What is Vrindavan? Who is Radha? Who is Krishna? Who am I?
Where am I? What is this all about?
Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Vrindavan is His kingdom, the
spiritual world. This website provides you with a little insight into the most
superior and holy kingdom of Krishna and the residents of Vrindavan living together
with their King Sri Krishna and His Queen Srimati Radha.
To learn about Krishna and spiritual life the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada are foremost. You'll probably find this two books most helpful:
Bhagavad-gita As It Is -
teaching the ABC of spiritual life
Krishna - The Supreme Personality
of Godhead - describes the life of Sri Krishna
Quotes are from:
CC = Caitanya-caritamrita (translation and commentary from A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)
NOD = Nectar of Devotion (from A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)
SB = Srimad-Bhagavatam (translation and commentary from A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada)
SGGSP = Sri Gaura-Govindarcana-Samarana-Paddhati (Dyanacandra Gosvami/translated
by Haridhama dasa)
SSRKGD = Sri Sri Radha-Krsna-ganoddesa-dipika (Rupa Gosvami/translated
by Kusakratha dasa)
Pictures are from various artists
and the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
COPYRIGHT
Any and all BBT images and written materials are (c) 1972 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
All rights reserved. All such materials are published pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C.
Section 107, Fair Use Exception.
Site articles are copywritten to their respected authors. All rights reserved.
All authors retain their ownership of their own articles. Authors are fully and
solely responsible for the content in their articles.
This website is for information and education only.
The copyright for translations and pictures belongs to the respective authors
and artists. Art and translations are used on this website without expressly permission,
pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, Fair Use Exception
The books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada are available from the Bhaktivedanta
Book Trust.
Sri Gaura-Govindarcana-Samarana-Paddhati is available online as pdf file.
Sri Sri Radha-Krsna-ganoddesa-dipika is available from the Krsna Institute.
The people behind this website are:
Webmaster and Publisher - Urdhvaga prabhu
For any Questions Contact: 
Many thanks to the humble devotees on the net for their encouraging
mailings. This website exists only due to your kindness.
--------- Original Message -----------
From: BBTI Internet Copyrights Office
Email: copyrights2@bbti.org
To: info@vrindavan.de
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 10:39 PM
Subject: BBTI copyrights
Dear Urdhvaga prabhu,
Your website, vrindavan.de, is very nice, but you are using several copyrighted
BBTI
pictures. You mention their copyrights on your information page, which we appreciate.
However, we would prefer that you contact us so that we have a record of what
materials are being used and by whom. There is a form that we ask everyone to
fill out for this purpose at http://www.bbti.org/form.html
While we are usually generous with letting ISKCON devotees use such
materials for preaching purposes, we do have procedures for their use.
Please contact us to resolve this matter.
Looking forward to your response,
Jiva Dasa
BBTI Internet Copyrights Office
USA, Feb 19, 2001 (VNN6569) — Letter to: Dinesh
BY A. C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA
New Vrindaban
10 June, 1969
69-06-10
My Dear Dinesh,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated
June, 6, 1969 and the copy of the agreement which you sent. The
first thing is that I have already given you my word, so there is
no need of an agreement with me. My word is final agreement, but
if you want it for business reasons, I have no objections to sign
it. But the wordings are not always clear. Another thing is although
I have brought this Sankirtana Movement to the Western World we
cannot make it copyrighted. The Sankirtana Movement is not
my invention. So how can it be copyrighted? Besides that, as
you will find in the album of my previous recording, the chanting
of Hare Krishna is going on since time immemorial. So Hare Krishna
cannot be copyrighted, although the tune in which I sing with
my disciples, that may be made copyrighted. I have no objection
to sign this agreement, but don't be misled that the chanting
of Hare Krishna or Lord Caitanya's Movement can be made copyrighted.
