Biography
A Brief Life Sketch [official website biography, puripada.com/indigo.htm]
GEOFFREY GIULIANO/JAGANNATHA DASA
"You will go back to Godhead."
Srila Prabhupada to Geoffrey Giuliano, Summer 1972
"My blessings to you for your work."
Ram Das, 1973
"I'm really behind what you're doing. More power to you."
Timothy Leary, 1995
"Geoffrey really knows how to get a project done well."
Mukunda Dasa Gosvami, 1995
Born on September 11, 1953 in Rochester, New York, Geoffrey Giuliano grew up in the 1960's an enthusiastic hippie of the highest order. Traveling around the world on his own (from the age of thirteen), touching down at such celebrated counter-culture hot spots as Haight Ashbury, Woodstock, the Isle-of-Wight, Swinging London and the East Village, Giuliano was sold on the apparent virtue of the peace and love philosophy of the counter culture. In 1970 he became interested in the science of Devotional Yoga and spent many years drifting between a life of discipline and meditation to the outer limits of sex, drugs & rock'n'roll. In November of 1972 he met his wife, Brenda Black, at a community college in Tampa, Florida and four kids, innumerable dogs, two cows, many cats, a parrot and a peacock later they are still very much together.
Forsaking drugs and meat in the mid-seventies Giuliano became a well known
figure in the Ybor City art scene in Tampa and later tucked himself away for five years in
the wilds of New York State writing poetry, having babies and solidifying his growing
mindset to not only try and live the one pointed life of a bhakti yogi, but impart the
dynamic art to others.
In 1980 he met His Divine Grace B.H. Mangal Niloy Goswami Maharaja in Toronto, and along with his wife took initiation into the Sankirtan movement of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu some two years later. Their new, respective spiritual names were Jagannatha Dasa and Vrndarani Devi. In between this landmark the Giulianos met and/or studied with His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Baba Ram Das, Meher Baba, Timothy Leary and Parmahamsa Yoganada. Gradually, the day to day reality of having to provide for a rather large family coupled with the highly artistic, contemplative nature of his work convinced Giuliano/Jagannatha to make a firm decision to follow the path of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to its logical conclusion.
One of the early career highlights for Giuliano was his portrayal of the Marvelous Magical Burger King and Ronald McDonald for the respective hamburger conglomerates. A strange turn for the confirmed ethical lacto-vegetarian, but Giuliano, who'd been acting professionally from the age of twelve, considered the off-beat assignments simply another theatrical opportunity. Traveling throughout New England in the Summer of 1978 with the top drawer Burger King road show he experienced something very close to old time vaudeville appearing in tiny towns all around the Cape.
In 1980 he was chosen from over four hundred actors to play the part of Ronald McDonald for Canada. It was to be the official beginning of his "grown up" career. Moving his family to the ethnic suburbs of Scarborough, Ontario he stayed with McDonalds of Canada for exactly one year and then left in disgust after witnessing what he considered to be the purposeful manipulation of children via the McDonalds' advertising juggernaut. Further, as a person of conscience, the idea of promoting meat eating to thousands of innocent young minds was not only repugnant, but karmically frightening.
In the Spring of 1984 Giuliano, desperate for a job, looked in the yellow pages under 'P' for publisher, rang the first one he saw and was offered a three country publishing deal for his first book, The Beatles / A Celebration, that afternoon! It was to be a major turning point.
Moving back to his Niagara County, New York in 1986 Geoffrey and Brenda established the Sri Puri Dhama Vaishnava Community in 1993 on twelve plus acres along the pastoral banks of the Erie Canal in Lockport. Legally incorporated in September of 1996 under the name of SRI/The Spiritual Realization Institute, the ambitious project is an international resource for those interested in the Vedic arts and sciences as well as a fully functioning educational and cultural institution.
Giuliano has now penned over twenty internationally best selling biographies published in over fifteen languages including Japanese, German, Italian, Dutch and Spanish. They are John Lennon: My Brother (written with Lennon's sister, Julia Baird); Dark Horse: The Private Life of George Harrison; Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney; The Beatles Album: Thirty Years of Music and Memorabilia; Rod Stewart: Vagabond Heart; Paint It Black: The Murder of Brian Jones; The Rolling Stones Album: Thirty Years of Music and Memorabilia; The Illustrated Series; The Lost Beatles Interviews, Behind Blue Eyes: A Life of Pete Townshend; The Lost John Lennon Interviews and Lennon & McCartney.
