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EDITORIAL February 8, 2000 VNN5432 Comment on this story Reply To Bhaktitirtha Swami BY MAHAVEGAVATI DASI EDITORIAL, Feb 8 (VNN) — Hare Krsna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. PAMFO Seeing Bhaktitirtha Swami's reply (VNN story # 5411) to the first part of my submission concerning my experiences while serving under him and the "aftermath," I would like to address Bhaktirtha Swami's letter to VNN. BT Swami says, "This girl has been trying for years in different ways to get my attention." Yes, as explained in my own submission, for years I DID try to "get BTS's attention." I did this as I felt that at some point BTS would become mature enough to be able to honestly address the issues. (I was wrong.)If one reads the Saksi Gopal story in CC Madhya lila, they will understand that the Vaisnava way of dealing with such issues is that one first TRIES to approach the other Vaisnava. In this story we see what the younger brahmana did. He first approached the older brahmana, (who actually WANTED to keep his promise, but due to the pressures of his family, felt unable to do so). I also did this: I had JUST come back to the US from Africa. I was LITERALLY out on the street, and I TRIED to speak to Bhaktitirtha Swami, the person who had PURPOSELY LEFT me in such a situation, (as was explained in my part one submission), but he would NOT honestly discuss the issues. What did the younger brahmana do after he was not successful in his first endeavor? He took his issue to the townspeople and explained to them the details of what had happened. That is what I did. Because BTS would NOT speak to me about the situation which he had CREATED, I was FORCED to TRY to address it in another way. I went to different devotees to ask them what they thought that I should do. I was also TRYING to get into a temple so that I could continue on serving Srila Prabhupada as that was the reason why I had come to ISKCON in the first place. When I spoke to Bhakti Marg Swami, he told me about a GBC Justice Committee, explained what it was, and suggested that I contact the Justice Committee. (Being in Africa as long as I had, with NO outside contact, I had NO idea what was going on in ISKCON. I had never heard of a Justice Committee. (I never even knew of any of the Guru falldowns at that particular point in time.) Under Bhakti Marg Swami's advice, I then wrote letters to the Justice Committee members, when Virabahu prabhu and Ganapati Maharaj, (and one devotee whose name I cannot remember), were in charge. I explained what happened and asked that they address the issue, but I got NO answer to any of my letters. For years I would still periodically try to approach BTS thinking that MAYBE he might have matured enough to be able to talk about things, as was explained above. (I always give a person credit that they CAN change, but as of yet, BTS STILL has NOT.) BTS goes on to say, "My concern now is whether or not to give some kind of validity by addressing the issue or just see it to be so ridiculous that I do not give it even a moments of attention." >From BTS's own statement, he has ALWAYS felt it "to be so rediculous" that he would "not give it even a moments of attention." BTS's just proves that despite his "lovetalk" he is just like so many of the other leaders who are NOT honest in their dealings with devotees. (Please understand I am NOT including all of the ISKCON leaders in this statement; I am simply speaking about the leaders who fit into this particular catagory.) BT Swami would NEVER properly address the facts ONLY because he did NOT want to. He did not want to be honest about the fact that he had committed such atrocities. The "loveman" of ISKCON can talk about OTHER leaders "owning up" to their wrongs, but he himself will NOT be honest about HIS wrongs, injustices, and mistreatment of devotees. BTS can speak all the "love" he wants - and BTS IS a GOOD, SMOOTH talker - but he has NOT come to the level of putting into practice the words and teachings that he speaks. ALL of these years, BTS would NOT give "even a moments of attention" to the fact that he had committed such atrocities and would do NOTHING to rectify them, BECAUSE HE DID NOT WANT TO DEAL HONESTLY WITH HIS SHORTCOMINGS, (and I am being GENEROUS with that word). The ONLY attempt at APPEARING to address the matters was in July 1998 when a meeting was held, but BTS would NOT speak honestly, EVEN in the presence of the DEITIES. Even at that meeting, because the format which was given by Sesa was NOT followed, not all of the issues were discussed; as a matter of fact, VERY FEW issues got discussed. I also became disgusted seeing Bhaktitirtha Swami's LYING in the presence of the Deities, (eighteen Silas), and his playing of his usual POLITICS - plus Malati's innimicality throughout the meeting - that I figured there was NO point in trying to further address any of the issues. As BT Swami was ALREADY LYING to EVERY point brought up, I saw NO POINT to my saying anything else which would cause him to commit any MORE offenses in the presence of the Deities by his lies. The meeting also had to end since BTS said that he had already arranged a meeting with his disciples and that they were waiting for him. "But as there is an all time distrust in leadership it is obviously important that all leaders are above suspicion." WHY is there an "all time distrust" in the leadership? Maybe it is because so many of the GBC leaders are EXACTLY like you: LIARS and CHEATER. So many of them are duplicitious and will NOT act like PROPER Vaisnava leaders. You are ALSO included in this catagory. (Again, I am NOT saying this about all of the GBC leaders, but many of them.) You speak sweet words, but ONLY for your own self-aggrandizement and political purposes. (The difference between you and some of the other ISKCON leaders, is that you are BETTER at it than many of them are. You have CERTAINLY had A LOT of training in college; You took Psychology, Political Science, Parapsychology, Occultism, Sociology as well as other courses in Princeston University. You have