© 1999 VNN
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USA May 30, 1999 VNN3985 Comment on this story Hare Krsna "Saved" By Born Again Christians BY MAHAVEGAVATI DASI USA, May 30 (VNN) — Hare Krsna. AGT HDG Srila Prabhupada, and AGT the assembled vaisnavas. PAMFO How unusual it is for a "Hare Krsna" devotee, (or in my particular case, aspiring to become a devotee), to be "saved" by, not one, but THREE Born Again Christians. Yes, it's true; this is no lie. I was "saved", yes "SAVED", Lawdy Lawdy Lawdy, by three "Born Again" Christians. It all started in July 98, when I was relocating from New Vrndavan back to Buffalo, NY. Her Grace Malati Devi Dasi insisted I should give up my endeavor and instead move to Columbus's "ISKCON Krsna House", to which I finally agreed. I had already lived in Buffalo for seven years through NO intended choice of my own, almost as if I had been shot like Maricha by Lord Ramacandra's arrow and landed wherever it was I landed. Prior to Buffalo, I had served under Bhaktitirtha Swami for ten years. BTS had sent me to Africa by myself to render service there under his instruction. Prior to that, I was rendering service in various temples in the USA. (I have been an aspiring devotee since 1967.) In 1990, because of my being aware of Bhaktitirtha Swami's having some difficulty in his sannyas vows, BTS left me stranded in Nigeria with a visa problem, one in which I could have been taken to jail and never heard from again, (which would have been very convenient for him). I was the only witness to the events because the other devotee who knew what happened was later killed while in Liberia. (Just a side note: In 1984 BTS had taken ALL of my personal laksmi and later my passport. He then left me illegally in Kenya where I was forced to hide out from the immigration authorities to protect myself. I first hid in the woods and then in the Muslim slums near Digo Street in Mombassa. Krsna finally intervened and saved me from that difficulty.) By Srila Prabhupada's and Krsna's mercy, I was able to bribe my way out of Nigeria and I made it back to USA where, through no choice of my own, I landed up in Buffalo, with no family or friends to support me. (I was forced to make the choice to give them up when I became a devotee.) I went to the Toronto temple and became engaged in Deity worship, cooking cleaning, etc., but my body was just too shot to maintain these services, especially the sweeping and moping. Thus I was forced by the physical pain in the body to have to leave and go back to Buffalo, the nearest city in the USA. Before I go on here, let me explain a few things: I am a devotee from the "old school" I don't know what is the system now, but when Srila Prabhupada was on the planet, we as devotees living in a temple were not supposed to do anything independently. A devotee who made decisions independent of the temple president or the GBC, was the exception. I was trained to accept instruction from my temple president, and in a rare case, my GBC. Thus, since I was serving directly under BT Swami who was my GBC, and to whom I was directly responsible, after ten years of service rendered under his jurisdiction, it was his duty to place me under the jurisdiction of another GBC. Originally he approved of my going to serve in India under Radhanath Swami, (and Radhanath Maharaj was expecting me to come to Pune), but then BTS told me he did not want me to go, and he refused to allow me to get a visa to India. Because of the situation, (my serving under BTS for 10 years whose duty it was to arrange a service for me with a GBC to serve under, but he did not do so), it APPEARED as if I was acting independently. It also APPEARED as if I had done something "wrong". (Why else would a GBC "reject" a devotee who had served under their jurisdiction for ten years? And that is what BTS made it appear to look like, especially with various lies that he told to other devotees about me to discredit my character.) While in Buffalo, despite my many attempts in writing many letters and telephoning, I was not able to find any temple president who would let me come to live in an ISKCON temple and render service. This was due to my being physically crippled, which incidentally, resulted from my having accepted and followed some very abusive and physically detrimental instructions from certain ISKCON authorities under whom I served. I was also faced with the reactions arising from BTS's character assassination of me which came from his paranoia that I would tell devotees of his deviations. (To be honest, I would have never have told anyone of anything as I felt that BTS's difficulty was between him, his guru and Krsna, but being forced into the suffering position that I was thrown into and trying DESPARATELY to get back into an ISKCON temple - Ramananda Raya in CC Mad 8 248 says, "Apart from separation from the devotees of Krsna, I know of no unbearable unhappiness" - plus my answering with the truth when devotees asked me why it was I had blooped, or they confronted me with the lies that BTS told them about me, I told devotees the truth of what really happened. There I was in Buffalo NY, a serious devotee, with no marketable skills after so many years in the movement, and I would not compromise in my being a devotee. (I wore my Vaisnava dress with tilok etc.), plus I was physically crippled. Thus I couldn't even get a decent job and had to settle for ones that paid me way below minimum wage. After many years of chanting, crying out and praying to Srila Prabhupada and Krsna that somehow They arrange for me to be able to serve Them in the association of devotees, They finally brought