Friday, February 15, 2013

Clarifications for blog titled 'Questionable activities of Vishnukanta Pr' by Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das


This is a simple post clarifying the false accusations on Vishnukanta das by a certain person who has been trying to harass him and several other devotees in Bangalore for the past few years. His name is Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das (L Narasimhan Rau or Lakshmi Narasimhan) and he has written several pages of false information about Vishnukanta das only for the purpose of defaming his character. Clarifications for his fake accusations and the reality about his true nature are provided in this blog. As a devotee or aspiring devotee in Iskcon, it's very painful to read about criticisms and clarifications but in order to provide the alternate perspective which can help readers to get the big, true picture, this information has been presented here.

It is important to note that whatever complaints or criticisms Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das has on Vishnukanta das are purely his own and are not endorsed by any Iskcon temple authority. The proof of this statement is that even though he has written his complaints about Vishnukanta das to all the temple presidents in Bangalore Iskcon temples, under the GBC, to the spiritual master of Vishnukanta das, the RGB of south India and several other senior devotees, none of the authorities have given any importance to Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das's accusations nor contacted Vishnukanta das to get clarifications for any of the complaints. This is because his complaints have no basis except for envy and insecurity that he has towards a certain section of devotees in the congregation. 

If anyone wants to verify if there is any truth in the accusations made by Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das, they can contact the Iskcon authorities:

Temple Presidents in Iskcon Bangalore (under GBC): 
HG Varada Krishna Prabhu: vkd.jps@gmail.com
HG Sudhir Caitanya Prabhu: sudhir.caitanya.jps@pamho.net
HG Narahari Prabhu: narakesari@hotmail.com

South India RGB: 
HG Dayaram Prabhu: Dayaram.JPS@pamho.net

Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das sent several emails containing various accusations and complaints on Vishnukanta das and other devotees for a period of 2 years or more. Now, since his purpose of taking some action against Vishnukanta das through a temple authority could not be fulfilled, Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das has created a blog to accuse him and paint a bad picture about him to the whole world for his personal satisfaction. This blog is not written with any grudge against him; at the same time, since it's our duty to clarify and provide the real facts behind his criticisms, all the points have been explained below. His blog post about Vishnukanta das is found in quitfakingseektruth.blogspot.com. Although he hasn't revealed his identity, he has posted all the emails in his blog that he had sent from his email id - narasimhan@absolutetruth.in.

He starts his blog with this introduction:

"Here is a chronological record of email communicationation on this subject. This has been made public at the request of his counselor for those who are concerned about Vishnukantha Das or Venugopal Ananthakrishnan."

This introduction itself is absolutely false. Vishnukanta das’s counselor is HG Shankarpandit Prabhu of Pune. Anyone who wants to verify if this statement in his blog is true or false can directly confirm with Shankarpandit prabhu by writing to his email id - shankarpanditdas@gmail.com. 

It appears that Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das wants to make the readers believe that the information he had posted in his blog is authentic by saying that he had posted on the request of Vishnukanta das’s counselor. But Vishnukanta das’s counselor was neither aware of such a post nor did he ever request Lakshmi Nrsimha das to create a blog about him. As mentioned, anyone is free to check with Vishnukanta das’s counselor Shankarpandit prabhu whether he requested Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das to post about Vishnukanta das or not. 

He further says in his blog:

"WHAT IS THE PROBLEM
The Problem is that Vishnukanta Prabhu who claims to do BBT's english translation of Goswami's work and assisting Bhagavat vidyapeetam which normally requires devotees of impeccable character of the likes of HG Gopiparanadhana Prabhu is faking his scholarship and his achara (behaviour) doesn't match his said qualifications. In the greater interest of ISKCON this information is made available to public. HG Vishnukanta Das has acknowledged that all the below events are true but he claims that its being misinterpreted. But there are solid evidences to prove his questionable activities. If anyone needs more details please email Vishnukantha Pr himself madhuananth@gmail.com and copy truelies@activist.com."