Iskcon Idiot Ajita Das Wants To Copyright Krishna's Holy Name
lnternational Society for Krishna Consciousness
Founder Acharya : His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
To: Giriraja Govardhana Gaudiya Math
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness Inc is disappointed
that your Organisation seems to have decided upon a course of action
that is likely to cause divisiveness and certainly confusion in
an area of religious life where we think it is more appropriate
to aim for harmony and cooperation. If the end result of your actions
is that people will be confused about the relationship between our
organisations then that, in our view, is not in the interest of
either party.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness Inc has worked
for many years in Australia to establish both a reputation and goodwill
in the words HARE KRISHNA as a means of identifying our organisation
and what our organisation does in both a religious and commercial
sense. The end result of this is that we believe that people in
Australia use the words HARE KRISHNA to distinguish our organisation
so these words have become part of our identity in both a material
and spiritual sense. In fact The International Society for Krishna
Consciousness Inc is the registered owner in Australia of the trade
mark HARE KRISHNA in relation to "religious education, seminars,
lectures; educational entertainment and information services of
a religious nature" in Class 41 (registration 745346) and so
any use of the words HARE KRSHNA in a trade mark sense by an entity
that is not authorized by us in relation to such services would
infringe registration 745346.
We believe that we are obliged to defend the intellectual property
rights that we have built up over the years and also act to do what
we can to prevent deception and confusion arising through the misuse
of our trade marks or any attempt to sow confusion in the minds
of our supporters. We would certainly like to make it quite clear
that we do not either agree with or condone the use of the words
HARE KRISHNA in the way that we have seen. We would be extremely
reluctant to enforce our legal rights but prefer to voice our concerns
to you in a spirit of fraternity hoping that you will appreciate
that your actions are inappropriate and counterproductive and that
you will accordingly cease use of the words HARE KRISHNA in a way
that is both contrary to the trade marks legislation and which would
have the consequence of leading to deception or confusion.
On behalf of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Ajita Das
President
---------
Jan 10, GERMANY (SUN) —
A reply to the question, “How were the copyrights
transferred to the BBTI?”
First of all we have to understand that the
BBTI is an impostor organisation and has nothing to do with Srila
Prabhupada’s original BBT. The BBTI just tries to control
the BBT, that’s all.
ISKCON
and Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. (BBTI) are NOT
the authentic Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) founded by Srila Prabhupada
for publishing his phenomenal works. Srila Prabhupada’s Bhaktivedanta
Book Trust (BBT) is a legal trust and has no connection with ISKCON
and the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc., (BBTI) a California
corporation formed in 1988, 11 years after Srila Prabhupada departed
from this world. Srila Prabhupada established the Bhaktivedanta
Book Trust in 1972, and in 1974, appointed Hansadutta dasa BBT trustee
for life with these words: “The temples may go, the devotees
may go, but my books will live forever.”
So, how then were the copyrights transferred
to the BBTI? They never where. Hansadutta did NOT “signed over”
the copyrights to the BBTI, he only resigned as a trustee.
What Hansadutta did was to resign
officially from his post as the BBT Trustee, to which Srila Prabhupada
has appointed him life-long (even in writing). The so-called copyrights
are still with the BBT, but the problem is that the original trustees
of that Bhaktivedanta Book Trust have either resigned or fallen
away, so the book trust (BBT) itself is not functional at present,
being bereft of its original trustees. That is the real issue and
problem. Legally it is very questionable if the bogus BBTI can take
over the BBT by getting their own man signed in (into the BBT) with
the help of Hansadutta’s resignation.
Because of Hansadutta’s official
resignation as a BBT Trustee (at the court case) the bogus BBTI
now thinks to put their own man into the BBT and thus control everything.
The BBTI is an illegal impostor
corporation created by ISKCON, which has absolutely no legal rights
over Srila Prabhupada’s books. They just want to usurp
the BBT and control all of the money and printing. The court case
against Hansadutta was to contest Srila Prabhupada’s own originally
created BBT in court, trying to degrade Srila Prabhupada to a mere
scribbling of ISKCON and a hired servant of the BBT-I Inc. By suing Srila Prabhupada’s lifelong
appointed trustees, the bogus BBTI managers thought to get the control
over the BBT.
