TAMAL’S MERCY KILLING
poisoning Srila Prabhupada body
Tamal.pdf
MERCY KILLING: killing someone painlessly who is suffering from an incurable illness, with or without their consent or knowledge. Tamal’s talk of euthanasia casts so much MORE suspicion upon him as the cadmium poisoner-in-chief, that were he still alive today, he would have become the most controversial person in the Hare Krishna Movement. Perhaps it is best that he is gone, because when devotees would learn about and hear his 1977 BTG interview, he would probably find it necessary to flee into hiding for his personal safety. [(((audio)))]
CHAPTER 55:
TAMAL’S MERCY KILLING
LATE NOVEMBER 1977 TAMAL INTERVIEW FOR BACK TO GODHEAD MAGAZINE
On March 31, 1999, devotee news site VNN.org published an article with audio clips from a 1977 tape recording that Isha das had found in his personal archives. The tape was an interview of Tamal Krishna Goswami by Satsvarupa Goswami for Back to Godhead magazine, recorded immediately after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance. Isha was Satsvarupa’s personal assistant at the time, and somehow this tape survived for over 20 years through Isha’s many moves and even a house fire. This interview is very shocking.
NOW NO MORE DOUBTS ABOUT TAMAL
Any remaining doubts one may have that perhaps Tamal was simply a loving and faithful disciple will be put to rest permanently after listening to this tape. Anyone who understands even a little about Srila Prabhupada and then listens to this tape will be profoundly disturbed. Tamal’s words on this good-as-lost and then recovered tape recording reveal his true inner character. One gets chills hearing Tamal’s voice evolve to a nervous, squeaky high pitch as he claimed that Srila Prabhupada stated: “Can you give me a medicine, please give me a medicine
that will allow me to disappear now.”
To hear this audio recording is the clincher for many devotees, the one thing that finally dispenses with any remaining favorable or neutral sentiments toward Tamal.
This audio reveals Tamal’s true nature, framed in his own voice. He was a mastermind calculator of dark intentions, consumed by his personal ambition, and his claims on this tape are shocking, incriminating, outrageous, evil, and frightening.
If any follower of Srila Prabhupada listens to Tamal in this recording carefully, it will bring tremors of horror to the body.
As he speaks, Tamal describes a rationale for euthanasia or a mercy killing of Srila Prabhupada. The creepy, insidious undertones in Tamal’s vile and stuttering statements show him to be laying the groundwork for a defense of Srila Prabhupada’s “untimely departure” as a compliance with His Divine Grace’s supposedly suicidal last wishes. Tamal tries to polish the justifications for a poisoning as the dying request of one in great pain and misery, of one most anxious to “now die.” Tamal’s portrayal of Srila Prabhupada’s mood in this interview, and also in his bizarre book The Final Pastimes, is an atrocious and offensive characterization of the pure devotee of Krishna that leaves one grossly nauseated. See below for yourself.
CAUTION: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS OBNOXIOUS MATERIAL;
READER’S DISCRETION ADVISED; PROCEED AT OWN SPIRITUAL RISK
ESSENTIAL EXCERPTS FROM TAMAL’S INTERVIEW
Note: our comments are interjected throughout the interview:
TAMAL: “My duties as Srila Prabhupada’s secretary were… This means that there was a necessity on my part to, uhm, discriminate over which letters should be read to him and even which parts of the letters were read to him. Only good news was read to him.
“Apart from his correspondence, the secretary had to handle all of the various accounts which Srila Prabhupada was personally responsible for. Accounts, bank accounts, both in his personal name as well as in the name of the Mayapura Vrindaban Fund and other … of ISKCON.
“But perhaps the most important service or activity, and in fact that which predominated the most towards the end of Srila Prabhupada’s appearance, was to simply give him, ah, some, ah, submissive company, to be with him. He liked to have his senior disciples surrounding him, and naturally he wanted his secretary to be there and to talk with him, to massage his body, and as a regular function, in fact, it was my duty to be to bathe and dress him every morning also.
And he liked that I should have the morning shift at taking care of him, from about five o’clock in the morning till about nine o’clock in the morning, so that when he woke up his secretary would be there. And he would have me him sit him up and rub or scratch his back. He would talk about what he’d been thinking of during the day. Also he wanted his secretary to act more or less as the chief nurse… I wouldn’t say chief nurse, that’s not the right word. In terms of Prabhupada’s medicines he would always have his secretary give his final conclusive opinion over what steps he should take and what treatments he should take…
COMMENT: Tamal has now described at length exactly how intimate and confidential his service to Srila Prabhupada as his personal secretary actually was, how he would do whatever Srila Prabhupada asked of him. Absolutely anything he asked… or supposedly asked, that is.
“I was going to wait for the proper time to say this, but to me the incidents which stick most on my mind are how in the last few months, Srila Prabhupada would constantly ask to be allowed to, um, die peacefully.
COMMENT: What does “allow” mean? Is this a more polite way to say “help him die?”
“And, um, how he would constantly succumb to the requests of his disciples not to leave us. Our relationship with Srila Prabhupada has always been one of total submissiveness, and complete, um…
“So, our position with Srila Prabhupada was one of complete submissiveness to his orders and instructions, his desires, just like a menial servant. It’s hardly the position of the servant to, in any way, um, strongly request the master for anything. He should simply receive the instruction or order and carry it out. Yet we found in the later months, in the most recent months, that Srila Prabhupada seemed to be demanding from us a different type of attitude and emotion, at least especially from his most personal, you know, servants. COMMENT: Tamal explains how Srila Prabhupada was demanding from his most personal or confidential servants (himself included) to do something very different, namely to “allow” (helping?) him to die. Next is the shocking finale…
“Um. A number of times he would say “Can you give me a medicine, please give me a medicine that will allow me to disappear now.” Another time he said “I want most now to disappear. I want to die peacefully. Let me die peacefully.” Now on one hand we could take it and give him that medicine or let him stop eating and fast until death. We could have done that.
“And yet it seemed that, of course we could not do that out of our love for him.
COMMENT: Srila Prabhupada asked for medicine to die!? Medicine that causes death is actually poison, not medicine. Tamal says this “different” type of demand, namely assisting Srila Prabhupada to “disappear now,” “seemed” difficult due to their love for him. He says they could not do that, but also, “we could have done that.” But Tamal did not clearly state what“they” actually did. Did he give poison as a “medicine”?
“I think we all had the feeling, at least a few of us who were in his personal attendence, that there wasn’t really a question that he would live for a long time. But even though it was only a short time we wanted him to stay with us. And he would bring us to the point of complete despair, he would stop all doctors, all medicines, and bring us to the point where there was no return, where he would say “Now there’s nothing left but for me to die.”
“I feel that these last months with Prabhupada were the most important months I ever spent with him. And, ah, somehow I feel that by seeing the way he acted and the way he dealt with me personally, that ah, that I'll be, ah… You can take this part off, this last sentence. Somehow, I feel ???… I mean I want to say something, but I’d prefer not to say it.
