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Janakinatha Das by Varnadi das Posted March 30, 2008
After some time with the Radha-Damodar traveling sankirtan party, Janakinatha took the opportunity to expand Srila Prabhupada's teachings in Africa. There, he met H.H. Navayogendra Swami, with whom he preached extensively throughout both Africa and India. Janakinatha returned to the US in 1980 and took up service in Chicago. It was during this time that he met his future wife, Vrindavan dd, at a preaching program in Madison, WS. They got married three months later and lived in Chicago until 1986, after which they visited India for 6 months. After their return they served in San Francisco and California for several years, and ultimately ended up in Alachua. During his householder life Janakinatha was a successful sales manager for several companies. Beyond that, however, he was a very sober, thoughtful, and deeply spiritual person who saw Krishna in everything - yet also always managed to mix in his great sense of humor. Over the last couple of years he was very involved in the NRR community, helping to organize festivals, manning the information booth, and training the youth in fundraising. Janakinatha was an emblem of selflessness, always ready to volunteer to do the needful, and a great source of inspiration for those who knew him. Janakinatha passed away in the early morning of March 15 in Orlando from complications of Hepatitis C. The cremation ceremony took place on Wednesday the 19th and was attended by his wife Vrindavan, his daughter Nicole and grandson Jordan, and close friends from the New Ramanreti community. A memorial service was held on the 26th at the Alachua temple.
yasman nodvijate loko lokan nodvijate ca yau |
ya idam paramam guhyam mad-bhaktesv abhidhasyati |
na ca tasman manusyesu kascin me priya-krttamah | "He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anyone, who is equipoised in happiness and distress, fear and anxiety, is very dear to Me." "For one who explains this supreme secret to the devotees, pure devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me."
"There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there
ever be one more dear."
There seems to be confusion about the status of Kirtanananda das in ISKCON these days. Please refer to the following. In 1996 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996, before Kirtanananda's retrial was completed, he pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering (mail fraud). He was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released on June 16, 2004. [18] Click Here. On September 10, 2000, the ISKCON Child Protection Office concluded a 17-month investigation and determined that Kirtanananda had molested two boys. He was prohibited from visiting any ISKCON properties for five years and offered conditions for reinstatement within ISKCON: [19] Click Here (1) He must contribute at least $10,000 to an organization dedicated to serving Vaishnava youth, such as Children of Krishna, the Association for the Protection of Vaishnava Children, or a gurukula approved by the APVC. (2) He must write apology letters to all the victims described in this letter. In these letters he must fully acknowledge his transgressions of child abuse, and he must take full responsibility for those actions. Also, he must express appropriate remorse, and offer to make amends to the victims. These letters should be sent to the APVC, not directly to the victims. (3) He must undergo a psychological evaluation by a mental health professional pre-approved by the APVC, and he must comply with recommendations for ongoing therapy described in the evaluation report and by the APVC. (4) Kirtanananda Das must fully comply with all governmental investigations into misconduct on his part. Kirtanananda never satisfied any of these conditions. [20] Click Here
Thus, he is not welcomed or allowed to visit or stay in any ISKCON centers
world wide. Even if he ever completed the above, he would never be allowed
to give class, lead a kirtan, or occupy any prominent position. As a
convicted sexual child abuser under the CPO, he is not recognized as a guru
in ISKCON for the remainder of this life.
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Corrections Re. Janakinatha's Obituary by Varnadi das Posted April 12, 2008
Please excuse any inconsistencies in the previous obituary. As I'm sure you
understand, this is a stressful time for all involved. If Janakinath was 19
when he joined, it must have been in 1970, instead of 1973, as he was born
in 1950 and passed away several days short of his 58th birthday. If he was
initiated a year after joining, in 1974, he must have been 23 when he joined
(this is likely the correct scenario). Also, he joined in the old Miami
temple, not in Coconut Grove. I should have checked this at the time, but
there was just too much going on. His widow, Vrndavan dd, is still doing her
best to cope with the loss.