That Hansadutta has resigned from
being a BBT trustee is unfortunate, but it does not mean that automatically
the bogus BBTI has the printing rights. This is not the case. The
rights are still with the BBT only, which at present is disintegrated
because it has no more functional trustees. So the BBTI is NOT Srila
Prabhupada’s BBT at all and they absolutely have no claim
to the copyrights on Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Unfortunately Hansadutta agreed to
a court settlement in which he was offered by ISKCON/BBTI to privately
print books outside of ISKCON if he officially resigns as BBT Trustee,
and this Idiot (by the advice of his lawyer Gupta) went for it.
He betrayed Srila Prabhupada by resigning from his service personally
given to him by Srila Prabhupada (to print original books as BBT
Trustee).
Srila Prabhupada wanted the BBT to
be separate from ISKCON, but Hansadutta being a BBT Trustee resigned
from his post, playing the original BBT into the hands of ISKCON
GBC-clones, with Dryadwaita Swami on their head, who is perverting
all of Srila Prabhupada’s original translations, without being
checked by anybody.
Hansadutta voluntarily renounced the
Sacred Trust as lifetime GUARDIAN of Srila Prabhupada’s books
for the right to print books outside of ISKCON for personal profit,
in any way he likes, with no checks and balances, just to make quick
bucks with his own privatised company, by his personalized rights
to privatise Srila Prabhupada’s books, for himself only. How
selfish. How foolish. How unfortunate. What an idiot. What a fool.
The only non-negotiable thing was
for him to remain Srila Prabhupada’s BBT Trustee as per his
order (as his re-established BBT trustee). As BBT Trustee, it was
his fiduciary responsibility to fight an appeal to uphold Srila
Prabhupada’s original BBT Trust, with himself as his appointed
trustee.
By appointing Hansadutta as a BBT
trustee, Srila Prabhupada knew very well that despite his bad habits
and artificial fall-downs, he still had the POTENTIAL to save His
BBT from the inevitable book changers and political managers that
rushed to change His books even before He went into His final Samadhi.
Srila Prabhupada’s original
books are not separate from ISKCON so that the BBT Trustees would
have the power to demand the purity and obedience to Srila Prabhupada
before licensing publishing rights to any branch of ISKCON. In that
way, the BBT Trustee was created as the ultimate watchdog of the
standards of ISKCON.
But Hansadutta has rejected his service
of protecting the integrity of Srila Prabhupada’s book-setup,
by not getting a court settlement of being re-established as Srila
Prabhupada’s appointed BBT Trustee. On the opposite, he gave
up his post to the KING of the book-changers, Jayadwaita Swami.
Not only will the BBTI now NOT be forced to rectify the changed
books of the Pure Devotee, but the book-changing fox has been locked
in with the chickens! It is hilarious, one does not know if to laugh
or cry. Srila Prabhupada wanted him, as his BBT Trustee, to protect
his books but he has betrayed him by selling out to the greatest
demon and book-changers for a cheap settlement of personal publishing
rights.
This is most fatal:
In the settlement it is stated: “Hansadutta
Dasa, Veda Guhya Dasa, Bhagavan Dasa, and Dasa Dasanudasa Dasa Dasi
have voluntarily stepped down from any role they might have had
as trustees of the 1972 trust. And all concerned have agreed that
now the (new) trustees (of the BBT) will be four trustees from the
BBT-I International: Brahma Muhurta Dasa, Naresvara Dasa, Svavasa
Dasa, and Jayadvaita Swami.”
So, that means the new BBT trustees
are now Brahma Muhurta Dasa, Naresvara Dasa, Svavasa Dasa, and Jayadvaita
Swami, and the bogus BBT-I trustees are also Brahma Muhurta Dasa,
Nerdesvara Dasa, Svavasa Dasa, and Jayadvaita Swami.
The settlement further states: “With
the validity of the California trust now reaffirmed, all parties
agree that the rightful beneficiary of the trust is the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness”. “The BBT-I will
continue handling the active side of the BBT operations” (What
is that meaning??)
