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Someone Has Poisoned Me - BY: NITYANANDA DAS
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The Facts About Srila Prabhupada's Poisoning by Arsenic
"So as Krishna was attempted to be killed... And Lord Jesus Christ was killed.
So they may kill me also." (Srila Prabhupada, May 3, l976, Honolulu)
"my only request is , that at the last stage don't torture me, and put me to death"
(from SPC Vol. 36, November 3, 1977 tape recorded Room Conversation)
[PLEASE NOTE: ADDRESSES, EMAILS, PHONE NUMBERS ETC. MIGHT NO LONGER BE CORRECT!]
In mid 1998, just six months after the "poison issue" became a serious news item on the Hare Krishna Internet websites, Tamal Krishna Goswami suddenly published his twenty one year old diary of the time he was with Srila Prabhupada from February through November 1977. It would seem safe to assume that one of the main motivations for Tamal to suddenly come out with his diary was that he is now in the limelight, suspected by some in the poisoning of Srila Prabhupada. As a matter of fact, the book's foreword acknowledges just that. It is natural to wonder if any parts of his diary were enhanced or "doctored" to deflect or reduce suspicions about a malicious poisoning of Srila Prabhupada.
In the foreword to TKG's Diary, Rabindra Swarup Prabhu, ISKCON guru and foremost apologist, writes:
"...to a rather dispiriting and unedifying controversy. The diary has now been published "as is" because of a claim recently urged that Srila Prabhupada's terminal decline was brought about by intentional poisoning. It is duly recorded in the diary (entry of November 9) that Prabhupada himself raised the issue. Now, twenty years later, on this single basis, investigations have been launched and speculative theories expounded, sometimes issuing in highly imaginative historical reconstructions. This diary is now offered for the immense evidentiary value it offers in this matter. Not only does the work painstakingly chronicle Prabhupada's medical condition and treatment... The diary is published in the conviction that a large and purgative dose of sheer facts is the best antidote to the "poisoned theory."
"This point naturally leads to the question: How accurate is TKG's account?... Up until October 9, TKG constructed his chronicle of the day's events entirely from memory and notes. He made no use of the daily audio recordings of the conversations in Prabhupada's rooms. Therefore we are able to test TKG's recollections by comparing... He comes off remarkably well...
"Indeed, the diary provides much that is unavailable from the tape transcripts... The diary often makes what was happening much clearer. Moreover, many tapes have been lost altogether..."
Of interest is the statement, "TKG constructed his chronicle of the day's events entirely from memory and notes." We are told Tamal did not refer to the taped versions of those day's events in the Conversations Books. However, as we read TKG's Diary, this posture becomes increasingly incredible. Repeatedly Tamal records Srila Prabhupada's words in quotation marks that read IDENTICAL to those sections in the Conversations Books, and, in addition, many times they are just slightly different in a word or two. The similarities are far too great to leave any possibility that Tamal was able to remember those detailed conversations involving two or more speakers, without referring to the Conversations Books. One gets the distinct impression that Tamal has borrowed heavily from the Conversations Books, modifying it a little here and there, and then claiming it is in his diary. Sorry, TKG's Diary appears to be a recently manufactured product based on his diary, his memory, and most certainly the tape recording transcripts.
Therefore it can be understood that TKG's book is not a totally honest attempt to recount history. It is practically obvious that his claim of not using the Conversations Books is untrue. So now, how can we trust anything in his book? And in consideration of the colorful history of Tamal, it becomes all too easy to take his book as something he "doctored" to serve his own purposes, namely the attempt to discredit the "poisoning theory."
A detailed comparison between TKG's Diary, the Conversations Books, and other accounts of the period reveal that Tamal's book contains:
1. numerous omissions of relevant health data found in the Conversations Books that one would expect Tamal to have made note of in his diary
2. repeated softening of Tamal's hardline opposition to doctors and medicines (many such incidents are totally missing in his diary)
3. surprises like his June 27 entry; Srila Prabhupada supposedly asks him, "Amongst the GBC, have you selected one after me who will succeed? ...Yes, each of you can be acharya of your zone." Who will believe this?
