“Scandal” and “controversy” are the middle names of ISKCON.
Weighed down by the dum maaro dum bestowed inflicted on it by Bollywood, the cult has been accused of being a CIA outfit; its gurukuls have been infamous for sex scandals, child abuse, molestation and homosexual abuse; there have been whispers of its founder being murdered.
Its mid-day meal scheme Akshay Patra has slumped into a row.
It falls to a pattern, therefore, that ISKCON’s proposed Krishna Lila theme park on Kanakapura Road in Bangalore, for which the bhumi pooja took place today (in picture), should have been begun on a litigious note, with charges of land grabbing flying around between ISKCON and the Congress’ D.K.Shiva Kumar.
Money for the 28 acre, Rs 350 crore “family edutainment” theme park inspired by Disneyland, and aimed at weaning Indian kids away from western comic-strip icons Superman and Spiderman, will be raised by developing a “heritage township” on the 42.5 acres near the hillock.
Photograph: Karnataka Photo News
Tags: Churumuri, CIA, ISKCON, Karnataka Photo News, KPN, Krishna Consciousness, Krishna Lila Theme Park, Sans Serif, Walt Disney
20 June 2010 at 9:08 pm
ISKCON is doing very good job. What is wrong in building a temple as theme park?
Not sure what exactly blogger is trying to convey here. Looks like blogger is agent of DKS.
Does blogger has any guts to question new mosque or new church coming up everyday in every streets ? Because of Congress Hindus are still unable to build a temple for Ram in Ayodhya.
If not in Ayodhya where else one can build temple for Ram? In Vatican or in mecca?
Congress is playing just vote bank politics for decades now. Still deciding on whether to execute Kasab. Shame on Congress “Destroyers of India” .
20 June 2010 at 10:23 pm
churumuri sucks! but still I’ll visit the site! that’s human nature!
20 June 2010 at 10:27 pm
What I don’t love about ISKCON:
1. The ISKCON tradition, which is evangelical, is incongruent with mainstream Hindu dharma. I think ISKCON’s methods place it closer to evangelical Christian organizations than to traditional Hindu ashrams that focus on consciousness or the “inside”.
2. Only some but not all of ISKCON’s leaders are sanyasis.
What I love about ISKCON:
1. It promotes satvik Indian vegetarian food.
2. It promotes love not only for the cow but all creatures. After the Jainas and Gandhi, nobody has promoted the beautiful Indian concept of ahimsa quite like ISKCON.
3. It helps Westeners be aware of the Vedic tradition based on the Bhagvata Purana (Srimad Bhagvatam). ISKCON’s effort to make Americans aware of Sri Krishna’s message is unparalleled.
4. Its community programs offer local children and youth meaningful, clean and productive associations that emphasize character and respect for the environment. E.g., the Dallas center (established by Abhay Charan De, a.k.a. Srila Prabhupad, in 1971; the first in America), which I sometimes visit, coordinates summer camps for kids.
5. The Akshay Patra program is one of the world’s largest daily, free mass-feeding programs. Imagine serving a HOT meal to a million demanding kids every day! — ISKCON’s ultra-modern kitchen in Bangalore does it.
My comment on ISKON’s critics:
1. Churumuri’s post, which is clearly defamatory, shows a dislike of ISKCON based on heresay. (You might be more honest stating your ideological dislike of the organization, rather than pretending to “link” to evidence that amounts to heresay.)
2. D.K. Shiva Kumar, the Congress leader is one of the most ignorant and cynical ruffians in Karkataka’s politics. His illegitimate verbal tirade against ISKCON seems to be a diversionary tactic to help voters look past his own failings. He should get his just desserts in the next election.
20 June 2010 at 11:05 pm
Thinking that the replica is an eggless cake, saliva fills my mouth
21 June 2010 at 12:18 am
Right.. Like what India needs right now, is a lot of land and 350 crores spent on a religious-themed amusement park..
I wonder how much the entry fee will be, and if the poor children being served by the Akshaya Patra foundation will each receive a complimentary ticket along with their meals..
I guess promoting your spiritual ideology under the guise of “family fun” is better than blowing up stuff or threats..
21 June 2010 at 10:32 am
Churmuri seems to specialice in smear and innuendo. Unlike the last time where you simply repeated some discredited allegations about George Fernandes, this time you provided links. So I checked them all and here’s what I found,
-[dum maro dum] links to page containing lyrics to the song; shame so this is just a loose piece of abuse, no semblance of evidence just smear, pure and simple
-[CIA Outfit] links to a 12 year old article from Outlookindia.com, which was an innuendo ridden article published around the time Iskcon was going through legal settlements and expelling its worst leaders for sexual abuse and child molestation (more of that later)
-[sex scandals, child abuse, molestation and homosexual abuse] links to some obscure blog as does [founder being murdered] both of which are again over five years old, written by a bunch of conspiracy theorists who must keep company of those who believe 9/11 was an insider plot, that the moon landings were faked in a studio, that Indira Gandhi was married in secret to someone, that LBJ got JFK assassinated; and that the earth is flat – in other words,stark raving mad nutters
-[Akshay Patra has slumped into a row] links to some news report on a labour led agitation by state government mid-day meal workers who have lost a meal contract to AkshayaPatra. Devi Setty and Mohandas Pai (among the many illustrious trustees of the foundation) would be amused to read such rubbish about AkshayaPatra. It remains the the world’s most best run and largest school meal program. It has silenced the soul harvesting evangelisers who can no longer claim a monopoly on social service which is why probably Churumuri is besmirching AkshayaPatra.
