9. Letter from Haladhara das to Paramadvaiti Maharaja

Haladhara is one of the senior most disciples in Berlin, he accomplished a lot for Vrinda in the past 30 years: He managed Public relations, organised Inter-religious dialoge on a regular basis, he was hosted weekly on German Radio, He translated dozens of Vaishnava songs into german. He recently published a beautiful Bhagavad gita in poetic german language, which was well received by the German Vaishnava community. Haladhara is an independent thinker and outspoken critic. Paramadvaiti Maharaja valued his honest opinion, which sometimes did not sit well with some disciples.

October 2018

I have read your former disciple's letter in which she writes about sexual touching on your part and demands that you report it to your disciples and take appropriate action. I have also taken note of various statements you have made about this, in writing or as audio. The conclusion of all these documents is: that you can remember the massage but not the actual accusations.

Now I have repeatedly heard and read that some of your disciples are trying, on the apparent basis of the scriptures, to build up a fundamentalism that is supposed to absolve you of any criticism and to present everything that happened as made-up accusations. But your statements do by no means do that.

In addition, your former disciple, who made these accusations, is systematically slandered, called a prostitute and a liar. Instead of clarifying the matter, you remain unclear because you "cannot remember" the events of the evening. For me this is totally unacceptable and outrageous. The victim is traumatized again because you neither confess to the accusations nor have clearly rejected them, but consider yourself a victim of "political abuse". You are not stopping the mob that has rebelled against this woman. At the same time, you tolerate a personality cult around yourself that was never accepted by me.

Your silence is unacceptable to me. I also consider the behaviour of your representatives to be dangerous, because this interest group has become fanatical and (still) wants to enforce their opinion with verbal violence and wants to force it on other people. With subtle or open threats, this group neither tolerates criticism of its own actions nor accepts the opinions of people who think differently. They try with a cheap interpretation of misunderstood passages of the holy scriptures to denigrate the people who ask questions and demand clarity from you concerning the accusations against you. The private lives of those who publicly show compassion for your former disciples are distorted on social media or lies about their lives are spread and threatened.

From my point of view, the threshold to religious fanaticism and hate preaching has been crossed. What happens to these people and to your former disciple is unbelievably frightening and horrible. But you remain silent.

The American doctor of philosophy and professor at Harvard University, Kate Manne, writes in her research book "Down Girl, The Logic of Misogyny": "...The woman is not only threatened with legal measures and perhaps further violence, but she also sees her good reputation endangered: If she continues to insist on her portrayal, she will be described as crazy, she will be denounced as morally untrustworthy. Many men have escaped with their version of history mostly unpunished, both politically and personally".

A group of your Ritvik students are in charge. These are characters who clearly lack competence and empathy in dealing with this (and presumably other) issue(s). Not to mention the lack of spiritual maturity. These persons were appointed by you! They currently elude any critical ability to think and reflect. The associated negative consequences for themselves or others are not recognized or acknowledged by these people. Nobody has the right to touch the dignity of people who think differently!

I myself had to experience that behind my back, i.e. without speaking to me, you tried to install a disciple uncritical to you for the presidency of the Berlin Hindu community, past the democratic election process which is fundamental for associations in Germany. His wife is being shunned by more and more people in our community because of her extreme attitude.

You answered my son-in-law's question about the truthfulness of the accusations of sexual contact against you, evasively and unclearly ("can't remember"), but you called my attempt to take a stand on the anti-woman statements of your guru "wrong" and "not helpful" and attacked me for it.

The Hindu community of Berlin clearly opposes religious fanaticism and slander of people. We hold a peaceful and respectful position towards all people, which emerges unmistakably from our writings.
If you want to live with a woman, it's human, understandable and natural.

I urge you to clear up this intolerable situation, to express yourself publicly against any kind of religious fanaticism, whether it appears among those you have been appointed, whether it appears in the garb of Vaishnava teachings, under the guise of Guru-tattva or the questionable authority of these Ritvik disciples. I also urge you to finally live up to your responsibility to your former disciple.

"Where right becomes wrong, resistance becomes duty, obedience becomes crime." Bertold Brecht
I am angry, outraged and also infinitely sad that it has come to this point

Haladhara d.