also preached on television since you were seven years old. You were also the "Spiritual Advisor" in the Pentagon, (at least YOU told me that). So with all of the training and experience you have, you ARE very expert at knowing what to say to people and when to say it to influence and manipulate them. "But as there is an all time distrust in leadership it is obviously important that all leaders are above suspicion." What do YOU mean by this statement: "it is obviously important that all leaders are above suspicion." Do you mean that they should be PROPER Vaisnavas, and thus no one CAN ligitimately call them out? Or do you mean that they should do are they are NOW doing?: TRYING to COVER UP all of their atrocities and other nonsense. It is a FACT: Leaders should live and act in such a way that they ARE above suspicion. THAT is the proper behavior of a Vaisnava. (CC Antya 4.102, 103) Leaders should be PURE in their speech AND actions. "In this case to be above suspicion last year she was brought before a judicial board arranged by Sesa. That time she made some apologies and agreed to stop such craziness, but of course she has gotten many times worse." I "was brought?" I thought it was me all along who has been requesting that the Justice Committee "arrange a meeting with IMpartial SENIOR Prabhupada disciples present to hear the issues and to render a decision." Although some "form" of meeting was arranged, it was NOT arranged as I had asked, before IMpartial senior Prabhupada disciples, NOR was the meeting conducted according to the format that Sesa himself had sent. NOR were all of the issues discussed. Seeing how you would NOT allow an honest address of the issues - You always interrupted me whenever I TRIED to bring up a particular point - seeing how DUPLICITOUS you were, the psychological manipulations you were using during the meeting, and the FACT that you were STILL NOT ON THE LEVEL of being honest and/or mature enough to deal straightforwardly and honestly with the issues, I TOOK the HUMBLE Vaisnava position. With your last political tactic, (your screaming at me, "You're suffering due to your offenses to those Deities."), used to DIVERT attention from the REAL issues at hand, I offered my obeisances to you, (feeling compassion for you in that you were STILL so covered in your false ego). You were so INTENT on DEFENDING yourself, (going that far as to lie in the presence of the Deities), that you would NOT even follow the format Sesa HIMSELF had sent for how that meeting was to be conducted. Thus I simply offered my obeisances to you and apologised for the inconvenience that I may have caused you in trying to address these matters in an honest way. (Obviously it was an "inconvenience" for you, because a dishonest person is NOT able to face his discrepencies honestly.) "Previously it was that I owed her $2,000. Now it has turned into a large sum of money and also spiritual deviation. I have never even one day missed my 16 rounds what to say of other discrepancies and surely would never steal laxmi from a woman." Sadly, Bhaktitirtha Maharaj, you are STILL the sweet-talking liar that you have been for so long. You KNOW you STOLE A LOT more than $2000 from me. I even presented a list of the laksmi that you had stolen to the committee members, (and I did not include all of the laksmi taken as that list was written out so hastily, but you KNOW, it included A LOT more than $2000). You also know what happened in Nigeria in 1990 with regard to your difficulty in your sannyas. As for your chanting "16 rounds," I have never never brought that up. Let's hope that as a leader you ARE chanting sixteen or more rounds a day. BTS goes on to say, "One of the problems was that I gave her so much care as I tried to do with any devotee who works with me." BTS is a LIAR. He NEVER "gave so much care," (or ANY "care" for that matter). BTS sent me ALONE to Africa. I paid for EVERYTHING with regard to my service there. I also paid for his airfare and that of Umapati Swami. Devotees will see the "care" BTS gave, when they see the other parts of this submission if an when VNN decides to put them up. (Thus, there is no need to repeat it all here.) "Once she came back to America, perhaps due to constant offences to her dozens of saligramas, she became more and more disturbed with me and practically everyone else. But as Srila Prabhupada says in vedic scripture the sign of a good leader is that people are happy and feel protected. Since she is neither happy and perhaps unprotected then surely I feel sorry for her present position and of course sorry for the ongoing offences that she has become entangled in." I "became more and more disturbed" with Bhaktitirtha Swami due to his lies to devotees about me. I was also disturbed that after TEN years of selfless service to such a person, due to his OWN spiritual difficulties, his OWN paranoia, and his desire to keep everything covered up, (as BT Swami was OBVIOUSLY very concerned that I might tell other devotees), I was left in a most awkward position for a devotee who had been rendering so many years of service to our Guru Maharaj in Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON. As far as offenses to my Silas, WHY, when BTS KNEW that I had many Silas under my care, did he do things in such a way that THEY became SO MUCH inconvenienced? OBVIOUSLY BTS does NOT realize Krsna's presence in His Deity form. Otherwise, WHY would BTS do as he did, KNOWING that my Silas would be so inconvenienced? WHY, if BTS understands Krsna's presence as the Deity would he LIE while in the presence of the Deities? Sadly, Bhaktitirtha Swami has joined the ranks with other ISKCON leaders who can and will NOT deal honestly with devotees. His expert sweet-talking may convince so many devotees of his lies, but he will NEVER be able to convince the SWEETEST of talkers, Lord Sri Krsna. SATYAM EVA JAYATE I remain your fallen servant, Mahavegavati Dasi Hare Krsna About the Author  Other Stories by this AuthorComment on this story Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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