In addition, following a chance encounter in 1995 with West Coast music company CEO Michael McClain of Delta Music in Santa Monica, California, Giuliano signed on to produce a series of spoken word CDs and cassettes starting with the five CD boxset The Beatles In Their Own Words A Rocumentary featuring The Lost Beatles Interviews; Paul McCartney / Beyond The Myth; Things We Said Today / Talking With The Beatles; Dark Horse / The Secret Life Of George Harrison; and John Lennon Forever. The Beatles Inside Interviews featuring: In My Life / John Lennon & Paul McCartney; All Together Now / George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton & Friends; Beatlemania; Talk Downunder / Australia Beatlemania; and Talk Downunder / Sydney to Seattle. The three CD boxsets: The Elvis Presley Interviews Talking With The King featuring In The Beginning; Eye Of The Hurricane and On The Road Interviews; The Rolling Stones Interviews featuring Brian Jones / The Lost Stone; The Rolling Stones / Loose Talk and The Solo Stones / Stoned Alone. The CD The Savage Young Beatles In Hamburg 1961 featuring Tony Sheridan / A Musical Biography. The three CD boxsets: The Summer Of Love featuring Eight Miles High / An Evening With Bob Dylan; Woodstock Nation Revisited and Rock of Ages / The Spirit of the Sixties. As well as The Geoffrey Giuliano Popular Music Library featuring Blackbird / The Life And Times Of Paul McCartney; Deep Blue / The Life And Times Of George Harrison and Behind Blue Eyes / A Life Of Pete Townshend and also The British Invasion. Finally, in September of 1996 Giuliano released a one hour video documentary entitled The Beatles A Celebration.
Just prior to Giuliano's happy union with Delta Music (or Laserlight Digital as it's known) he produced thirteen spoken word cassettes for Durkin Hayes Publishing of Toronto. Selected titles include: The Rolling Stones Story; Elvis / Conversations With The King; If 6 Were 9 / The Real Jimi Hendrix; Eric Clapton / At The Cross Roads; The Unauthorized Rod Stewart; Teenage Wasteland / The Legend Of The Who; Aerosmith / Up Close & Personal and The Grateful Dead Story / What A Long Strange Trip.
Perhaps the greatest personal challenge met by Giuliano (these days known Jagannatha Dasa) was his solitary trek to India on pilgrimage in May of 1996. Landing in Delhi in the early morning he braved the rigors of the accident strewn Aggra Road ending up in the holy township of Vrndavana, the place of Sri Krishna's transcendental pastimes some five thousand years ago. From there he journeyed north from Delhi to Hardwar where he bathed in the holy Ganges river at Brama Kund for the first time before moving on to the peaceful village of Rishikesh at the foothills of the Himalayas.
Asked to describe the most meaningful thing he encountered while there Jagannatha had this to say, "I use to lay in my little bed in the ashram in Vrndavana listening to the sounds of the early morning. All at once I could hear peacocks crying, bells ringing, beating drums, monks chanting, people laughing and the clatter of horses' hooves on the cobblestones. In Vrndavana the flowers bloom very early, before daylight, so the air is filled with the perfume of flowering trees and plants of every description. I remember getting up at dawn once and watching a little barefoot girl of about five or six walking under the shaded canopy of the towering trees that lined Raman Reti. Coming to a rather ordinary looking oak she reached up, touched it gently with her right hand and then put her fingers to her forehead. She then bowed down in the red dust in front of the ancient tree. It was a wonderful, inexplicable, unimaginable event until I realized that in India the trees, the rivers, the mountains, the animals, everything, even the soil, is sacred. Back in the two hundred year old wasteland of runaway technology and unrealistic obsession with youth, called America, however, nothing is sacred. It was at that moment I realized I would never leave India again. No matter where I was on the planet!"
September 11, 1999
Sri Puri Dhama Ashram
Western New York
Friction with local authorities [excerpt from "Lennon,
imagined" by James Heaney - Buffalo News, 5/28/00]
So who is Giuliano?
"Geoffrey Giuliano" is a pen name. He changed his legal name in 1997 from
Jeffrey Juliana to Jagannatha Dasa Puripada.
