Guru Wars — Why Did the Rapist Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Maharaj Try to Disown Convicted Felon Swami Prakashanand Saraswati?

16

Photo: This is an image of the two notorious “smoking gun” letters that I write about in my book. In one letter, Kripalu is ordering Prakashanand to send him thousands of dollars in “black money,” which is illegal. But Prakashanand angrily writes back, telling him: “If you do anything wrong in this society [don’t follow the law], they will finish you forever. So, if this happens, our plan to collect millions of dollars for Barsana [India] will be finished.

By Karen Jonson (Rishika)

Originally Published: 23 October 2012

Updated and Republished: 22 November 2024

Note from blog post author, Karen Jonson (Rishika): This blog post is one of the 10 blog posts on Rishikaxcult.com, written by me, Karen Jonson (Rishika), that Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat tried to remove from the internet by devious means. Why don’t they want you to know this information?

Two Criminal Gurus Engage in a 50-Year Love-Hate Relationship of Scamming, Pillaging, and Raping — Then Kripalu Tries to Deny It

“He’s a disciple of Guru Dev, not of me.” 

Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Maharaj made this statement while trying to disown Swami Prakashanand Saraswati after he was convicted of 20 counts of child sex abuse in a court of law in the USA. 

Extensive receipts prove otherwise, including a massive number of photographs, videos, and documents of the two working side-by-side for over 50 years. 

Here is the True History of the Two Gurus’ Long-Running Con Game 

In the 1980s, among certain members of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) community living in Fairfield, Iowa, Swami Prakashanand Saraswati was a notorious personality. After arriving in the USA for the first time, he made a beeline to Fairfield with the express purpose of trying to recruit (steal) followers away from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of TM. 

In one infamous advertisement, Prakashanand equated the Maharishi to Satan. In lectures, he claimed that Maharishi was “bringing people into darkness.”

What’s most interesting about these attempts to overtake Marharishi is that in the 1950s, Prakashanand and Maharishi shared the same guru — Jagadguru Shankaracharya Brahmanand Saraswati. He was better known as Guru Dev. 

Guru Dev had been the Shankarcharya of Jyotirmath, considered a very prestigious religious seat in India. Maharishi was Guru Dev’s secretary for many years, until he died in 1952. Maharishi was never a teacher when he was with Guru Dev. But he made himself into one to enrich his pocket — knowing that there were thousands of gullible people in the USA that he could recruit into transcendental medication.

Prakashanand was just a student under Guru Dev. However, in his official biography, he claims that he, at 22 years old, and with very little experience, was offered Guru Dev’s official seat. However, there were several actual successors to the position who were with Guru Dev for years and infinitely better suited for the role. 

“Of course, Prakashanand was never offered the position. It’s just another lie to build a myth.”

Rishika

Prakashanand Lies About His Past — Turns Out He’s Nothing Special

Here’s what Prakashanand stated in his bio:

“At the age of twenty-one, in 1950, he (Prakashanand) renounced the world and went to Jyotirmath in the Himalayas. In 1951 he took the order of sanyas (renounced person). Seeing his esteem of renunciation and deep feeling of God consciousness, in 1952, he was offered to be the successor of Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, which is one of the most renowned religious thrones in India. He very politely refused by saying, ‘My final desire is to go to Vrindaban. I have given my life for the service of Radha Rani, so I cannot live forever in the math (organization).’”

Prakashanand went out on his own after that. But he had very little success as an independent swami roaming around India. Four years later, he met Shri Kripalu Maharaj and — according to him — instantly became his foremost devotee. But, at that time, Kripalu only had a very primitive residence and very few followers. 

Kripalu welcomed Prakashanand into his fledgling “spiritual” organization, recognizing a fellow conman when he saw one. The two began a 60-plus-years-long love-hate relationship as they worked together to try and build a following and get rich quick. 

One of Prakashanand’s duties was to go to America and try to find new devotees and bring them back to India and to somehow collect millions of dollars. They knew that many Hindu gurus had gone to America and lured in a bunch of gullible followers into their cults — people like the Maharishi. In fact, Maharishi ended up being a very materially successful guru in America with thousands of followers. 

Prakashanand was only able to gather up a relatively small number of devotees compared to Maharishi. In fact, many other gurus who come to the U.S. seeking wealth and fame attracted a larger following than he did. 

But the small group of early followers who were largely comprised of formerly “TMers” turned out to be a stroke of luck for two main reasons:

1. They were able to have close relationship with Prakashanand unlike with Maharishi. They were thrilled about that. 
2. His early followers believed that Prakashanand was “God incarnate,” specifically “the incarnation of Radha-Krishna.” 
3. A few of them created businesses in the informercial industry that eventually generated millions of dollars. Notable among the most-wealthy of Prakashanand’s small group of Western followers were a handful of former TMers, three of whom were minting money in the infomercial trade and giving large sums of it to the gurus: Peter Spiegel, Katie Williams, and Marsha Kent.

Kripalu was practically salivating because so much Western money began flowing over to him (and into his India-based trusts). He was able to build the massive temples in India in his name that he always craved. 

