Jayatirtha Dasa Adhikari
Encyclopedia
Jayatirtha Dasa was one of the leading disciples of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
and a guru
within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
(commonly known as 'the Hare Krishnas' or ISKCON). He was appointed a life trustee of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
by his Guru Swami Prabhupada who also placed him in the managerial post of the fledging Spiritual Sky company. Under Jayatirtha's able management the company became a multimillion dollar concern and the Wall Street Journal covered the company's success with a front page article.
into the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, whereupon he was given the name Jayatirtha Dasa. In the beginning of the 1970s he served as a president of the Los Angeles ISKCON temple and as a president of Spiritual Sky Enterprises, a group of family-style businesses founded by ISKCON. At the time, Spiritual Sky was the largest incense
manufacturer in the US, and the only legitimate business of the society.
, and the head of ISKCON in Europe. In 1975, Jayatirtha was sent by Prabhupada "to take over and organise" the Hare Krishna movement in Great Britain
. Jayatirtha resided with his family at Bhaktivedanta Manor, a beautiful manor house donated by George Harrison to ISKCON. He travelled extensively throughout the world under the direction of Swami Prapupada and preformed the Vedic ritual of Pratista (deity installation ) in numerous temples. He was commended by Swami Prabhupada for his refined abilities in arcana padati (the process of deity worship) which set the standard of deity worship throughout the society. He co-compiled a handbook under Swami Prabhupada’s direction to assist all authorized students in that process. He was also chief editor of The Maha Bharat Times; a news paper which highlighted the concerns of the Hindu community of Great Britain.
The last place Swami Prabhupada visited in the western hemisphere before his departure was Bhaktivedanta Manor, where he embraced Jayatirtha saying "your name is Tirtha I have come to take shelter of you," before returning to Vrindavan in India to take Samadhi (die). Jayatirtha was the only member of the G.B.C. who did not follow Swami Prabhupada back to India to witness their Guru’s departure.
In the aftermath of Swami Prabhupada's death, Jayatirtha was one of eleven disciples selected to become an initiating guru. He was located in London and was responsible for initiating disciples and managing ISKCON in Great Britain and South Africa. Due to his capabilities and organizational power, the Hare Krishna movement has significantly expanded and developed in those countries.
In December 1980, Jayatirtha bought Croome Court, an estate in Worcestershire
25 miles (40.2 km) south of Birmingham
. He renamed it Chaitanya College, looking to introduce an ISKCON college degree in the Vaishnava tradition. The estate included a two-hundred-room mansion, a chapel and various outbuildings. It was built in 1750 for the Earl of Coventry by Lancelot "Capability" Brown. The design of the interiors was made by Robert Adam
. The property included 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) of fields and landscaped parkland. During the World War II, the place served as a residence for Queen of Holland. Jayatirtha spent hundreds of thousands of pounds restoring the property and turning the chapel into the Hare Krishna temple.
Jayatirtha frequently lectured about the divine love of Radha
and Krishna
. He had been holding long kirtan
sessions, which were considered by other GBC members to be interfering with the street collections and accumulation of funds by the society members. His concentrated focus on spiritual practices were in some respects a cause for concern. Jayatirtha always maintained that a divine flow of spiritual energy descended upon him at that time and refuted the allegations that his deep meditations were the result of taking LSD. The meditations which he entered into during kirtan (congregational chanting) sessions were conducted with composure, often with his eyes closed, whilst sitting crossed legged and with a straight back.
Jayatirtha's responsibilities within ISKCON required him to make regular visits to Africa, India, U.S.A and other countries although he resided with his family in the U.K. His influence in South Africa was one of the major contributing factors to reversing the trend of Hindu conversions to Islam. During his visits to India, in his free time, he would travel to remote holy places for meditation.
The Governing Body Commission
suspected that Jayatirtha's meditations or so called ecstasies were the symptoms of drug use. Jayatirtha became "the topic of serious conversations among GBC members". During a GBC meeting in Los Angeles (called to deal with problems of another Hare Krishna guru, Hansadutta Swami) Jayatirtha was relieved from all his responsibilities in ISKCON for one year and required to renounce his wife and take sannyasa
. The sannyasa initiation ceremony took place in LA Hare Krishna temple and was conducted by Kirtanananda Swami
. Although Jayathirtha begged and pleaded with the GBC not to enforce the sannyasa order upon him, especially as he had not consulted with his family members, his pleading fell on deaf ears.