4. a very unusual account of the May 28 rtvik appointment conversation. Tamal does not even once use the word "rtvik." His account is provided in Appendix 5 to see how he and Satsvarupa have altered Srila Prabhupada's words and their meaning.
5. the clear and distinct impression that Tamal's diary is not "as is" or "in the rough" as he has claimed, that he did not compose the book "entirely from memory and notes" (but did use the tape transcripts), and that he has composed many of his entries only recently to address current controversial issues and perhaps obscure evidence of the poisoning itself.
For one who has changed his position on the guru issue many times, who has revised his own book Servant of the Servant to serve his own changing philosophical positions, and who has never made himself available to the devotees for a "general reckoning" of his past activities, Tamal is perceived as perhaps the least credible and honest of all GBC's and gurus in ISKCON. If Tamal were truly interested in addressing the "poisoning theory," he might note the following suggestions that are made here:
1. Donate his original diary or at least photocopies thereof to the Bhaktivedanta Archives so that it can be studied and scrutinized for its contents and for verification of the authenticity of details in TKG's Diary
2. Agree to be deposed, interviewed and questioned by the two primary poison investigation teams and possibly law enforcement agencies as well
3. Reply to the questions and grievances of devotees in general through the internet websites VNN or Chakra.
Tamal's lengthy quotations of conversations between Srila Prabhupada and others are sometimes word for word the same as the actual tape recordings found in the Conversations Books, sometimes quite different, and sometimes not found at all in the Conversations Books, almost as though Tamal had his own tape recordings. Many conversations are longer than one would think anyone capable of remembering and writing down later, even if one ran to write everything down just after it had been spoken.
Tamal makes no explanation as to the nature and character of his diary and the method of recording his entries. TKG's Diary may be the product of memory and brief notes, fortified and enhanced with borrowings from the Conversations Books, or it may be a meticulously documented and detailed account. Or it may have been "doctored" and spiced with things Tamal wants us to believe happened. The original diary could probably clarify many of these things.
If Tamal Krishna Goswami wrote TKG's Diary in an attempt to clarify events of 1977 and to answer suspicions regarding Srila Prabhupada's apparent poisoning, then he should make his original diary available for inspection. To authenticate TKG's Diary as historically accurate and an honest account, at least one or two respectable Vaishnava authors or brahmanas should have been asked to review and compare it to the original diary. Rabindra Swarup's foreword conspicuously does not make mention of having done this comparison. Otherwise, how can we trust what Tamal says?
Tamal may claim this or that happened, but unless verified by tape recordings, other persons' memories, or a close physical examination of the original diary, great caution would be in order before accepting Tamal's accounts as gospel. Feeling himself to be suspected in poisoning Srila Prabhupada, Tamal could have reason to alter details of critical events to hide the truths of history. Tamal must observe certain standard scholarly procedures to authenticate his diary, otherwise its credibility will be shaky at best. One cannot produce biographical claims of the greatest person of the modern era without verifiable documentation. Hari Sauri, another biographer of Srila Prabhupada, has made his original diary available to others. Would Tamal be so kind as to do the same? Has anyone ever seen it?
If Tamal does not "open up" and take to heart these recommendations or some similar course of relating to his godbrothers and godsisters, then he and his books, such as TKG's Diary, will remain to be regarded as contrived with ulterior motivations, unpalatable due to suspicion of dishonesty and cheating. Nevertheless, TKG's Diary IS about Srila Prabhupada, and taking Tamal's accounts with a grain (or more) of salt, one does distinctly feel Srila Prabhupada's presence in the book. It is very unfortunate that justifiable doubts plague the reader on every page: Is this all completely accurate?
Srila Prabhupada left this mortal world on November 14, 1977.
But He lives forever in His instructions, and His followers will always live with Him.
"He reasons ill who tells that Vaishnavas die
While thou art living still in sound!
The Vaishnavas die to live, and living try
To spread the Holy Name around"
(Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Thākura)
HARE KṚṢṆA HARE KṚṢṆA KṚṢṆA KṚṢṆA HARE HARE
HARE RĀMA HARE RĀMA RĀMA RĀMA HARE HARE