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USA April 6, 1999 VNN3525 Bhakticaru Swami To Profit From Court Action BY NITYANANDA DAS USA, Apr 6 (VNN) — AN OPEN LETTER: April 2, 1999. Efland, North Carolina. On April 26 Suddhajiva Prabhu will appear on behalf of Bhakticaru Swami and his Veda Foundation in North Carolina Superior Court to attempt to force Carolinas Vedic Village Society (CVVS) to sell a 12 acre tract of former "common land" at half of market value, $50,000 below current prices. Bhakticaru Swami plans to invest about $500,000 in the construction of a modern, state of the art video and movie production facility, with the Wilmington movie studios and editing companies only a few hours to the east. He plans to house 20 to 30 Bengali devotees in a very large home with studio rooms for shooting a video series on Srila Prabhupada's life. The legal dispute is related to Suddhajiva Prabhu's interference with the sale of local devotees' properties and homes to non-devotees. In a meeting of local devotees, Suddhajiva twice stated emphatically that he would post large signs with the Holy Names in large print up and down the neighborhood streets to scare away outsiders and prevent the devotees' sales to "outsiders." He pressured those wanting to sell their properties to ask a lower "devotee" price, saying that to sell at market prices was greedy. An appeal for help to local devotees, including Badarayan, Garuda, Lakshmi Nrsingha Prabhus and Bir Krishna Swami, in mediating a settlement with Suddhajiva Prabhu and Bhakticaru Swami's Veda Foundation was totally unsuccessful. Suddhajiva was not interested in any compromise, including the offer of payment for an Interstate billboard advertising the Holy Names to replace his signs in the subdivision. But Suddhajiva was not interested in preaching the Holy Name as much as he was concerned about obstructing the right of free commerce by devotees who needed or wanted to sell their properties and homes. Suddhajiva and the Veda Foundation placed very large signs throughout the subdivision. One said, "Welcome to Surabhi Kunj. Chant HARE KRISHNA, HARE RAMA, and be happy. Meetings Thursdays 7 pm." Suddhajiva Prabhu has placed four different 4x8 foot signs in the neighborhood in the last six months, all displaying photos of Lord Jagannath or the Holy Names or announcing construction of a "Vedic Cultural Center." However, all signs have mysteriously disappeared or have been painted over white in the middle of the night. The devotee community board disapproved of Suddhajiva's actions and most devotees in the neighborhood objected to his actions. In the last year, about eight devotee families have left Efland and moved elsewhere. There is an atmosphere of tension and hostility amongst the remaining five devotee and six non-devotee families in the subdivision. The Efland devotee group has been plagued by an atmosphere of quarrel and petty conflicts for ten years. I was hoping that Suddhajiva Prabhu would overcome his usually angry and stubborn nature to discuss person-to-person a possible solution. But no luck there. Now I am added to a list of those he has harbored strong feelings of ill will towards, including Urmila, Drista, Bir Krishna Maharaj, Jayadeva, Ramdas, Jagadiswara, and others. He even arranged for a newspaper story to criticize Bir Krishna Swami's gurukula policies. He commonly screams when he doesn't get his way, using vulgar language and frightening others with the appearance on being on the brink of losing it altogether. Suddhajiva has tried, on and off, to establish a community in Efland since 1986, and now he has resorted to the courts to push his "higher vision," as he called it, onto the uncooperative locals such as CVVS and myself. The lack of success here is in great part due to his and others' un-Vaishnava like methods of dealing with devotees. As a result of these signs, three families wanting to sell their properties, into which they had invested their life's savings and on which they now had large mortgages, found themselves facing the fact that prospective buyers received the impression of an undesirable cult enclave or religious commune. They could sell to Suddhajiva at prices far below value or deal with his harassment as best as they could. Four families complained with the county planning commissioner about the signs and their duplicitous purpose. The county reviewed the situation and ruled that the signs were against county ordinances, in spite of some forged signatures which Suddhajiva produced in support of his signs. At present, Suddhajiva and Veda Foundation are accruing fines of $100 a day since early December for illegal signs. The county will soon seek a judgement. Most of the local families participated in a housing discrimation complaint and subsequent investigation conducted by HUD of the US government. Suddhajiva discriminated against his neighbors in interfering and obstructing commerce outside of a particular religion. It is expected an imminent finding will ascertain housing discrimination and civil rights violations by Suddhajiva Prabhu, who is representing Bhakticaru Swami in obtaining land for his movie studio. Suddhajiva took out two bogus warrants on myself, one for allegedly pointing a gun at him. Suddhajiva, however, never showed up in court on that charge and it was dismissed. The other charge was for larceny, in which Udayananda claimed to have seen myself on my tractor at 1 am pulling down one of the signs. However, my tractor had been 85 miles away at another property for six months, meaning that the witness was