Sulocana's Murder - For the Record


BY: HRISHIKESH DASA


Jan 3, PENNSYLVANIA, USA (SUN) [Revised]— Although I had originally intended the following information to be revealed only after my book " New Vrindaban: The Black Sheep of ISKCON" is published, I think--considering the current circumstances with new information being admitted by eyewitnesses practically daily to the Sampradaya Sun--interested Vaishnavas may appreciate reading the parts of my book dealing with Sulochan's murder in installments. To the best of my knowledge, the information below is not conjecture, but documented fact, and may shed some light on what actually transpired in New Vrindaban in the 1980s. Materials in quotation marks are actual quotations from published or unpublished writings or interviews, and reflect the opinions (accurate or inaccurate) of the individuals quoted.

Sincerely Your Servant,

Hrishikesh dasa (Henry Doktorski)

Excerpt from New Vrindaban: The Black Sheep of ISKCON

by Henry Doktorski (Hrishikesh dasa) Copyright 2002-2007 by Henry Doktorski

Chapter 24: Trials and Tribulations


"Although Bhaktipada and the New Vrindaban Community had faced trials and tribulations since the community’s inception in 1968, nothing (with the exception perhaps of the gang attack and shooting on June 5, 1973) had remotely approached the magnitude of the difficulties which beset the community in the mid-1980s and early-1990s."

Glory days of New Vrindaban: seven-year wave of good fortune.


As described in Part One, the community had been riding a seven-year wave of good fortune since the opening of Prabhupada’s Palace in September 1979. In 1981, based on the number of bus tours, Prabhupada’s Palace was rated the fifth most popular tourist attraction in West Virginia. In 1982 it jumped to third, superseded only by the Wheeling Jamboree country music festival and the Ramada Inn in South Charleston. During the 1982 Labor Day festival, so many tourists came that the community hired two local policemen to direct traffic in front of the Palace. One year, some 500,000 tourists reportedly visited the Palace. (1)


Many ISKCON devotees, excited by the temple building projects and preaching opportunities, moved to New Vrindaban, until the population (including children and employees) approached 700. (2)


Several dozen full-time sankirtan fund-raisers (sometimes over one hundred devotees would be sent out during periodic sankirtan marathons) developed and utilized innovative and creative techniques to obtain donations which brought in up to five million dollars per year. (3)


The community employed 187 local Marshall County residents to work as secretaries, gardeners and construction workers. Because of the community’s rising political clout, New Vrindaban appeared as an unincorporated village on the official 1983-84 West Virginia state map, and the government actually re-paved the rutted access road.

Everyone loves a winner.


In April 1979, Bhaktipada announced plans to build the largest Radha-Krishna temple in the world at New Vrindaban, the Shri Shri Radha-Vrindaban Chandra Temple of Understanding and the adjacent Land of Krishna theme park: a spiritual Disneyland. In 1983, a “temporary” temple was built for the deities which dwarfed most temples in ISKCON in beauty, size and craftsmanship. In 1985, Bhaktipada finished writing his first three books: Song of God, Christ and Krishna and Eternal Love. Also in 1985 was the groundbreaking ceremeony for the Temple of Understanding, which was attended by local and state politicians, and a United States Congressman from West Viriginia.

Sulochan, a fanatical whistle blower.


Soon however, Bhaktipada’s luck would take a turn for the worse. One New Vrindaban resident, who was initiated by Prabhupada in Detroit during July 1974, and--according to the Palace Manager--happened to be one of the top tour guides at the Palace, (4) Sulochan Das (Steve Bryant), had serious disagreements with the community management as well as marital discord with his wife, Yamuna Dasi, who had taken initiation from Bhaktipada on December 25, 1980 without her husband’s permission. He blamed Bhaktipada for ruining his marriage, “I had been living a rather disheartened married life. My wife had been devoting her heart to another man (5) and so, naturally, this killed any chance of our having a meaningful relationship.” (6)


Sulochan’s attorney, David Gold, remembered him, “There was definitely something different about him. I had talked with a lot of disgruntled Krishna devotees over the years, all of whom had tossed out various insults and accusations about the Swami. But regardless of how angry or disillusioned they were, they still referred to Kirtanananda in tones of respect, even awe. In contrast, Bryant spoke without fear or reservation.” (7)

Sulochan leaves New Vrindaban; his wife and children remain


During June 1984, after heated arguments with Bhaktipada and community leaders, Sulochan decided to leave New Vrindaban for good. It was very difficult for him to live at the community as only devotees who professed (or pretended to profess) absolute allegiance to Bhaktipada were welcomed to live there. Sulochan ordered his wife to join him in exile. She refused and later explained: (8)


He . . . began having various disagreements with the management especially concerning his service. Although he was smoking marijuana steadily, he also began writing critical letters to Shrila Bhaktipada presenting his own ideas about how New Vrindaban should be run. He became especially upset because the New Vrindaban board of directors decided not to place him in charge of the guest house, and he had a heavy disagreement with Shrila Bhaktipada.