Sounds really bad, and this scum Naresvara
(a real nerd) also called Nerdesvara helped destroy the Singapore
printing. WOW, the worst scum’s Jayadvaita, Nerdesvara and
Svavas controlling the BBT as well as the BBT-I. Unbelievable!
However, since Hasadutta did not get
the printing license (because it was given to Gupta) he has rescinded
his resignation as BBT Trustee. Hansadutta on his website wrote
the following:
“This is to notify you that inasmuch as your
organization has never given me a license to print the original
books of Srila Prabhupada but rather the license has been given
to Krsna Books Inc. the formation of which has been proven in court
proceedings to be a fraud practiced by my attorney Joseph Fedorowsky
(See California State Bar Complaint Case No. 99-0-11217, See Overview
of Complaint attached as Exhibit 1).
Also none of the Settlement monies
were paid to me other than to cover whatever obligation I may have
had to Mr. Fedorowsky.
This leaves me no alternative than to rescind the settlement agreement
and withdraw my resignation pursuant to which you were appointed
trustees of the trust and I must reassert my position as trustee
of the trust.
Since the Settlement Agreement has
been invalidated I have no alternative but to reassert my duties
as trustee. I will now perform my responsibilities as trustee.”
Also Madhudvisa wrote to Locanananda
the following:
“BBTI is not even the “BBT”
Prabhupada established. It is simply ISKCON operating under another
name. They have nothing to do whatsoever with Prabhupada’s
BBT. It is simply a con. They are not the BBT and, as Hansadutta
Prabhu’s case has proved, THEY HAVE NO CLEAR CLAIM TO THE
COPYRIGHTS OF PRABHUPADA’S BOOKS. So the copyright issue is
not relevant. BBTI have no clear claim to the rights to Prabhupada’s
books at all. Nothing has changed since Hansadutta’s case
except Hansadutta “signed over” the copyrights to the
BBTI… But it is very unlikely that Hansadutta had the copyrights
of Prabhupada’s books in his possession so his “signing
over” of the copyrights to the BBTI is completely bogus also.
So the BBTI is NOT Prabhupada’s BBT at all and they do not
have any clear claim to the copyrights on Prabhupada’s books.
So these sentimental arguments that
the “BBTI should do it” are not very relevant. THE BBT
PRABHUPADA ESTABLISHED NO LONGER EXISTS (due to NO original trustees).
So now the sincere disciples of Srila Prabhupada
have to “do the needful” and get Prabhupada’s
original books back in print and distribute them, perhaps by reestablishing
the REAL BBT. This action alone can force the BBTI to print
Prabhupada’s original books also as in the presence of Prabhupada’s
original books there is no market for their adulterated versions
of many of Prabhupada’s books they print [NOT all of them
are changed--BBTI still publish some original pre-1977 books as
well]
Actually if we like it or not, but
we now have to work with Gupta, since he holds the court approved
license, to print original books. Actually Gupta has to sue now
the bogus BBTI for printing unauthorised Books.
Urdhvaga das (ACBSP)
--------------
Hansadutta's reply to this letter:
http://www.prabhupadanugas.eu/?p=13294
Posted by Hansadutta das on August 1, 2010
My dearest Urdhvaga Prabhu,
Obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I owe it to Srila Prabhupada and to the devotees, to yourself, as having been appointed by Srila Prabhupada to act as trustee for life, to clarify what happened with the BBT.
In your post “Copyrights Transferred to the BBTI?”, published up on the Sampradaya Sun, you’ve understood correctly that BBTI is not the same as Prabhupada’s BBT. BBTI (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.) is a California corporation (non-profit) that was registered in 1988, in a deliberate attempt to bypass the legal trust.
Immediately thereafter, ISKCON GBC voted to assign the copyrights from BBT to BBTI. However, they had no legal authority to do so, because Prabhupada gave express instructions in the trust document that ISKCON was to have no jurisdiction over the trust.
But that’s not all… for years Ramesvara operated a shell as if it were the actual BBT – used ISKCON of America and later another ISKCON registered in California for which he applied to the local authorities for the dba (“doing business as” otherwise known as a fictitious business name) “Bhaktivedanta Book Trust”. For so many years he and the GBC bypassed Srila Prabhupada’s actual trust and trustees.
