International Cultic Studies Association
 Department: Group Report - Hare Krishna

Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001

Hare Krishna: news articles 1998

ISKCON in the News Articles from the Cult Observer 1984-1999 

1998

Vol. 15, Nos. ¾  

West Virginia Hare Krishnas Readmitted (p. 1) 

After a 10-year expulsion, the Hare Krishna community in Moundsville, WV, has been provisionally readmitted to the international body that oversees groups affiliated with the Vaishnava Hindu order. 

New Vrindavana [New Vrindaban], whose 2,000 acres make it one of the largest Krishna communities was expelled by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness after deviating from the Hindu order's moral and theological principles, according to society spokesman Anuttama Dasa. 

The community's former leader, Kirtanananda Swami, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for his 1997 conviction on federal mail fraud charges. Dasa said Kirtanananda had "set himself up as an independent authority" and introduced unapproved worship practices, such as using an organ, instead of drums, and singing Christian hymns. 

Under an agreement reached July IO, New Vrindavana has agreed to accept the authority of the society, abide by state and federal laws, cooperate with other society temples, and cease violating "proper Vaishnava behavior or standards of worship." During a one-year probationary period, the community also must report regularly on plans for fund-raising and maintaining its land holdings and buildings. 

New Vrindavana was founded in 1968 as the Hare Krishna movement's first rural community outside India. At its peak in the 1980s, it had about 700 members and a steady stream of tourists visiting its golden temple and gardens. Today, it has about 40 resident members and 150 who live off site. (AP Internet, 7/18/98)   

Vol. 15, No. 6  

Reforming Krishnas Admit Past Child Abuse (p. 4)

The Hare Krishna movement (International Society for Krishna Consciousness -ISKCON) has published an unusually candid expose detailing widespread physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children who were sent to live in the group's boarding schools in the United States and India in the 1970s and 1980s. Parents were often unaware of the abuse because they were traveling, soliciting donations for their guru's books in airports and other public places, leaving their children in the care of Hare Krishna monks and young devotees who had no training in educating children and often resented the task, the report says. It goes on to say that the legacy of abuse and the leadership's failure to grapple with it earlier have led many Hare Krishna children and their parents in this country to abandon the faith.  Membership is estimated at one million. (Laurie In 1997, the movement established a Child Protection Office in Alachua, FL, near a thriving Hare Krishna community. It investigates cases of past abuse and reports them to local  authorities.  The movement has an estimated 90.000  followers in the U.S., of whom only about 800 live full-time in the group's 45 American spiritual communities, or ashrams, down from an estimated 10,000 in the late 1970s. Most now live in and work in the secular world. There are no more boarding schools in the U.S., and many Krishna families now send their children to  public schools. And whereas most U.S. followers were "Anglo" converts to Hinduism, about half today are recent immigrants from India and elsewhere in Asia. The movement's greatest growth in recent years has been in Eastern Europe and India, and the total world membership is estimated at one million. (Laurie Goodstein, New York Times, Internet, 10/9/98)   

International Cultic Studies Association
 Department: Group Report - Hare Krishna

Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001

Hare Krishna: news articles 1998

ISKCON in the News Articles from the Cult Observer 1984-1999 

1998

Vol. 15, Nos. ¾  

West Virginia Hare Krishnas Readmitted (p. 1) 

After a 10-year expulsion, the Hare Krishna community in Moundsville, WV, has been provisionally readmitted to the international body that oversees groups affiliated with the Vaishnava Hindu order. 

New Vrindavana [New Vrindaban], whose 2,000 acres make it one of the largest Krishna communities was expelled by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness after deviating from the Hindu order's moral and theological principles, according to society spokesman Anuttama Dasa. 

The community's former leader, Kirtanananda Swami, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for his 1997 conviction on federal mail fraud charges. Dasa said Kirtanananda had "set himself up as an independent authority" and introduced unapproved worship practices, such as using an organ, instead of drums, and singing Christian hymns. 