GBC members hoped that taking sannyasa would help Jayatirtha to overcome the problems in spiritual life, but Jayatirtha was unhappy in ISKCON after that. He started to "shift his loyalty away from ISKCON leadership to Shridhara Swami", a godbrother of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who lived in West Bengal
. At the spring 1982 GBC annual meeting in Mayapur, Jayatirtha was told, that if he did not stop seeing Shridhara Swami, he would be removed from his leadership post in ISKCON. In response, Jayatirtha walked off the ISKCON Mayapur property taking nothing with him and took refuge in the Gaudiya Math
ashram of Shridhara Swami. Shridhara Swami, being a senior Gaudiya Vashnava leader, was concerned about the growing tension in ISKCON. He tried to mediate various problems, but usually only drew fire on himself as a result. Many of Prabhupada's disciples, disillusioned with the existing "zonal guru system" in ISKCON at the time left the organization and turned to Shridhara Swami and Gaudiya Math in search of spiritual renewal. Consequently, the GBC considered Shridhara Swami a threat, especially when such senior ISKCON members as Jayatirtha took his side.
from Sanskrit to English, "Bhagavad Gita: The Eternal Song Goes On". Jayatirtha was an admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and wrote articles and gave discourses on the Gandhian principles of ahimsa
and satyagraha
. He was the founder of the concept for the Gandhian Organisation for Peace and Liberty (GOPAL TRUST) a registered charity currently running projects in Jagannath Puri, Bay of Bengal, India. He purchased a large plot of land in Puri in conjunction with H. Desai, a Gandhian freedom fighter, for the purpose of establishing a Gandhian ashram there.
, in spite of the fact that Jayatirtha was one of the senior members of ISKCON and an early supporter of ISKCON World Review.
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was a Gaudiya Vaishnava teacher and the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna Movement"...
and a guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
(commonly known as 'the Hare Krishnas' or ISKCON). He was appointed a life trustee of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
thumb|300px|Books of BBTThe Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is the world's largest publisher of books concerning Krishna and the philosophy, religion, and culture of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of India . It was established in 1972 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acharya of the...
by his Guru Swami Prabhupada who also placed him in the managerial post of the fledging Spiritual Sky company. Under Jayatirtha's able management the company became a multimillion dollar concern and the Wall Street Journal covered the company's success with a front page article.
Early years
Jayatirtha Dasa was born as James Edward Immel in Saipan, US Trust Territory of the Pacific. He was a business and philosophy major in college. In 1969, James was initiatedDiksha
Diksa also spelled deeksha or deeksa in common usage, translated as a "preparation or consecration for a religious ceremony", is giving of a mantra or an initiation by the guru in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism...
into the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, whereupon he was given the name Jayatirtha Dasa. In the beginning of the 1970s he served as a president of the Los Angeles ISKCON temple and as a president of Spiritual Sky Enterprises, a group of family-style businesses founded by ISKCON. At the time, Spiritual Sky was the largest incense
Incense
Incense is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term "incense" refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used in religious ceremonies, ritual purification, aromatherapy, meditation, for creating a mood, and for...
manufacturer in the US, and the only legitimate business of the society.
ISKCON GBC member and initiating guru
Jayatirtha later went on to become a senior leader and preacher within the movement, a member of its management body known as the Governing Body CommissionGoverning Body Commission
The Governing Body Commission is the managerial authority of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness . ISKCON's founder, A.C...
, and the head of ISKCON in Europe. In 1975, Jayatirtha was sent by Prabhupada "to take over and organise" the Hare Krishna movement in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. Jayatirtha resided with his family at Bhaktivedanta Manor, a beautiful manor house donated by George Harrison to ISKCON. He travelled extensively throughout the world under the direction of Swami Prapupada and preformed the Vedic ritual of Pratista (deity installation ) in numerous temples. He was commended by Swami Prabhupada for his refined abilities in arcana padati (the process of deity worship) which set the standard of deity worship throughout the society. He co-compiled a handbook under Swami Prabhupada’s direction to assist all authorized students in that process. He was also chief editor of The Maha Bharat Times; a news paper which highlighted the concerns of the Hindu community of Great Britain.
