Henry Guest Speaker at West Virginia University

Henry tells the story of how he got the famous NBC sportscaster Howard Cosell and his wife “Emmy” to give him a five dollar donation at the 110th Kentucky Derby horse race in Louisville Kentucky.

February 19, 2026: Henry appeared as the guest speaker at an event hosted by the West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. He presented a lecture/slide show of his personal account and inside look at the history of West Virginia’s Hare Krishna community, New Vrindaban, in Marshall County. New Vrindaban is widely known as the home of Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, a popular tourist attraction. The event at the downtown library celebrated (1) the completion of the cataloging of the vast Swami Bhaktipada Archive, and (2) the publication of Henry’s thirteen non-fiction books about Swami Bhaktipada, New Vrindaban and ISKCON. The West Virginia University Ex Libris Magazine reported:

Henry reports:

During my lecture/slide show (I prepared 90 slides) I spoke about the early history of New Vrindaban, Swami Bhaktivedanta who founded ISKCON in New York City in 1966, Howard Wheeler and Keith Ham, and how they become disciples of Swamiji: Hayagriva dasa and Kirtanananda dasa. I spoke about Kirtanananda becoming Swamiji's first sannyasa disciple, and his defection from ISKCON a month or two later.

I spoke about Kirtanananda reading the letter published in the December 1967 issue of The City of San Francisco Oracle, a hippy newspaper, from Richard Rose, a Marshall County West Virginia spiritualist and landowner. Rose invited spiritual seekers to help create a non-denominational ashram on his woodland property. I spoke about the building of Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, and how I came to become an inmate of the New Vrindaban Community. I also spoke quite a bit about my experiences collecting money for Krishna on The Pick, and invited two volunteers from the audience, male and female, to come up on stage and let me demonstrate the Citation Line.

The program was supposed to end at 5:00 pm, but it went overtime, and Lori finally wrapped everything up around 5:15. Several people came up to speak with me, including a WVU student from Nepal. One person in attendance purchased a copy of Killing For Krishna. Another attendee purchased a full set of my 13 books. All in all, I thought it was a wonderful evening, although I could have spoken for twelve hours. My thanks to Director Lori Hostuttler, the library staff, and especially Abigail Jones and Thea Browne who set up the laptop computer and sound for my slideshow.

About forty people attended our event, including West Virginia University students, library staff, persons interested in the library programs who had received emails from West Virginia University about the event or had read the announcement on the West Virginia University website, and current and former Krishna devotees. My buddy Damodar (Allen White), who lives at New Vrindaban (we both took diksa from Kirtanananda Maharaja on March 13, 1979), attended, as well as my friend Shannon (formerly Sita devi dasi), who played the cello in our City of God Temple Orchestra in the early 1990s. Josh Starkey, a Marshall County West Virginian, currently living at New Vrindaban came, and also Kelly Howard, formerly known as “Karmi Kelly” when she was a thirteen-year-old local girl living with her family on McCreary Ridge Road who used to talk to the Krishna devotees even though her parents forbid her from associating with the “Hairy Critters.”

The Temple President and New Vrindaban Communications Director, Jaya Krishna dasa (Josef Imseng) and his wife Anuradha also came. After the event, I spoke to both of them, and Jaya Krishna gave me his business card and warmly invited me to come visit New Vrindaban whenever I’m in the area.

An Unexpected, Unwelcome, and Unreasonable Request

The event was not without some drama, at least prior to the event. Originally, Lori Hostuttler, the Director of the West Virginia & Regional History Center of the West Virginia University Libraries, who was hosting and organizing the event, invited Dr. S—a Teaching Associate Professor at the Program for Religious Studies in the Department of Philosophy at the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences of West Virginia University—to introduce Henry and speak for five or ten minutes about the Hare Krishna religion and its history. Dr. S agreed. When Henry heard about Dr. S’s contribution to the program, he put up a post on Facebook announcing his forthcoming lecture at West Virginia University and Dr. S’s participation.

