sauri Prabhu, was analyzed by Balavanta Prabhu through neutron activation analysis at a university laboratory and was found to contain about 3 parts per million of arsenic.

The dramatic significance of this is studied thoroughly in my book; in brief, this is about 10 times more than the average person and is a serious threat of the health of an elderly person such as Srila Prabhupada.

2. The water in Vrindaban and Mayapur were analyzed for arsenic content by Balavanta Prabhu, and found to be NOT the source of the poison found in the hair sample. The great unlikelihood that the high level of arsenic in Srila Prabhupada's hair coming from water OR MEDICINES is fully analyzed in my book also.

3. A synoptic, synthesized Srila Prabhupada health biography of 155 pages for the year 1977 was constructed from all known biographical sources, including the taped conversations transcribed by the Bhaktivedanta Archives and newly translated sections where Srila Prabhupada Himself speaks about being poisoned. Thus, the title's origin to my book, taken from His Divine Grace's own words, "Someone has poisoned me." My book studies the aforementioned health history meticulously and with adequate reference to many medical school library textbooks. The inescapable and as yet unchallenged conclusion after 1500 books have been read worldwide: Srila Prabhupada clearly displayed the symptoms of chronic arsenic poisoning, not simply dropsy or kidney ailments as previously thought by Abhiram Prabhu and others.

4. The extremely unique and distinctive symptoms of chronic arsenic poisoning which Srila Prabhupada exhibited throughout 1977 are then carefully compared to the health symptoms of several other well documented and studied cases of arsenic poisoning, including that of Napoleon and Blanche Taylor Moore, now on death row in N. Carolina.

5. The extensive analysis by an audio forensic expert was performed on the various "poison whispers" which, by now, have been clearly heard by hundreds of devotees worldwide. The whispers are found on the third to the last tape recording of Srila Prabhupada on November 11, 1977, about 72 hours before His Divine Grace's departure and the very next day AFTER Srila Prabhupada tells His kaviraj/ doctor and Bhakticaru Swami in Bengali that He has been poisoned. The forensic tests confirm the whispers, "·poisoning for a long time" as spoken by Jayapataka Swami, and "the poison's going down" spoken by an unknown devotee in the room. The "poison whispers" are NOT just whatever you think you want to hear, as ISKCON apologists have claimed; instead, they are extremely significant and alarming.

6. There have been persistent rumors of witnesses to the poisoning of Srila Prabhupada through the years since His departure. Great progress, as yet unpublished, has been made in this area. In addition, rumors of poisoning have circulated throughout ISKCON since 1977, and are only now being substantiated and documented by both investigative teams.

7. My book also objectively chronicles potentially relevant evidence such as the Chandraswamy connection, the suspects and their possible motives, the possible methods of poisoning, and much more. These pieces of evidence and information may ultimately prove invaluable in the completion of the investigation.

8. My book also briefly describes the science of reverse speech analysis, used by many law enforcement agencies worldwide, notably the Mossad, the Israeli secret police. Anyone can check out the website by David Oates on reverse speech, or contact Dhanesvara Prabhu about his shocking reverse speech research on the late 1977 tape recordings by e-mail at Dhanesvara@aol.com. He recently released an audio CD with his extensive findings.

9. My book's research and presentation of evidence is supplemented with 24 appendices, one of which chronicles a recently uncovered tape recording of Tamal Krishna Goswami shortly after Srila Prabhupada's departure. TKG flatly claims that Srila Prabhupada asked for "medicine" to die peacefully, implying that there had been a suicide/ mercy-killing. The full transcription of this conversation is hopefully being posted by VNN separately, with the very bizarre and suspicious TKG statement highlighted for easy reference.

The book Someone Has Poisoned Me, 408 pages long, ia available upon request for a $ 5 donation plus postage from Restore the Mission, PO Box 208, Mayodan, NC 27027 or e-mail me at rivervillage@ mindspring.com.

On Sept.6, 1999, ISKCON made an official statement on "poison allegations, " apparently being forced to respond to articles in Asian Age Report and Indian newspapers. ISKCON alleges that the majority of members do not believe in the poisoning "theory, " although a June 1999 VNN poll showed over 50% of the readers believed Srila Prabhupada WAS poisoned. Then the statement conveniently buys more time above and beyond the last 22 months of denial by waiting until March, 2000, when Balavanta Prabhu's report is "expected." With all due respect to Balavanta Prabhu and his deliberate, secretive investigative progress, we were "expecting" his report last March also. There is no telling when Balavanta Prabhu will issue his report, if ever. We do know that Balavanta Prabhu has audio forensic confirmations of the poison whispers from several different labs, the hair analysis, the water analysis, and witness evidence. But meanwhile, there is my full report on the same evidence which, unfortunately, ISKCON is not interested in. A grand total of 4 GBC's asked for the book. And 1500 members of ISKCON and Lord Chaitanya's movement.

