Srila Prabhupada had formed such a resepectable, genuine movement of spirituality, but when he left his body, there was a frenzy for control of the growing and sizeable movement, which lead to some real monsters in the making and a lot of suffering for those mostly sincere and innocent devotees whom they then lorded over and controlled, and used them to generate profits..
Keith Ham was one of Srila Prabhupada's earliest disciples, and in his mind this equated to him being the successor of the movement, him being there from the beginning as Srila Prabhupada built it all from the ground up.
He was initiated by his Guru, Srila Prabhupada and given the name "Kirtanananda" but when Srila Prabupada passed he changed his name to "Bhaktipada" which has a similarity to "Prabhupada", and he made himself up like some kind of king, sitting high on a throne called a Vyasasana (the padded seat type structure designed for sitting elevated from the congregation in the lotus (cross legged) position.
He declared himself the supreme Guru Acharya, which did not go down well with the other wannabe Acharyas, who basically excommunicated him from the broader iskcon movement.
He then kind of broke away from the society, where his followers in the New Vrindavan farming community were told to wear a strange, non traditional outfits that resembled something from a fraciscan or medieval monks.. basically those brown hooded robes that come to most of our minds when we hear the term "Monk", and he encouraged his followers to grow beards and long hair also.
And compared to his worst acts, these seem like nothing, because he was always surrounded by a large group of young boys who were raised to view him as a God, with no reference points to think otherwise, and we can only imagine what really went on behind closed doors, see before renouncing his old life he was a homosexual in NY, along with I think Mukunda das, another of the earliest disciples of Srial Prabhupada.
It seems that when all these young men met Srila Prabhupada, they had many bad habits and wild ways, and the Swami somehow acted as such a powerful father figure and role model so as they could purify themselves and leave their old habits behind.. But when he passed, they all seemed to deteriorate, wanting to take his position and falling down spectacularly from their Sanyass positions, one by one..
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Keith Ham was one of Srila Prabhupada's earliest disciples, and in his mind this equated to him being the successor of the movement, him being there from the beginning as Srila Prabhupada built it all from the ground up.
He was initiated by his Guru, Srila Prabhupada and given the name "Kirtanananda" but when Srila Prabupada passed he changed his name to "Bhaktipada" which has a similarity to "Prabhupada", and he made himself up like some kind of king, sitting high on a throne called a Vyasasana (the padded seat type structure designed for sitting elevated from the congregation in the lotus (cross legged) position.
He declared himself the supreme Guru Acharya, which did not go down well with the other wannabe Acharyas, who basically excommunicated him from the broader iskcon movement.
He then kind of broke away from the society, where his followers in the New Vrindavan farming community were told to wear a strange, non traditional outfits that resembled something from a fraciscan or medieval monks.. basically those brown hooded robes that come to most of our minds when we hear the term "Monk", and he encouraged his followers to grow beards and long hair also.
And compared to his worst acts, these seem like nothing, because he was always surrounded by a large group of young boys who were raised to view him as a God, with no reference points to think otherwise, and we can only imagine what really went on behind closed doors, see before renouncing his old life he was a homosexual in NY, along with I think Mukunda das, another of the earliest disciples of Srial Prabhupada.
It seems that when all these young men met Srila Prabhupada, they had many bad habits and wild ways, and the Swami somehow acted as such a powerful father figure and role model so as they could purify themselves and leave their old habits behind.. But when he passed, they all seemed to deteriorate, wanting to take his position and falling down spectacularly from their Sanyass positions, one by one..