COMMENT: What else was he going to say?! Why is it that you hesitate to say something that you want to say? Are you afraid we won’t understand how the penultimate act of Tamal’s loyalty to Srila Prabhupada was to assist him to “disappear”? That Srila Prabhupada trusted Tamal in this final test of submission, at the risk of being condemned by others?
Satsvarupa: Now a different kind of question. Right in the beginning without too much explanation you were talking about Prabhupada asking for something to let him disappear, that he wanted to die.
COMMENT: Clearly Satsvarupa understood and accepted the mercy killing scenario, and wanted to explore it further. Within weeks of this private interview, he also became one of the select few initiating ISKCON gurus, assuming command of a piece of ISKCON assets. Was he one of the “at least a few of us” whom Srila Prabhupada called upon to help him “die now”, or was Satsvarupa just a silent consentor? Or was he just an accessory after the fact?
Tamal: Therefore after some time, the pure devotee wants to again go back to Krishna. And Krishna wants His devotee back. Therefore Prabhupada once said, recently he said, “It is becoming unbearable. Becoming unbearable.” We can understand that it wasn’t simply the material pain that was becoming unbearable, but that Prabhupada also wanted to be with Krishna, and not be burdened with this physically incapacitated body. TAPE BREAK
Tamal: Oh yeah, painful. That why should he be burdened or incap… with this physically, you know, burdensome form.
COMMENT: Here Tamal explains why Srila Prabhupada wanted to leave his body prematurely: because Krishna was calling him and he wanted to go back to Krishna, and that the physical pain was becoming unbearable. But this is absolute nonsense philosophy which we will discuss more further on down below!
Satsvarupa: At the end, or in his last months, did Prabhupada manifest any special spiritual symptoms that you’d like to talk about?
Tamal: I think that that would be better discussed in a, at another time.
Satsvarupa: Do you think he left untimely, too soon?
Tamal: (pause) Of course, we would have liked it if Prabhupada could live for hundreds of years and no doubt if he were able, would have done that, the whole world would have become Krishna Conscious… there is, ultimately must be, great meaning for his timely departure. We should not think that he left untimely. He left when Krishna and when he himself wanted to leave.”
COMMENT: Right. Srila Prabhupada repeatedly asked for medicine to die, so there was no crime in poisoning Srila Prabhupada because that was what he wanted. Tamal was not responsible for poisoning Srila Prabhupada because Srila Prabhupada wanted to die and Tamal was just following orders, faithfully serving Srila Prabhupada’s final wishes... He was just following orders!
SRILA PRABHUPADA ASKED FOR MEDICINE TO DIE ?
If we isolate the essential parts of Tamal’s statements, we find they are very frightening and are an assault on our understanding of Srila Prabhupada’s stature as a fully self-realized soul. Below are eight direct, word-for-word quotes from Tamal:
…in the last few months Srila Prabhupada would constantly ask to be allowed to die peacefully.
A number of times he would say “Can you give me a medicine, please give me a medicine that will allow me to disappear now.”
Another time he said “I want most now to disappear.”
I want to die peacefully.
Let me die peacefully.
Now on one hand we could take it and give him that medicine or let him stop eating and fast until death. We could have done that.
Prabhupada also wanted to be with Krishna, and not be burdened with this physically incapacitated body
That why should he be burdened or incap… with this physically, you know, burdensome form.
At least six times Tamal clearly claims that Srila Prabhupada wanted assistance with “disappearing” now, meaning an unnatural, accelerated death. The idea is philosophically untenable, but Tamal was not posturing for philosophical accuracy, but instead as a means to rationalize Srila Prabhupada’s poisoning, which is now proven by the cadmium hair tests.
WAS IT EUTHANASIA, ASSISTED SUICIDE, MERCY KILLING?
OR JUSTIFIABLE AND COMPASSIONATE HOMICIDE?
OR PLAIN AND SIMPLE POISONING THE PURE DEVOTEE?
Almost 40 years after Tamal spoke of Srila Prabhupada wanting to disappear now, the exact terminology used would be “active voluntary euthanasia” or “assisted suicide,” meaning Srila Prabhupada voluntarily asked for active assistance via lethal “medicine” to die immediately. This could also be termed a mercy killing.
EUTHANASIA: killing an individual for reasons considered to be merciful, usually without his participation, but often at the individual’s request
ASSISTED SUICIDE: facilitating or assisting the death of someone who wishes to die, usually because of terminal illness, unbearable pain, and suffering
MERCY KILLING: killing someone painlessly who is suffering from an incurable illness, with or without their consent or knowledge
However, the cadmium hair tests now prove that Srila Prabhupada’s departure was homicide, and Tamal’s talk of euthanasia casts so much suspicion upon him as the cadmium poisoner-in-chief, that were he still alive today, he would have become the most controversial person in the Hare Krishna Movement. Perhaps it is best that he is gone, because when devotees would learn about and hear his 1977 BTG interview, he would probably find it necessary to flee into hiding for his personal safety.
TAMAL PREPARED EUTHANASIA DEFENSE FOR LEAKS ABOUT POISONING
Tamal must have been concerned that the poisoning was about to be discovered and he was rehearsing his skills at explaining the “mercy killing.” The poison discussions just prior to Srila Prabhupada’s departure must have gotten a number of devotees asking questions, and Tamal was surely worried that the truth would become public.
Therefore Tamal was introducing his defense strategy, namely that Srila Prabhupada asked to be assisted in an immediate death. This remarkably sinister idea was intended as a clever defense in case the poisoning became public knowledge.
Tamal appears to be planting the seed of a new and radical concept, a rationale for a poisoning, doing the groundwork for a “mercy-killing” defense should it become public that Srila Prabhupada was poisoned. In that case, Tamal could explain that it was Srila Prabhupada’s dying request. In Tamal’s book, TKG’s Diary, a careful reading for October 1977 shows Tamal inserting several times his claims that Srila Prabhupada was speaking suicidally. For example, on page 219, Tamal quotes Srila Prabhupada as saying, “Better you don’t pray to Krishna to save me. Let me die now.” However, these statements by Srila Prabhupada are NOT on the audio tapes and we think they are fabrications.
This absurdity is unacceptable and preposterous. How is death by cadmium merciful? Cadmium is an excellent manner in which to increase one’s suffering, not to ease it or end it. Why was Tamal espousing the bizarre notion that Srila Prabhupada wanted to die peacefully by being given “medicine,” or in other words, a deadly poison?
WHY DID TAMAL NEVER BRING UP HIS CLAIMS OF ASSISTED-SUICIDE EVER AGAIN?
Tamal never raised the subject of assisted suicide again after this one private interview in 1977, presumably because the poisoning issue lay well-enough concealed for twenty years before it looked him back in the face. Even after the poison issue became very public due to discovery of the poison whispers in 1997, Tamal never revisited these preposterous claims again. Why? Apparently he rethought his strategy.