He did stints as the Magical Burger King and Ronald McDonald in the late 1970s and early
1980s, became a major collector of Beatles memorabilia and eventually parlayed his
interest into a writing career. In 1986, Giuliano wrote the first of his 23 books on
popular music, 18 of them on the Beatles.
Giuliano said he practices what he describes as "devotional yoga," similar to
orthodox Hinduism. His brick house across from the Erie Canal doubles as a Hindu temple,
guest house, animal sanctuary, recording studio and vegetarian food pantry.
Through his Spiritual Realization Institute, Giuliano said, he buys and distributes food
and clothing in northern India, where he travels two or three times a year. Most of his
book royalties go to that and other charitable work, he said.
Giuliano has had his share of run-ins with the local authorities. He pleaded guilty in
1998 to a noncriminal violation and received a one-year conditional discharge after
authorities accused him, along with his wife and oldest daughter, of trying to avoid
$21,672 in bills from New York State Electric & Gas. Something Fishy Productions, one
of his corporations, pleaded guilty to a felony count of fourth-degree grand larceny in
the case.
The Giulianos, according to authorities, tried to avoid paying their bills from 1990 to
1997 by changing the name on the account every time NYSEG threatened to shut off service
for nonpayment. Giuliano agreed to pay $15,629 in restitution, though he said he is
refusing to pay the last one-third of the debt.
He insists he was unfairly prosecuted - "they had nothing on me" - and that he
pleaded guilty only because it was cheaper than fighting the charges.
Giuliano has been the subject of several complaints filed with Lockport police since 1995,
including accusations from a tenant that Giuliano followed and threatened him, and later
broke into his apartment and trashed his furniture; a report from workers who delivered
appliances to Giuliano's house that he threatened to "split their heads open"
after they damaged a door; and an obscenity-laced confrontation with police after they
picked up his daughter on a driving violation.
"They were simply allegations," Giuliano said of the incidents. "Charges
were never filed."
His difficulties, he said, are rooted in the bigotry of local authorities and "goon
squad" tactics of the Lockport police.
"They don't know what to make of me, dude. They're squares," he said. "It's
kind of an inversion of ignorance. It's the blue-collar oblivion in which they live."
The house he and his family live in also has been the focus of attention. The property
taxes and water bills haven't been paid on time in five years, public records show.
Currently outstanding is a $3,332 water bill. Giuliano recently told the Washington Post
that he owns the house and that it's worth $700,000. Public records show that his in-laws
own the property and that it's assessed at $86,400. Giuliano maintains that he was quoted
out of context and that he has made improvements to the property to boost its value.
Mintz said Giuliano's background further erodes the book's credibility.
"People like Giuliano want to suggest it was all darkness, that John and Yoko had a
loveless relationship and he was a creep of a guy. I imagine it makes for better copy in
an age of cynicism," he said.
"I ask the reader, "Who are you going to believe?' "
From: [email protected] ([email protected])
Subject: IRM rip 6/1/03
Newsgroups: alt.religion.vaisnava
Date: 2003-06-01 14:48:05 PST
3) WHO IS PURIPADA (Buffalo New York)? (Story not verified by us posted
as item of interest and verification request)
Dear Pada,
You may want to put this in your newsletter. This Jeffrey is a child molester and dupster.
He has molested children in India, Nepal and in the USA. He is also using false
"charities" to make money only for his own pockets. I actually checked with the
Bhaktivedanta Hospital to see if he gives them any money and he is giving nothing. Jeffrey
also is not doing any programs in Ravel or anything with sadhus in Vrindavan.
Stop Duping Them. It should be known to all devotees and their supporters that Jeffrey
Juliano, aka Jagannath das Puripada, aka Geoffrey Giuliano has been duping people for
years through his website and his organisation, Self Realization Institute. I hope that
you will not allow yourself to be cheated by such a dishonest pretender. Advertising that
he and his organization are collecting funds through various non-profit activities, it
should be known that none of this money is going into any of these projects, but rather,
into Jeffrey's own pockets, and it might be added, for the purchase of drugs. Below, taken
from this poor excuse of a puri pad's website, are the following ploys he uses to cheat
people. Please do NOT be duped!!!
