Item Description: 346-page soft-cover non-fiction book. 

Gold, Guns and God, Vol. 5: The Murder and the Mandir

Volume 5 of Gold, Guns and God covers a ten-year time span roughly from 1982 to 1992. During this period, especially in the early- to mid-1980s, New Vrindaban was becoming accepted by the mainstream media. Newspapers and television and radio shows often had something good to say about the Hare Krishnas for a change. Millions of dollars per year flowed into the community from New Vrindaban “pickers” (panhandlers), construction proceeded in high gear, and architectural plans were being drawn for the largest South Indian-style temple to be built, some claimed, in the last thousand years. 

The Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Great Temple of Understanding, as Bhaktipada called it, to be constructed of millions of tons of solid, hand-carved, black granite blocks, was held in May 1985, and was attended by two ISKCON gurus, Marshall and Ohio County mayors, police chiefs, politicians in West Virginia state government, and a United States Congressman. The sun of good fortune was basking down on New Vrindaban, and all of ISKCON benefited from the positive publicity. Many ISKCON spiritual masters visited New Vrindaban and praised Bhaktipada’s vision with flowery words. 

Unfortunately, also during this time, abominable anomalies of immoral and criminal activities were polluting the holy atmosphere, behind the scenes. And the saddest part of all: the most heinous aberrations were coming from the top. One former Brijabasi, during a telephone conversation with the author described in Chapter 47, relates how once he had walked unannounced into a Fringe devotee’s house and observed Bhaktipada drinking beer and preparing to shoot a line of cocaine. Bhaktipada left immediately without speaking.

The next day, as explained to the author, Bhaktipada took the Brijabasi on a ride in his vehicle up to a pond on New Vrindaban property. Bhaktipada stopped the vehicle, turned to him, and ordered him to leave New Vrindaban immediately, or else his body might wind up at the bottom of the pond, where, Bhaktipada claimed, a few others were already buried. Our friend promptly left the community. Unfortunately, in less than a year, another Brijabasi’s body would be buried under a creek not far from the pond; murdered with authorization from the top. 

Chapters 48 and 49 discuss the New Vrindaban Fringe community, the plot to kill Charles Saint-Denis (Chakradhari), the June 1983 murder, and the banishment of the principal assassin from the community. Although the killing was carefully planned and executed in secret, many Brijabasis correctly guessed who was the killer: Thomas A. Drescher (Tirtha dasa), the community’s chief enforcer. Tirtha’s murder trial will be discussed in Gold, Guns and God, Vol. 7. 

In the meantime, a new temple for the principal deities of New Vrindaban was constructed in record time behind the Palace, near the guest lodge. The deities were installed with great fanfare in July 1983, less than a month after the murder of Chakradhari. His body was buried under a creek on community property hardly three miles distant. Yet the installation festival was packed with residents, visiting ISKCON devotees, a visiting ISKCON guru, and thousands of tourists coming to visit Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold. All were blissful, except a handful of people who were close friends to Chakradhari. 

Plans for the Great Temple of Understanding were revealed, as well as plans to construct a spiritual theme park, something like Disneyland, called Land of Krishna. The dairy herd grew so rapidly that a new cow barn and state-of-the-art milking parlor were constructed. Bhaktipada began talking about building the largest carillon (bell tower) in the world at New Vrindaban. The steel frame for the massive Great Maha-Dvarum Gateway of the Holy Name, the first phase of construction for the Great Temple of Understanding, was completed on Krishna’s birthday in 1988. Six enormous computer-controlled bronze bells were installed in the gateway four years later. 

To many, it seemed as if the sky was the limit regarding the expansion of New Vrindaban as an international place of pilgrimage for ISKCON devotees and Hindus in North America. Unfortunately, unknown to all except a select few, an undercurrent of evil permeated the atmosphere, and in time, karma would demand an eye for an eye. The “Golden Age” of New Vrindaban would not last for long.