Why is Butler’s group considered a dangerous cult and why this should matter to all supporters of Tulsi Gabbard?
To quote former Hare Krishna member and critic Gaura Rader:
His words also apply to Chris Butler and associates.
Those of you examining Tulsi Gabbard’s Presidential ambitions should deeply consider what is behind her. With all the concerns about collusion with foreign powers within our government, this should not be taken lightly. Not only has Tulsi not disavowed Chris Butler, but glorified him. Don’t be fooled by her flowery words. It’s not the holy names or Hinduism that is the issue. It's not about Hindu-phobia or religious prejudice, it’s about guru collusion.
Cute, sincere, idealistic, populist, sweet and fierce, Tulsi has many great ideas for political reform. Yet what is most concerning is an irrational belief that both AC Bhaktivedanta and Chris Butler are infallable. This is not about religious freedom and practices. It is the Vaishnava notion of guruhood.
Tulsi’s guru holds absolute sway over her decisions and self-worth. Do we really want our leaders to be owned by special interest groups? By luck, Butler is an environmentalist, social justice advocate, ant-interventionist, and anti-neocon. Butler’s own father Willis, a progressive, started one of the best health care systems in America at the time. Kaiser Permanente in Hawaii was both affordable and excellent. Rich and poor got the same great care.
But Chris Butler also has his delusions. Like George Soros, Butler also believes that he is a kind of Messiah who knows what is best for humanity. Both are unelected puppet masters. Now what could possibly go wrong with that? What could be dangerous about a difference between the public face and the hidden face of an organization or leader?
U.S CONGRESSWOMAN MS.TULSI GABBARD'S JALADUTA YATRA MESSAGE
U.S CONGRESSWOMAN, TULSI GABBARD'S SPEECH AT ISKCON 50TH ANNIVERSARY GALA EVENT IN WASHINGTON D.C
Please share and get this message out to journalists and citizens who are entertaining the idea of Tulsi for President. Not that any other candidates are better. It's just that we voters now demand transparency and truth to make our decisions. We no longer will tolerate bills passed in secret without knowing their contents. Nor will we accept candidates beholding to foreign or domestic powers.
I call on Tulsi to disavow all cultiness and to stop covering up her history with Chris Butler.
To quote former Hare Krishna member and critic Gaura Rader:
His words also apply to Chris Butler and associates.
Quote
Gaur Radar (My thoughts are in brackets - V.)
In the Hare Krishna religion you are required to accept a guru, a spiritual teacher. You are supposed to dedicate your life to the spiritual teacher, to accept his words as the absolute truth on every matter. This person speaks for God. You are supposed to bow down to them every time you see them. [Note- Butler does instruct his devotees not to do this in public at times]. You are supposed to worship their feet and drink the water that has washed their feet, eat the food they have chewed and spit out. Your identity, your sense of self-worth hinges on his approval.
Every day you sing that the only thing that matters are the words coming out of his lotus mouth. [Note- Part of the Hare Krishna daily prayers include offering complete obeisances to your guru.] The purpose of your life, your only desire is to please this person. Is there anything that can possibly make something more cultish than that? …
It is still very much a cult no matter how many reforms there are as long as this concept of guru is fundamental to it, as long as Prabhupad’s words are accepted as the literal truth and the institution of accepting a living guru is still practiced [to this absolute degree]. Hare Krishna will continue to be a cult no matter in what ways it may be liberalized. [Note – Changing its name, brand, or joining forces with other gurus, creating a worldwide network of missions, using any euphemism such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Science of Identity, or Hinduism does not make it a non-cult .]
Don’t be fooled by its liberalization. It is still very much a cult… due to the fact that you are supposed to dedicate your life to a person. [Tulsi Gabbard has by her own admission, publicly declared her allegiance to her guru Chris Butler, but the You Tube videos mentioning Siddhaswarupananda have been deleted.] All of this gets lost when you see a Hare Krishna [adherent] teaching a yoga class or sitting in a yoga studio, presenting themselves as a chaplain, speaking at a university, presenting a paper at an academic conference [or holding political office].
These people believe that you must dedicate your life to a person, serve them, and drink the water that has washed their feet, bow down to them… that your spiritual life literally depends on your pleasing them and that you should do anything this person says to do. If that doesn’t make something a cult, honestly, what would? … Their beliefs are clearly not rational. The most important thing is that the Hare Krishna’s are very harmful. If you join them your life will become irreparably damaged in significant ways. It is definitely a cult. Any philosophy that endorses the notion of guru the way Hare Krishna’s [or SOI] understands it, is absolutely a cult.
Those of you examining Tulsi Gabbard’s Presidential ambitions should deeply consider what is behind her. With all the concerns about collusion with foreign powers within our government, this should not be taken lightly. Not only has Tulsi not disavowed Chris Butler, but glorified him. Don’t be fooled by her flowery words. It’s not the holy names or Hinduism that is the issue. It's not about Hindu-phobia or religious prejudice, it’s about guru collusion.
Cute, sincere, idealistic, populist, sweet and fierce, Tulsi has many great ideas for political reform. Yet what is most concerning is an irrational belief that both AC Bhaktivedanta and Chris Butler are infallable. This is not about religious freedom and practices. It is the Vaishnava notion of guruhood.
Tulsi’s guru holds absolute sway over her decisions and self-worth. Do we really want our leaders to be owned by special interest groups? By luck, Butler is an environmentalist, social justice advocate, ant-interventionist, and anti-neocon. Butler’s own father Willis, a progressive, started one of the best health care systems in America at the time. Kaiser Permanente in Hawaii was both affordable and excellent. Rich and poor got the same great care.
But Chris Butler also has his delusions. Like George Soros, Butler also believes that he is a kind of Messiah who knows what is best for humanity. Both are unelected puppet masters. Now what could possibly go wrong with that? What could be dangerous about a difference between the public face and the hidden face of an organization or leader?
U.S CONGRESSWOMAN MS.TULSI GABBARD'S JALADUTA YATRA MESSAGE
U.S CONGRESSWOMAN, TULSI GABBARD'S SPEECH AT ISKCON 50TH ANNIVERSARY GALA EVENT IN WASHINGTON D.C
Please share and get this message out to journalists and citizens who are entertaining the idea of Tulsi for President. Not that any other candidates are better. It's just that we voters now demand transparency and truth to make our decisions. We no longer will tolerate bills passed in secret without knowing their contents. Nor will we accept candidates beholding to foreign or domestic powers.
I call on Tulsi to disavow all cultiness and to stop covering up her history with Chris Butler.