me back to New Vrndavan. (I had NO idea what was going on in ISKCON since I had been in Africa for so many years by myself, and BTS MADE SURE that I was NEVER made aware of anything, including his not giving me ANY of the letters or packages sent to me by devotee friends. I found that out later when various devotees asked me if I had received various letters or items given by them to BTS to give to me. I will use BTS from now on to refer to Bhaktitirtha Swami.) In June of 1997, I was invited to come to New Vrndavan where I was asked to do a particular service; preaching to people on the computer. I was told that I would be trained in how to use a computer since I was computer illiterate. Having served in Africa for so many years, I did not really know anything about those intimidating boxes. I agreed to the service. I was also asked if I would donate some of my SSI check to the temple every month and I agreed to that. (By this time, I was given a temporary grant for SSI benefits, to be reviewed whenever the government wanted to review my case.) I told Teresa prabhu, the NV board member who had called me asking me to come down to NV, that I was up for a review and that the government could decide not to continue to give me SSI. When I asked, "If I lose my SSI will you ask me to leave if I don't have the laksmi to donate anymore?" she told me, "No. Don't worry about that. We want you to come here and stay." When I got to NV, the only part of the agreement that was followed was that I was to donate some of my SSI check. I was also told by the TP, when I was to go for the review, that if the government cut me off, I would have to leave NV. Due to all of the circumstances involved, including my not being able to drive into town or get a regular ride there to get bhoga - I was told that I was "not allowed" to take prasadam from the temple since I was "not a 'temple devotee'" despite my service and donations - I decided to leave NV, and went to Buffalo and put a down payment on a place. While en route back to NV to get my belongings to go back to Buffalo, Her Grace Malati prabhu asked me to come to Columbus instead. I told her I didn't think it was a good idea because of the strain which existed between us over the BTS issue, but she insisted that I should at least give it a try. She said that she wanted me to travel and take on the preaching engagements which she was being asked to do. She also asked me to assist the temple financially with some of my SSI benefits. Although I kept telling her I did not think it was a good idea because of the strain that we had already experienced, I finally agreed to it, thinking that maybe this was Srila Prabhupada's and Krsna's arrangement to iron out the kinks. Thus, I collected my possessions from NV and moved instead to Columbus. As time went on, it proved I had acted against my better judgement. Although I did contribute some of my SSI benefits to the temple, (as well as my paying rent to live there), I never did get to do much travelling and preaching as was explained to me originally. Sadly, neither was there any improvement in the relationship; rather, with time, things got worse. I was regularly getting confronted and verbally attacked about my having spoken with devotees in the past concerning my situation with BTS. I was also being falsely accused of saying things which I had NOT said. When I would be confronted with, "____ said that you said '.....'" I would ask Malati and/or Yamuna, (the second in command who, either with Malati, or sent by Malati, or on her own), to bring the person - when the person was present - so that we could find out who really said what, since I had NOT said what they were accusing me of having said. In ALL of these circumstances, THEY BOTH REFUSED to bring in the persons whose names they were quoting. Thus, knowing that I had NOT said what I was being accused of having said, it was difficult to know if 1) Possibly the person whose name was mentioned, had honestly not heard me correctly, and thus misquoted me to Malati and/or Yamuna, or 2) They had heard the person(s) improperly, or 3) Someone out of visciousness, was lying - either the person, or Malati and/or Yamuna. (It was difficult to know, because some of the devotees' names quoted, were not honest people, and Malati, and Yamuna, towards the end, had PROVED themselves to also NOT be honest in many ways.) Things really got out of control when I returned from having gone to see a chiropracter in NYC, and my later going to meet Srila Narayan Maharaj for the first time. Although I informed Malati that I planned to go at some point to see Narayan Maharaj and make my own judgement, (since she and Yamuna kept saying such negative things about him), when she and Yamuna found out that I had gone, things really went crazy. (Jotisthoma, who had taken initiation from Srila Narayan Maharaj - but who plays whatever side of the fence is advantageous to her at that point in time - told Malati and Yamuna that I had "deviated" from ISKCON's rule, and had indeed gone to see Srila Narayan Maharaj.) >From there, things went CRAZY. Yamuna was the main attacker, quoting various names of devotees from Narayan Maharaja's sanga that I KNOW she NEVER talked to, but used their names to accuse me falsely. (I was shocked by it all.) Even the devotees who were present in Columbus, whose names she quoted with lies about me, I kept asking her to bring those devotees in, that we should see who really said what. Yamuna refused, and instead continued in her attacks, both directly and otherwise. Malati also screamed at me. It was totally INSANE, and to be honest, very frightening to see