For the REAL Record

[Guest guest]

Dear Maharaja's and Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I found the following posting by Prabhupadacarya das rather entertaining and

lacking in any real understanding or experience of the real facts. It seems

that a lot of people are claiming credit, even beside this group of people.

I shall comment point by point.

> For The Record

>

> Subodh made me aware of this matter near the end of it and invited me to

> join the delegation to visit the Australian Mataji in the Mathura Jail.

> Our party of 5 first visited the SSP of Mathura, then the Head Jailor

> inside the jail. Finally we were allowed to speak with the mataji in the

> presence of the jailer.

 

Many devotees from the Vrndavana temple had visited this woman

several times a week as soon as she was put into the jail for violating VISA

and passport regulations, which may appear to you to be a minor thing, but

to the FRO it is more than a minor thing. Your delegation came very, very

late. Since the case was very widely advertised, I wonder why such an

affective group waited so long, if it was so easy for them to effect a

release. But thanks for coming.

>

> I was not aware that the ISKCON Vrindavan management had requested

> devotees not to visit her "to teach her a lesson to respect authority",

> which was reported to me afterwards, and only heard that there was a

> devotee in jail possibly being beaten, deprived of medication, and on the

> verge of death/suicide.

 

Devotees were never requested NOT to visit her. In fact, at various

times, various devotees went in the temple vehicles, and were given the

royal treatment at the Mathura Jail, since our devotees here do prison

programmes there, and are quite popular. Indeed, we never had to wait to

get inside the jail at all, and were able to speak freely with the prisoner

for hours at a time, bring prasad (though food stuffs are normally not

permitted), books, etc.

It is true that she was beaten when she was arrested and when first

in the prison. I have no doubt this was a response to the fact that she

slapped and vigorously insulted whomever she came into contact, including

the devotees, the arresting officers, the jailer, the guards, the doctor,

etc. The first time I visited her, I spoke with her a great length. I

explained simply that she has to be careful not to provoke anyone here in

the jail, because they will not tolerate it. She agreed with me and told me

she will be a little more prudent. After that, she did not have to complain

to me about beatings. (Instead, she complained that the inmates were talking

so late at night. The Superintendent spoke to the ladies in front of us

both. Or that they were a bunch of mayavadis or demons.) Neither did I see

any new bruises for the next month or so.

She is an epilepsy patient, and her medication was confiscated

while being arrested because she was shoving the pills into her mouth. To

those officers who had no other knowledge, it was a foregone conclusion that

this was a suicide attempt. Confiscating the pills was done as a matter of

routine if not for her well-being. However, once they were made aware of

her illness, they should have provided her with some sort of medication

immediately, as she was having seizures very regularly.

>

> As I came to understand more, it became clear that something seriously

> wrong was going on. All the law enforcement authorities we spoke with

> indicated that the deportation process should not take more than 2 days,

> and 7 at the most. Everyone seemed genuinely perplexed why this woman has

> been in jail for nearly two months for simply overstaying her visa by less

> than 30 days (according to her).

 

Are you so surprised that ANYTHING going through the India court

system EVER moves quickly and smoothly? To compound this, she wasn't

exactly a model, submissive prisoner, to say the least.

The FRO several times assured the temple authorities that she would

be incarcerated 15 days minimum or 6 months maximum, for the offense she

committed. The temple authorities made a point of requesting the process be

finished under 15 days. When I myself met with the FRO, he expressed

surprise that the temple management was so soft as to repeatedly request her

early release.

He also mentioned that this woman was giving a lot of trouble to the

inmates and the personnel in the jail, and requested me to speak with her.

I mentioned that several years before she had a very massive seizure which

left it's mark in the way she approaches things in this world, to put it

mildly. Nevertheless, I've known her a long time and spent hours with her

at each visit, as did the other ladies who went separately on different

days. The jail authorities never limited our visits, and always thanked us

for visiting her, because she was a bit tamer with each visit.

>

> Honestly, I did not see any marks or bruises, but she did complain of

> having them under her garments. She also complained of having lost vision

> in her left eye due to mistreatment. The picture that had been created

> about her from the interviews we had earlier painted her as a

> drug-addicted, violent and irrational animal. What impressed me most was

> how different the real person turned out to be upon meeting her.

 

She told me that one night she had such a heavy seizure while

sleeping, she fell off the cement bed onto the cement floor and had to get

stitches on her head. I believe her sight was affected around that time.

What impresses me most is that below, the writer of this report paints a

completely different picture of her when he did meet her. She naturally

didn't trust new people. She even didn't trust her old friends until we had

the patience to weather it out for an hour or so, until she got her

bearings. And she is not one to warm up to new people for a much longer

time.

She is a lovely person, and her friends are quite aware of it. Even

if she did break the law. She is by nature also very rebellious and

suspicious.

>

> Congratulations certainly go to Subodh for getting involved and using his

> political influence as a member of the Congress Party to help her gain

> release and deportation the day after we paid our visit, especially

> considering that she had received a stiff 5 year conviction for her

> infraction (the maximum possible sentence).

 

She was never awarded the maximum sentence. The FRO himself applied

for her release asap, as explained above.

Thanks certainly go to you all for visiting the prisoner and for

giving it a good try. And to several other parties who also mistakenly

believe they were the ones to effect the release.