Thus, in late June, he decided to leave again. Steve [Sulochan] ordered me to accompany him and told me that I would not be allowed to come to New Vrindaban ever again, not even to visit [my son] Krishna Das, who we were planning to leave in the school there. I refused to accompany him, and although the decision was mine, Steve began at that time to falsely accuse Shrila Bhaktipada of stealing me from him. . . . He called me a few days later and threatened that if I still refused to go with him, then he would do everything in his power to destroy New Vrindaban and Shrila Bhaktipada. . . . Because he was continually threatening to kidnap the children, I decided to get legal custody of them by applying for a legal divorce. That divorce was granted in November of 1984, giving me full legal custody of the children. . . . This man is insane, selfish and violent. He is unbalanced. Shrila Bhaktipada, on the other hand, has always been a kind and loving father to me and is worthy of all respect. Steve’s groundless criticism of such a wonderful person is simply another indication of Steve’s insanity. I am sorry that I ever had anything to do with this crazy person.


Within a year or so, Yamuna had been remarried to one of Bhaktipada’s loyal followers (Raghunath Das), and became pregnant with his child. Sulochan told the story from his perspective, (9)


Finally, in June of 1984, with plenty of encouragement from the “guru” she had been devoting herself to, namely one Kirtanananda “Swami,” my wife decided to leave me to devote her life to him, even though I have two baby boys by her. At the time, I knew very little about Kirtanananda, so I was a little cautious about openly criticizing him for his interference in my marriage. The fact that his “disciples” have more weapons than brains also discouraged me from openly challenging him. My wife also knew very little about him, except for the hype that’s drilled into all the gullible guru-pies at his camp, such as, “He’s the oldest and first sannyas disciple of Prabhupada” or, “He built Prabhupada’s Palace, so he must be a pure saint.” That kind of stuff. In effect, neither of us really knew anything about him at all, so she agreed that I would go to LA and do some research, and if I found out anything suspicious, I would let her know. She said she would then join me if that was the case. I agreed to rejoin her at Kirtanananda’s camp if his slate was clean.

Searching for dirt on Kirtanananda.


After returning to Los Angeles, Sulochan acquired, with much difficulty, a pirated microfiche set of copies of the complete letters of Prabhupada (the original letters were carefully guarded at the Los Angeles-based Bhaktivedanta Book Trust) from a sympathetic devotee, which gave him the inside story of the history of ISKCON, a revealing perspective which had been hidden from nearly all the rank-and-file devotees by the leaders of ISKCON. Sulochan wrote, “As I started to read through Shrila Prabhupada’s personal letters to his disciples, I was primarily looking for quotes on marriage. At the time I was desperate to try and save my own marriage. Although that was my main motive, I also knew it was my moral duty to try and save my wife and children from possible danger [from Kirtanananda]. In this way, I began my research with the blessings of the Lord of morality, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Since I was approaching His topmost representative, Shrila Prabhupada, for guidance and inspiration, I knew the outcome would be auspicious, whatever it was. I had no idea where my research would lead me. I only knew that something was going to burst, and I didn’t want it to be me. I was not especially concerned with the broader ‘guru-issue’ facing ISKCON’s ‘leaders’ today. Mainly, I wanted to save my own family, hoping that was part of the Lord’s plan.” (10)


Sulochan began meticulously studying the voluminous archive of Prabhupada’s letters to see if he could find anything about Kirtanananda Swami which might convince his wife to lose her faith in him, leave New Vrindaban and return to him. He wrote:


Knowing that Kirtanananda had attacked Shrila Prabhupada in the late sixties in his first attempt to take over the movement, I figured that if I could get all the letters dealing with that incident, then I would have something tangible to show my wife about the real character of her new “protector.” . . The letters contained all the secrets I had been hoping for-and more. I knew then that it would be my assigned duty to make the truth in these letters known to all. . . .


So, on October 11th, 1984, I mailed a letter to all ISKCON centers openly declaring war against Kirtanananda and the entire Society if my family was not returned to me intact. The Society ignored me. Hardly did I get one response. Since silence automatically means acceptance, I knew that my accusations were correct, and that it was just a matter of time before the truth would triumph. From that point onwards I was doomed to live in constant hiding from Kirtanananda’s worshipers, who would have killed me in an instant if they knew where I was parked in my motor home, typing away. . . .