Why is ISKCON not interested in my book, Someone Has Poisoned Me? In their recent official statement: "·others question the credibility of the poison advocates, and charge that "evidence" for the allegations was exaggerated, or perhaps even manufactured, by persons motivated by ill will against ISKCON." I guess that refers to me, as is seen in some recent Chakra and VNN articles and interviews of Jagannath das Puripada. I will respond briefly.

Of course, my credibility IS suspect because I am a conditioned soul and subject to the four defects of conditioned life. However, I reassure the reader herewith that I have tried very hard to objectively and without bias present the evidence in this matter for the consideration of those interested. I have no ill will towards ISKCON, only towards the corruption and self-aggrandizing leaders that have pirated Srila Prabhupada's mission.

After serving as a temple president for over 20 years and working hard for making devotees and establishing temples and farms, and being instrumental in the donation of $25 million to ISKCON during those years, I would as soon die as become an enemy of ISKCON. But dishonesty, lies and cheating cannot be tolerated in Srila Prabhupada's mission, in His ISKCON.

Naturally, I am opposed to these things out of service to my conscience and duty to His Divine Grace. Because I challenged the GBC regarding their proof for their absolute guru system and their proof against the rtvik system, I was excommunicated in 1990 (without getting the proof!). However, I cannot act contrary to my conscience and understanding of Srila Prabhupada's instructions. Thus my excommunication is my 'badge of honor, " and I will continue to seek the whole truth about the poisoning of Srila Prabhupada until my last breath.

How many times has the GBC and our ISKCON leadership lied to us, stonewalled us, in the last 22 years? Who will give much credence to THEIR statements of stalling and policies of attacking the character of those who do not fall in line with their official positions? What about the issue at hand? What about all this practically irrefutable evidence that Srila Prabhupada was maliciously poisoned by arsenic, the most insidious and horrible poison known? And so many of my godbrothers in leadership positions are SILENT, ignoring my book of evidence, ignoring what they fear may end up ruining their own positions, income, security etc as an ISKCON dependent, political aspirant or guru.

No evidence in my book was altered, manufactured or exaggerated.The poison tape was sent directly from the Archives to the forensic lab. I did not have anything to do with Balavanta's hair analysis except to locate the lab and obtain the results. Has Anuttama Prabhu, ISKCON spokesman who released the recent ISKCON statement, read my book? Specifically, what could have been manufactured or falsified, as Puripada also alleges? To analyze tape recordings by reverse speech method is not falsifying, tampering or manufacturing evidence. Puripada had no role in the production of the "Poison CD" of January 1998 except as a narrator. I did not ask him do do anything else, and after hearing his tone and manner of voice, and for other reasons as well, I decided the CD to be unsatisfactory. I did not reproduce it. However, it ended up in the hands of Harikesh, and ISKCON issued an official response months later to a CD that was never produced or distributed. Instead, I spent another 15 months in the compilation of my book, which I believe to be a much superior presentation of the poisoning evidence. The evidence is fully substantiated and verifiable; no question of the crdeibility of the evidence can stand up to proper scrutiny of my investigative report.

Puripada literally cheated me out of $2000 and it is suspected that he sold the CD to Harikesh. My experience with him has been most unpleasant, as he is fond of foul language and acts unpredictably. Yet, he is featured on Chakra (previously discredited on Chakra) and indirectly referred to in ISKCON's statement as being a credible person to discredit my CD that never was, my book, my "theories" and my self. Incredibly, however, the truth marches on and is available for asking in Someone Has Poisoned Me. No one has yet to disagree or argue with the evidence in my book. Most ISKCON leaders have probably read or skimmed through the book, but have no reply.

Rather than argue "credibity of poison advocates, " when will ISKCON's leaders address the credibilty of the now-public evidence which proves that Srila Prabhupada, our Divine Master and Ever Well Wisher, was cruelly and slowly poisoned by arsenic? Their excuse of waiting is but a diversionary ploy to buy more time while the poisoners, probably still in positions of ISKCON leadership, continue to exploit the sacred body of Srila Prabhupada's institution and mission. I, for one, will not stand by in apathy, hopelessness or silence, regardless of whether I am credible or not. Each follower of Srila Prabhupada owes it to themselves and the cause of truth, to study the evidence which the ISKCON leaders are ignoring. Please, don't turn away. This is a worthy cause to pursue. If your son or mother had been poisoned, and you found out about it years later, would you ignore it? Or philosophize it away? Or criticize the messenger? No, you would be intent (amongst other emotions perhaps much stronger) on finding the truth and seeking justice. So far, we know Srila Prabhupada was poisoned, but we cannot yet prove exactly for sure who did it. Help pressure ISKCON to confront this issue head-on now, let us find the poisoners and restore Srila Prabhupada's mission. Please get involved and serve His Divine Grace's honor by standing up for the search for truth.