this in devotees. I was already very much desireous of leaving, and Malati KNEW that I had planned to leave by the end of May at the latest. (I had submitted a letter to her in April telling her so. Thus Yamuna also knew since Malati discussed everything with her.) I can only attribute all of this to Krsna, because it was just THAT insane, that there could be NO other reason. >From April 28th on, I was living in a nightmare. One of the other matajis in the ashram was shocked by it all, whereas another one just left. (Most of the women in Columbus are so afraid of Malati, that even if they completely disagree with what she is doing, they will not question or contest it, even the chanting in English.) I came to the temple only for Srila Prabhupada's Gurupuja. Then I would worship my Silas and the temple Govardhana Sila, and then I would leave. Even the atmosphere was SO insane, that I would not even sleep in my room, but instead stayed on a bench at night and just chanted. (It was THAT intense.) In the meantime, I had been calling my good Born Again Christian friend from Buffalo, who I had known for many years. (I certainly needed someone to talk to, and sadly, most devotees do not want to hear - or as one may say, "get involved" - such issues. Even when I called one devotee who I thought was a friend, as I was in such shock after Yamuna and/or Malati had STOLEN my two Govardhan Silas, this devotee simply screamed at me that she DID NOT WANT TO HEAR IT.) Yes, the final culmination was that I went to the temple on May 5th to offer puja as normal. Two of my Silas, (one Who I had been worshipping since the 70s), were gone, as was Their paraphernalia. It was done simply out of visciousness as even the temple Govardhan was not being worshipped every day until I had come and taken over His worship. (Usually He was worshipped, but on some days, when Malati or Dolayatra was supposed to offer His puja, it didn't get done, and I would do it later when I realized that they had neglected it. I finally offered to do His puja along with that of my Silas, and this was agreed to by the three devotees in authority, Malati, Yamuna and Dolayatra. When I found my Silas stolen, I was shocked that these devotees would go THAT far. I was in a blank stupor. In that shock, I called a few devotees I knew, (including my "friend" who screamed at me. Sadly, so many devotees are that blind that they will support ISKCON leaders NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO.) I then called my Born Again Christian friend and told her that two of my Silas were stolen. (My friend is married to an Indian man who was born in a brahmin family, but who has since given up his culture, so she knows what Deities are, but see them as being "idols".) Although she has no faith in, or understanding of Deities in human form - what to speak of Krsna in His Sila expansion - but knowing from previous conversations with me in Buffalo about the importance of the Deities the Vaisnavas see, she KNEW that THIS was a REALLY BAD thing for a devotee to do. We hung up the phone with both of us agreeing that I had to get out of there immediately; BUT HOW TO DO IT? (Several devotees, after we had agreed to the payment, had already promised to assist me with driving a U-Haul to get me out of Columbus, but so far, nothing had come about.) A half hour later, I picked up the telephone to make a call, and my friend was on the phone. "Are you alright? I said "Yes." My friend, a bit freaked out, explained that she had tried to call me but that the person who picked up the phone, (Dolayatra), had grilled her, "Why do you want to speak to her? What is your business with her? What is your relationship with her?" - the "her", meaning me - "Who are you?" My friend then asked, "WHAT is GOING ON there? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" I tried to make light of it, and answered, "Oh, this is just the local Gestapo." (Somehow, Dolayatra never even bothered to tell me there was a phone call for me; my friend just stayed on the phone waiting, and Krsna arranged for me to pick it up to make a call.) My friend called to tell me, "We're coming to get you." (Boy, did Krsna ever work fast on this one. Here I had been waiting for weeks, even months, for one of the devotees who had promised to drive a U Haul for me to finally tell me that they were coming, and no on was doing it. Finally in this hour of desparation, I turned to Krsna, "This is totally insane; when are you going to get me OUT of HERE?" And He answered me, practically immediately.) My friend told me that I would be "rescued" by her and two of her "Born Again" Christian friends. I laughed, (mostly out of relief), and joked, "Just see, the "Born Again Christians" are coming to save a "Hare Krsna". You have been trying so long to do this, and now you can finally say that you have "saved" a Hare Krsna. It was May 5th that she told me, and they were coming on May 9th. I started my countdown, calling her every day to make sure that they were still coming. (She also insisted I call her to "check in" so that she would know that I was still alright.) When May 9th came, I was waiting. Finally my Fairy Godmother came to the door and the four of us old ladies, along with Divya Bhakti prabhu - who I called at the last minute - loaded up the U Haul. I then went into the temple, paid my obeisances to Radha-Natabara, and we drove away, my praising the Good ole Lawd Krsna for having taken me away. Amen and Hare Krsna!!! ALL GLORIES TO SRILA PRABHUPADA! Comment on this story | Contact VNN about this story | Send this story to a friend
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