Apparently, someone at New Vrindaban read Henry’s post, and contacted the New Vrindaban administration. Soon after, the Communications Director at ISKCON New Vrindaban, Anuradha Imseng (who is married to New Vrindaban temple president Jaya Krishna das), sent an email to Dr. S in the last week of January 2026:

Dr. S. shared the email with Ms. Hostuttler, and both, in turn, shared the message with me. Unfortunately for Anuradha, her letter backfired. Ms. Hostuttler was a little peeved that Anuradha wrote to Dr. S, who was scheduled to speak about five or ten minutes and introduce the guest speaker, and not her, the organizer of the event. I explained to Lori that most likely Anuradha did not discover this event on the West Virginia University website, but from a Facebook post of mine which I posted a few weeks before the event. I did not mention Lori’s name on the post, but only Dr. S’s name, therefore Anuradha had no idea that Lori was in charge of the event.

Personally, I was a bit nonplussed by Anuradha’s letter, which I regarded as somewhat aggressive, inviting herself to be a speaker on my program! Did I invite myself to be a guest speaker at the New Vrindaban 50th Anniversary Festival of August 2018 commemorating the founding of the community in 1968? No, of course not. But she invites herself to speak at my program.

It appeared to me that Anuradha’s attempt to storm our program was generated by fear; fear that I might say something bad about New Vrindaban or its past leaders, which she could counter if she was a participant on the program. I had not planned to say anything bad about New Vrindaban. I wasn’t even planning to mention a famous and beloved Swami’s name who, according to documents in the Swami Bhaktipada Archive, was a leader in the 1985-1986 conspiracy to assassinate the dissident devotee and former New Vrindaban resident Sulochan dasa (Steven Bryant).

I simply intended to talk about history and tell some personal stories about my life as an inmate of New Vrindaban, especially about my time on The Pick (fundraising on the road). I intended to keep my program light, educational and entertaining. Anuradha’s fears about me possibly implicating current ISKCON leaders in the murder were without basis in fact.

Lori and I further discussed the new development about a representative of New Vrindaban appearing onstage, and although I was willing to share the stage with a New Vrindaban representative, we both eventually decided not to allow her to participate in the program. Some months earlier, Lori told me, she had hosted a program commemorating the acquisition of the Larry Gibson Archives. Larry Gibson (1946-2012) was an anti-mining environmentalist from West Virginia, who spent the majority of his adult life opposing mountaintop removal coal mining. Lori did not invite a representative from the coal industry to appear at the event, nor would she allow a coal industry representative to speak at the event if they asked. Lori and I thought the analogy was appropriate.

My program at West Virginia University was years in the planning. I had suggested four years earlier, to the then-Director of the West Virginia History and Regional Center (John Cuthbert) that WVU might host an event commemorating the completion of my books and the cataloging of the Swami Bhaktipada Archive. In addition, Lori had been busy planning this event for nearly a year, we decided that we would not allow any participants to change our plans—and only two weeks before the event!

Dr. S was not happy with our decision, as he thought in the interest of fairness we should allow a New Vrindaban representative to speak on our program. In protest, Dr. S decided to withdraw his participation as introductory speaker. He explained, “Henry, though I came to this a bit late, and volunteered my service to take part, I now feel that my presence is probably not a good idea, and I have asked Lori to recuse my part for the evening, as well as remove my name from the public announcements. I hope this makes everything simpler in the long run, and that the evening can be dedicated to a celebration of your original plans. . . . I've dedicated my entire personal and professional career to helping engender and facilitate cross-cultural communication, mutual respect and understanding, and collaborative dialogue.”

Prejudice Against my Books?

In my humble opinion, it appears to me that the New Vrindaban Temple President and Communications Director might have been mistaken about my motives, and they are also undoubtedly mistaken about my books. It seems they have not read my books, but only heard stories and rumors about them. This was proved to me when I spoke to Jaya Krishna and his wife after my presentation. Anuradha asked me how Kirtanananda and Hayagriva returned to ISKCON, as I did not mention that point during my talk due to time constraints. If she had read Gold, Guns and God, Vol. 2, she would have known that the two AWOL disciples visited Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in Montreal in July 1968 and apologized, and Prabhupada accepted them back into ISKCON.