HOWEVER, the REAL CONGRATULATIONS go to MAHAMAN DAS of ISKCON

Vrndavana for the actual finale. He had been working fervently for weeks at

the behest of the Vrndavana management. I spoke with him the night before

her release and he informed me that he finally located and actually saw the

deportation papers with his own eyes. The papers got lost somewhere in

Delhi. He had some help from some good contacts, but not from the

delegation you have spoken about.

The main reason it took so long to effect the release was because

certain well-meaning but misinformed people had separately filed a case

against the government about this. It caused more damage than good, and

considerable delay. It is heartening to know that these same people

assisted Mahaman prabhu in his efforts to get the release papers to the

right people when they finally got there. These are the facts.

>

> She admitted to destroying Jail property by throwing a television in

> self-defense to ward off a mob of jail inmates who were beating her. She

> was also accused of taking banned substances prescribed by her doctor, who

> apparently was arrested as a result of her arrest and lab tests of her

> prescription medications. She was accused of verbal and physical abuse to

> authorities and other inmates, and in all fairness, it did appear that the

> authorities showed restraint by simply reporting the incidents and not

> pressing further charges against her.

 

As I explained before, I had a long talk with her about avoiding

situations which will provoke people. Throwing the TV was just a typical

thing. She managed to verbally (and on occasion, physically) abuse

practically anyone she could the whole time she was there. The jail

authorities understood her mental condition, and therefore were very, very

accommodating in comparison to the rest of the prisoners, with food,

supplies, visitors, etc. The TV was the jail's way of trying to pacify her.

Since she is "principled", she would never watch it. But if she were really

principled, her behaviour would have manifested a bit differently. Right

reasons, wrong technique, wrong place.

>

> The impression I was left with was that the mataji had made some mistakes

> she admitted to, and had lost her social and legal bearings that was

> compounded by the fact that ISKCON appeared to be leaving her high and dry

> to spend the next five years in prison under very austere conditions. She

> was feeling trapped, betrayed and was very untrusting of everyone, even

> our delegation at first until we were able to give her confidence in our

> intentions to help her.

>

True, being in jail is no picnic, but she behaved in there just the

way she behaved out here, and never took it seriously that she ever created

any offences. When you are in jail, you cannot be in charge of everything

that goes on. And this is natural. It is the same with the material world.

We simply have nothing to do with the material world, and still we always

think we can make lasting adjustments.

Despite her behaviour, the temple devotees did not abandon her.

 

> There were cultural differences, legal constraints of the authorities, and

> unreaslistic expectations on both sides. All-in-all no one really

> performed very well on either side, and this can be labelled as an

> unfortunate experience that should alert all of us of how bad things can

> go if we don't cooperate and support one another in our efforts to serve

> Srila Prabhupada.

 

"Unrealistic expectations"? After breaking the law, one can

"expect" some repercussions. This has nothing to do with serving Srila

Prabhupada. And Prabhupada knew what to "expect" if one did break the law.

>

> Regardless of the mistakes made, the mataji certainly did not deserve the

> treatment she reported receiving, but that I was not able to observe or

> verify. Honestly, she did seem to be a very principled person and her

> testimony was very credible and convincing.

 

You will rarely meet any "accused" who thinks he did something wrong

or deserves any punishment or rectification at all. And the arguments will

sound very convincing.

All things considered, she got off with a lot less trouble than she

created. The jail authorities were extremely lenient with her, especially

after they understood she was not entirely mentally sound. There were many

of us working very hard to help her get out of her situation despite

herself. And we did it whole-heartedly.

>

> Why the local GBC, TP, and senior leaders stationed in Vrindavan and aware

> of this incident did not respond to this incident is a clear indicator of

> the value placed on the individual. The message ISKCON Vrindavan is

> sending devotees worldwide is clear, "If you are in Vrindavan, you are on

> your own." Hopefully we can learn of better and more humane ways of

> teaching devotees lessons without resorting to brutal incarceration,

> especially the disciples of Srila Prabhupada who said "I don't punish my

> disciples."

 

As I have already explained above, the senior members of Vrndavana

temple were very much concerned and involved in getting her out of jail.

Before making such bold and "humane" statements, it is better to check your

sources, especially when you speak about Vaishnavas, and especially when you

quote something "Prabhupada said".

>

> After going through this I certainly felt priviledged to participate and

> felt, as did all the other members of the delegation, a special

> reciprocation from Srimati Radharani for taking the risk to help another

> devotee in difficulty.

 

It would be even better, if you made sure such devotees were legally

in the clear to make it less difficult for everyone else.

And what did you RISK to help this individual---thereby earning what

you feel you deserved as Radharani's reciprocation? Did you visit her

regularly, to keep her company, bring her prasad, drinking water,

Prabhupada's books? Did you sit there until the jail authorities got her

basic necessities like soap and toothpaste or her medication? Did you keep

in constant touch with the authorities in the Australian Embassy? Did you

get in touch with her ex-husband, try to arrange her ticket, or try to

manage the safe-keeping of all her luggage from her last place of residence

(since she was kicked out of the previous one for her behaviour)?

You DID risk a lot of foolish things, including Vaishnava aparadha,

and humiliating the woman unnecessarily by advertising all these things in

such a letter to a very large public, most of which was misinformation. You

owe an apology to everyone whom you denigrated, as well as to those who

innocently received this mail. And next time, do your homework with the

people at the source.

Hare Krishna.