Just after Srila Prabhupada’s departure in late 1977, Tamal must have been so gravely concerned that Srila Prabhupada’s poisoning would become commonly known. Perhaps rumors or leaks from those who knew of or suspected the poisoning, or follow through from the “poison discussions’ where Srila Prabhupada himself spoke of being poisoned- could have pushed Tamal to talk about “medicine to die.” Previous chapters chronicled how at least several persons accepted Srila Prabhupada’s poisoning before and after Srila Prabhupada’s departure.
It was typical of Tamal to come up with radical positions and then to abandon them, as he did with the Topanga Canyon confessions in 1980 and his support for Narayan Maharaja in 1995. This phenomenon is the hallmark of deviation and untruthfulness.
TAMAL’S SUGGESTIONS OF AN ASSISTED-SUICIDE MUST BE REJECTED
According to Tamal, Srila Prabhupada’s health had declined due to natural causes throughout 1977, and that Srila Prabhupada’s final wish in November 1977 was assisted suicide with “medicine.” But this is all proven false by the discovery of cadmium in his hair. The “medicine” which Tamal speaks of is therefore cadmium. And the hair which was tested and found to have sky-high cadmium levels was dated from early March and late August 1977, which constitutes a chronic or longtime poisoning over many months. These hair cutting dates contradict the idea of a one time assisted suicide with a medicine overdose in November 1977. The timing of a assisted suicide would have to be in Srila Prabhupada’s last days, but the cadmium poisoning started at least 9 months earlier late February. This alone disproves Tamal’s suicide suggestions.
Tamal chickened out of saying that he actually did assist in Srila Prabhupada’s suicide. But he strongly hinted at it, and left the question open. So let’s examine that idea. Supposing Tamal did, at Srila Prabhupada’s request, give him some cadmium medicine in mid-November. Such a one-time lethal dose would not have time to show in Srila Prabhupada’s hair, as it takes at least 30 hours hours to even begin the slow deposition process of poison into the root of growing hair. Such a poisoning would never be detected by hair tests, but only by blood tests. Yet the March and August hair samples did reveal high levels of cadmium, meaning that the ongoing poisoning was from at least late February 1977, long before Srila Prabhupada had become bedridden and supposedly was asking for medicine to die.
The cadmium hair tests have disproved any proposal of a final-days, one-time, lethal medicinal or poison overdose, constituting assisted suicide. Tamal is lying. Poisoning had started at least by late February 1977, and was still in full force by late August, in amounts that would cause any ordinary person to expire very shortly. So much for Tamal’s talk of an assisted “medicinal” suicide in mid November.
WHAT EXACTLY DID SRILA PRABHUPADA SAY ABOUT DYING?
Tamal, clever as always, borrowed from Srila Prabhupada’s actual statements about dying and then “enhanced” them with the suicide part. Of course, Tamal’s claims about Srila Prabhupada wanting medicine to die cannot be found on any tape recordings in 1977 nor in the memories of any other devotee, which are plentiful. Here are some quotes that do appear in the historical record other than from Tamal, and none imply anything suicidal or give any rationale for a suicide, such as Tamal’s fallacious claim that Srila Prabhupada was in unbearable pain.
1) “These doctors will come and give something to try and save. I do not want to be saved. Let me die now…” Hari Sauri unpublished diary. Pg 17.
2) “Oh. Never call doctor. Never give me hospital. Let me die peacefully if I am in trouble. (Con:30:108-9)
3) "Ghara, ghara, ghar... Choking and… But in the kirtan if we die, oh, it is so successfully… Injection, operation… Who needs it?… Krishna-kirtan death, glorious death. Oxygen gas, (laughs) dying and so much trouble. Never call. Please accept my request. Chant Hare Krishna, bas, and let me die peacefully. Never be disturbed, call doctor- no. Chant Hare Krishna. Go on chanting."
4) "In this condition, even I cannot move my body on the bed. Only chance you should give me- let me die peacefully, without anxiety. I have given in writing everything… Disaster will happen if you cannot manage it. Hm?"
5) “Therefore I have decided to die peacefully in…(Vrindaban)" Tamal said, "They want you to survive." Srila Prabhupada replied, "If I want to die, this is the way of peaceful death." Tamal: "Yes." Srila Prabhupada: "Go on chanting." (Con)
6) In mid-October 1977 Tamal said twice to Srila Prabhupada, “You should not try to fast to death.” Srila Prabhupada replied, “No, that is useless. No, that is suicide.” HSauri unpublished diary, pg.56.
7) Srila Prabhupada: When I don't take anything, I feel more comfortable.
Tamal: But you don't get better. That is the policy of death.
Srila Prabhupada: So let me die peacefully.
8) Abhiram: About recovery, Srila Prabhupada?
Prabhupada: I don’t want (recovery). HSauri unpublished diary, pg. 20
We see that Srila Prabhupada has become exhausted by pursuing so many medical options, doctors, treatment programs, advices, massages, and special diets. Nothing worked and everything simply produced more indigestion, mucus, cough, and weakness. It seems Srila Prabhupada had resigned himself to departure. But, contrary to Tamal’s claims, he was ready to die naturally, and was not even interested in eating or drinking because this mysteriously only worsened his condition. Srila Prabhupada was prepared to depart peacefully with Krishna kirtan, which is a glorious death, and it is certain that he did not ask for suicide assistance. Tamal twists the sublime and converts it into an adulteration. Srila Prabhupada never asked for medicine to die. That is Tamal’s hideous fabrication.
WHY DID TAMAL CONCOCT THE MERCY KILLING STORY?
Tamal was simply inventing a defense he expected would be required to deal with a threateningly imminent revelation of Srila Prabhupada’s lethal poisoning. It is not known exactly what circumstances gave such fear to Tamal that the poisoning would become public. But it is clearly indicated in Tamal’s own words in December 1980 at Topanga Canyon:
“The fact is that whatever we say still Prabhupada named him after this incident to be a ritvik or a guru, according to your interpretation. I've been accused of the same thing. ‘That you tried to kill Prabhupada.’"
Clearly Tamal was confronted by accusations of killing Srila Prabhupada, as seen in his own admission shortly after 1977. These accusations forced Tamal to manufacture the mercy killing defense stategy. However, those accusations subsequently receded into the background after 1977 and have never resurfaced. Who was accusing Tamal and was about to spill the beans in 1977?
IT MUST BE NOTED THAT THERE IS NO VERIFYING EVIDENCE IN TAPES, LETTERS, MEMORIES, OR ANYWHERE TO SUPPORT TAMAL’S CLAIM THAT SRILA PRABHUPADA WANTED TO DIE, OR ASKED TO DIE BY “MEDICINE.”
DIE PEACEFULLY ON PARIKRAMA, NOT BY POISONOUS MEDICINE
Nowhere in the audio recordings can we find where Srila Prabhupada asks for poisonous “medicine” so he can die immediately and peacefully. After exhausting all programs and medicines from so many doctors, and already being extremely debilitated in health to the point of hardly being able to move in bed, Srila Prabhupada recognized that death was very near. He then wanted to go on parikrama as his last wish.
