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Gabriel‘s portrayal is chilling, but accurate. ISKCON trained its devotees to frame everything
in terms of guilt for breaking the rules. If someone is too attached to their own beauty,
Krishna will ―smash‖ them. If a baby dies, it‘s Krishna‘s arrangement to break the parents‘
material attachments, and so on. In ISKCON there is always a reason for everything that
happens, usually something that frightens people into clinging ever more tightly to
ISKCON‘s shelter.
One of the most significant themes of the book is Gabriel‘s relationship to his guru,
Bhavananda. Although Gabriel wants to admire Bhavananda and put him on a pedestal,
Bhavananda is thoroughly undeserving of worship. It is obvious to the reader that
Bhavananda is a fake. (This is not reported in Servant of the Lotus Feet, but in 1985,
Bhavananda, supposedly a sannyasi (celibate priest) confessed to forbidden active
homosexuality. The ISKCON Governing Body Commission (GBC) then ordered him to give
up the company of his traveling companion and stop giving initiations. When he ignored
those orders, the GBC defrocked and expelled him in 1987. Bhavananda later returned to
ISKCON in the 1990s.)
Reading Gabriel‘s account of his guru-disciple relationship with this charlatan is hilariously
horrifying. On one hand, the disciple feels guilty over every minor infraction, such as looking
at a woman with ―lust.‖ Meanwhile, the guru is carrying on an active sexual life and
enjoying plenty of material comforts, such as flying around the world first-class, decorating
his fingers with jeweled gold rings, and driving around in a chauffeured white limousine.
Several of Gabriel‘s references to Bhavananda make the reader wonder whether he is
purposely hinting at the guru‘s peccadilloes. For example, this is how he describes one of
the other initiates: ―Pradyumna, born and raised in England, was flagrantly gay. (p. 92). In
the next breath he explains: ―I couldn‘t help but be jealous of Pradyumna. That frivolous
fellow always got the ―special mercy‖ of Vishnupada‘s [Bhavananda‘s] private association in
his chamber‖ (p. 92)
Later, he follows with: ―Pradyumna always made a game of it, generating an air of mystery
about his encounter[s] behind Srila Vishnupada‘s closed door‖ (p. 94).
Some things in ISKCON were just secret. In my research after leaving the organization, I
discovered underground cultures of both homosexual and heterosexual activity among the
sannyasis and their associates. There was also a culture of drug use that was kept secret
from the rank and file. Gabriel is not aware of this side of ISKCON until later, when he is
deprogrammed. Even then, the deprogrammers only touch on the underlying deceit that is
now more out in the open, decades later.
As a devotee, Gabriel only knew what the leaders told him and was not aware of details of
the larger troubles plaguing ISKCON and its leaders. His knowledge of the problems is
extremely limited and naïve. For example, there was a huge problem in New Vrindaban
during those years, which included child abuse, drug smuggling, prostitution, and murder.
As a consequence, the guru from that zone later spent twelve years in jail (1992 – 2004).
One aspect of the history was that the guru used to send his followers all over the country
to do sankirtan in other gurus‘ zones. When Gabriel encountered New Vrindaban devotees in
his territory at a Grateful Dead concert in Hartford, Connecticut, he explains, ―Although they
were to be respected as Krishna‘s devotees they were regarded as renegades by much of
the Hare Krishna movement‖ (p. 65). That‘s all he says about it, because that‘s all the
ordinary devotees knew.
The organization was writhing with guru problems, but Gabriel only repeats the party line:
―The International Society for Krishna Consciousness had been undergoing major internal
political changes since the ‗disappearance,‘ (i.e. death, for the reader unfamiliar with the
jargon) of Srila Prabhupada in 1977 (p. 67). Later he offers up this rumor with innocent

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curiosity: ―There was even talk that some of the spiritual masters, Krishna‘s purest
devotees on earth, were living secret lives of passion and deceit‖ (p. 125). Later he adds,
―Other spiritual masters were facing criminal charges for serious shenanigans. One by one,
the candles of pure devotional service to Krishna were burning out‖ (p. 190).
In several instances, he mentions a rumor that Ramesvara, the guru for the West Coast,
was involved with prostitutes. This is the first time I heard that rumor, even though
Ramesvara was my ―guru‖ when I was involved. Though it later came out that Ramesvara
had other problems, I never heard that he went to prostitutes. But who knows? There used
to be a saying among fringe members that every rumor in ISCKON grows from a grain of
truth.
At the end of the book, the deprogrammers show Gabriel newspaper articles about
ISKCON‘s crimes. He listens to tapes and watches videos of former devotees disclosing what
they know about ISKCON‘s failings. The deprogrammers introduce Gabriel to former
members who tell him what the organization is really like. Finding out the truth about
ISKCON helps Gabriel reject his affiliation and give up the indoctrination he had accepted.
Gabriel‘s crucial turning point comes way before the deprogramming, however. It happens
at the end of Part I, when his guru is giving a class. Gabriel challenges Bhavananda with
this question:
Guru-ji, the Hare Krishna philosophy teaches that we are all individuals, and
that we each have a unique relationship with Krishna. Yet every day the
devotees do the same activities, dress the same, and eat the same. I don‘t
see where I am becoming an individual? (p. 125)
Gabriel recalls: ―The blue-eyed guru turned red. ‗You Hasidic, Mayavadi apparadhe ...
Have you no gratitude for what has been done for you?‘ ― (p. 125) Gabriel says, ―I didn‘t
know whether to throw myself off the rooftop, or fall at the feet of His Grace begging
forgiveness‖ (p. 125). He also recounts the condemnation of his peers for challenging the
guru. This encounter changes Gabriel from a submissive follower to a follower with doubts.
He begins to realize that he is an asset to the organization only as long as he brings in
money and doesn‘t ask any tough questions.
He also begins to realize that he is criticizing himself for things that are the fault of the
organization. The most blatant example is that the organization expected devotees to solicit
donations without permits. Over the course of the book he is taken to jail, detained, and
ushered off of private property by security guards as a matter of routine. In each incident
he tries to cling to the ISKCON party line, blaming himself for the predicament because of
his lack of faith, or because of his minor spiritual infractions, such as his ―lust‖ or his
―attachments‖ to the material world.
The reader wants to shake the poor fellow to get him to see what‘s really going on. He is
being used to raise money and made to feel guilty for everything that goes wrong. His
telling of these dilemmas seems true to life. Outsiders who want to understand how
brainwashing works will learn well from reading Gabriel‘s descriptions. Brainwashing goes
deep. Even after undergoing a full deprogramming, he writes in the last chapter, ―I
understood that the Hare Krishnas are a destructive cult, but it would be years before I
could verbalize it without fearing the wrath of God‖ (p. 218).
The book is a page turner and true to the experience. As an author, Gabriel put himself
back into the situation to explain what it was like at each stage. In Part I he is a willing
participant, but Part II portrays his disillusionment, leading to his separation from ISKCON.
Part II is a study in rebellion against the brainwashers‘ rules. He says it himself: