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

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991, Page 115
such issues as how the Krishnas convert their followers, the psychological effects of endless
chanting, parallels with other new religions which have also strayed from sanctity to savagery,
and why ISKCON appeals to certain mainstream theologians, civil libertarians, psychiatrists,
and sociologists. The authors remark on the discrepancy between doctrine and practice and
the evil of unrestrained religious power. However, they fail to consider carefully some of the
true evils of that doctrine, for instance, the paranoid belief that outsiders, karmis, are demons
or that transcendental trickery, or any act however destructive, is justified in the name of
Lord Krishna. They are sympathetic, perhaps naively, to the reform gurus and to the many
sincere devotees.
The squeamish may wish to skip Monkey on a Stick. This is much more than a book for thrill
seekers, however. For a diverse audience --teenagers, college-age religious seekers, civil
libertarians, theologians intrigued by Eastern religion, social scientists, police officers, and
anti-cultists --there are major messages.
Finally, as I write this review in the summer of 1991, according to The Cult Observer (Vol. 8,
No. 2, 1991),
The leader of the Hare Krishna spin-off community in West Virginia was convicted in
late March of authorizing murder, kidnapping, and beating of devotees to protect an
illegal, multimillion-dollar enterprise ...A jury found Kirtinananda Swami Bhaktipada,
53, guilty of mail fraud and racketeering, including being part of a conspiracy to
murder fringe member Charles St. Denis in 1983. Bhaktipada faces a maximum of 90
years in prison and more than $76 million in fines ...Bhaktipada lieutenant Jerry
Sheldon was convicted of racketeering and mail fraud, while Steve Fitzpatrick,
another lieutenant, was convicted of mail fraud.
Arthur A. Dole, Professor Emeritus
Psychology in Education Division
Graduate School of Education
University of Pennsylvania
Exit Counseling: A Family Intervention. Carol Giambalvo. Available from the
American Family Foundation, 1991, 33 pages.
In the Introduction, the author states that her monograph will dispel the myths and the aura
of "magical solutions" surrounding the process of family interventions. Many questions are
answered regarding what happens and what is expected during an exit counseling and family
intervention. The author's explanation is satisfactory for the generally uninformed family
concerned and sometimes bewildered with the experience of having a loved one involved in a
destructive cult.
The monograph is easy to read, providing many details which will enable a family to draw
parallels to their own situation and to prepare for an exit counseling. The author states that
each intervention is unique. "Unique" is the appropriate word as it comes from the Latin word
"unus," meaning "one." We work with one person and one person's concerns at a time.
Families often do not know what questions to ask ahead of time about the intervention
process. Giambalvo's booklet provides the general, common-sense details that are helpful to
families before an intervention. An intervention, or exit counseling, is the best way for a cult
member to make a clean break from a destructive group.
The "exiting" process involves coordinating the time and efforts of many people. Glitches will
occur. Press on! Keep focused on the goal. It is difficult to prearrange for 3 to 5 days of a
cult member's time, which the counselors need to complete the exit counseling process.