However Tamal has twisted this into Srila Prabhupada’s wanting to die by taking poisonous medicine. What a convoluted distortion of the facts! Srila Prabhupada was not suicidal. He simply accepted that it was Krishna’s plan that he was about to leave his physical body and as his last spiritual activity, he wanted to go on parikrama. Searching the audio record, we find on November 2, 1977, Tamal (not Srila Prabhupada) cleverly characterizing the desire to go on parikrama as asking the disciples “to assist in dying.” Tamal talked about wanting Srila Prabhupada to live while meaning the opposite andWhile Srila Prabhupada was being poisoned by cadmium.
TAMAL: “Well, the real factor is Your Divine Grace's desire. I mean it seems like... As your disciples, our duty is to help you fulfill your desire [to go on parikrama]. It seems like your desire is to die in Vrindaban. But it's very hard for us to execute that service. It's very hard—because we love you—to assist you in dying. It's a paradox. You want to die in Vrindaban, and we want you to live, and yet we have to do whatever you want. I mean, the kaviraja, he is giving some... He feels a little confident. Probably from medical point of view, there's no doubt, he has far superior knowledge than many of us.”
There is a huge difference between dying while on parikrama and being assisted in dying by being given “medicine to die immediately.” The above quote shows Tamal is speaking hopefully about medicine that will allow Srila Prabhupada to LIVE, NOT DIE. But Tamal twisted it around the other way, medicine to die. It appears in this quote that he is already practicing his assisted suicide defense: “assist you in dying.”
TAMAL’S ADMISSION OF MANSLAUGHTER ?
A murder ordained by Krishna and Guru? How convenient that the inheritance of properties, disciples, power, and glory were only incidental by-products of helping Srila Prabhupada “fulfill his desire.” Was it a largesse from Krishna for poisoning his pure devotee, for killing a saint whose perfection included understanding and loving his own murderers? Or was it a conceived, planned, executed and covered-up, pre-meditated murder in the first degree?
Tamal, ever the juggler of contradictory statements, contrasts his very revealing words in this 1977 interview with his bland words in his orchestrated book Not That I Am Poisoned, “We did not go searching for a murderer because we concluded there was no murder.” So did Tamal help Srila Prabhupada die, and that’s why there was no murder?
Perhaps Tamal was about to suggest a variation of the euthanasia “defense.” He emphasized how Srila Prabhupada constantly said he wanted to leave “immediately,” and so the loyal disciples, knowing Srila Prabhupada would not live much longer anyway, may have decided to secretly facilitate this last wish by unilaterally giving “medicine” to cause death. This could be their defense if the poisoning was discovered. Whatever their rationale for their poisoning was, it remains nothing less than murder by poison. Throughout the 1977 Tamal interview, TKG’s Diary, Tamal’s demented book The Final Pastimes, and Tamal’s words in the 1977 recorded conversations, one is able to pick up on his sinister and sick mentality that was the backdrop to the poisoning of Srila Prabhupada.
WHAT DOES TAMAL REALLY MEAN ?
Let’s take a closer look at Tamal’s words and the real meaning behind them.
TAMAL: “A number of times he (SP) would say, ‘Can you give me medicine, please give me medicine that will allow me to disappear now.”
Here Tamal claims that Srila Prabhupada wanted to be killed by poison, using the euphemism of “medicine” for “poison.” However, everyone knows that medicines heal and poisons kill, and the terms cannot be substituted, colloquially or otherwise. Tamal’s claim is simply preposterous; Srila Prabhupada never endorsed, advocated, or was inclined in any way to committing suicide, whether assisted or not. In this instance there is no doubt: Tamal is lying, boldly and brazenly, dementedly and totally.
TAMAL: “And other times.. ‘I want most now to disappear… I want to die peacefully… let me die peacefully.”
Here Tamal claims that Srila Prabhupada was requesting that Tamal “peacefully” “let” him die; but can anyone or anything else anywhere confirm that Srila Prabhupada had this “death-wish’? The answer is no; this concoction was manufactured by Tamal as a defense in case the poisoning became public knowledge, something he obviously was expecting, otherwise why rehearse his lines and pre-empt any murder accusations with a euthanasia defense?
TAMAL: “Now on one hand we could take it… give him that medicine or let him stop eating… to death… until death, we could have done that.”
Tamal here acknowledges his supposed understanding that he had been given a “license to kill” by Srila Prabhupada himself!
Srila Prabhupada is thus portrayed as a weak person, bereft of transcendental understanding, desiring to be killed by his faithful servant Tamal, and willing to commit suicide in order to escape physical pain and an incapacitated condition. Tamal hereby admits that the decision to allow Srila Prabhupada to live or die LAY WITH HIM (not Krishna, but Tamal !), and that Tamal’s discretion held the power of life or death.
TAMAL REVEALS THERE WERE OTHERS BESIDES HIMSELF
Tamal says that “we could have done that”- meaning there were others who were also considering whether to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s supposed final wish to die immediately. Srila Prabhupada’s poisoning was not the act of a lone wolf- it was a group of disciples who stood to step into Srila Prabhupada’s shoes all the sooner and inherit the kingdom, glory, wealth, followers, and power they had been drooling and fighting over for years already. These hints are found at least twice in the interview:
(1). “I think we all had the feeling, at least a few of us who were in his personal attendence, that there wasn’t really a question that he would live for a long time.”
(2). …demanding from us a different type of attitude and emotion, at least especially from his most personal, you know, servants.
Who were those most personal, confidential servants? Tamal, Bhakticharu, Bhavananda…
MEDICINE AND POISON- DIFFERENT OR THE SAME?
We note how Tamal uses the words poison and medicine interchangeably. This unique idiosyncrasy was also used several times during the “poison discussions” (see Chapter 33) by the last kaviraja Damodara Shastri. After all, Tamal and the kaviraja were in frequent discussion about Srila Prabhupada’s health problems. It seems Tamal was promoting the use of this euphemism and had confused Shastri (and others) by blurring the lines between poison and medicine. The idea is that if Srila Prabhupada’s poisoning was discovered, the groundwork with Tamal’s medicine-is-poison explanation would transform a horrific crime into a merciful act of assisted suicide. Any questions?
Unfortunately it is necessary to penetrate the workings of the minds of such persons as Tamal to begin to understand the real meaning of his words.
WHAT MEDICINE TO DIE IS TAMAL SPEAKING ABOUT GIVING?
It is a mystery as to which medicine Tamal was speaking of that would allow or help Srila Prabhupada to immediately die. It does not make any sense to give a huge amount of beneficent medicines like Yogendra Ras, Ashwaganda, or Brahmi oil, all of which would perhaps only cause stomach distress or nausea. Was Tamal speaking of makharadwaja? Or what? Cadmium?
According to TKG’s Diary, Srila Prabhupada stopped taking Yogendra Ras by June 8, 1977, a medicine he had been taking “for the last ten years.”