Help For Raval: Srimati Radharani's Birthplace/ Support Bhaktivedanta Hospital / SRI
Thailand Farm / Vegetarian Restaurant Project.
Rabhunath das, the director of the Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Bombay, Sector 1 Srishti
Complex, Mira Road (East), Thane District, 401 107 can be contacted to substantiate that
this poor excuse of a pad, ("Puripad") has not given even a single paise to the
hospital despite his advertising for donations in their name. Raghunath das can be
contacted at the following email addresss: [email protected] The email should specifically
be directed to him as this address is used by another doctor (Patel). Raghunath das can
also be contacted at his personal email address, [email protected] Dr. Shanbhog,
another director at the hospital can be contacted at this [email protected] email address
as well as his personal email address, [email protected]. Please do not lose your
laksmi to this liar and cheater who has used so many avenues to cheat people out of their
money. Your servant, * Dasi
From: [email protected] ([email protected])
Subject: 6/22 pada news
Newsgroups: alt.religion.vaisnava
Date: 2003-06-22 06:13:48 PST
9) PURIPADA EXPOSE
Mahavegavati Dasi
Hare Krsna
You were asking for some verification about Jeffrey Juliano. I know Jeffrey Juliano very
well. I have known him for years. He lives in Lockport, very near to the Buffalo area. In
the mid 1970s, he used to come to the Buffalo temple. He (told me directly that he) set up
his SRI society so that he could avoid paying property taxes to the government. I stay
away from him as his ASSociation is detrimental and NOT wanted by me.
Whoever wrote this about Jeffrey was speaking the truth. They may have been one of the
misled people who was convinced by Jeffrey to come to live on his property, and, while
living there, found out some things about him. It is also possible that they may have been
prevented from leaving when s/he wanted to leave. One mataji, (Teresa Sharpe), now with
ISKCON, told me of how she and one Mayavadi sannyasi, Swami Pasupati, had to call the
police to get the police to help them so that they could leave Jeffrey's place. When the
police came, they told Teresa and Swami Pasupati that there had been other people in the
past who had called them, enlisting their help so that they could get out of Jeffrey's
place.
(If anyone wants to confirm this, Teresa's name is now Gokulataruni Dasi. She is lives in
Vrindavan and serves at the Gurukula there. She is a disciple of Dhanurdhara Maharaj.) I
was preaching to her via snail mail in around 1992 when she lived in Florida. I later met
her in 1997 when she was living in New Vrindavan. It was then that she told me what
happened to her and Swami Pasupati (who I also knew). Jeffrey's daughter was living in
Florida and Jeffrey convinced Teresa to come to live at his place. He told her that I was
living there and that I would "train her up." When Teresa got there, there was
no me there.
When I had gotten back from Africa in 1990, Jeffrey saw me at the Toronto temple and asked
if I would come to see him. (I had not seen him since 1977). I said I would come. I came
with a gift of Srila Prabhupada's woolen chaddar. Since I had been in Africa for so many
years, I did not realize how demonic Jeffrey had become. When I got to Jeffrey's place,
after giving him the gift, Jeffrey told me he was being sued by George Harrison for
$600,000,000 - that's right; SIX HUNDRED MILLION dollars - for some lie that he had
written about George Harrison in a tabloid, and he asked me if I "could do something
to help get George Harrison to stop the suit." (Jeffrey himself ALSO directly told me
at that time, that since his initiation two years before, (in 1988), he had broken all of
the regulative principles, including - according to him - his having had sex with 43 women
in those two years since his initiation (although he is married with four children. I
can't even IMAGINE WHY ANYONE would want to have sex with him). When Jeffrey asked me
(since he knew me as being a very strict follower) if I would do some austerity to try to
help him get freed from the suit, I went on a full fast - with only water - for some weeks
until Jeffrey told me that George Harrison had stopped the suit. Jeffrey later told me how
he had lied in some of his books and articles to different tabloids ("Enquirer,"
"Star," etc.) about some of the "facts" that he wrote in those
biographies. He added that he "could not wait until all of the Beatles and the other
rock stars dropped dead" explaining, "because then I can write whatever I want
about them and after they're dead, none of them can sue me.")