In addition, Jaya Krishna also learned a few things from my presentation, and admitted he knew little or nothing about Keith Ham and Howard Wheeler before they met Bhaktivedanta Swami. He would have known all this if he had read Gold, Guns and God, Vol. 1.

Yet, I am not surprised. Many in ISKCON denigrate my books without having actually read them. I learned this soon after Killing For Krishna was published; a devotee lady published a decidedly negative 3,000-word online review and boasted, “I have not read the book, and have zero plans to do so.” Go figure. How can a person write a review of a book they have never read? It’s a mystery to me.

Perhaps I might note: in Anuradha’s email to Professor S, she wrote, “While Henry’s work is often rooted in real events, it is also widely acknowledged within the community that some of his accounts are embellished or incomplete, and devotees frequently reach out privately to correct factual inaccuracies when they appear.”

I ask: What accounts in my books are embellished? And which devotees frequently reach out privately to her to correct factual inaccuracies? Why has no one contacted me, the author, to point out factual inaccuracies so they can be corrected in a future edition? Why has no one in ISKCON, after 8 years, publically corrected my factual inaccuracies and written a thorough and impartial review of Killing For Krishna, or my other 12 books?

No one has done so, and I take it that their silence means they know my books, although they may contain minor errors, are largely and soundly factual and accurate. Several academic scholars, such as E. Burke Rochford Jr. (Professor of Sociology and Religion, Middlebury College, Middlebury Vermont), Edwin Bryant (Professor of Hindu Philosophy and Religion at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey) and Alexander Batthyány (Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein), have written favorable reviews of my books. At least those three scholars have taken the time to actually read my books. The others, it sadly seems, have not, and therefore they spread lies, rumors and misinformation, either intentionally or unintentionally.

One of my New Vrindaban godbrothers commented, “Thanks for describing the drama preceding the event. Yes, your books are sometimes viewed with prejudice. Your willingness to candidly explain the events of 1986 [regarding the assassination of Steven Bryant and those who were involved in the murder conspiracy] is what has struck the most fear in people’s hearts.”

Another reader commented:

My letter to Jaya Krishna dasa:

On February 27, 2026, Henry wrote to the Temple President of New Vrindaban:

Henry at the table set up by West Virginia University Library staff featuring Henry’s books and a few artifacts from the Swami Bhaktipada Archive, such as japa mala beads, deity jewelry and Henry’s robe from the New Vrindaban Interfaith Era. Photo by Abigail Jones.

The table set up by West Virginia University Library staff featuring Henry’s books and a few artifacts from the Swami Bhaktipada Archive, such as japa mala beads, deity jewelry and Henry’s robe from the New Vrindaban Interfaith Era. Photo by Abigail Jones.

Lori Hostuttler, the West Virginia Regional and History Center Director, introduces the guest speaker. Photo by Shannon Thompson.

Henry speaks at West Virginia University. Photo by Abigail Jones.

Henry tells the story of how, at the 110th Kentucky Derby horse race in Louisville Kentucky, he got the famous NBC sportscaster Howard Cosell and his wife “Emmy” (pictured on the screen behind Henry) to give him a five dollar donation. Photo by Shannon Thompson.

Henry demonstrates how he knelt on bended knee before Howard Cosell and his wife, in order to give Mr. Cosell a citation and a Snoopy bumper sticker at the 110th Kentucky Derby horse race in Louisville Kentucky. Photo by Shannon Thompson.

About 40 people attended.

Lori and Henry.

With film director Jacob Young, producer and director of the 3-hour documentary Holy Cow, Swami!.

With former New Vrindaban resident Shannon (Sita) and current resident Allen White (Damodara).

With New Vrindaban Communications Director Anuradha Imseng and New Vrindaban Temple President Jaya Krishna dasa (Josef Imseng).

With Kelly J. Howard and Anna Akis, who came all the way from Wheeling and Weirton, West Virginia.

Henry with former New Vrindaban resident Shannon (Sita) before the event.

Henry relaxes before the event.

West Virginia University advertisement for Henry’s lecture/slide presentation.

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