Was he speaking of cadmium, the extremely poisonous non-medicine found in sky-high levels in three tests of Srila Prabhupada’s hair that Hari Sauri certifies as being cut in early March and late August 1977? The hair tests PROVE that cadmium is the so-called medicine that was given to Srila Prabhupada. And it was not just in the last few months as Tamal states, it was found in Srila Prabhupada’s hair Sample D which was cut in early March 1977, which is eight months before Srila Prabhupada departed.
It appears logical that Srila Prabhupada was poisoned for at least 9 months and that “medicine to die” was not a one time affair a few days before Srila Prabhupadas’ departure, but an ongoing program from at least early 1977 and on.
WHAT ELSE WAS TAMAL ABOUT TO SAY? THAT HE WAS CHOSEN TO DO IT?
Tamal was obviously very nervous in this interview, as confirmed by his ah, um, stuttering, and high squeaky voice that comes across clearly on the tape. He could not muster the courage to fully develop his planned revelations about Srila Prabhupada’s assisted suicide, likely out of trepidation. He even starts saying something, then retreats:
“I mean I want to say something, but I’d prefer not to say it.”
What is it that Tamal wants to say? Let’s look at some more excerpts to get a better feel for what it is that’s on the tip of his tongue but is having a hard time coming out:
“Srila Prabhupada seemed to be demanding from us a different type of attitude and emotion, at least especially from his most personal, you know, servants.” .
And…
“I feel that these last months with Prabhupada were the most important months I ever spent with him. And, ah, somehow I feel that by seeing the way he acted and the way he dealt with me personally, that ah, that I'll be, ah…”
And then there’s the multiple times Tamal speaks about how much Srila Prabhupada wanted, trusted, needed, relied upon his personal secretary, senior disciple, chief nurse, and foremost confidential assistant, namely Tamal Krishna Goswami. Some examples how Tamal was so special to Srila Prabhupada:
1) discriminate over which letters should be read to him
2) the secretary had to handle all of the various accounts which Srila Prabhupada was personally responsible for
3) was to simply give him, ah, some, ah, submissive company, to be with him
4) He liked to have his senior disciples surrounding him
5) he wanted his secretary to be there and to talk with him
6) to massage his body
7) it was my duty to be to bathe and dress him every morning
8) he liked that I should have the morning shift at taking care of him
9) so that when he woke up his secretary would be there
10) he would have me him sit him up and rub or scratch his back
11) Also he wanted his secretary to act more or less as the chief nurse
12) In terms of Srila Prabhupada’s medicines he always had his secretary give his final conclusive opinion
The picture Tamal paints is that he was Srila Prabhupada’s most confidential assistant, and that Srila Prabhupada was asking him to do the most confidential service, namely “let” or allow him to die (meaning, put him to death, or kill him). Srila Prabhupada trusted him so much that he could even count on Tamal to help him die “immediately,” quicker than naturally? Tamal was so special, that he was chosen for this highest sacrifice and most intimate, final service? Was Tamal about to explain how Srila Prabhupada chose him to do the unthinkable act of ultimate loyalty, namely help Srila Prabhupada “go back to Krishna” by giving him some special “medicine” “to die”? There is a relevant quote about this:
“So far personal association with the guru is concerned, I was only with my guru maharaja 4 or 5 times, but I have never left his association, not even for a moment. Because I am following his instruct-tions, I have never felt any separation. There are some of my godbrothers here in India who had constant personal association... but who are neglecting his orders. This is just like the bug who is sitting on the lap of the king. He may be very puffed-up by his position, but all he can succeed in doing is biting the king. Personal association is not so important as association through service.” (SPL, Satadhanya 72-02-20)
TAMAL’S INTERVIEW CLEANED UP FOR PUBLICATION IN BTG
Upon looking up the Back To Godhead magazine article (Vol. 13-6) which was based on this “euthanasia interview,” it was there, word for word, exactly as Tamal had spoken on the tape, but with the notable exception of:
The controversial portions referring to medicine, wanting to die, and so on were GONE…OMITTED! BTG Chief Editor, Satsvarupa Goswami, who had personally interviewed Tamal, had revised, redacted, and cleaned-up the transcript and edited out the “strange” and very controversial parts about mercy killing, assisted suicide, and so on. Satsvarupa is thus a suspect as well (see Ch. 77).
HOW COULD SATSVARUPA NOT BE AWARE OF SRILA PRABHUPADA’S POISONING?
In 1998 Isha sent transcripts of both the taped interview and of the final published BTG article to Satsvarupa, with a letter asking what it was that Satsvarupa thought about Tamal’s strange statements about medicine to die, and why the “medicine to die” parts were omitted. Satsvarupa wrote back saying simply that the interview was for an article in Back to Godhead, and totally ignored Isha’s questions about Tamal’s shocking statements.
Even the “gentleman” amongst the GBC, namely Satsvarupa, was not straightforward or honest when questioned, and he deliberately avoided the issue with Isha das. Why did Satsvarupa avoid the subject of Srila Prabhupada’s supposed assisted suicide? We note that as the interviewer, Satsvarupa appeared to fully accept Tamal’s claims about euthanasia, as shown above.
Ideas that none of the new initiating gurus in 1977 were aware of Srila Prabhupada’s poisoning should be held in abeyance. The appearance of Satsvarupa’s complicity, at least indirectly, in Srila Prabhupada’s poisoning comes from:
1. He asks Tamal to elaborate“about Prabhupada asking for something to let him disappear, that he wanted to die.”
2. He conducted Tamal’s interview, then deleted the parts about assisted suicide from the final BTG article, finding them unsuitable for the public, but never challenged Tamal about it.
3. He evaded Isha’s confrontation as to why he edited out those parts of the interview.
4. Despite knowing about Srila Prabhupada’s chief caretaker Tamal’s claims of euthanasia, Satsvarupa gladly accepted his post as a new initiating guru after Srila Prabhupada had been, as Tamal hinted, euthanized. How sleazy to know about the euthanasia and benefit from it without asking any questions. This is like accepting merchandise that you have been told is stolen goods.
WHAT TYPE OF EUTHANASIA IS TAMAL SPEAKING OF?
In Srila Prabhupada’s case as described by Tamal, the scenario would be an assisted suicide based on the futility of future survival, the quality of life in the remaining time alive, and the repeated insistence of the patient. This case also involves the administration of a lethal drug or poison which is much more controversial than the simple withholding of a necessary medicine or other life support. Tamal was speaking of assisted suicide by administering a lethal medicinal overdose or poison- supposedly on Srila Prabhupada’s vague request for help in dying immediately.
However, where is the issue of quality of living in Srila Prabhupada’s case? Was Srila Prabhupada regularly expressing great discomfort from excessive pain? No, he was not. And was he experiencing any mundane symptoms such as loneliness, frustration, depression, as found in terminally ill materialists? No, of course not; Srila Prabhupada was in full transcendental consciousness, ecstatic, absorbed in pure thoughts of Krishna, and Krishna was with him in all ways. So why would Srila Prabhupada want to die?