Devotees did not know it, but Ramesvara was never a BBT trustee – he was only ever appointed secretary by Prabhupada. He might have been a trustee of the Indian Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, which was really only a publishing trust and did not hold the copyrights to Prabhupada’s books.
So you can see that the term “BBT” has been loosely applied to any one of a few different legal entities, a convenient smoke screen for ISKCON to take over the trust.
First of all, stop here and understand what is a trust. A legally constituted trust consists of the Settlor, or the person who is making the trust; the property vested in the trust; a beneficiary, or the party who benefits from the trust; and trustee or trustees, who carry out the terms of the trust.
Prabhupada’s trust, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, is no different. Prabhupada is the Settlor and was, until his departure, one of the trustees. He made ISKCON the beneficiary of the trust.
And he vested all the copyrights to his books in the trust. As for the trustees, he designated that there be no more than three at any time. Initially there were just Srila Prabhupada, Karandhar and Bali Mardan. Later, when Karandhar resigned, Prabhupada appointed me to replace him.
Prabhupada inserted a provision in the Trust Agreement (pdf, 540 KB) stating that the BBT existed independently of ISKCON and that the trustees were bound to carry out the duties of the BBT separately from and not depending on the ISKCON GBC.
But even without such a provision, by law the beneficiary of a trust has no legal right to direct the trustees or to take over the trust assets. So what ISKCON did is actually illegal.
ISKCON bypassed the trustees and took over the operation and property of the BBT. Let’s say a father sets up a trust for his children, and vests all his property in it, and appoints a trustee to look after it in the interests of the children.
But somewhere along the line, the children decide they want direct control over the property and so they scheme to get rid of or go around the trustee and seize the assets for themselves. Why is this so wrong? After all, they are the beneficiaries, and the trust is supposed to be for them.
But no, the court takes the view that the trust belongs to the Settlor, not the beneficiaries, and although the Settlor may have departed, his expressed wishes live on in the terms of the trust document, and so the court upholds the trust, and finds that the children have attempted to convert the trust res illegally. This is exactly what has happened in the case of Prabhupada’s BBT.
Or another example to illustrate – which is what I presented to Amarendra. Amarendra asked me, during settlement negotiations, “What does it matter to you if BBT exists or not as long as BBTI carries on the BBT’s work? The books are being published, they’re being distributed. What’s the difference?”
So I asked him, “Suppose I take your wife, I do all those things that you do with her – maybe even better than you do – what does it matter to you?” Poor Amarendra was shocked. The point is: BBT belongs to Prabhupada, not to ISKCON. Prabhupada set it up to work in a particular way, and ISKCON has no right to interfere or to take over, as they have done.
Going back to 1988, the time when BBTI was incorporated, devotees may remember that around that time ISKCON began blacklisting devotees who were outspoken against GBC or official ISKCON policies, especially with regard to the policy of forced reinitiation.
Some devotees had gone through four Gurus! Many left ISKCON and went back into material life; and the few who tried to go it on their own were subjected to a campaign to extinguish them – they were made unwelcome at ISKCON temples, they were unable to buy Prabhupada’s books at wholesale rates for sankirtan, and ISKCON devotees went out of their way to sabbotage their preaching efforts.
This is what happened in Singapore to Bhima das, who, with one other brahmachary, had been distributing Prabhupada’s books in Malaysia and Singapore, even Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan, at least 1.5 million books from 1978. But from 1988 the regional “BBTs” refused to sell to him, and he was refused even when he approached “BBT” in Australia.
Not only this, but the BBT was letting so many books go out of print, and publishing only Jayadvaita’s new and improved books.
In 1990 I approached Tamal Krishna Goswami to buy chinese Bhagavad gitas from him, he refused , telling me he would sell them to me only at the retail price. OK, I said I’ll buy two copies, thinking enough is enough. So in 1990 we printed Bhagavad-gita As It Is in Chinese. Within a few months, Bhima received a letter from a lawyer alleging copyright infringement.