Under an agreement reached July IO, New Vrindavana has agreed to accept the authority of the society, abide by state and federal laws, cooperate with other society temples, and cease violating "proper Vaishnava behavior or standards of worship." During a one-year probationary period, the community also must report regularly on plans for fund-raising and maintaining its land holdings and buildings. 

New Vrindavana was founded in 1968 as the Hare Krishna movement's first rural community outside India. At its peak in the 1980s, it had about 700 members and a steady stream of tourists visiting its golden temple and gardens. Today, it has about 40 resident members and 150 who live off site. (AP Internet, 7/18/98)   

Vol. 15, No. 6  

Reforming Krishnas Admit Past Child Abuse (p. 4)

The Hare Krishna movement (International Society for Krishna Consciousness -ISKCON) has published an unusually candid expose detailing widespread physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children who were sent to live in the group's boarding schools in the United States and India in the 1970s and 1980s. Parents were often unaware of the abuse because they were traveling, soliciting donations for their guru's books in airports and other public places, leaving their children in the care of Hare Krishna monks and young devotees who had no training in educating children and often resented the task, the report says. It goes on to say that the legacy of abuse and the leadership's failure to grapple with it earlier have led many Hare Krishna children and their parents in this country to abandon the faith.  Membership is estimated at one million. (Laurie In 1997, the movement established a Child Protection Office in Alachua, FL, near a thriving Hare Krishna community. It investigates cases of past abuse and reports them to local  authorities.  The movement has an estimated 90.000  followers in the U.S., of whom only about 800 live full-time in the group's 45 American spiritual communities, or ashrams, down from an estimated 10,000 in the late 1970s. Most now live in and work in the secular world. There are no more boarding schools in the U.S., and many Krishna families now send their children to  public schools. And whereas most U.S. followers were "Anglo" converts to Hinduism, about half today are recent immigrants from India and elsewhere in Asia. The movement's greatest growth in recent years has been in Eastern Europe and India, and the total world membership is estimated at one million. (Laurie Goodstein, New York Times, Internet, 10/9/98)   

International Cultic Studies Association
 Department: Group Report - Hare Krishna

Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001

Hare Krishna: news articles 1998

ISKCON in the News Articles from the Cult Observer 1984-1999 

1998

Vol. 15, Nos. ¾  

West Virginia Hare Krishnas Readmitted (p. 1) 

After a 10-year expulsion, the Hare Krishna community in Moundsville, WV, has been provisionally readmitted to the international body that oversees groups affiliated with the Vaishnava Hindu order. 

New Vrindavana [New Vrindaban], whose 2,000 acres make it one of the largest Krishna communities was expelled by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness after deviating from the Hindu order's moral and theological principles, according to society spokesman Anuttama Dasa. 

The community's former leader, Kirtanananda Swami, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for his 1997 conviction on federal mail fraud charges. Dasa said Kirtanananda had "set himself up as an independent authority" and introduced unapproved worship practices, such as using an organ, instead of drums, and singing Christian hymns. 

Under an agreement reached July IO, New Vrindavana has agreed to accept the authority of the society, abide by state and federal laws, cooperate with other society temples, and cease violating "proper Vaishnava behavior or standards of worship." During a one-year probationary period, the community also must report regularly on plans for fund-raising and maintaining its land holdings and buildings. 

New Vrindavana was founded in 1968 as the Hare Krishna movement's first rural community outside India. At its peak in the 1980s, it had about 700 members and a steady stream of tourists visiting its golden temple and gardens. Today, it has about 40 resident members and 150 who live off site. (AP Internet, 7/18/98)   

Vol. 15, No. 6  

Reforming Krishnas Admit Past Child Abuse (p. 4)