Tamal suggests that Srila Prabhupada wanted to become freed from the burden of a physically incapacitated body. But this is a nonsense suggestion: Srila Prabhupada was never dependent on his body for happiness in Krishna consciousness because he was always fully transcendentally situated, far beyond the body. No wonder Tamal was stuttering while presenting these nonsense ideas !
WHY DID TAMAL ONLY BRING THIS UP AFTER SRILA PRABHUPADA’S DEPARTURE?
Another thing is if Srila Prabhupada was being slowly poisoned, which we already know is the fact from the cadmium hair tests, why would the primary caretaker introduce the claim of assisted suicide, only after Srila Prabhupada’s departure?
Why was this not discussed amongst the senior devotees when Srila Prabhupada supposedly first brought up the request for assisted suicide? Why weren’t all the devotees told? If it was a secret to be kept by Srila Prabhupada’s request, then why is he telling us anyways? The reason is simple: After Srila Prabhupada departed, Tamal figured that Srila Prabhupada would not be able to dispute his euthanasia claims. The only plausible explanation why Tamal would calculatedly decide to raise this very explosive issue in a post-departure interview which would then be broadcast all over the world in the ISKCON BTG magazine is this:
TAMAL FEARED THAT HE NEEDED TO ESTABLISH HIS ALIBI AND DEFENSE FOR THE POISONING BECAUSE HE HAD REASON TO BELIEVE IT WAS SOON GOING TO BECOME PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure… He wanted to half-confess in advance as cover if he needed to fully confess later. It seems the secret of poisoning was about to be leaked somehow and Tamal was managing his defense, clever as always.
LET’S FOLLOW THE FACTS AND LOGIC TO ITS NATURAL CONCLUSION:
▪ Tamal claims Prabhupada asked “for medicine to die”
▪ Tamal says “we could have done that…”
▪ Medicine that kills is actually called poison
▪ And Srila Prabhupada actually was poisoned, confirmed by the hair tests
▪ Therefore the logical follow-through conclusion is:
▪ Tamal poisoned Srila Prabhupada.
Tamal claims that Srila Prabhupada asked Tamal to kill him, and that “we could have done that.” With Tamal and others whispering about “poison and the use of it,” according to Tom Owens at Owl Investigations, and with very high levels of heavy metals in Srila Prabhupada’s hair, and with Srila Prabhupada himself saying, “Someone has poisoned me,” it becomes downright plain and obvious that Tamal and others probably did poison (medicine?) Srila Prabhupada “to death.”
ISKCON NEVER ADDRESSED CLAIMS OF ASSISTED SUICIDE REQUESTS
Tamal’s BTG interview became public almost a year before the ISKCON leadership published their book Not That I Am Poisoned. Yet their book contained no content regarding Tamal’s bizarre interview, and this major piece of evidence in Srila Prabhupada’s poisoning was simply ignored as though it never existed. Whenever something is too difficult to discredit or it is not possible to effectively discredit something, ISKCON chooses to simply ignore it. This is an abominable display of dishonesty by ISKCON leaders, as though to ignore it would make it non-existant or irrelevant. But what could ISKCON say about Tamal’s mercy killing statements without getting themselves in more hot water?
TAMAL’S EUTHANASIA CLAIMS CONTRADICT THE POISON DISCUSSIONS
Tamal’s claim of euthanasia does not fit in with the “poison discussions” where Srila Prabhupada raised the topic of being poisoned and was “mentally distressed” thinking about it. If Srila Prabhupada wanted to die, or had asked for suicide-assistance, or made it clear that he wanted his confidential servants to help him die immediately, then why would he bring up the idea of being poisoned and be “mentally distressed” about it? And why would Tamal then explain this as the paranoia of an old, dying man that should not be taken seriously, if this was what Srila Prabhupada had asked Tamal to do?
If Srila Prabhupada was waiting for Tamal to facilitate his early death, why bother talking about being poisoned maliciously as he did on Nov. 9-10? And why would Tamal ask Srila Prabhupada as to who had poisoned him if that was the mutually accepted plan of action?
Tamal’s claims of Srila Prabhupada asking for medicine to die do not make any sense in the context of everything we understand about Srila Prabhupada’s last year, the taped conversations, and the philosophy of Krishna consciousness. Therefore we reject Tamal’s euthanasia claims as simply an attempt to reframe the homicidal poisoning of Srila Prabhupada as the fulfillment of last wishes for a quick assisted death.
VARIOUS COUNTRIES LEGALIZE DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF EUTHANASIA
In 2002 the Netherlands officially legalized the practice of euthanasia for patients in a state of continuous, unbearable and incurable suffering, but a second opinion is required. Also the patient must be of sound mind that voluntarily, independently, and persistently requests to die. By 2015, euthanasia and assisted suicide was at least partially legal in Belgium, Colombia, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Albania, Canada, Sweden, India, Italy, Ireland, Israel, and in six of the US states. In each jurisdiction there are varying distinctions on exactly what is legal, as the primary concern is to prevent abuse by opportunists. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg allow doctors to euthanize patients under strict conditions such as those in a hopeless state of health and those in great pain. The main objections to the procedure have come from religious groups, which for the most part, oppose a person voluntarily taking his or her own life.
THE ISSUE OF MORALITY IN ASSISTED SUICIDE
As the private and legal practice of euthanasia and related versions become more accepted around the world, the medical and ethical debate continues on the risks, abuses, and morality involved. Some of the issues include: passive vs active euthanasia, physician assisted suicide, informed consent and refusal, advance directives, irreversible loss of consciousness, quality of life, withholding and withdrawing intervention, patient competence, and futility. Dignity in dying is a common catch-phrase.
Opponents argue there is no provision for preventing relatives from forcing patients to end their lives prematurely, and there are also concerns the measure could pose dangers to vulnerable people and those with disabilities.
There is much recent debate about assisted suicide, and a principal reason why it has not been legalized more fully or widely, is the question of how to prevent abuse by those who would exploit the weak. The danger in assisted suicide is that the assistants will have, rather than a compassionate motive, a selfish motive to gain or profit from the patient’s death.
Therefore various conditions have been imposed wherever euthanasia is legal to some extent. Typically the principal restrictions are:
1) A licensed physician must certify there is unbearable physical pain with no remaining means of providing sufficient relief
2) The patient must give repeated consent for assistance in suicide, with witnesses or in writing such as in living wills, or with the consent of other family members
3) A clear diagnosis from two physicians must show the actual ailment, and that there is no hope of a cure, and that death is near and inevitable
But Tamal’s claims of Srila Prabhupada’s assisted suicide requests or euthanasia included none of the safeguards or conditions, which are meant to prevent abuse of euthanasia as an excuse or cover for murder. If we were to apply these safeguards to Tamal’s assisted-suicide of Srila Prabhupada, we are coming up short, as follows:
1) Where was the certified, competent physician with a pain assessment report?
2) Where is Srila Prabhupada’s written or spoken consent for suicide assistance?
3) Where are the witnesses to confirm any of Tamal’s euthanasia claims?
