June 29, 2021: Finally I started reading GGG Vol. 1. My mind is blown. There is so much details. Every decision has reaction, how life choices can change our course of life. I haven’t even gotten to the part where Keith meets Prabhupada, getting close to that part. I must say, it is well written, very impressive. Bravo.

Oh! and further I read & I couldn’t believe the subway stalls & university stall stories. I thought those occurrences were rare & not the norm. Boy, was I naive!!! I’m surprised Keith and Howard didn’t succumb to death from disease at young age from all the unsafe practices. They were very lucky indeed. They were so promiscuous. I feel like they never left their wild ways, just more discreet.

I’m amazed that such a sex maniac as Keith was able to achieve the status of sannyasi and guru. How he had fooled so many for so long.

I’m enjoying tremendously reading this volume. I laughed out loud when I read about Keith and Howard’s first experience ingesting the hallucinogenic cactus! The peyote experience and puking in the shared bucket. Ewwww! :(

Dharmi Norton
Houston, Texas
former disciple of Kirtanananda Swami, initiated Bombay (September 1979)

Dharmi Norton

May 15, 2023: Henry Doktorski: It’s not every day someone calls me a “demon!” One former New Vrindaban resident shared a post of mine about ISKCON history on his Facebook page, “Interplanetary Istagosthi.” At the bottom of my post is a link to Gold, Guns and God, Vol. 1. This one fellow read the post, clicked on the link, saw the material on my page, and was horrified. He made the following comment on the post in an effort to warn others not to visit my pages. It just goes to show that you can please all the people some of the time, some of the people all the time, but never all the people all of the time.

Locana dasa: DEVOTEES BEWARE! Opening up this link to Henry Doktorski’s book will expose you to opinions about Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON that could be construed as outright blasphemy. I innocently clicked on his link and it opened up the dirty details about two of our former prominent ISKCON members; details of which are very contaminating to read about. So, Kirtanananda and Hayagriva had serious addictions. Is that worth writing about—to such an extent? Would Srila Prabhupada ever approve of a TEN volume book on the sordid secret lives of two of his disciples who rendered him valuable service? Not for a second! Why is Doktorsky writing this, really? Money must be the only objective, and tearing down the legacy of ISKCON. IMO this posting should immediately be taken down. Doktorski slyly tempts one to open up his post with the innocent history of Srila Prabhupada’s founding of the League of Devotees, then announces his book at the bottom which is only food for the crows and jackals. And he uses the Holy Name to con you in: “Hare Krishna” historian. He is an enemy of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada, Lord Chaitanya and all the acharyas. While the sincere devotees are out on the streets blissfully chanting the Holy Names, he is publishing books for the masses entitled, Killing for Krishna, and Gold, Guns, God. Innocent people are attracted when they see the blissful devotees chanting and dancing on the street, but if they once see the covers of any of Doktorski’s books, would they ever THINK of allowing their children to associate with this movement? He is an enemy, undoing the devoted efforts of Lord Chaitanya’s sincere followers to spread the Prime Benediction for humanity at large. If this group [Interplanetary Istagosthi] was founded for spreading the pure messages of our acharyas, then the presence of such an enemy on here should be striken from this group without delay.

Henry: He continued with a personal message to my friend who shared my link:

Locana dasa: Hello, you requested that I join your group [Interplanetary Istagosthi] recently, so I accepted your kind invitation. But now I am finding that you are presenting a demon on here who is an enemy of our sacred movement. Please read my response to your posting of Doktorski’s book ads. He is not writing to help our movement become purified, or he would write articles only for the devotional community. No. He is writing to attract the public with salacious graphics, and his extensive detailed descriptions of the sins of these two men only serve to scare people away from our movement. If this is the purpose of your group, I’m leaving it. He is an enemy.

Comment by former ISKCON devotee Steven Gelberg: Henry, there is no mystery in why some devotees will react like that to your books. You are exposing truths that are painful to them and which they’re unable to process within their ISKCON-conditioned minds. They feel their most cherished beliefs and dogmas are under attack. Naturally they will attack back.

May 16, 2023: Different individuals will draw different conclusions after examining Volume 1 of Gold, Guns, and God (GGG1) by Henry Doktorski. GGG1 reveals the filthy lifestyle of Kirtanananda with disturbing clarity. A key inference I drew from GGG1 is that depravity and perversion were deeply ingrained in the psyche of Kirtanananda to such an extreme degree as to make it impossible for him to suddenly renounce his twisted sexuality. In my view, the man described in GGG1 is the same man presented in volume 2 (GGG2) and all of the remaining volumes. Deeply embedded wickedness, such as the kind chronicled in GGG1, does not suddenly vanish. Since Bhaktipada Kirtanananda’s basic character did not improve even after meeting Srila Prabhupada, it stands to reason that Kirtanananda founded New Vrindaban with dark intentions. However, the historical evidence Doktorski uncovered is more powerful than mere a priori reasoning. Therein lies an important contribution of GGG2, specifically Doktorski’s insights into the inauspicious founding of New Vrindaban.

When I was a graduate student at The Ohio State University, I attended a class at the Columbus Temple in which Radhanath falsely told us, “New Vrindaban started out as a nice place. Then it became a different place. Now it is a nice place again.” Although Bhaktipada Kirtanananda advertised New Vrindaban as a divine sanctuary, it was a place of perversion from the start. His is not a story of a benevolent visionary who later became corrupt when he subsequently acquired power. Kirtanananda created an image of absolute dedication to Srila Prabhupada, while also deceiving and disobeying Prabhupada. Kirtanananda’s goal was to move Srila Prabhupada aside.

Chand Prasad
Maryland, USA

May 17, 2023: Chand Prasad—brilliant analysis and spot on. To understand Keith Ham starts with learning about his persona and behaviors prior to meeting Prabhupada. As you point out, meeting ACBSP does not mean a switch turns off and his old habits, impulses, and nature suddenly disappear. This is one of Henry Doktorski III’s great contributions with the GGG Decalogue. We are afforded a thorough exploration of this complex character who disobeyed Prabhupada multiple times since Day One and was even kicked out of the movement more than once. I’ve always noticed—the writing was in the walls of 26 Second Ave. This may be an invitation to reflect on when we should forgive someone and welcome them back vs. understanding their potential for causing harm and irreparable damage so we stay/keep them away at all cost. It is a difficult predicament and also unfortunate when we explore the history of ISKCON.

The key question is: when to forgive. I have been wrestling with this for a long long time. When is someone bad enough that we should bypass our compassion, understanding, and humanity and completely discard them vs. finding it in our hearts to forgive them, accept that like all of us we are not entirely good or bad, and welcome them back in our lives? Definitely not an easy dilemma. However, the Keith Ham story proves that there are some clear signs that show past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, regardless of what he said; hence, actions speak louder than words. We may ignore this lesson at our personal and collective risk.

Pedro Ramos
Atlanta, Georgia