This note about Vishnukanta das’s translation work or acknowledging the events are also absolutely false.  Although many years back, he was getting some basic training from the late HG Gopiparanadhana prabhu for BBT translation work, assisting him and HH Bhanu Swami in few of the translation work in 2006-2007, Vishnukanta das never officially took up any translation service in BBT and Vishnukanta das never told Lakshmi Nrsimha das or any other devotee that he was involved in any official translation project for BBT for the purpose of publishing books. If anyone wants to verify this truth, they can very well confirm with BBT by writing to the director of BBT HG Bhima prabhu at his email id - bhima.acbsp@pamho.net or contact BBT in their website http://www.bbt.info/about/contact. Vishnukanta das never acknowledged any truth in the events that Lakshmi Nrismha had described below since all of them have been simply cooked up by Lakshmi Nrsimha das for the sheer purpose of criticizing Vishnukanta das out of some grudge or hatred that he had developed. 

Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das had tactfully avoided the relevant sections of Vishnukanta das’s email replies to his emails and had posted only some portions that he could comfortably use to criticize. The latest email that Vishnukanta das had sent is provided below in order to clarify Vishnukanta das’s stance.
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From: Venugopal A <madhuananth@gmail.com> 
To: L Narasimhan Rau <narasimhan@absolutetruth.in>
CC: Gopal.Krsna.Goswami@pamho.net, Dayaram Dasa <Dayaram.JPS@pamho.net>, Varada Krishna Pr <vkd.jps@gmail.com>, "Sudhir Caitanya (das) JPS (Bangalore - IN)", <sudhir.caitanya.jps@pamho.net>, "Radheshyam (das) RNS (ISKCON Pune - IN)"<radheshyam.rns@pamho.net>,  Sumithra.Krishna.JPS@pamho.net, radhakrishnagoura@yahoo.com, Shankarpandit das <shankarpanditdas@gmail.com>, "Bhakti Vinoda Swami (Coimbatore - IN)" <bhakti.vinoda.swami@pamho.net>, "H.H Radhanath Swami" <rswami108@gmail.com>, Shyamasundara Dasa <shyamasundaradasa@gmail.com>, Narahari Cait1 <narakesari@hotmail.com>, jkd108@gmail.com, danavir.goswami@pamho.net, JPS.secretary@pamho.net, Gauranga.rns@pamho.net, Bhakti Vikasa Swami <Bhakti.Vikasa.Swami@pamho.met>
Date: Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: Questionable activities of Vishnukantha Pr & Guru Groupism in Bangalore

Dear Lakshmi Nrsimha pr,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thank you pr, for your concern for me. Based on the discussions in the chain mail, it does not seem to be a healthy conversation. I do agree that I have certain imperfections which I have to work on, however I cannot accept the allegations to the statements made by you. They seem to have all been taken out of context & misinterpreted. I do not wish to continue the argument, by again trying to explain in detail.

As I mentioned in my previous email, I am more than willing to explain each instance in detail to the authorities, if they have any questions for me.

I have no intentions in hurting you, however if you feel hurt by any of my words/actions/behaviour, please forgive me. From the way the discussion is growing, it would be safe for both of us, to maintain safe distance from each other, rather than continue our arguments back and forth & unnecessarily increase our emotional expressions towards each other.

your servant,
Vishnukanta das
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This is last email from Vishnukanta das in this thread which Lakshmi NrsimhaDev had deliberately avoided including in the post in his blog.

Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das replied to this email on Jan 18th 2013. Apart from repeating the same thing that he had mentioned multiple times in his previous email, Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das had now accused all the authorities in Iskcon bangalore for not taking any action on Vishnukanta das and other devotees that he had been writing again and again. In his own words:

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From: L Narasimhan Rau <narasimhan@absolutetruth.in>
To: Venugopal A <madhuananth@gmail.com> 
CC: Gopal.Krsna.Goswami@pamho.net, Dayaram Dasa <Dayaram.JPS@pamho.net>, Varada Krishna Pr <vkd.jps@gmail.com>,  "Sudhir Caitanya (das) JPS (Bangalore - IN)" <sudhir.caitanya.jps@pamho.net>, "Radheshyam (das) RNS (ISKCON Pune - IN)"<radheshyam.rns@pamho.net>,  Sumithra.Krishna.JPS@pamho.net,  radhakrishnagoura@yahoo.com, Shankarpandit das <shankarpanditdas@gmail.com>, "Bhakti Vinoda Swami (Coimbatore - IN)" <bhakti.vinoda.swami@pamho.net>, "H.H Radhanath Swami" <rswami108@gmail.com>, Shyamasundara Dasa <shyamasundaradasa@gmail.com>, Narahari Cait1 <narakesari@hotmail.com>, jkd108@gmail.com, danavir.goswami@pamho.net, JPS.secretary@pamho.net, Gauranga.rns@pamho.net, Bhakti Vikasa Swami <Bhakti.Vikasa.Swami@pamho.met>
Date: Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 3:19 PM
Subject: Re: Questionable activities of Vishnukantha Pr & Guru Groupism in Bangalore