phony. That charge was also dismissed. Suddhajiva tried to intimidate our realtors and those who did purchase some of the properties. He threatened to go to court to invalidate property sales based on his assumption the buyers were not informed of his intent that only devotees were to live in his subdivision. Coming to Efland in 1994, CVVS purchased 22 acres of landlocked woodland on the basis of Suddhajiva's verbal committment to sell a "connector" parcel to provide road access. However, Suddhajiva then took advantage of CVVS and required the purchase of additional acreage as well. His restaurant was failing and he needed money desperately. He had set aside 12 acres as "common land," and had promised each devotee who bought into the subdivision that they owned a share of it. But he now required that CVVS purchase it along with the "connector" parcel. Then, at the last moment, Suddhajiva inserted a clause in the documents stating, "Buyer will use this land for a temple for the benefit of the public." CVVS also was required to sign a letter of intent to build a school and a temple for the community. As this was a noble aim and the intent of CVVS anyway, we went ahead and paid Suddhajiva fair market value for a total of 26 acres. We tried to overlook his tricky dealings and extortion as best we could. For 4 years, while Suddhajiva Prabhu resided in Atlanta, CVVS struggled at great expense to establish a gurukula elementary school with Drista Prabhu and a gurukula high school with Garuda Prabhu. After several years the schools closed because of lack of interest from local devotees. CVVS also attempted to establish a regular morning worship program on at least three different occasions, but each time were discontinued due to lack of attendance. Radha Krishna deities were installed for worship, but plans for a permanent temple were shelved when community quarrels and lack of support persisted. Finally, CVVS decided to relocate to Prabhupada Village in Sandy Ridge, NC. We believed that there was no further hope of establishing a viable spiritual community in Efland at this time. There were simply not enough devotees and not enough who were committed to programs, a school or a temple. CVVS placed its properties on the open market. By 1999, land prices had almost doubled from 1994. Soon thereafter, Suddhajiva Prabhu invited Bhakticaru Swami to Efland for a visit and, in hopes of luring him and his filming operation to the area, offered to provide him some land at half the market values "as a donation." Next Suddhajiva filed a breach of contract lawsuit against CVVS for failing to build a temple for the benefit of the public, and demanded that CVVS sell the land at half the current market prices to Veda Foundation. Bhakticaru Swami will save $50,000 in such a deal. Thus we see another case of crooked dealings causing quarrel and dispute amongst godbrothers. Why can't we work together instead of against each other? Is this how Srila Prabhupada would want us to settle our differences? CVVS, in good faith and without Suddhajiva's assistance or participation, made a sincere and very expensive attempt to establish a school and temple in Efland for many years. Due to trickery and heavy-handed dealings, CVVS is now faced with mounting legal expenses due to wanting to move away to another location. The real issue in the Efland dispute over a supposed breach of contract is the attempt to acquire land at half price. Further, it must be noted, Bhakticaru Swami will not be building a temple for the benefit of the public, but a private film studio. CVVS corresponded with Bhakticaru Swami and requested help in mediating the dispute over land which was to benefit Bhakticaru Swami's Veda Foundation to the tune of about $50,000 in savings. We hoped that a sadhu would not support such actions and disputes undertaken on his own behalf. However, Bhakticaru Swami turned his back, saying in his last communication, "Leave me out of your disputes." There is no shortage of land in the area. Suddhajiva himself has 90 acres from which he could donate a piece to any swami of his choice. The conclusion is that these real estate shenanigans are simply cheating maneuvers. Our reward for years of sacrifice and investment in an attempted community development is to be taken to court over the supposed failure to build a temple! Obviously, a congregation needs to be cultivated first. It is all about money and cheating. CVVS was taken by Suddhajiva Prabhu in 1994. Should we let him do it again? Bhakticaru Swami and his Veda Foundation will be the benefactor. Does Bhakticaru Swami realize what Suddhajiva is doing as his front man in all these dishonest and Mafia-like harassments and extortions? Could Bhakticaru Swami please explain his position and motive in this involvement with Suddhajiva's tactics and court cases? Perhaps Maharaj is not aware of the situation and, now knowing it, would act to settle matters. After all, this is all happening on your behalf. But if he doesn't want to be involved, let us study Pontius Pilate's psychology once more... maybe I'm missing something. One message from Bhakticaru Swami to Suddhajiva Prabhu could put an end to this imbroglio which has cast a cloud of negativity and depression over many area devotees. Will the saintly spiritual leader Bhakticaru Swami please help, or continue to "wash his hands" of what will come to his own benefit? Your sad and disheartened servant, Nityananda das Comment on this Story | Contact VNN regarding this Story | Mail this story to a friend
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