01/03/98 - 1451

Uddhava and Gandhari Respond

USA (VNN) - (Update to VNN story #1437)

Letter received from Uddhava and Gandhari:

Dear Devotees,

Please accept our obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and his grandchildren.

We are responding to the encouraging and inspiring letters written by the Denver temple and Badrinarayana. We have realized our sins and wonder how we could possibly have betrayed the very people whose only goal was to help us. We apologize for having failed to see their undaunting commitment and must have just been imagining things. We have the tendency to just make things up as we go. We have nothing better to do,"then threaten, taunt, and harass all of the devotees here". We didn't realize we have so much time on our hands between our jobs and school to cause so much havoc. How could we be so upset with people who only have the very best intentions towards us? After all, the devotees who have passed through Denver will tell you that the temple is compared to Vaikuntha. How impudent of us to say otherwise! We can all see that ISKCON is flourishing, so why should upstarts like us, inhibit the preaching? Our crumbling basement is needed for new bhaktas who aren't even made yet. Why should we even think the GBC should make a compromise for us? The preaching must go on. Ki Jaya! Ironically, demons like us, have been spawned in the most spiritually enlightened movement in the world. ISKCON Ki Jaya! We are sure that the authorities are doing what is best for Krsna and Prabhupada's movement, by removing the demons. We were just remembering a scene from the movie "Your Ever Well Wisher". Srila Prabhupada stated," he was trying to build a house in which the whole world could live". But, there is no place in that house for us. "A cold day in hell", is Badrinarayan's offer. Duryodhana had a similar offer for the Pandavas. They were being denied their 5 villages, and in fact he told Krsna that he wouldn't even give them the amount of land that would fit under the tip of a needle. We all know the outcome of the Kaurava dynasty. It's our very good fortune to have the support of all of our kind hearted gurukuli friends, and all other devotees who have not discriminated against gurukulis. Judge us how you may, but we will always be devotees no matter what anyone says.

Your servants,

Prabhupada's grandchildren,

Uddhava and Gandhari
(end letter)

Badrinarayan dasa (GBC Denver) writes in this connection:

"Before you draw any conclusions I suggest you speak to the following devotees, all of whom have experienced a very dark side of Uddhava and Gandhari. You will find that a grave injustice will have been done if the Denver devotees are painted as the villains or the aggressors." (end quote)

Could there also be a very dark side of ISKCON involved here as well?

Maybe some of the outpouring of compassion and forgiveness that is currently bestowed on Bhavananda by the ISKCON Sydney temple in the form of free room and board could be channeled over to this Denver situation? How about evicting Bhavananda and free room and board for the gurukulis in Denver?

The following letter was also received:

From: Jambavati dasi (LvlyLdy108@aol.com)
Subject: As the temple turns and the incense burns...
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 02:37:12 EST

Dear Prabhus,

Please accept my obeisances. Glories to Srila Prabhupada and the dream that he has for his movement.

As you already have read on many ISKCON web sites, the situation that is going on here at the Denver temple concerning the Gurukuli Devotees Uddhava Dasa and Gandhari Dasi is completly out of control.

My name is Jambavati devi dasi and I lived here at the Denver Temple. I have seen some things go on here that I think that you should all know about. I was a Bramacarini here for about a year and partof ISKCON for a short and bitter 3 years. My stay here at the Denver temple has turned me away from devotees with a bad taste in my mouth. Not only was i constantly harassed by Temple authorities such as Apurva , who threatened to kick me out several times for not preforming my strenuous service which included cooking in "Krsnas Kitchen" for 10 hours a day while on crutches. I was told to surrender and do myservice or i would fall into Maya for wanting to take rest after my doctor had precribed me medication for my knee injury. Several times while suffering in pain Apurva would come down to the Womans ashrama during Mongal Arati and knock and yell for me to wake up until i came limping to the door in much disarray. This was onlya third of the harrassment that i suffered here at the Denver temple.

While acting as the Treasurer for the temple i was in charge accounts payable. So therefore no Devotees recieved any Laxmi with out me knowing. One day I questioned Ramavirya Dasa (no longer with ISKCON after promptly leaving his wife) while going over the logs and asked him why he was taking $250.00 a week. His response was "Dont question me Mataji, its none of of your buissness".

Many times I was sent out to do Sankirtan with Mother Kamalini, who not only left me in the Airport by myself not knowing what the heck I was doing, but slept the day away in the car. After hearing about her several suicide threats I finally realized that she was a sick woman and probably neededd her rest. During my stay at the Denver Temple i have seen many devotees come and go because of the mistreatment of the "AUTHORITIES" As soon as anyone ever challanged their Authority they were immediatley dispossed of like compost for cows.

As soon as I decided to move out and work all the devotees were warned not to talk to me because of my bad influence. I really feel like that the rest of the Devotees here in Prabhupadas movement need to wake up and realize that this situation with Gandhari and Uddhava is going to cause more distruction than they think it will. Just like Srila Prabhupada said "this movement will be torn apart from the inside not outside" So if the Authorities at Denver Iskcon want to let this soap opera tear apart Prabhupadas movement then wait until they get into the court of Yamaraja.

Your servant in the service of Srila Prabhupadas dream,

Jambavati Dasi