Respected Prabhus/Maharajas,

Nevertheless no one wants to talk on Brand building exercise within ISKCON Bangalore community against GBC injunction on how devotees should be encouraged to select a guru (see attached document on GBC resolution for 2012 & GBC position). Bangalore temple was following siksha system to make it an open unbiased path for devotees to progress towards choosing one's guru without undue persuasion or marketing. But some groups don't make themselves accountable to it. I kindly request authorities to intervene and eradicate guru groupism for ever before its too late. We have been victims of this syndrome for a long time, nice devotees are weaned away from temple and cultivated separately. Their loyalty is elsewhere. And devotees make fun of us saying Bangalore is transit point etc. 

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It's evident from the absence of any action taken by the temple authorities in Bangalore which Lakshmi Nrismha Dev das is lamenting about, that whatever complaints that he has on Vishnukanta das and other devotees are purely his own and not endorsed by any of the temple authorities.

In his blog post, Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das had repeated the same information again and again in same & different words probably because he feels when someone reads the same points repeatedly they might end up believing them. One example is the set of points under the subject "Brand Building Based on Illustrious Gurus". It's clear from this deliberate baseless repetition that he has developed very intense envy and hatred against one class of devotees, who are disciples or aspiring disciples of a "Illustrious Guru" whom he is referring to.

His accusations on Vishnukanta das are classified under the following topics and clarifications provided for them in detail. Since he had repeated the same accusations at multiple places throughout his huge post, consolidated clarifications for the accusations are provided below.

Accusation 1: About Vishnukanta das’s Marriage and Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das's forcing his wife to take initiation from HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj

Lakshmi Narasimha das and few other devotees were extremely eager to inspire Vishnukanta das’s wife to consider HH JPS as her spiritual master and take initiation from him only. She was pulled in to attend the JSSS meetings every time in the garb of hearing glories of a pure devotee while being brainwashed to take initiation from HH JPS Maharaj alone. When Vishnukanta das came to know about this, he had reported the issue to few senior devotees and the devotees in Diksha Counsel and they had warned against any such activities. But Lakshmi Narasimha pr did not listen to the warnings and had been actively doing the same immature activity all these years. 

In order to hide this truth, Lakshmi Nrsimha das has turned the story upside-down by accusing Vishnukanta das of lying and fixing the marriage. At the first place, HG Radha priya mataji was not involved at all in fixing his marriage. It was through HG Amala Manjari mataji was he introduced to his wife. If anyone wants to clarify and confirm this, they can contact Amala manjari mataji at this email id - amalamanjarijps@gmail.com.

Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das has also indulged in forgery and treacherous means to threaten Vishnukanta das and his wife for his cooked up accusations against him. This is evident from the following incident.

Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das’s forgery and treacherous plan to threaten Vishnukanta das
Vishnukanta das’s wife got an email from Amala Manjari mataji (from an email ID that had her name) through Radhanath Swami Disciple Network. Amala Manjari mataji had known Vishnukanta das for many years and only through her Vishnukanta das got introduced to his wife who also knew mataji for few years. That email contained the same set of false accusations and criticisms asking Vishnukanta das’s wife to criticize and correct him in a heavy negative tone. The list of complaints the email contained was exactly the same as that Vishnukanta das had received from Lakshmi Nrsimha das.

It was rather unbelievable for Vishnukanta das and his wife because Amalamanjari mataji was very close to them and that mataji couldn't have just believed whatever she might have heard from Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das without hearing the other side from Vishnukanta das. Vishnukanta das’s wife discovered a new twist in the story while she was chatting with Amalamanjari Mataji. Mataji happened to be completely unaware of all these things that had happened about the email which had come from an ID with her name. When they looked at that email, actually that had come from RNS Disciples Network with the same name as Amala Manjari DD but there were 2 IDs in the Radhanath Swami Disciples Network with the name as Amala Manjari DD and that email had come from the fake one as the real mataji was clueless of what was going on.