4) When did Tamal involve Srila Prabhupada’s “family” of disciples in the approval or consent for such a ridiculous proposition?
5) What was Srila Prabhupada’s actual diagnosis rendered by a legitimate physician who did the tests to properly ascertain that diagnosis?
6) How could anyone determine there was no hope of a cure without a diagnosis, knowing exactly what illness needed to be cured?
Therefore, without these safeguards, in almost any jurisdiction in the world, Tamal’s claim of assisted suicide would amount to simply CRIMINAL HOMICIDE, even in places where some definitions of euthanasia are legal or not often prosecuted.
Curiously, Tamal displays no fear of legal repercussions or public reaction in executing Srila Prabhupada’s euthanasia. His only expression of reluctance to an assisted-suicide is the “love” he and others had for Srila Prabhupada, and he explains how much of a dilemma Srila Prabhupada had put them in with the conflict between carrying out his final wishes and their wanting him to stay awhile longer.
EUTHANASIA OPPONENTS WORRY ABOUT SELFISH MOTIVES
One of the primary objections to euthanasia is the fear of abuse of those suffering with terminal illness by their caretakers, relatives, or opportunists who would benefit from an earlier death of the patient. Inheritances are commonly yearned for and old, crusty relatives who are too slow in their departure may be unfairly taken advantage of by the practice of euthanasia. How will each euthanasia event be qualified as justified and moral?
Similarly, Tamal and others stood to inherit the position, worship, disciples, and wealth of Srila Prabhupada, and they did inherit all this in full within months of Tamal’a claiming that Srila Prabhupada asked to die “now.” This is more than a coincidence, more than circumstantial evidence, and it illustrates vividly the motive Tamal would have to help Srila Prabhupada depart quickly, the quicker the sooner to sit on the Vyasasana and become as good as God Himself. SRILA PRABHUPADA EXPERIENCED OVERBEARING PAIN AND SUFFERING?
Upon examining the historical record of Srila Prabhupada’s last months, we do not see any verification that Srila Prabhupada was experiencing overbearing pain and suffering as claimed by Tamal in his interview. Srila Prabhupada appeared frustrated and puzzled that all doctors, recovery attempts, medicinal regimes, and diets were ineffective, but we do not see that Srila Prabhupada had become suicidal or asked to die quickly except from Tamal’s claims, which are unsubstantiated.
Only on one night in the last two days of Srila Prabhupada’s manifest presence do we see a record of being in “mental distress” or having pain in his legs, something for which Damodara Shastri gave a pain medicine. This was the only incident that can be found involving a display of possible pain.
Tamal’s claims of overbearing pain and suffering are unverified throughout the available recordings and memories of Srila Prabhupada’s last few months. It would be safe to say this claim is UNTRUE.
SUICIDE IS NOT A RECOMMENDED OR STANDARD VAISHNAVA PRACTICE
Srila Prabhupada was a pure devotee of the Supreme Lord and would never have requested that he be assisted in suicide. Suicide is anathema to the Vaishnava culture and Vedic principles, lest one become a ghost. Such bogus theories would be spun only by rascals. There is no history that we know of wherein a Vaishnava acharya asks a disciple to give him poison (or medicine) to end his life. Such an offensive suggestion is nothing more than a surreptitious confession of attempted homicide.
ACTUALLY SRILA PRABHUPADA WANTED TO LIVE LONGER TO PREACH MORE
The important point in the history of Srila Prabhupada’s manifest pastimes was that he was clearly and determinedly trying to live longer, as seen by a long list of events.
▪ by requesting to go on parikrama which he said would cure him,
▪ consulting kavirajas and employing numerous health treatments,
▪ trying to complete Bhagavatam until the very end,
▪ continuing to preach at every opportunity and with every breath,
▪ trying to go to Gita Nagari to teach varnashrama dharma (the second half),
▪ trying to eat, and asking for many varieties of food perhaps more digestible,
▪ allowing devotees to pray for his health,
▪ considering many healthier climates for his health such as Hrishikesh, Kodaikanal, etc,
▪ and finally complaining that someone may be giving him poison.
Srila Prabhupada was intent on living rather than dying as suggested by Tamal. That Tamal would even mention such an outrageous statement that he attributes to Srila Prabhupada is one more solid proof that he did precisely what many suspect. He gave poison to Srila Prabhupada on the pretext of assisted suicide.
Srila Prabhupada did not require poison to leave his body according to his own will and the will of Krishna. Nonetheless, by His Divine Grace, the illicit motives of those who desired to falsely assume the role of the “new acharyas” has been exposed, first in the poisoning of their spiritual master, then in a disastrous successor guru fiasco. The ISKCON poisoning cover up and whitewash simply added more evidence of their complicity in the greatest crime of the millennium. Their motives and deceit have been revealed. Their unfortunate followers also refuse to see the obvious truth.
CONCLUSION: WAS IT MERCY KILLING OR HOMICIDE?
Claims by Tamal or possibly others in the future that Srila Prabhupada was poisoned out of mercy should be understood as a preposterous proposal that is simply a diversionary ruse to avoid the truth of homicide. As will be more fully documented in the coming chapters, for those who knew him very closely, it is definitely not difficult to appreciate how Tamal would have valued his own promotion to institutional guruship more than Srila Prabhupada’s extended presence among us.
However, even if some believe that Tamal could not possibly have poisoned Srila Prabhupada, this does not in any way actually mean he did not do so. History is replete with examples of totally unsuspected poisoners, unlike Tamal who is very much suspected by a majority of devotees. The world is often surprised by the unexpected actions of someone we thought we understood and knew? This theme is illustrated further in Chapter 94: Poisoning Throughout History.
TRANSCENDENTAL PERSPECTIVES OF SRILA PRABHUPADA’S DEPARTURE
Prabhupada: Who wants to die? No. Even a very old man—he is suffering from so many things—still, if somebody comes, "Oh, I will kill you," he says, "Oh, no, no, no! Don't kill me. I don't want to die." Why? If somebody says that "You are old man. There is no use…" Now this is coming. The Communists, they are coming to that point, "This is an old man, simply eating. He is not doing anything. So finish him." What is called? Mercy...?
Brahmananda: Mercy killing.
Prabhupada: Mercy killing. It will be merciful if one is killed. So this is coming. But the point is that if you have come to show me the mercy of killing, but I am not prepared to be killed. Why? You have come to show me mercy, but I am not prepared to take your mercy. Why? What is the psychology?
Kirtanananda: No one wants to die.
Prabhupada: That is. So that means he is eternal. (1975.7.11, Philadelphia conversation)
COMMENT: It is interesting that Srila Prabhupada emphasizes the dark motives behind those who would introduce mercy-killing, although as a pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada himself was fully prepared to die. This does not mean he sought it or avoided it for selfish reasons. Instead, he was only intent on living as long as Krishna allowed, so he could preach Krishna consciousness.