As I began my search through the letters, I discovered something higher than my personal marital problems that I knew I should share that with everyone. I discovered that Shrila Prabhupada is no ordinary man. . . . I could see in Prabhupada’s letters how a real saint deals with people on a personal day-to-day level. . . . Reading the letters became like an intriguing mystery to me. I took careful notice of little comments Prabhupada would make about the leaders, specifically the Governing Body Commissioners (GBC). For instance, Prabhupada’s whole strategy changed dramatically in July of 1970. He freely started giving sannyas (celibate renounced order) to his male followers instead of encouraging them to marry. He stopped encouraging devotees to open temples and instead encouraged them to distribute books. And he began writing very heavy letters indicating that the character of many of his leading disciples was way below the mark. They clearly show why Prabhupada became disgusted with these “top men” of the Society and ultimately why he decided to leave the planet early. . . .


When Sulochan began showing these letters from Prabhupada to his friends, he discovered that many former New Vrindaban residents had their own horror stories to tell about abuse, child molestation, drug dealing and even murder. “You’ve got to understand, Kirtanananda is considered to be like a God. Infallible. Above reproach. Nobody questions him. People are in awe of his power. But when I started showing this stuff to other devotees I found out everybody had their own story to tell. Everybody had some dirt on Kirtanananda. It’s just that they were either too scared or worshipped him too much to talk about it before. Drugs, people getting killed, kids getting molested.


David Gold examined the letters from disgruntled devotees which Sulochan had collected, “I picked up the first letter and began reading. It testified to Bryant’s good character, then it went on to say that the writer was aware of numerous women who had been beaten at the commune. The next letter contained similar testaments to Steve’s sound mind and strong moral character, then the author, a woman, told how Kirtanananda had intentionally destroyed a number of families so that he could use the women for the street begging operation. The next letter was from a man whose daughter was molested at the ashram school. Another man said Kirtanananda had encouraged him to beat his wife. Another writer, who remained anonymous, said he was ordered to smuggle heroin from Thailand and turn over the proceeds to Kirtanananda. Someone else reported that they knew who the killer was in an unsolved murder at New Vrindaban.” (12)

“The Kirtanananda Exposй: A Crazy Man”


Sulochan compiled his research into a book, The Guru Business: How the Leaders of the Hare Krishna Movement Deviated from the Pure Path as Taught and Exemplified by its Founder: His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder/Acharya ISKCON. This book, essentially consisting of Sulochan Das’ candid (and sometimes inaccurate) commentary on excerpts from Prabhupada’s letters, was intended to expose the corrupt activities of the ISKCON gurus, whom, he believed, had usurped their positions of power within ISKCON. It was first real hard-hitting collection of essays exposing the corruption within the movement. One devotee accurately assessed it, “The Guru Business ranged from goofy to manic, from paranoid to deadly accurate.” (13)


Sulochan wrote about his mortal enemy in chapter ten: “The Kirtanananda Exposй: A Crazy Man”:


This chapter is an exposй on one of the new “gurus” in ISKCON. It is the first, but it most likely will not be the only one we will have to compile. Kirtanananda “Swami” deserves first recognition. He was among the first initiated devotees. He was the first to be given “sannyas.” A week later, he was the first to attack Shrila Prabhupada trying to usurp the ISKCON movement for himself. Shortly thereafter he was the first to sit on a throne and accept worship of himself even during Shrila Prabhupada’s physical presence and of course he was the first to jump on a throne right after Shrila Prabhupada’s departure. He was the first to begin a drug dealing operation (the KSS: Krishna’s Secret Service) and later to set up a counterfeiting operation. He was the first to organize a women’s sexploitation party and encourage the leader of that party, Dharmatma, to keep the women satisfied as their gigolo. To our knowledge, he is the first “guru” to authorize an abortion of the gigolo’s child in an underage girl. He was the first to be utterly condemned by Shrila Prabhupada. To this day, there are more letters of condemnation written about him than all the other bogus gurus combined. He was the first (and hopefully the last) to put a crown on Shrila Prabhupada’s murti (marble statue) denoting him as a mere monarch, although Shrila Prabhupada was not sent by the Lord for that service. He was the first, and maybe only, “disciple,” to be so envious as to directly challenge his guru’s authority by calling him “a tyrant.” He was the first “disciple” to be incarcerated in a mental institution (Bellevue). He was the first to treat Krishna’s cows in such a way that dozens of them died of starvation, disease, and exposure (the local courts could not even bear these atrocities of Kirtanananda and prosecuted him for cruelty to animals.) These are just a few of his “firsts.” He is number one in many other ways. Besides being the oldest “devotee” physically, he was/is the first full-blown homosexual in the movement and he even bragged of this to Acyutananda Swami in Mayapur, 1971, when he said, “I was sucking (word for male genital) before you were born.” Therefore, in observing his stressed seniority, we believe that he should be given the first chance to try and clear himself of the charges we level against him, and the other bogus gurus as well, which clearly state one thing: absolute power corrupts absolutely.