“Prakashanand achieved his primary mission in the USA — make millions to send back to India (see the image at the top of this blog post).”

Rishika

The Fake Guru Con Game Expands in the 1990s

The two conmen’s business partnership flourished in the 2000s. This culminated with the completion of the largest temple in Vrindaban, India, built by Prakashanand to glorify Kripalu — Prem Mandir. They spared no expense for the massive structure, including importing emerald pearl from China and pink marble from Italy, among two of the many extravagances. They even built railroad tracks to transport the materials to Vrindaban from the shipyard on the coast. 

The total bill for the temple and extras is estimated to be one billion U.S. dollars — which was primarily generated from infomericals selling people junk, as well as from followers who were told that the funds were going to “build hospitals.”

Prem Mandir was supposed to be a place with great devotional purpose. But it is so overdone and garish that it looks like a Las Vegas casino and Disneyland had a baby. The scene is pure chaos with flashing lights, loud music, too many decorations, and visitors acting like every day is a party. If you view the temple’s videos online, you’ll get a small glimpse of the monstrosity they created. 

And it wasn’t the last building the two constructed. They also added a wide range of buildings to Kripalu’s home village in Manghar, India. It was once a tiny rural village. Now it’s Kripalu-land, with everything as overdone and garish as the Vrindaban temple. They even built a very opulent home for Kripalu, even though he was in his 80s and near death. 

Kripalu Lies about Prakashanand’s Past in JKP

All their work to glorify Kripalu came to a screeching halt in 2008 when Prakashanand was arrested in the USA on 20 counts of child molestation. The victims were three girls who grew up in the Austin ashram, formerly called Barsana Dham. The name was changed to Radha Madhav Dham in April 2011, following his conviction and escape from justice. 

In March 2011, Prakashanand was convicted of his crimes, but before he could be sentenced, he ran for the border into Mexico and escaped with the help of several of his devotees. Nearly one dozen people were known to have directly participated in his escape from the U.S. to India, according to a document from the Texas Branch of the U.S. Marshals office. 

An article in the Austin American-Statesman at that time featured a report filed by the U.S. Marshals in September 2012 about Prakashanand’s escape into India. The details of the report were published on this blog.

Twenty days after the newspaper article was published, Kripalu’s organization in India issued a press release denouncing its association with Prakashanand. The news article, which JKP got scrubbed from the internet, stated the following:

Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Maharaj Denies Link with Wanted Godman Swami Prakashanand Saraswati

New Delhi, Oct.14 (ANI): A trust founded by Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj issued a statement over the weekend, refuting and rejecting suggestions and allegations of his link with wanted godman Swami Prakashanand Saraswati.

Saraswati has been declared a criminal in America, and a spokesman for the Jagadguru said that the spiritual leader was not in the habit of accepting or making disciples.

‘It is to be noted that Prakashanand Saraswati is a disciple of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Brahmanand Saraswati (a sanyasi). Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj is a family man and is a Vaishnava (Vishnu devotee),’ the statement said.

According to the trust, several people in India and abroad claim to be their guru’s disciples, impressed by his actions and his ‘irrefutable devotion towards god.’

‘Under such circumstances, creating a misconception, and, thereby, deluding the public by saying that a wanted criminal is his disciple or associated with any of the trusts functioning under his guidance, is definitely a condemnable action,’ the trust statement said.”

No Love Lost Between Two Criminal Psychopathic Gurus

This proclamation by Kripalu and Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat is, of course, a complete lie — easily refutable by anyone with an internet connection. 

The only person “deluding the public” is Kripalu himself, who has a dark, dark history, chronicled in my memoir, Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, when the U.S. Marshal’s statement was released, the Radha Madhav Dham website deleted the lat fact that Prakashanand founded the ashram and temple. They even removed all of his books from the online bookstore and his photographs from the ashram.

Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Maharaj and Swami Prakashanand Saraswati are notorious historical recreationists. They have always spouted whatever nonsense fits their needs at the moment — even if it’s different than something they said or did in the past. 

What Prakashanand’s devotees think of this latest fraud perpetrated by Kripalu is anyone’s guess. They’ve shown through their actions that they are in lockstep with every utterance from both lying, dangerous, and criminal conmen — even if they defy logic or the truth.

“This cult would be an utter joke — if it wasn’t so very dangerous.”

Rishika

Learn More About the Two Criminal Gurus

Learn more about the truth of my two ex-gurus, Jagadguru Shri Kripalu and Swami Prakashanand Saraswati — partners in crime for over 60 years — in my book Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus. It’s available around the world and in India.

Purchase in India: Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus

Purchase everywhere else: Sex, Lies, and Two Hindu Gurus

Tell Your Story — and Set Yourself Free

Do you want to tell your story and help people steer clear of this abusive organization? Please reach out to me. I will keep your name in complete confidence. 

Copyright © 2012-2024 Karen Jonson/RishikaXcult. All rights reserved. No part of this blog post may be copied or duplicated without the express permission of the author.