The Hare Krishna movement (International Society for Krishna Consciousness -ISKCON) has published an unusually candid expose detailing widespread physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children who were sent to live in the group's boarding schools in the United States and India in the 1970s and 1980s. Parents were often unaware of the abuse because they were traveling, soliciting donations for their guru's books in airports and other public places, leaving their children in the care of Hare Krishna monks and young devotees who had no training in educating children and often resented the task, the report says. It goes on to say that the legacy of abuse and the leadership's failure to grapple with it earlier have led many Hare Krishna children and their parents in this country to abandon the faith.  Membership is estimated at one million. (Laurie In 1997, the movement established a Child Protection Office in Alachua, FL, near a thriving Hare Krishna community. It investigates cases of past abuse and reports them to local  authorities.  The movement has an estimated 90.000  followers in the U.S., of whom only about 800 live full-time in the group's 45 American spiritual communities, or ashrams, down from an estimated 10,000 in the late 1970s. Most now live in and work in the secular world. There are no more boarding schools in the U.S., and many Krishna families now send their children to  public schools. And whereas most U.S. followers were "Anglo" converts to Hinduism, about half today are recent immigrants from India and elsewhere in Asia. The movement's greatest growth in recent years has been in Eastern Europe and India, and the total world membership is estimated at one million. (Laurie Goodstein, New York Times, Internet, 10/9/98)   

International Cultic Studies Association
 Department: Group Report - Hare Krishna

Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001

Hare Krishna: news articles 1998

ISKCON in the News Articles from the Cult Observer 1984-1999 

1998

Vol. 15, Nos. ¾  

West Virginia Hare Krishnas Readmitted (p. 1) 

After a 10-year expulsion, the Hare Krishna community in Moundsville, WV, has been provisionally readmitted to the international body that oversees groups affiliated with the Vaishnava Hindu order. 

New Vrindavana [New Vrindaban], whose 2,000 acres make it one of the largest Krishna communities was expelled by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness after deviating from the Hindu order's moral and theological principles, according to society spokesman Anuttama Dasa. 

The community's former leader, Kirtanananda Swami, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for his 1997 conviction on federal mail fraud charges. Dasa said Kirtanananda had "set himself up as an independent authority" and introduced unapproved worship practices, such as using an organ, instead of drums, and singing Christian hymns. 

Under an agreement reached July IO, New Vrindavana has agreed to accept the authority of the society, abide by state and federal laws, cooperate with other society temples, and cease violating "proper Vaishnava behavior or standards of worship." During a one-year probationary period, the community also must report regularly on plans for fund-raising and maintaining its land holdings and buildings. 

New Vrindavana was founded in 1968 as the Hare Krishna movement's first rural community outside India. At its peak in the 1980s, it had about 700 members and a steady stream of tourists visiting its golden temple and gardens. Today, it has about 40 resident members and 150 who live off site. (AP Internet, 7/18/98)   

Vol. 15, No. 6  

Reforming Krishnas Admit Past Child Abuse (p. 4)

The Hare Krishna movement (International Society for Krishna Consciousness -ISKCON) has published an unusually candid expose detailing widespread physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children who were sent to live in the group's boarding schools in the United States and India in the 1970s and 1980s. Parents were often unaware of the abuse because they were traveling, soliciting donations for their guru's books in airports and other public places, leaving their children in the care of Hare Krishna monks and young devotees who had no training in educating children and often resented the task, the report says. It goes on to say that the legacy of abuse and the leadership's failure to grapple with it earlier have led many Hare Krishna children and their parents in this country to abandon the faith.  Membership is estimated at one million. (Laurie In 1997, the movement established a Child Protection Office in Alachua, FL, near a thriving Hare Krishna community. It investigates cases of past abuse and reports them to local  authorities.  The movement has an estimated 90.000  followers in the U.S., of whom only about 800 live full-time in the group's 45 American spiritual communities, or ashrams, down from an estimated 10,000 in the late 1970s. Most now live in and work in the secular world. There are no more boarding schools in the U.S., and many Krishna families now send their children to  public schools. And whereas most U.S. followers were "Anglo" converts to Hinduism, about half today are recent immigrants from India and elsewhere in Asia. The movement's greatest growth in recent years has been in Eastern Europe and India, and the total world membership is estimated at one million. (Laurie Goodstein, New York Times, Internet, 10/9/98)