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| By: Bharatarshabha Dasa |
The ongoing litigation between ISKCON Mumbai and ISKCON Bangalore is now before the Supreme Court which has said that it will hear the matter on February 16th 2012. ISKCON Mumbai has all the while maintained that ISKCON Bangalore is involved in various frauds and that it wants to purge out Madhu Pandit Dasa and his team of devotees from ISKCON. They have even passed a resolution authorizing Doyaram Dasa to initiate criminal action against Madhu Pandit Dasa and others
This is our first of the series of articles in which we shall expose many of the unscrupulous activities of Dayaram Dasa one of IM’s bureau members. Dayaram joined ISKCON in 1985 served as a brahmacari in various capacities in various ISKCON temples. He became a grihasta in the year 1998. Claiming that he does not want to take any allowance from the temple for his maintenance, he sought to start a business, may be businesses. I would ask the reader to scan the documents pertaining to one such business- Janardhan Nirman Private Limited.
The said company deals in laying deep pile foundations for projects and housing complexes. Deep pile foundation lying is a very thriving business in many parts of West Bengal as the nature of soil in these areas makes it not strong enough to hold buildings and housing complexes. The soil needs to be treated to make it viable for building complexes and housing projects.
The Board of Directors of this company consists of Dinesh Vinayak Kocharekar (aka Dayaram Dasa), Punam Dinesh Kocharekar (wife of Dayaram Dasa) and Subrata Saha Sardar. Dayaram owns 99% of the share in this company and his wife 1%. The third person namely Sardar is just a sleeping partner. A perfect example of a family business! This company was started with an initial investment of about a crore of rupees. Where did Doyaram get a crore of rupees? What we should note here is the fact that prior to that he served as brahmacari, with no known source of income.
Did the ISKCON Mumbai give a crore of rupees to him or did his Guru Jayapataka Swami give him these funds so that he could lead a luxurious Grihasta life? If his guru or IM gave him this money where did they get it from? Are they giving this money from their Guru Dakshina account or did they siphon off some ISKCON’s money? If the source of funds is any one of these then he and the bureau member(s) who authorized this should take note that this indeed is a serious offense. They should take responsibility and resign in the higher interest of the organization. Not only should they resign but the whole legal process for punishing such an offense should be unleashed on the culprits. All action should be taken with great earnest to see to it that they are brought to books.
Of course there is the possibility that he has inherited these funds from his family, but Doyaram himself and ISKCON Mumbai should come clean about it and declare openly that he indeed received the initial funds required for starting this business from his family. If it is so then it is not illegal for a person to invest his own money in a business. Even if it is so, how far is it right for someone who is running a business meant for his personal profit to be a Temple President and a Bureau member of an ISKCON society, particularly keeping in mind we are preaching in India.
One may argue that even during Prabhupada’s presence grihastas like Jayananda Prabhu used to work and earn laxmi for temple and they were even temple presidents. But this cannot be applied in the case of Doyaram. His firm Janardhan Nirman Pvt Ltd has been making huge profits.
We all know Jayananda Prabhu, and grihastas of the like used to practically maintain the entire temple thro’ their earnings. They never kept even a penny of those earnings for themselves. Has Doyaram donated the profits from Janardhan Nirman entirely to ISKCON? If yes, let him reveal the figures. How much has been donated and how much has been earned every year since inception of Janardhan Nirman? Let him voluntarily declare his assets, and explain how he got those.
We all know Jayananda Prabhu, and grihastas of the like used to practically maintain the entire temple thro’ their earnings. They never kept even a penny of those earnings for themselves. Has Doyaram donated the profits from Janardhan Nirman entirely to ISKCON? If yes, let him reveal the figures. How much has been donated and how much has been earned every year since inception of Janardhan Nirman? Let him voluntarily declare his assets, and explain how he got those.