The last place Swami Prabhupada visited in the western hemisphere before his departure was Bhaktivedanta Manor, where he embraced Jayatirtha saying "your name is Tirtha I have come to take shelter of you," before returning to Vrindavan in India to take Samadhi (die). Jayatirtha was the only member of the G.B.C. who did not follow Swami Prabhupada back to India to witness their Guru’s departure.
In the aftermath of Swami Prabhupada's death, Jayatirtha was one of eleven disciples selected to become an initiating guru. He was located in London and was responsible for initiating disciples and managing ISKCON in Great Britain and South Africa. Due to his capabilities and organizational power, the Hare Krishna movement has significantly expanded and developed in those countries.
In December 1980, Jayatirtha bought Croome Court, an estate in Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
25 miles (40.2 km) south of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. He renamed it Chaitanya College, looking to introduce an ISKCON college degree in the Vaishnava tradition. The estate included a two-hundred-room mansion, a chapel and various outbuildings. It was built in 1750 for the Earl of Coventry by Lancelot "Capability" Brown. The design of the interiors was made by Robert Adam
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
. The property included 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) of fields and landscaped parkland. During the World War II, the place served as a residence for Queen of Holland. Jayatirtha spent hundreds of thousands of pounds restoring the property and turning the chapel into the Hare Krishna temple.
Jayatirtha frequently lectured about the divine love of Radha
Radha
Radha , also called Radhika, Radharani and Radhikarani, is the childhood friend and lover of Krishna in the Bhagavata Purana, and the Gita Govinda of the Vaisnava traditions of Hinduism...
and Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
. He had been holding long kirtan
Kirtan
Kirtan or Kirtana is call-and-response chanting or "responsory" performed in India's devotional traditions. A person performing kirtan is known as a kirtankar. Kirtan practice involves chanting hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of instruments such as the harmonium, tablas, the two-headed...
sessions, which were considered by other GBC members to be interfering with the street collections and accumulation of funds by the society members. His concentrated focus on spiritual practices were in some respects a cause for concern. Jayatirtha always maintained that a divine flow of spiritual energy descended upon him at that time and refuted the allegations that his deep meditations were the result of taking LSD. The meditations which he entered into during kirtan (congregational chanting) sessions were conducted with composure, often with his eyes closed, whilst sitting crossed legged and with a straight back.
Jayatirtha's responsibilities within ISKCON required him to make regular visits to Africa, India, U.S.A and other countries although he resided with his family in the U.K. His influence in South Africa was one of the major contributing factors to reversing the trend of Hindu conversions to Islam. During his visits to India, in his free time, he would travel to remote holy places for meditation.
The Governing Body Commission
Governing Body Commission
The Governing Body Commission is the managerial authority of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness . ISKCON's founder, A.C...
suspected that Jayatirtha's meditations or so called ecstasies were the symptoms of drug use. Jayatirtha became "the topic of serious conversations among GBC members". During a GBC meeting in Los Angeles (called to deal with problems of another Hare Krishna guru, Hansadutta Swami) Jayatirtha was relieved from all his responsibilities in ISKCON for one year and required to renounce his wife and take sannyasa
Sannyasa
Sannyasa is the order of life of the renouncer within the Hindu scheme of āśramas, or life stages. It is considered the topmost and final stage of the ashram systems and is traditionally taken by men or women at or beyond the age of fifty years old or by young monks who wish to renounce worldly...
. The sannyasa initiation ceremony took place in LA Hare Krishna temple and was conducted by Kirtanananda Swami
Kirtanananda Swami
Kirtanananda Swami, also known as Swami Bhaktipada was the highly-controversial charismatic Hare Krishna guru and co-founder of the New Vrindaban Hare Krishna community in Marshall County, West Virginia, where he served as spiritual leader for 26 years .-Early life:Kirtanananda was born Keith...
. Although Jayathirtha begged and pleaded with the GBC not to enforce the sannyasa order upon him, especially as he had not consulted with his family members, his pleading fell on deaf ears.
