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VOLUME 22 CONTENTS
1. Newspaper Article - ONE HARE KRISHNA SAYS SECT BETRAYED ORIGINS 2. APPARITION OF SRILA PRABHUPADA. ======================= 1. Newspaper Article - ONE HARE KRISHNA SAYS SECT BETRAYED ORIGINS 2A ONE HARE KRISHNA SAYS SECT BETRAYED ORIGINS By STEPHEN G. LANDESMAN - Journal Staff
Stephen
Voith, a follower of Hare Krishna and a student of its founder,
pickets outside
the offices of The Ithaca Journal Monday morning in protest to a recent article in the New York Times about the Indian Saint A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
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TOMPKINS COUNTY PROFILE -----------------------------------------
ITHACA
-- Stephen Voith only sounds half mad, but spiritually and
intellectually he's obviously quite sane.
He just
talks fast and somewhat excitedly because he has a lot to
say.
“I
don’t consider myself a basket case. but I'm not quite ready
to go to work,” said Voith, who’s been living on a Social
Security disability allowance because of post-traumatic stress
induced by blowing the whistle on members of the Hare Krishna
movement.
Voith, who himself became a Hare Krishna at 22 after a
comfortable, Roman Catholic upbringipg in Bethesda, Md., is a
familiar sight in downtown Ithaca. You’re likely to see him
walking down The Commons, head shaved except for the slender,
telltale wisp of a Sikha, or ponytail, ringing a set of hand
cymbals and chanting.
“People have been very supportive here,” said Voith, who on
Monday wasn’t ringing cymbals but carrying an enormous placard
accusing The New York Times of defaming A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Prabhupada, the Indian guru who transplanted the movement to
the United States in 1966.
In
the ‘60s, Hare Krishna followers exemplified young Americans’
enchantment with Eastern religions and were frequently found
with shaved heads and saffron robes selling literature. But
the precepts taught by Prabhupada were more austere than the
often derided public image of Hare Krishna. It also encouraged
a simple lifestyle based upon cultivation that was dependent
on oxen instead of tractors.
Since Prabhupada’s death in 1977 - some say through foul play
- things have not gone well with Hare Krishna’s followers.
At
the movement’s peak in the 1970s, about 10,000 adherents lived
in American ashrams, or tightly-knit spiritual communities,
but many more lived and worked in the secular world, including
Voith.
“I
had been a mendicant, but renounced the order,’ said Voith,
whose Sanskrit name is Sanatana Goswami dasa. “People would
always say to me, 'Why don't you get a job,’ so in 1988 I did.
I opened a gallery.”
He
also went to Calcutta, where he and his then-wife adopted two
Indian children.
Then, in 1990 his marriage began to fall apart. Voith moved to
Gita-Nagari, a 350- acre farm near Port Royal, Pa. run by the
International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKON). That’s
where his current problems began.
Shortly after arriving at Gita- Nagari, Voith claims he began
to discover evidence of corruption in ISKON’s hierarchy by
false gurus, all of whom claimed to be legitimate heirs of the
founder.
Voith says he found instances of animal abuse in the
adopt-a-cow program. “They had the financial support of
outside donors to rescue and raise cows and oxen, but some
died of malnutrition, and one even fell through the floor of a
rickety barn,” said Voith.
Voith also says he began to hear of instances of child abuse.
“The
followers were overwhelmed with family and financial
problems,” said Voith. “Kids were molested or neglected.
Education and economics were put on a back burner so people
could 'preach'.”
In
1992, Voith self-published a 200-page spiral-bound book
accusing the farm of corrupt practices and began circulating
it. His accusations came at a time when nationally the sect
itself began discovering wide- spread instances of pedophilia
and child abuse, occurrences cited as recently as last week in
a New York Times article.
“But
The Times listened to the same people at ISKON who had created
the problem,” said Voith, “and they connected it to the
founder Prabhupada, who was completely innocent.”
Voith’s booklet and his subsequent verbal attacks caused an
outcry at Gita-Nagari.
“I
was accused of blasphemy and excommunicated,” he said, “and my
life was threatened.”
Since moving here, Voith and his second wife have struggled,
raising her children from a former marriage and their own
child on a slender SSI allowance. Voith continues to observe
Krishna holidays, and “educate the public about the glories of
Vedic agrarian self- sufficiency via cow protection.”
“I’m
even preparing a letter to Mayor Cohen delineating a workable
emergency program for the people of Ithaca and Tompkins County
in the event of a Year 2000 disruption,” said Voith.
Tompkins County Profile is a weekly feature highlighting a
personality in and all around Tompkins County. To suggest a
subject, call Stephen Landesman at 274-9248.
COPY OF
THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE
AS FOUND
IN ITHACA JOURNAL
Tuesday,
October 20,1998
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2.
APPARITION OF SRILA PRABHUPADA.
Taken
from the above picture of Sanat dasa prabhu protesting outside
Ithaca Journal. Srila
Prabhupada can be clearly seen (side on) facing the placard. It
is alot clearer to view on the original newspaper article, but
is still visible to those with a little love for Srila
Prabhupada. For the doubting souls please consider the following
quote (Mukunda dasa.)
The
Spiritual Master is present wherever his sincere disciple is
trying to serve his instructions. This is possible by the
Mercy of Krsna. In
your attempts to serve me and in all your sincere devotional
sentiments I am with you as My Guru Maharaja is with me.
Remember this always.
I hope
this meets you well.
Your
ever well-wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
(S.P.Letter
to: Bhakta Don 1st December, 1973)
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