CHAPTER 4: "GURU IS ONE", which one?

      "if i only knew then, what i know now."
                                    === anonymous

    the rubber tired armor personnel carrier sat in the ready at the
limestone, west virginia volunteer fire department parking lot. 
they would only be called in if they were needed and as far as the
information from the spies in the compound went, they wouldn't be
needed. they knew that all the pre-daylight activity took place at
the other end of the 6,000 acre farm. they knew exactly where the
hats, stickers, and other related paraphernalia used to solicit cash
from the populace were manufactured and where they were stored. the
federal troops had used the nearest flat area for a staging area
before the raid on the compound. the FBI would conduct the raid and
the swat team and the APC's would only be called in if there was a
problem. the FBI agents and the justice department had assured all
those with prior knowledge that the raid would come off without a 
hitch. a similar strategy just a few months later would bring a
searing end to many lives at the branch davidian compound, but this 
time the feds were right. no resistance. they had scouted the 
community for years and now well knew what to expect.the dawn raid 
found no one at the bahulaban* farm, so it was 
"a walk in the park" for the sledge hammer wielding, armor clad
representatives of the land of religious freedom. long live liberty.
     new vrndaban had "gone political" in 1979 at the urging of some 
of the more activist wing of the commune and without much thought,
the entire commune rolled into the voter registration center and
registered almost three hundred brand new republican voters into a
state that was still quite proud of it's "solid south" voting 
record of having democratic in every election, except ike, since
the civil war. the reagan election in 1980 brought to power the
conservative right with a fervor of not seen since the nixon 
resignation. the legacy the reagan administration would leave would
be a brand on the backs of those that lived through it. the first
president to take seriously the threat to a godless, capitalistic
society from within their own borders. reagan aimed to, 
surreptitiously, subvert the religious freedoms of those not in his 
particular klan.
     new vrndaban had to learn the hard way that old systems die hard.
in the past, saintly kings may have behaved in certain ways, but that
had nothing to do with the here and the now. if God was going to appear 
whenever religious practices declined or when irreligion was prominent,
many think He should have gotten here twenty years or so ago.
     the divine right of kings only worked so long as the kings stayed 
divinely inspired. the divine right of presidents is an obvious failure
and the divine right of unauthorized gurus has put the movement into
a stage of progress not resembling anything seen in this realm in the
last 5,000 years. arjuna challenged KRSNA's seniority to the sun god
and KRSNA had to show enough of the universal form at each instance,
so as to bring the living being to the next level in their spiritual 
progress.
     reagan's attorney general had a hit list of groups within the
US borders that posed a threat to the supremacy of the federal
government into it's citizens lives. the new vrndaban community
was considered by ed meese's justice department to be the fourth
largest terrorist threat in the US, coming in just behind lyndon
larouche, at number one, rev. moon at number two, ragneesh at
number three, his commune just have elected their own commune
member as sheriff of the entire county. ISKCON, the international,
placed eighth on the top ten list, just behind the unfortunates
at the waco flesh fry. what the shootings at kent state did to
scare people from demonstrating against government policy, the
systematic elimination of religious sects other than the slaves
of the cross, did to membership in commitment seeking spiritual
organizations. persecution may serve to decrease membership of the
numbers of those professing dissent, but that by no means solves
the problem and more often has the reverse effect of galvanizing 
the strength of the resistance.
     new vrndaban now posed a threat to the federal government
that they would not tolerate and the commune was raided for
racketeering. the same cowboy, gun-slinger mood continues to
the present administrations justice department, but the most influential
intrusion into the commune came under attorney general janet reno.
 kuladri, speaking at the new vrndaban janmastami festival of
1985, quoted the county sheriff:"the Hare KRSNAs have become
the largest landowners in the county, outside of the consolidated
coal company. at the rate they're going, they'll be the biggest 
before long. hell, if they keep up at this rate, they'll be the
biggest landowners in the state in five more years." kuladri
drawled his best hillbilly accented imitation of his nemesis,
sheriff bob lightner.
     lightner was a thorn in the side of the krsnas and k swa 
had delegated his authority to kuladri in all matters having to 
do with the law enforcement officials. the FBI still looking
for tommy meyers(taru das) now saw only kuladri. if they wanted
to see k swa, they would need to set up an appointment with his
attorney, jim lees.usually now, the only thing they saw one another
about was the resolution of traffic tickets. envy is such that it
must come out, no matter how well restrained it once was. the
KRSNAs had money and the locals were envious.  
     in any organizational meeting in the ohio valley, the KRSNAs
were the major topic of discussion. from political party meetings,
to church suppers, from school board meetings to ku klux klan
meetings, the KRSNAs were the topic. the construction of Prabhupada's 
Palace required cement, sand and gravel. lots of cement, sand and
gravel. you could either bring in lots of loads of little trucks
or fewer loads of big trucks. new vrndaban brought in lots of loads
of big trucks.
     the cement trucks initially came in bag lots, later in bulk 
fed tanker trucks. the bag lot trucks had 500 bags to a truckload.
500 bags at one hundred pounds per bag made the load alone weigh
fifty thousand pounds. all this over roads marked with an eight
ton weight limit. the ticket on this one depends on how many pounds 
over weight the truck is when the police catch it, so the game was 
always to get the truck unloaded before you got caught. the 
police might show up at any time with a scale to weigh the truck.
the scale is about the size of a suitcase and you put it under
one wheel and it tells you the weight of the truck and it even
figures out the amount of the ticket. a ticket was about $ 1500
but more often than not, the trucks got unloaded before the
police arrived. some times the police arrived while the truck
was being unloaded and this produced any number of confrontations.
battles of will between the police and the communities representative
had fallen to kuladri since the time k swa almost got arrested
for ordering devotees to unload the truck, against the sheriff's 
orders. kuladri used to do this as "devotional service". now
he requires $ 80,000 to do the same job.
     still, kuladri had direct personal instruction from his guru
to stay with k swa and assist him with his life's work and so far,
even though it had been "uphill", it had taken k swa's #2 to
heights he'd only aspired to earlier. sure, he complained about
moving all of the time, but wasn't he always upgrading the quality
of his life style? he was k swa's #2 and as such, he stayed as 
close behind as any brown nosed yes man might have to stand to
be successful. new vrndaban currently holds the liberal democratic
philosophy espoused by the american flag over the palace and the
kerry campaign signs on all the lawns. back in the earlier days
of new vrndaban, the more republican trickle down economic theories
were much more prevalent. if you were near someone with maha
prasadam, it might just trickle down to you. being #2 to one
whose being worshiped "as good as God" might not be half bad,
kuladri came to know and, in spite of all his whining, he was
quite happy where he was. when one year old, $ 40,000, four
wheel drive SUV's are considered "remnants", anyone with any
greed in him would become "hungry". k swa continued to whet
kuladri's appetite.