GBC members hoped that taking sannyasa would help Jayatirtha to overcome the problems in spiritual life, but Jayatirtha was unhappy in ISKCON after that. He started to "shift his loyalty away from ISKCON leadership to Shridhara Swami", a godbrother of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who lived in West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
. At the spring 1982 GBC annual meeting in Mayapur, Jayatirtha was told, that if he did not stop seeing Shridhara Swami, he would be removed from his leadership post in ISKCON. In response, Jayatirtha walked off the ISKCON Mayapur property taking nothing with him and took refuge in the Gaudiya Math
Gaudiya Math
The Gaudiya Math was formed on 6 September 1920, about 30 months after Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura took sannyasa, the renounced order of life. On 7 March 1918, the same day he took sannyasa, he established the Sri Chaitanya Math in Mayapura, later recognised as the parent body of all...
ashram of Shridhara Swami. Shridhara Swami, being a senior Gaudiya Vashnava leader, was concerned about the growing tension in ISKCON. He tried to mediate various problems, but usually only drew fire on himself as a result. Many of Prabhupada's disciples, disillusioned with the existing "zonal guru system" in ISKCON at the time left the organization and turned to Shridhara Swami and Gaudiya Math in search of spiritual renewal. Consequently, the GBC considered Shridhara Swami a threat, especially when such senior ISKCON members as Jayatirtha took his side.
Withdrawal from ISKCON
At the 1982 meeting, the GBC instructed Jayatirtha Maharaja that he must forgo any contact with Sridhara Maharaja or else leave ISKCON, otherwise he would be condemned for "failing to cooperate with the ISKCON movement". To stabilize Jayatirtha's zone, the GBC turned it to another guru, Bhagavan, who reinitiated some of Jayatirtha's disciples. Under Bhagavan's leadership, Hare Krishna devotees in UK went on a year-long marathon to collect funds to save British ISKCON properties. Unable to pay high mortgage payments, Bhagavan eventually had to sell Croome Court estate. ISKCON in the absence of jayatirtha’s managerial skills was becoming unviable. Some of Jayatirtha's disciples fled from London to India and joined their guru, creating "the first formal schismatic offshoot from ISKCON". Jayatirtha's new splinter group became based in London and he renamed his former ISKCON disciples with biblical names. Finally, he left his London temple and went to Nepal with a small group of students and founded The Order of Pilgrims which later became established in South Africa.Literature and philosophies
A booklet “Notes of a Pilgrim” written by Jayatirtha shortly after his departure from ISKCON, highlights his personal experience and reflections of the society and its leaders. He translated the Bhagavad GitaBhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
from Sanskrit to English, "Bhagavad Gita: The Eternal Song Goes On". Jayatirtha was an admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and wrote articles and gave discourses on the Gandhian principles of ahimsa
Ahimsa
Ahimsa is a term meaning to do no harm . The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hims – to strike; himsa is injury or harm, a-himsa is the opposite of this, i.e. non harming or nonviolence. It is an important tenet of the Indian religions...
and satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
. He was the founder of the concept for the Gandhian Organisation for Peace and Liberty (GOPAL TRUST) a registered charity currently running projects in Jagannath Puri, Bay of Bengal, India. He purchased a large plot of land in Puri in conjunction with H. Desai, a Gandhian freedom fighter, for the purpose of establishing a Gandhian ashram there.
Death
On November 13, 1987, five years after Jayatirtna had left ISKCON, he was murdered by his disciple Antony Tiernan. Antony Tiernan was viewed by many of Jayatirtha’s serious minded students as a man on the edge with a fanatical and unpredictable streak, who proclaimed himself to be the topmost disciple. Although he was caught redhanded, he was not tried for murder and pleaded guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility. The trial date was changed at the last moment and although friends and family of Jayatirtha had flown from America to London to attend the trial, it went ahead unbeknown to them, his family in the U.K. and his students alike. Not a single person known to Jayatirtha was present in the court room other than the murderer, who had slashed a surface cut across his palms at the scene of the crime to solicit pity upon himself. The bereft community that had been working with and under the guidance of Jayatirtha, while waiting for the date the trial was to commence, where shocked to read of the outcome in the newspapers. A proposal by an editor to publish his obituary in ISKCON World Review was turned down by the editor-in-chief, Mukunda GoswamiMukunda Goswami
Mukunda Goswami is a spiritual leader within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness ....
, in spite of the fact that Jayatirtha was one of the senior members of ISKCON and an early supporter of ISKCON World Review.