In general in ISKCON Mumbai if any of the brahmacari wants to become a grihasta, the unwritten policy is that he has to go out and work and fetch for himself. Why this special treatment for Doyaram Dasa? He is allowed to run his own business and still be a Temple President and a Bureau member whereas many others are left high and dry. Is it because that he is filled with envy towards Madhu Pandit Dasa and that he is a very handy dog who can be let loose to attack all those who wish to reinstate within ISKCON Srila Prabhupada to his rightful position as the sole diksha guru or acharya? In either case this whole episode of Doyaram’s start up funds for his construction venture shows IM in bad light, either they have allowed someone to siphon off funds or they have authorized someone to be a leader of a temple and simultaneously continue with business activity for himself just for the sake that he is a useful tool meant for attacking Prabhupadanugas.
God and the devious selfish Doyaram only know how many more businesses he has started and used ISKCON’s support be it covert or direct for the purpose of self aggrandizement.
It is also a funny thing that this very Doyaram who has his own construction venture for his self maintenance accuses Madhu Pandit Prabhu and other devotees of ISKCON Bangalore of running a family enterprise at ISKCON Bangalore. He and his stooges call ISKCON Bangalore, which is one of the best run ISKCON temples in the world and one of the few in which Srila Prabhupada is worshiped as the only acharya and diksha guru, a family run enterprise. In actuality ISKCON Bangalore is governed by a ten member council whose members are from various parts of India, who are elected from a temple presidents body every three year once as Srila Prabhupada wished (Click here to know more). ISKCON Bangalore and its group of temples has in its fold hundreds of full time missionaries serving the mission of Srila Prabhupada with great earnest. How much more mundane can a persons’ vision get? For him a temple dedicated to serving Prabhupada is a family enterprise and on par with a commercial venture meant for the pleasure of a family. Whereas his family business meant for earning his bread is all transcendental and not commercial. There cannot be a better case of a criminal accusing the police of crime than this! It is also pertinent to note that all the governing council members of ISKCON Bangalore every year give a voluntary disclosure of their assets for the sake transparency.
Affidavit 2009- ISKCON Bangalore
Let the bureau members of IM and Doyaram in particular, the kali chelas in the garb of devotees also file voluntary disclosure affidavits if they have nothing to hide. The fact that they do not want to disclose shows they are guilty of some misconduct.
Affidavit 2009- ISKCON Bangalore
Let the bureau members of IM and Doyaram in particular, the kali chelas in the garb of devotees also file voluntary disclosure affidavits if they have nothing to hide. The fact that they do not want to disclose shows they are guilty of some misconduct.
ISKCON Bangalore has also ventured into businesses for the purpose of supporting various endeavors for propagating Krishna consciousness. The businesses range from housing projects to devotional artifacts and prasadam sales. All these are done thro’ separate trusts. In the constitutional documents of these trusts one of the clauses clearly ensures that none of the trustees are in any way benefited from the profits that the trust makes in any of its ventures.
The clause in the India Heritage Foundation, which is involved in funding the Krishna Lila theme park coming up in Bangalore, reads as follows:
“…The trustee or the trustees as the case may be shall not derive benefit at any time from the trust funds at any event neither during the existence of the trust nor any at other time will any property of the trust be distributed among or made over to the trustee(s).” (IHF trust deed Clause 4)
This clause has been appropriately added in all trusts to ensure transparency and accountability.
We have on one hand systems and checks and balances for maintaining transparency being maintained in ISKCON Bangalore and on the other we have the ISKCON Mumbai GBC which is flouting all norms and as a history of scandalous fall downs. Many ISKCON gurus have stolen ISKCON assets, and the leadership is authorizing chelas like Doyaram to run their own business, the funds of which God only knows where they are coming from and where they are vanishing. The funny thing is that this very same bogus GBC of ISKCON Mumbai which has hijacked the movement of Srila Prabhupada, points fingers at ISKCON Bangalore and says you are full malpractice. Often said adage beware when you point fingers at someone there are three which point to you is best applicable in this.
