© 1999 VNN
|
WORLD June 11, 1999 VNN4079 See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this story Tamal Krishna Goswami Speaks Out BY R. JAI SIMMAN MALAYSIA, Jun 11 (VNN) — With the "Poison Issue" coming to the fore after years of boiling beneath the plethora of problems facing ISKCON, it only puzzles us to note that in matters pertaining to the alleged poisoning of Srila Prabhupada, H.H. Tamal Krishna Maharaja is keeping rather silent. Many may feel that this is best attributed to his recent operation and/or his publication of TKG'S DIARY which vindicates him of the crime, which he may feel to be sufficient evidence proving his innocence. Below however is an excerpt from Maharajas talk in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998, which briefly mentions his view on the issue. We leave it to the readers to judge the nature of Maharajas involvement in this whole affair. But certain pertinent questions may be asked based on the excerpt, which the readers would do well to consider when approaching the entire issue at hand. These are indicated below the following excerpt :- EXCERPT OF TKG's TALK ON AUGUST 1998 IN KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA "Just like another wonderful statement Prabhupad was poisoned. So Prabhupad was poisoned and of course you know myself being the main - you know advocate of it. I am the main person who they say have done this. Now, you know ah.. and... and what is the grounds for poisoning , right if I..I..I.. have re.. recently come out with my diary which I hope you will get some copies and you can all read it. It is a very nice diary called I have called it TKG's diary. I figured that everybody would call it that anyway. So, make it easy for them. So it is published now you can order it. And its very clear that Prabhupad is gradually leaving his body and the only thing that is saving Prabhupad from leaving his body is the love of his disciples - right. There is no reason if someone wanted to see Prabhupad leave to administer poison because he was already leaving. Anybody who reads this diary knows that all of these so called whispers when they analyzed the whispers they don't even..they ..they incorrectly analyzed. Now it turns out some of them in Bengali say Prabhupad is just telling someone to leave the room and they thought he said you know ah.. give the poison. You know put the poison in pots or something or such nonsense things that I..I..I.. press someone ..this person talked to me the other day. Even after reading my diary he said "I still think he may have been poisoned" Questions that may be posed: Why does Maharaja stammer so badly ? This is unlike his usual self ! "Srila Prabhupad was already leaving" generally a disciple will never make such a statement. Even at an apparently critical stage, the disciple would want the guru to be always living with him. What made Maharaja think thus since Srila Prabhupada's consciousness remained perfectly clear and he initially appeared to be recovering ? "Now it turns out some of them in Bengali say Prabhupad is just telling someone to leave the room and they thought he said you know ah.. give the poison. You know put the poison in pots or something or such nonsense things that I..I..I.. press someone ." For those of us who heard the tape, it becomes clear that the statements Maharaja refers us to in the conversation were indeed made. And these were made in English. Certainly English and Bengali are so very different in sound. One would clearly be able to differentiate between the two. So, certainly it was not said in Bengali but in English we heard it crystal clear. Therefore it is not "nonsense" but fact, unless of course Maharaja claims that it is an artificially created sound or hallucination on our part. But are we all collectively hallucinating then? How that is possible we wonder. If the words are there, they are there and if they were not, then they would not be heard. All who have listened to the tape heard these words in English. How is it that Bengali has transformed into English on the tape? Therefore, we leave it up to the readers to determine the integrity of H.H. Tamal Krishna Maharaja. But whatever the truth may be, it is clear that Maharaja does have many statements to make on the poison issue. Perhaps it is time that he comes out into the open to clearly and boldly make them, if there remains no doubt in his heart that he is perfectly innocent in this regard. If TKG's Diary is sufficient, then that sufficiency or the lack of it, has been exposed by Maharaja himself who has said in the above excerpt in relation to one of the devotees that "even after reading my diary he said "I still think he may have been poisoned"". Therefore please come out into the open and tell us what your Divine Grace has to say about the 400 odd pages of evidence positively pointing to Srila Prabhupada's having been poisoned. The author's personal credibility aside, the evidences are significant and isolated from the issue of credibility. Character assassination cannot obliterate the validity of concrete evidence. Therefore, Maharaja, please come up with a point for point rebuttal of the points made in the book and kindly lay to rest the doubts in the minds of all the devotees. That will make all of us save time otherwise spent on pondering and worrying about what exactly happened. Related VNN Stories | Comment on this story | Contact VNN about this story | Send this story to a friend
|