The lawyer’s client was none other than Sundar Gopal in Singapore, then still working under Tamal Krishna Goswami. Shortly afterwards, BBTI brought a lawsuit against Bhima in Singapore, claiming their copyrights had been infringed and asking for damages.
We challenged BBTI to prove ownership, and they came back with a fake, back-dated document signed by Svavasa, supposedly assigning BBT copyrights to BBTI. But we presented the original Trust Agreement for Prabhupada’s Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and the resolution bearing Srila Prabhupada’s signature appointing myself as trustee, and demanded that BBTI prove its legal connection with the original BBT. When they couldn’t do that, they all at once backed out of the lawsuit.
That’s when ISKCON and BBTI sued Hansadutta, myself, in 1997. It was not actually a lawsuit against myself personally. It was a direct attack on Prabhupada’s original BBT.
ISKCON and BBTI were seeking a court declaration that Prabhupada’s BBT was never a legally valid trust and thus never held the copyrights to his books; or in the event that it was once valid, that it had ceased to be valid; moreover, that Hansadutta, myself, was never a trustee of that trust, or if I was, then I had ceased to be or should be removed and new trustees appointed. Download the complaint (pdf, 3.2 MB).
Over the course of more than 1-1/2 years, much came to light. For instance, ISKCON claimed that Prabhupada had never owned the copyrights, that they were “works for hire”, meaning that Prabhupada was ISKCON’s hired worker – they supplied Prabhupada with room and board, dictation machine, paper, pen… and whatever he wrote was the property of ISKCON. Read it yourself what ISKCON said (pdf, 1.5 MB).
I did not relinquish my position as BBT trustee lightly. It was a grave decision. I understood very well that Prabhupada had appointed me for life to safeguard his books, and I would never have simply thrown it away. But after 17-18 months of litigation, we had no financial resources to continue the legal battle into trial. Our lawyer, Fedorowsky (Gupta das), required us to come up with another $100,000 in advance payment to go to trial.
Contrary to what has been reported by some, I did not leave ISKCON with money, and I have never done business or been gainfully employed, so I had to rely on Krishna to send help in defending Prabhupada’s BBT. Bhima had spent more than a million dollars fighting the BBTI courtcase in Singapore. Then when ISKCON – BBTI changed course and filed legal action against me, again Bhima came to the rescue, but by then he was pretty much tapped out.
He scrambled to put up the money to retain Fedorowsky. Veda Guhya also contributed – a quarter of the amount Bhima gave. But when Fedorowsky called for more money for trial, we just didn’t have it, and no one responded to our appeals for help – not one of the Prabhupadanugas. Everyone just kept silent. No one came forward, and former friends retreated.
Talk of betrayal… I felt betrayed at that time, deserted by godbrothers who would not support the defense of Prabhupada’s BBT. (I remember in those days you wrote to me your disappointment that Chakravarty did not want to communicate with me because it might compromise his job with BBTI under Harikesa.)
Moreover, Fedorowsky advised me that even if we were to proceed to trial and if we should prevail, there was every likelihood that ISKCON and BBTI would appeal and that ISKCON would petition the court to remove me from the trust in any case, and the matter could drag out for years. We didn’t know it at the time, but Fedorowsky had already misappropriated money that was principal in an investment scheme that was to pay his fees.
Had we known that, we would not have trusted him, but we did trust him, and we had no other option for an attorney – Fedorowsky knew the ins and outs of ISKCON, he had a grasp of the legal issues, which baffled all other attorneys we consulted, and he had made us an offer impossible to refuse – very discounted fees.
And so it was that 18 months into litigation, I was corralled into accepting a settlement, crafted by Fedorowsky and Amarendra. Fedorowsky promised me that in exchange for stepping down from the BBT trustee position, BBTI and ISKCON would give me an “unfettered” license to publish all of Prabhupada’s original books (pre1978) pretty much worldwide. This turned out to be otherwise, but at the time I trusted Fedorowsky’s legal advice.