Please consider this letter in response to Malati devi dasi's post "Kirtanananda Status" dated 16 March, 2008. Kirtanananda Swami does not in any manner represent himself or disciples as members of ISKCON. Kirtanananda Swami does not seek out, canvas for or recruit disciples from the before mentioned organization. He has not been invited to rejoin ISKCON and does not wish to be in a situation where he is not welcome. If devotees within ISKCON seek, invite or select to have association with Maharaja, this is strictly on their own desire and resource. Maharaja is willing to cooperate with any Vaishnava who follows Srila Prabhupada's teachings and wishes to further convey the message of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We would like to clarify also that Kirtanananda Swami was given sannyasa by Srila Prabhupada in 1967. We hope that this finds you well and in good health. Your servant, Mathura das
Note from Kirtanananda: Dear Dina Sharana prabhu, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I would like to thank you for providing us with a clear and unambiguous GBC position on Mother Narahari's case. Since Sunil Zaveri prabhu addressed all the issues covered in your letter I will be brief. We are all very glad that thanks to the public discussion of Mother Narahari's case both sides are now moving closer to a mutually acceptable solution. Thank you very much for understanding our concerns and willingness to address them. I especially applaud your efforts to recover 150 euros of Lord Nrsimhadeva's money from a young bhakta who recently married Narahari mataji's niece. Srila Prabhupada was very strict when it comes to the misuse of ISKCON's funds and very frugal in his practical approach to money matters. I sincerely hope that you also make every effort to recover the vast sums of money that were previously misspent, misappropriated, or misused in some other way by the devotees holding positions of power in the previous ISKCON administration. Recovery of these monies would go a long way towards improving the dire financial situation of the German yatra. I would also hope that all the monies collected in the name of ISKCON by the current gurus, sannyasis, and other prominent devotees are properly accounted for. The leaders must lead by example and follow the same rules they expect others to follow. We deeply appreciate all sincere devotees like your good self who perform the often thankless and under-appreciated task of administration in ISKCON.
Dandavat pranams It is very clear to me that from the perspective of the articles on the plight of devotees in Germany that they have been written till now for Smt. Narahari Dasi Mataji and Smt. Nandimukhi Matji. The picture appears that the "local authorities" have used their Power to throw them out of the temple, leaving them with literally nothing. As a regular visitor to the Temple, I can say that neither of the accusations are fully correct and do also great injustice to the Temple authoritys which tried log to come to a reasonable agreement with them. As for the fact that they have been asked to leave the Temple, I can say that the local Temple authorities have tried their very best to come to an agreement and peace with Narahari Mataji and Nandimukhi Mataji about their service attitude and behaviour towards the authorities and the devotees living on Sri Simhachalam. Smt. Narahari Mataji and her sister live right now in the nearby Village Jandelsbrunn in a newly acquired house and property which seem to have been acquired a few months before the ISKCON Germany authorities have asked them to leave the temple. They where already moving out of the Temple long before the GBC had given their decision about the Causa. Also there have been several meetings with them (ishtaghostis and also local GBC meetings) before, which started around two years ago on the topic of Narahari Matajis and Nandimukhi Matajis service attitude and their repeated reluctance to accept any authority above them, which, as we know, not possible to work in any society like a temple or a company. Also in their attempts to discredit the local authorities by writing letters to their Spiritual Master to remove the Temple authoritys, which happened around a year ago. We also must see that the German Yatra has underwent many hardships for many Years so did the temples and the situations is not easy to manage for anyone there. Several times they have been given very fair chances to introspect their service and improve their relationship with the community and their attitude towards their authorities, which they always said they will do, but after some time the same pattern of quarrel and hatred broke through. And as a result, quarrels and not very nice "arguments" occurred on the temple ground which caused much disturbance in the temple and also in the local community. As a closing word, I personally find the statement in the letter by Kula-pavana Prabhu a bit too harsh. He says: "We ask devotees reading this letter to please pray to Lord Narasimhadeva to protect His dedicated servants. Ultimately He is the real authority and His wrath is terrible."
Of course they served the Lord for many years and we are very grateful to
them, but there are always two faces of a coin, if Im not mistaken.
And firstly we should introspect our own behaviour if we maybe brought the
"wrath" or correction of Lord Narasimha upon us.
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