You guys should be ashamed of yourselves for running a scandal sheet like this. Iskcon showed great character in dealing with its sexual abuse problem, expelling the wrong doers, and settling with abuse victims. Very unlike the Vatican which has been hushing up its scandal in concert with a plaint media. And even with all this we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. The scope of the scandal in Africa and India is truly horrifying. The Sister Abhaya case has been dragging on for >15 years – and not a peep from Churumuri?
I dislike and reject Iskcon’s misappropriation of the Chaitanya and Madhva sampradaya, I don’t care for their effeminate renditions of Krishna, their Krishnaization of Hindu sampradaya, their Abrahamization of Hindu sampradaya. But we will talk about that another day. Whatever they have done they don’t deserve to be abused like this.
21 June 2010 at 1:44 pm
DKS wanted to buy this piece of land and couldn’t not do that. No one remembers DKS fighting on any issue that matters to the welfare of the state.
21 June 2010 at 2:00 pm
What can one say about ISKCON. AS with all such organizations, it has the good, Bad and the ugly.
It does a lot of good in its charity cases – Both in India and abroad. Who can forget famous Steve Jobs quote that he survived for a few months during his pre-apple – post college days with only one good meal a week provided free at Hare Krishna temple?
Who can forget their Mid-Day meal program that started out small, reaching out to so many children now?
But, then there are also bad things like badgering of devotees (and others) for donations etc.
There are also ugly things like corruption, abuse and other charges.
So, I suspect all good, bad and ugly will continue to be there in Theme park as well.. :-(
21 June 2010 at 3:47 pm
Looks like Churmuri wants to comment on everything under the sun as if he holds monopoly of all the wisdom of the world. A typical armchair philosopher, like we have many in India.
Grow up kid, get up from your armchair and do something worthwhile like Akshaya Patra is doing!
ISKCON guys don’t need inspiration from Disney, but you need from Krishna, that’s why they are building the park.Donate some money to them & tell your friends too so that the park comes up fast.
On the DKS allegations – let the dogs bark, the caravan will pass & Akshaya patra will keep feeding more children. Unless this idiot gets the program stopped with his perverted schemes…
21 June 2010 at 6:35 pm
‘Does Sri Krishna need Walt Disney for inspiration?’
Don’t know, can’t tell as the Lord hasn’t spoken his mind to anyone recently that I know of.
But ISKCON surely seems to need this. And I would say there is nothing wrong with it a long as:
- The project is completely above board with no obfuscation – ie a real estate project masquerading as Holy fantasy park.
- The land dealing is market driven ie ISKCON purchases the land by the current owners matching the market price.
- Our esteemed sarkar doesn’t play mid-wife nor the benefactor in delivering this dream project by either providing land or the funds in the form of some subsidy or grant.
If these conditions are met, I don’t find any reason why anyone should fret or froth at mouth at this idea of building a theme park or a circus or a casino or whatever.
21 June 2010 at 8:10 pm
what about the space park? with 5/4/3 star accomadation for honeymooners. why isn’t anyone/DKS complaining about that?
21 June 2010 at 8:39 pm
Well done Kaangeya…you did it again.
To base an article on a third rated rowdy sheeter DK Shivakumar’s claim that the land was encroached upon, is absurd and laughable. If this DK Shi has any sense, he should contest it in court. This guy, needed some way of getting from his recent fiasco of fund misappropriation for the flood victims, so he takes on ISKCON. Note to Churmuri, anything a Congress guy says should be taken with a bucket of salt. If Churumuri, thinks there has been land encroachment by ISKCON, let it go to the courts with evidence.
21 June 2010 at 8:48 pm
Let ISKCON do what they want, no? Why all the concern and agitation? Don’t go there if you don’t want to!
21 June 2010 at 9:53 pm
What’s happening to Churumuri???
Churumuri sucks
22 June 2010 at 1:01 am
How about a white paper (or a colorful map) on the urban land holdings by the various organizations and trusts (religious/atheist/political) ?
That should make it a very secular post. No ?
22 June 2010 at 11:02 am
If anyone has visited the Akshardham temples, which were built entirely by the funds of the trust, then one will understand why such projects are certainly needed.
India built some amazing temples and structures over the centuries. Why should this century be any different?
22 June 2010 at 11:25 am
Churumuri and DKS (and all the secularists) suck…
22 June 2010 at 7:35 pm
How many people know or even care about the conversion of several church owned properties into commercial multi-use properties? Those of you who live in Bangalore sure know about the row that erupted when the Church of South India built a commercial building on its premises at the Trinity Church – at the eastern end of MG Road. The land, a part of the Bangalore Cantonment, was leased by the British Army in India to church and then assumed by the Indian Army after independence. And wen will Churumuri write about the many priests of the Catholic diocese of Bangalore who were threatened with expulsion when they brought to public notice the collusion between the land mafia and the diocesan leaders?
26 June 2010 at 3:18 pm
If journalists can say that All Presidents Men can be considered as good film… made on
journalism, then why can’t ISKCON Bangalore look for inspiration from Disney Land. The
idea behind creating a theme park of this scale is not about imitating the occidental. But it is
creating awareness among children about our rich heritage, which can supersede Batman
and Superman. ISKCON Bangalore is the only Hindu religious institution that has planned
edutainment kind of awareness in India through the Krishna Lila Theme park. This project has
earned a praise and appreciation from many big-wigs of the city. Churumuri should have been
there for the Bhoomi Pooja (invitation was open for the general public) and keenly listened to
the Vice President of ISKCON Bangalore speak while he was giving a presentation regarding
the need and purpose of the Krishna Lila Theme park before writing anything about this issue.
21 August 2010 at 4:58 pm
rascal, you know anything about iskcon, Bangalore?
dont talk all non-sense, you think you are a critic?
critic should always speak truth. i’m a critic and i speck truth.
you rascal delete this article for your good. post it after knowing the fact.
check,
http://www.iskcontruth.wordpress.com