Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991, Page 113
Book Reviews
Tu eres el amor de Dios (You Are The Love of God). Alfredo Silletta. Puntosur,
Buenos Aires, 1990. 133 pages.
This is a concise collection of eight vignettes describing a few days in the life of a religious
sect called Jovenes del Amor en Cristo. The book deals with how the life and teaching of this
sect affect those involved and their loved ones. The story follows Andres, a 25-year-old
newspaper reporter who is working undercover to learn about the group, and Natalia, an
attractive young woman who has run away from home. Both Andres and Natalia join a group
of about 30 youngsters who are visiting with the sect for the first time.
On their first day at the sect‟s farm, the visitors are greeted by sect members in a room
covered with pictures of Padre Sam and Mick Jagger. Music by the Rolling Stones and wine
flow freely. At this time the visitors have an opportunity to learn about the group and to tell
their own stories. The dialogue reveals typical family problems, such as divorce, from which
they have escaped. The young people spend a few days with the group. The men and women
sleep in separate rooms they awake early to cold showers before setting out to accompany
members to sell flowers or proselytize. They also have meetings with the group‟s leader,
Hermano Lucas, who briefs them on the history of the group and gives them his interpretation
of the Bible.
The visitors‟ routine also includes therapy sessions, such as the so-called "Celestial," in which
the young people enter a padded room after being blindfolded and undressed. Here they
alternate between inhaling drugs to get closer to God, reading sensual materials, and listening
to music by the Stones and Laurie Anderson. There is some sexual contact among the
members. Other therapies that follow in later days last more than three hours and have
similar formats and results.
For visitors who decide to join the group, such as Natalia, the therapy requires them to fast
for 72 hours, while isolated in a room, exposed to pictures, recordings, and the group‟s
literature, all the while taking drugs. The group‟s paraphernalia explains that prostituting
oneself is equal to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and, through prostitution, the group will
increase its power.
The book gradually reveals that Lucas successfully blackmails influential politicians who learn
to tolerate the group‟s practices in exchange for not having their sexual behavior with girls
from the sect exposed.
Natalia‟s preparation ends after three days when she is officially accepted into the group as a
new member. From that point on she provides sexual favors to please both Lucas‟s demands
and the corrupted politicians‟ desires until --and due to a twist of events --losing her place of
preference in the group and her own life. Andres, in the meantime, manages to uncover the
group‟s corruption, although not early enough to prevent Hermano Lucas‟s successful escape
abroad.
The structure of the narration into vignettes gives the reader a rapid and concise view of what
it is like to be among the members of this sect. Tu eres el amor de Dios could easily be read
as a diary written by Andres or any other person who enters this scenario with a touch of
skepticism instead of thirst for the ultimate answer to the problems of humanity. The
succession of vignettes and their content, moreover, make this one of those fascinating and
intriguing books that the reader will not put down before reading it all.
Gladys Martin. Berea, Ohio

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991, Page 114
Monkey on a Stick. John Hubner &Lindsey Gruson. Penguin, New York, 1990, 462
pages.
Who are the real Hare Krishnas? Robed zealots with shaved heads, jumping and chanting to
the sound of cymbals. Sincere disciples of the International Society for Krishna
Consciousness, one of the new religions, persecuted by bigots and anti-cult zealots. Pioneers
in fusing Eastern and Western religions, a critical event of the mid-twentieth century. Gentle,
saintly men and women dedicated to serving Krishna, living simply and joyfully, abjuring
worldly goods and profit with compassion for all creatures. Tens of thousands of devotees
engaged in a multimillion-dollar enterprise with over 200 temples and farms in 60 countries.
Brainwashed zombies who hustle in airports and shopping malls. Former stoned-out hippies,
street people, and college dropouts rescued from personal disintegration.
Or, under the religious facade, a spawn of murderers, madmen, child abusers, white slavers,
drug users and pushers, arms runners, cyclists, thieves, ex-cons, scam artists, embezzlers,
rapists, and exploiters. This latter image is the primary focus of Monkey on a Stick. The 462-
page paperback is a novelized documentary, a crime thriller about sickening abuses its
pornographic dialogue would offend Jesse Helms. Using hundreds of taped interviews,
depositions, and newspaper stories, Hubner and Gruson have assembled a series of vivid,
shocking personal portraits to illustrate the fable of the monkey on a stick. On Indian banana
plantations, when a monkey is captured stealing fruit, farmers impale the animal on a stick,
leaving it to rot as a warning to other monkeys.
Thomas Drescher, a devotee of the New Vrindaban temple in West Virginia, murdered Chuck
St. Denis, a fringie and pot dealer (the monkey), for alleged rape. The New Vrindaban temple
was founded by Keith Ham, now known as Kirtinananda, a disciple of Prabhupada.
Prabhupada, an Indian guru who came to the Bowery in 1965 and developed ISKCON as a
religious movement, taught his followers: Chant and obey the Krishna principles, principles
rooted in Hinduism and the Gita. Krishna, he told them, is God. ISKCON appealed to seekers
around the world and flourished. However, when Prabhupada died at age 82 in 1977,
Kirtinananda and 10 other gurus were unable to collaborate and abuses multiplied.
Sergeant Tom Westfall of the Marshall County, West Virginia, police has collected evidence
about devotees at the New Vrindaban temple near Moundsville for more than 20 years:
arson, theft, child abuse, drugs, confidence games children drowned, suffocated, and
neglected women raped, beaten, and humiliated. Sri Galima, former headmaster of boys
guru, was wanted by the police for sexually molesting his students. Steve Bryant challenged
Kirtinananda and sought to expose his illegal activities he was murdered in 1986. Thomas
Meyers disappeared in 1980. Todd Schenker was murdered in 1988. (All monkeys!)
In Germany, guru Hansadutta was accused by the police of collecting 4,000,000 Deutsch
marks "for charity" but keeping all for the temple. Guru Kripa, president of ISKCON's Tokyo
temple, and his team of devotees stole watches from jewelry stores. In New York, Advaita
was busted at JFK airport for smuggling hashish oil. In California a group of ex-cons who sold
heroin for Krishna was convicted and jailed. When Hansadutta became president of the
Berkeley temple, the self-styled secretary of God, involved with rock-and-roll scams and
guns, was frequently arrested for bizarre public behaviors eventually he entered a drug
program. Finally, guru Ravindra (William Deadwyler, Ph.D. in religious studies from Temple
University), president of the Philadelphia temple, organized a reform movement.
Kirtinananda and Hansadutta were among those expelled. (At the time the book ended,
Hansadutta ran a trailer court and Kirtinananda's New Vrindaban continued to be a tourist
attraction and to grow prize-winning roses.)
Although the corpus of the book reads like an X-rated thriller, Hubner and Gruson
substantiate their tale with photographs and detailed notes. They do not consider in depth