I had to consider that if we went to trial and lost, BBTI and ISKCON would get away with everything, spelling the end of Prabhupada’s original books and depriving many devotees of access to buying books for distribution. And I had to consider that even if we went to trial and won, it would not be the end of it; ISKCON and BBTI would fight on and eventually I would be removed as trustee.
Then too, Fedorowsky spoke of the cost of protecting the copyrights, how if the BBT did not file legal action for each and every copyright infringement, then they would be lost to public domain – which might have been done anyway. So thinking to make the best of a bad bargain, I made the decision that I felt would protect the integrity of Prabhupada’s original books and enable their publication and make them accessible to the devotees everywhere regardless of their affiliation with ISKCON.
I considered also ISKCON’s and BBTI’s assurances that the BBT would be left intact. It was for Prabhupada that I did what I did. For Prabhupada and the devotees. In the end, I could only hope that the settlement would resolve our differences, and so I took a leap of faith to trust our godbrothers at their word, give them a chance to make it possible for us to participate in serving Prabhupada and his mission by printing and distributing his unadulterated books.
I did not do so with personal profit in mind. That was not the case at all. For that reason I did not object when Fedorowsky added his own name as member of the board of the licensee.
Out of gratitude to him for his services, and desiring to include the persons who had sacrificed money, time and energy to defend Prabhupada’s BBT and the purity of Prabhupada’s original books, I consented to the naming of Fedorowsky, Veda Guhya, Bhima and his wife all as members of the board. As for the settlement money, it was initially agreed that the money would be used as startup capital for printing Prabhupada’s books.
However, Fedorowsky laid claim to it, and a dispute arose. As it turned out, Fedorowsky, with the support of Veda Guhya, Bhagavan and Niscintya, pulled the carpet out from beneath us, and took control of the licensee, ousting myself, Bhima and Das devi dasi.
But I assure you, I did not ever intend to betray Srila Prabhupada or his Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. I acted in good faith. Fedorowsky and others took advantage of my trust and good will. If you are looking for those who betrayed Prabhupada, look to them, look to ISKCON and BBTI.
As you have pointed out, I have since put ISKCON and BBTI on notice that their failure to pay out the settlement monies as per the terms of the settlement means that the settlement has been breached, and so I have rescinded my resignation as trustee of the BBT. As far as I know, the BBT is intact. But ISKCON and BBTI continue to produce and distribute counterfeit books, and the BBT courtcase has been swept underneath the bed.
To check them with legal action is prohibitively costly. But if the devotees rally and demand remediation, that Prabhupada’s BBT be restored and that BBTI cease all revisions of Prabhupada’s books, then it’s possible that one day things will be right again with the movement. This is my stand. And I call for all Prabhupada’s faithful disciples to stand with me, to stand by Prabhupada’s Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, to stand for Srila Prabhupada and his books.
Remember the Alamo! But devotees need to do more than talk. Many devotees have strongly protested the changes to the books, but BBTI and ISKCON turn a deaf ear to them and will continue to do so unless and until they are faced with real consequences such as court action. This costs money. So put your money where your mouth is, and let’s see who is willing to do for Prabhupada.
I know that I have disappointed you and so many other devotees. I am very sorry for so many things I have done recklessly and for having failed to live up to all our expectations. All I can do is ask again for forgiveness from you and from the devotees everywhere, and for your blessings to be allowed to serve Prabhupada alongside his faithful devotees.
We are meant to follow Prabhupada, all of us as members of his entourage, as his servants, in this life and in the next and the next after that, forever, and this is all I look forward to – meeting up with Srila Prabhupada wherever he may be and being counted once again as one of his disciples. Please do not think too badly of me and cast me out from your association.
Your servant, Hansadutta das
P.S. In hindsight, I see now there was a collusion between Gupta and the ISKCON attorneys to sideline my legal position. You may know that Gupta aka Joseph Fedorowsky was indicted for, ”CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER” back in the 1970’s.
He escaped prosecution because he cut a deal with the Federal authorities by ratting everyone out. Many believe that he remains a FBI informant to this day. These are things I came to know later on. I have the documents, if you care to see them.
Please also see:
BBT and its shadow BBTI / Stolen Copyright Record
