Sulacan Prabhu was murdered and killed by sect leaders of ISKCON for exposing their Guru Business
July 4th is Sulochana’s Appearance Day
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The Saga of Sulochan, Part 1
By Hrishikesh dasa (Henry Doktorski)
—One chapter from my forthcoming book—
Gold, Guns and God: A History of the Hare Krishnas in West Virginia
Preface by the Author
Dearest Vaishnavas, as some of you may know, I have been working on a history of the New Vrindaban Community for the last six years. In January 2007 I submitted an article to the Sampradaya Sun: “Sulochan’s Murder: For the Record, Part One,” and promised at that time to continue the installments. It has taken me a year and a half to fulfill that promise. Much has happened in the interim which has made this possible. Most helpful was the opportunity to search through the public records: newspaper clippings, volumes of trial transcripts numbering over two thousand pages, and other sources such as hundreds of pages from Sulochan’s voluminous writings. After poring through this considerable material, I believe I can now present the results of my research for the scrutiny of members of the devotee community who might be interested in this chapter of New Vrindaban history.
I believe the story of Sulochan’s murder is very important because Sulochan, in retrospect, turned out to be an extremely important figure in the history of the community. In my opinion, he—by his life and death—affected the community more profoundly than nearly anyone else, with the obvious exceptions of such powerful personalities as Srila Prabhupada, Hayagriva and Kirtanananda Swami, and maybe a few others.
These particular chapters were extremely difficult to write, because it was nearly impossible to get completely accurate and unbiased information. While reading through the materials, I discovered that everyone involved had a different slant, a different perspective. It was like the tale of the six blind men and the elephant. The story was so complex that it seemed that no one person could comprehend it in its entirety. And if such persons existed, they were not willing to talk about it.
In addition, another almost insurmountable obstacle I encountered as a researcher was that many of the eyewitness reports were not completely truthful; one devotee’s story contradicted another’s story. This happened frequently, and was especially obvious when reading the trial transcripts. Everyone—and I mean practically everyone—who testified under oath tried to minimize their involvement in any illegal activities. They tried to present themselves in the best possible light. Some appeared desperate to save their own skins. Truth, quite frankly, went right out the window. It was all partial truth, or distorted truth.
I suppose that is just human nature. Any judge in a court of law understands this and sees it all the time. It is very difficult to get anyone to speak the truth, to admit their own guilt, to confess their involvement in criminal activities. They are afraid of punishment. The prosecuting attorney had to practically trick the witnesses into revealing the truth, or somehow try to drag it out of them. Naturally those involved in the plot were worried about potential prison terms and even the death penalty, and did their damned best to make themselves look as good as possible. Sometimes a witness might point the finger of blame at others, and sometimes, as in Tirtha’s case, a witness might attempt to protect others.
I confess I do not know the complete truth about the murder of Sulochan. I was not there. I was not involved. I don’t remember ever meeting or even seeing Sulochan during his years of sporadic service at New Vrindaban. At that time I was always out on the pick, and when I returned for three days each month, I mostly only hung out with my sankirtan brahmachari buddies at Bhaktipada’s house. I did not associate with many of the other NV residents, especially householders or those who might have been less strict about attending the temple functions or following the regulative principles.
Some NV residents called me a “Bliss Boy,” a term which could be used positively with affection or negatively in a mocking spirit, depending on the speaker’s point of view. During those days I just liked to chant, dance and take prasadam. I was for the most part blissfully ignorant of the great dramas at New Vrindaban. I was happy in my service to guru and Krishna. I don’t even remember the morning Sulochan’s death was announced during the japa period before mangal aroti; I was out on the pick. But this ignorance was a good thing. If I had been involved in the plot I most certainly would not be writing about it today. Because I have nothing to hide, I can investigate and report about these things without fear. Krishna protected me then, and I trust he will continue to protect me today.
Regardless of the great difficulties in getting the facts straight amid the conflicting eyewitness reports, we can nonetheless get a very good sense of what happened by hearing the testimony and remembrances of those who were involved. The details about certain events may not be entirely accurate, and there are conflicting stories, as you will discover in the following installments, but I believe we can still put together a fairly complete story which most probably gets as close as we can get to the actual series of events which led to Sulochan’s murder.