And that fake ID was treacherously created by Lakshmi Nrsimha das temporarily with an intention of convincing Vishnukanta das’s wife to criticize and correct him for whatever concerns Lakshmi Nrsimha das has on him. It’s evident that Lakshmi Nrismha Dev das was behind this forgery was that the email had 100% the same content as the emails that he had been sending Vishnukanta das. This story shows that when a person, even after chanting the Maha Mantra for 15 years or more, can do treacherous and illegal activities thereby showing his deeply contaminated consciousness if he is being burnt by the flame of envy and hatred.

This is a picture of Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das (L Narasimhan Rau or Lakshmi Narasimhan)
Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das is a self-appointed authority for many devotees including Vishnukanta das. However, his imposed authority on the devotees is not endorsed by any Iskcon temple nor any devotees "under" his supervision. 





Accusation 2: About Vishnukanta das’s propaganda of wrong conceptions on HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj.


This is again another of the misconstrued and baseless complaints on Vishnukanta das. The fact is Lakshmi Nrsimha Dev das has zero-tolerance and envy towards aspiring or initiated disciples of spiritual masters other than his own Guru. As per Lakshmi Nrsimha das, devotees should not take counseling from a disciple of a Guru other than the devotee’s Guru. Rather, should approach his/her god-brother alone and no one else to take spiritual guidance from.


When Vishnukanta das tried explaining him about the broader aspect of taking counseling, taking guidance from a disciple of the god-brother of one’s Guru to cultivate vaishnava qualities and advance in one’s own spiritual sadhana, overcoming anarthas, dealing with difficult situation especially with respect to grihasta ashrama, etc., he was not able to understand or digest this. According to him, a devotee should take counseling from his own god-brothers and not from anyone else. When Vishnukanta das tried to point out the fact that many Maharajs like HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj, HH Niranjan Swami Maharaj, HH Bhakti Vigyana Maharaj, HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj and few others have been encouraging their disciples to learn the counseling from disciples of HH Radhanath Maharaj and in-turn help their god-brothers in their spiritual advancement, he considered that as an offence to their spiritual masters. This is due to his misconception about the whole counseling system. 

Other Miscellaneous baseless accusations of Lakshmi Nrsimha das

Lakshmi Nrsimha das had thrown few other baseless accusations against Vishnukanta das which are not even worthy of being explained or clarified. It appears that by putting words in Vishnukanta das's mouth  such as the latter condemning HH Bhakti Vinod Maharaj, Lakshmi Nrsimha das tries to strengthen his case against Vishnukanta das by making a variety of accusations. Although there was a discussion between both of them on a similar topic, Vishnukanta das never made such a remark against Maharaj and Lakshmi Nrismha das has absolutely no evidence for his false claim. Rest of the points need no clarification as any sensible person can understand the irrelevance, illogicality and immaturity in them.


Conclusion:

It has become a trend, unfortunately, for some immature people to write pages after pages criticizing others. The huge amount of time spent in writing criticisms can be effectively utilized by studying Srimad Bhagavatam with Srila Prabhupada's purports which has more than 10,000 pages of pure nectar and listening to the lectures of innumerable faithful followers of Srila Prabhupada elucidating this nectar. 

Numerous scriptures proclaim the truth of the greatest danger in listening or propagating criticisms on practicing devotees. It is evident that all the scriptures and realized personalities reiterate the point that the material and spiritual life of those who read, hear and speak criticisms with relish will be destroyed very soon and they will be doomed for ever in eternal hell. 

Let us all pray to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna to give us purity in heart, mind & soul and remove the huge bundle of anarthas that are present from innumerable lifetimes, which is the source for tendency to criticize. If anyone who reads this blog has experienced any discomfort, apologies are offered at feet and forgiveness sought. Hare Krishna.


Avyaaja-prema-sampurnam anya-dosha-paranmukham
Vasudeva-priyam shuddham vande Vaishnava mandalam 

"I prostrate at the lotus feet of all the Vaishnavas, who are full of unconditional love for others and who do not see faults in others and therefore are pure-hearted and extremely dear to Lord Krishna."