mahak, apology for uncool remarks, iraq

[stonehearted]

for reminding me of my sins. This is so embarrassing. We could post this stuff to the ritvik thread and give mirza some ammo.

 

I don't clearly remember this particular tirade, but perhaps the trauma caused a hole in my memory. I had to sit in the room for a few such embarrassing things with him. One I do remember was when a woman who had graduated from Smith, or one of those Ivy League women's colleges, one of the most competent devotees in the temple, developed an affinity for Jayapataka as her prospective guru. I had to stay in the room (because Ramesvara "was a sannyasi") while he worked on her for over an hour, trying to convince her that being initiated by Jayapataka would be the biggest mistake in her life; rather, she should accept him. Another was a meeting he had with all the teachers a few months after we moved to Bhaktivedanta Village. At one point in the meeting, he told us unequivocally that our first duty was to convince the kids to surrender to him. A couple of us who had been around for a while looked at each other as if to ask, "What the f*** di he just say?" It was the beginning of the end for me. The next day I stopped playing and ran by my own rules (or by my understanding of guru, sadhu, and shastra), not the corporate playbook. I was one of the leaders of the revolution at BV and was the first to leave specifically because the politics had become intolerable. (It was ISKCON politics that aborted my mission to South America 10 or 12 years before.)

 

God, is my face red?!? I'm happy to hear that you saw clearly enough to avoid the tragedy of "initiation." And impressed that you and so many others persist in your endeavors for Krishna consciousness after so much BS.

[Guest guest]

Haribol, this is way cool discussion, of better days.

 

KC was especially cool because at the time, when all these militaristic goons from gurukrpas party were invading hawaii, KC was sooo mellow, Ya see those who were there (vietnam) had no need for yakkin about blood shed and bullets, et al. Those who were there will march no more forever, those who have the stench of illegal warfare all over them have no taste for phony tales of glory. KC was like that.

 

And sudama, heck, I knew of his "preferences" way before he actually returned to them. He used to joke to us on the isle of big, between the gaurasundara flap and the establishment of the new center in maunalua valley, about how he used to be a "perverted reflection of a perverted reflection". He was also a great performer, a modern dancer. In fact, I saw a PBS production where he was dancin up a storm, and then I saw where his talents led to him being such a great samkirtana man.

 

Sudama was a way cool dude, outlandish, but a soft person with a lot of human compassion. He was a great emissary for Srila Prabhupada, the only one who could have made amends in new nabad. My friends in kona used to call him "Prabhupada's little brother" because of his kind nature, and they liked him very much, and none of these folks would have ever entered a temple because of the character of many they met (karandhara/kesava, et all).

 

Haribol, ys, mahak

[Guest guest]

Me ol bud as well, we "blooped" together, moving to maui, but then subala swami moved in and I moved out.

 

I didnt know jagat surfed.

 

There were a bunch of devotees on maui after Sudama finally gave up gbcship that were not affiliated with either ISKCON nor siddha, and they were a little far out, lsd and kirtana, maybe they hooked up with jayatirtha later. Jamadagne and others. They were not my friends because many gave up their names and adopted others. I liked subala, but i think he ended up with them.

[stonehearted]

Yes, Sudama was authentically cool. And yes, he had his outlandish side, which manifest when he wasn't "in" the fire. It was his gentleness and inclusiveness that convinced us to come back to Hawaii to help him reestablish ISKCON (oh, yes, and Srila Prabhupada's request). He worked very hard to make the Honolulu temple a place where anyone could offer service.

 

 

 

[stonehearted]

Guest: I didnt know jagat surfed.

 

I think theist mentioned that he had surfed with Hari Vallabha. I'm not aware of Jagat Prabhu surfing, either. He and his wife, Gopanandakari, were in Australia, last I heard.

 

I don't know what Subal was up to when he was on Maui. I heard he had been working as a stocker at Long's Drug Store, but he was no where to be found when we moved there from the Big Island. I pretty much associated with Siddha and his folks on Maui, since he asked me to move there to help with the Indeprendents for Godly Government campaigns. (BTW, he now has several followers in elected office here in the state, as well as others working in the governor's administration.) I didn't know much about "blooped" devotees on the island at the time, although I did occasionally spend some time with Madhudvisa when he would come down to Wailuku.

 

While I'm thinking about Maui, I want to point out that there were many misconceptions among ISKCON folks about what he and his devotees were up to. The truth is that it was legitimate business, organic farming, preaching (which was a main goal of the political party), and kirtan, kirtan, kirtan.