Times have changed. Twenty years ago at New Vrindaban, Sulochan was considered a demon. Today, he is considered by some to be a martyr. One thing I can say for sure, he was no saint. In some respects, he might be regarded as a madman. But the same could be said for Kirtanananda Swami. Certainly those two great personalities had some nasty karma between them to work out. They could have been brothers—or mortal enemies—in a previous life.
Whatever Sulochan’s sins, and he had many, Krishna used him as an instrument to uncover many of Kirtanananda’s secret sins, and after he had followed through on his mission against Kirtanananda as far as he could, he was murdered. Of course Krishna could have protected him, but Sulochan appeared to be part of Krishna’s master plan to purify New Vrindaban and begin the long process of ridding the community of serious anomalies. Sulochan’s death was not for naught; for it blew the lid off the pot, so to speak, and heralded the onslaught of Kirtanananda’s eventual destruction. The saga of Sulochan has drama and excitement and political intrigue and espionage and death threats and a manhunt to the bitter end. And it begins with a failed romance and spousal rejection, which generated a hatred which grew into an all-consuming fire which devoured Sulochan from within. He became obsessed with Kirtanananda. “How can I find more about Kirtanananda’s immoral and criminal activities? How can I destroy Kirtanananda?”
The saga of Sulochan reminds me a little of the battle between the sons of Pandu and the sons of Dhrtarastra. Advanced devotees like Bhisma and Drona were forced by fate to fight against Krishna and the Pandavas at Kuruksetre. Similarly, at New Vrindaban, some other—perhaps not so advanced—devotees were bewildered also into fighting for the wrong side, the side of Kirtanananda and the ISKCON zonal acharya system. Their eyes were covered by illusion and they saw (1) a great self-realized pure devotee uttama-adhikari saint where there stood only a pretender-guru [1] with an immense gift of charisma, and (2) a dangerous and blasphemous demon where there stood only a loud-mouth disgruntled devotee who had stumbled upon some well-kept secrets. Yes, Sulochan might have been foolish for advocating violence in his letters and words, but ultimately he did not have the qualities of a ksatriya, such as physical strength, fighting prowess, heroism in the face of death, or determination to kill. He only carried a gun for his own protection, probably as a bluff. I think the danger he posed to Kirtanananda was not through any threatened physical violence, but through his sharp-edged words which cut deep into his adversary’s heart.
After over a year of mostly frustrated attempts, Sulochan gave up his impossible dream to dethrone his arch nemesis. He was no longer a threat to Kirtanananda and the other ISKCON gurus; he had given up his quest and found another woman with whom he wanted to marry and settle down. It was then he was ironically murdered. But in death Sulochan was able to do what he could not do in life: bring down the mighty Kirtanananda. The subsequent prolonged legal battles drained the seemingly all-powerful guru of men and money, the criminal allegations facilitated his speedy expulsion from ISKCON, and then seven years later his house of cards was smashed completely when the last straw was added to the already-heaping haystack of alleged sexual molestations of boys and young men: the Winnebago Incident of September 1993, which split the community in half and soon after effectively ended his 26-year reign as the sole uncontested authority and “King” of New Vrindaban.
Some well-meaning friends have admonished me: “Why are you writing about stool instead of nectar?” I humbly respond that I am not writing a book of flowery praises. I am writing a book of history. The history of New Vrindaban is not simply one-sided; it is many-sided, and my book will also be many-sided. The nectar is there, but so is the stool. Look at the Vedic histories: they are not simply about the nectarean loving pastimes of Krishna and his devotees. They also tell many stories of deceit and treachery and murder and fallen devotees. The Vedic histories teaches us by positive and also by negative examples. I hope to do the same in my telling of the tale of New Vrindaban.
If anyone wishes to add their own two cents to this monumental literary project, there is still some months before the book finally appears in print. Until that time you may reach me at henrydoktorski at g mail dot com. And if you wish to assist by providing much-needed funding for production work, I will not refuse your generosity.
Yours in the Service of the Truth,
Hrishikesh dasa (Henry Doktorski)
September 2008
Read complete article here:
http://www.iskcon-truth.com/sulocana/saga_of_sulocana_1.html
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