RELEVANT NOTES By Narasimha Das:
“Great devotees of Krishna are never overcome by frustration or defeat. If they want to leave this world early, it is not due to bodily pains but yoga-maya and intense feelings of separation from Krishna and other great Vaishnavas. In the case of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Srila Prabhupada commented that he could have stayed longer but was disappointed with the material ambitions of his leading men. Pure devotees are always as independent as Krishna Himself. They don’t need the help of others to live or to disappear.
“The changing conditions of Srila Prabhupada’s heart strength and vital signs shows he was independent, as he did also by suddenly deciding to eat and stay with us at one point. There are many references on the full freedom of pure devotees. Krishna had said it was up to Srila Prabhupada if he wanted to live longer or leave this world. There is no evidence found anywhere to suggest that a pure devotee, particularly a great Vaishnava Acharya, needs the help of envious persons to leave this world by poisoning or any other method. The topmost devotees are far beyond such mundane methods and motives based on the bodily conception of life.
“Prahlada Maharaja also knowingly drank poison as a child, but he was being forced, under threat from his demon father. Playing the part of a helpless child, he depended fully on Lord Krishna and Krishna protected him. It was Krishna’s plan that he live longer and take part in a grand and glorious pastime with the Supreme Lord Sri Narasimha Deva.
“Agastya Rishi once ate a rakshasha who had been disguised as a food offering. This rakshasha, Vyatapi, was ready to expand to kill the rishi from the inside out, according to the plan of his brother Ilvala. He and his brother had killed many rishis in this way. But when Ilvala said, “Vyatapi, come out!” Agastya politely informed his host that he had already digested Vyatapi. These stories illustrate that great sages and great devotees cannot be killed by rakshasas or poison.
“Great acharyas in our Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya never desire to end their lives out of mundane frustration or pain, like conditioned souls often do. Tamal claims that Srila Prabhupada was moaning in pain and asking for poison to end His life. Such ideas are certainly the most ridiculously offensive apa-siddhanta lies. “The living entity in his conditioned stage identifies himself with the body, but when he identifies himself with the Lord within himself, he becomes just as free as the Lord, even while in the body.”
“Srila Prabhupada was translating and totally coherent until his very end; Krishnadas Babaji noted in the last hours that srila Prabhupada, although not moving, was chanting the maha mantra almost invisibly. Srila Prabhupada wanted to finish His Bhagavatam purports and he wanted to translate and explain other books like Mahabharata as well. Srila Prabhupada also had agreed that he would live another 10 or 15 years—after the devotees had begged him to stay longer. He said that Krishna had given him the choice. Apparently Srila Prabhupada knew that his top leaders where already busy dividing up assets of His mission and that most devotees where already under their sway—since very few had arrived to see him in Vrindaban.
“Srila Prabhupada was not attached to living or dying in this world. He would not have asked for some poison to end his life prematurely. There is no evidence that Srila Prabhupada wanted to die by poisoning, particularly not by chronic poisoning. Tamal’s mention of this blasphemous idea is one more proof of his guilt. He was trying to prepare for the worst—a full-scale investigation that would implicate him by proving that Srila Prabhupada had been given poison.
“Srila Prabhupada wanted to go on parikrama and he said this would cure him. He wanted to go to Gita Nagari, and he even fly to London. He wanted to finish his work on Bhagavatam. He warned of being poisoned and wanted his caretakers to be careful in this regard. He did many things to try to rectify the situation, and he tolerated abuse for a long time. But he finally concluded, apparently, that his main leaders had already become corrupted and useless, so then, on his own volition and choice, he departed.” (END)
TAMAL’S STUTTERING ONLY SHOWS UP WHEN HE TALKS ABOUT POISONING SRILA PRABHUPADA
The stuttering and high-pitched nervous section of Tamal’s mercy-killing interview gives one the chills and shivers, as one wonders why the normally calm-voiced Tamal is speaking in that way. It must have been the subject matter that was unnerving him so much, to change the pitch of his voice and cause stammering. Although Tamal did not as a rule speak about the poison issue in public, he did so once in Malaysia in early June 1999. He surely must have seen Someone Has Poisoned Me by that time. His talk in Malaysia again includes the same stuttering and stammering phenomenon as before.
“Just like another wonderful statement Prabhupada was poisoned. So Prabhupada was poisoned and of course you know myself being the main- you know, advocate of it. Now you know, ahh… and… and what is the grounds for poisoning… right, if I… I… I… have re… recently come out with my diary which I hope you will get some copies and you can all read it. It is a very nice diary called… I have called it TKG’s Diary. I figured everybody would call it that anyway.
“So make it easy for them. So it is published now, you can order it. And it’s very clear that Prabhupada is gradually leaving his body and the only thing that is saving Prabhupada from leaving his body is the love of his disciples- right. There is no reason if someone wanted to see Prabhupada leave to administer poison because he was already leaving. Anybody who reads this diary knows that all of these so-called whispers, when they analyzed the whispers, they don’t even… they… they incorrectly analyzed. Now it turns out some of them in Bengali say Prabhupada is just telling someone to leave the room and they thought he said, you know, ahh… give the poison. You know, put the poison in pots or something or such nonsense things that I… I… I… press someone… this person talked to me the other day. Even after reading my diary he said, ‘I still think he may have been poisoned.’”
Aside from the totally uncharacteristic stutteringly nervous sections highlighted above, we must note two blazingly obvious dishonesties that amount to deceitful bluff and denial of the actual evidence. Actually, Tamal creates his own evidence that does not exist:
(1). He claims Srila Prabhupada’s health was failing and that his departure was imminent, so why would anyone bother to poison someone already dying? But wouldn’t Srila Prabhupada’s being poisoned cause him to lose his health and then depart as a result of that poisoning? This is not a very logical defense, but that’s all he can come up with for stupid people who would fall for such a line of thought.
(2). He also claims that the whispers are an incorrect interpretation of some Bengali that caretakers are speaking about someone should leave the room. He must have been referring to the “Poisoning for a long time” and “get ready to go” whispers by Jayapataka. But he is entirely wrong. The Bengali portion comes beforehand, meaning “In a few days time.” Of course, he admitted in the GBC book of 2000 that he was whispering “The swelling’s going down” while everyone else, including multiple forensic analytical labvoratories, hears “The poison’s going down.” And it is interesting that he quotes the one whisper which turned out to be a false alarm and which was confirmed as innocuous, but avoids the two in which he clearly says “the poison’s going down” and “is the poison in the milk?”
Because of these cheap attempts at refuting the evidence, we become more sure he is lying and guilty.
“Similarly in this institution if there is a bad disciple he can burn the
whole
institution
into ashes.” Srila Prabhupada Letter to Bali Mardan, August 25, 1970.
IN PURSUIT OF PRABHUPADA’S POISONERS
REWARD ON PRABHUPADA'S POISONERS
Truth Committee - Nityananda Das
TELAU ESTATE 37 KM WEST COAST ROAD,
Savusavu, Fiji
Email: srigovinda@gmail.com
PRABHUPADA ASKED FOR POISON (MEDICINE) TO END HIS LIFE