Sulochan made lots of allegations, but were they necessarily true? The answer to this question may come as a surprise to some.

. . . To be Continued

End Notes


1. Accurate figures of numbers of tourists are not available. The figure quoted in the Brijabasi Spirit article, “Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold,” which appeared in the March 1983 issue (p. 18) was certainly exaggerated, as nowhere near that number came in 1982. However, Mahabuddhi Das, the former Palace manager, thought that 500,000 people might have come in 1985, the busiest year for tourism.


The New Vrindaban Community Income Statement for the Year 1984 stated that Palace donations generated $745,315.21, or 18% of the total annual income of $4,012,224.02. For the record, membership subscriptions were $310,453.57 or 7.7%.


2. This figure of 700 was most certainly an exaggeration. The author examined fifteen census reports dated from September 1976 and July 1991 in the New Vrindaban archives and found that the October 1986 report listed the high point of the community’s population at 377 adults (213 men and 164 women). If we add 136 children and 187 employees to this number we arrive at 700.


3. The ISKCON New Vrindaban Community Financial Status Report for the week ending Sunday, December 8, 1985, stated that the community grossed $210,047.34 in income during that week. More than two thirds of that amount ($141,681.94) was from sankirtan pickers. The Palace gate earned only $2,536.50 that week (1.2%) as it was during the winter season. The 1985 Sankirtan Marathon Final Compilation stated that $971,160 was collected between November 21, 1985 and January 4, 1986. The New Vrindaban Community Income Statement for the Year 1984 stated that sankirtan devotees collected $2,853,899.94, or 71% of the total income that year.


William A. Kolibash, the United States prosecutor for Bhaktipada’s 1991 racketeering trial, claimed that New Vrindaban sankirtan revenues were substantially higher. According to his figures, the community collected $17,871,000 between 1981 and 1985.
1981 - $2,000,000 1982 - $2,436,000 1983 - $3,857,000 1984 - $4,106,000 1985 - $5,472,000

Total sankirtan revenue from 1981-85: $17,871,000.


4. The director of Palace operations and marketing from 1980 to 1985 wrote, “The top tour guides [at the Palace] were: Krishna Katha prabhu, Lajjavati Dasi, Jalakolahari prabhu, Rasavihari Devi Dasi, Damodar Das and Kanka Dasi, Sulochan Das along with Puru prabhu. There were others, but these were the best. They were given training and customer service training as well. Not just thrown out on the floor.” Mahabuddhi Das, from an e-mail letter to the author dated March 30, 2003.


5. In this sentence it is not exactly clear who Sulochan is referring to. The man who he believed stole his wife's heart could have been Bhaktipada, as evidenced by statements in subsequent paragraphs, or it could have been Raghunath, as Yamuna reportedly began her relationship with Raghunath while her husband was still living at the community. Sulochan knew about his wife's affair and reported it to Bhaktipada, who dismissed his complaints.

One former gurukula boy reported: "One of the gurukulis accidentally observed Raghu and Yamuna together while Sulochan was still at New Vrindaban, and told it to me. Later while I was sitting in Bhaktipada's blazer, Sulochan walked up to the driver's window and I heard him complain to Bhaktipada about this, but Bhaktipada was not interested in doing anything about it, in disciplining Yamuna and Raghu. Bhaktipada said something like: 'Sulochan, you're just not my man.' Another time at Bahulaban I saw Sulochan wearing a pistol around his neck and I asked him why he was wearing it. He replied: 'To kill faggots.'" --From conversation with former gurukuli and the author, January 9, 2007.


6. Sulochan Das, The Guru Business (unpublished manuscript: 1985), 1.


7. David Gold, After the Absolute: Real Life Adventures With a Backwoods Buddha (Writer’s Club Press: 2002), chapter 17.


8. Yamuna Dasi, The Story of a Cheater-The Real Facts on the Sulochan Story (unpublished manuscript: September 18, 1985), 5.


9. Sulochan Das, The Guru Business, 2, 3.


10. Sulochan was unsuccessful in his attempt to entice his family to rejoin him as New Vrindaban temple authorities had helped his wife get a divorce and simultaneously allowed her to marry a new husband, who was loyal to Bhaktipada. Later Sulochan’s three-year-old son Nimai drowned in a New Vrindaban lake while playing with other youths on November 23, 1986. Bhaktipada said, “From a philosophical point of view, we could say that there was some bad karma in the family.”


11. Sulochan Das, quoted by David Gold, After the Absolute, chapter 17.


12. David Gold, After the Absolute, chapter 17.


13. Nori Muster, Betrayal of the Spirit, (University of Illinois Press, Urbana: 1997), 124.







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