Jeffrey directly told me (June 1990) that originally he had put his place under the name
of his father-in-law, who lived in another state. Thus, he avoided paying taxes in this
way. When his father-in-law found out, he insisted that Jeffrey stop this. It was at that
point that Jeffrey conceived of setting up his place as a (so-called) spiritual-religious
society. During those early 90s, Jeffrey had me come there to "preach" to
guests, a good number of them Indian people who he "recruited" from the Hindu
Center near to his place, who did not know that he was a cheater.
(I thought I was simply preaching Krsna consciousness to people. I did NOT realize that
Jeffrey was using my preaching for collecting money, money which he was using for his own
material purposes). Jeffrey also "recruited" people who had read his books about
the different rock stars. When he told me one day, "MOTHER MAHA; YOU DID REALLY GOOD;
YOU GOT $5,000 FOR ME," (and he mentioned the other money that he had been collecting
from my preaching), I told him that what he was doing was wrong, and that to not use that
money in the service of Guru and Krsna, he would have to suffer some reaction. Jeffrey
became perturbed with that; that is when he got Swami Pasupati to come there.
Jeffrey's idea was that if he had a "sannyasi" there, he could get "big
money" from the Indians. Jeffrey one time asked me to show him how to worship,
(bathe, dress, etc.), the Gour-Nitai Deites that his guru, Mangal Maharaj had given to
him. (His guru later rejected Jeffrey as his disciple.) Jeffrey came to my apartment with
his Deities - not only Gour-Nitai, but his "museum" of Deities, asking me to
"polish" ALL of Them, (expecting me to use BRASS CLEANER!!!) After I showed
Jeffrey how to clean the bodies of Their Lordships with tilok and lemon, and then to bathe
Them, etc., while I was in my kitchen washing off all of the paraphernalia, good ole
Jeffrey went through my drawers stealing ALL of my money, along with some letters I had. I
found that out some time later. (I forgave him for it, along with the so many other
nonsense things he had done to me.)
Although for so many years I tried to help Jeffrey in his spiritual life, I realized that
there was nothing that I could do to dissuade him from his horrific mentality. Due to his
atrocious activities, (the ones that I knew about, and the ones that other people were
either asking me or telling me about), I felt it best to stay away as it was obvious
Jeffrey wanted to continue on with his abominable activities, and I did not want to go
risking my reputation or spiritual life. (NOT that I would have "fallen" into
his activities, but I figured if the police were to come to bust him for drugs, etc., I
certainly did NOT want to be a part of that bust because I had NOTHING to do with that
kind of stuff.)
In the early 1990s, I know that Jeffrey was bringing devotees illegally into the country
(through Canada) to "serve" at his place - meaning, to be HIS personal slaves.
He would accomplish this by bringing these illegally into the country through Canada and
if they wanted to leave, Jeffrey would THREATEN them with turning them over to
immigration. As far as I know, his first victim was Bhakta Mick, from Radha-Desh. (I
believe that is the ISKCON property in Belgium. Bhakta Mick was Irish.) Jeffrey had gone
to Europe and met Bhakta Mick there. (If I am remembering his age correctly, Bhakta Mick
was a 43 year old man.) Jeffrey convinced him to come back with him, and brought him into
the USA through Canada (illegally). Jeffrey also falsifies birth certificates as
apparently he knows someone in the department who helps him do this. (I don't know if his
current crew of Indian and Nepalis are being brought in legally or not, but he mainly gets
the Indian devotees from ISKCON to come, giving them various promises. (I don't know if he
keeps the promises he makes to these devotees he steals away from the ISKCON temples.)
He goes to Krsna-Balaram and ISKCON Delhi - maybe other temples as well - convinces the
devotees to leave the temples and to come with him. Jeffrey is a first-class CON artist.
He just seems to know HOW to CHEAT the system. He boasted to me how he "sold Random
House a book company for $500,000 which didn't exist." He also proudly boasted how he
"conned a swimming pool company to build a swimming pool onto his property" and
he "didn't pay a single penny for it." I think you know about his selling the
poison CD to the GBC, (the CD made by Nityananda das prabhu and the other devotees who
used Jeffrey's recording studio to make the CD), and then Jeffrey's subsequent CD he made
with Beer Krsna to contest the poison issue.
There were some people asking me if Jeffrey was an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada
(as he claimed to them to be), and a PR officer of ISKCON. They mentioned to me that
Jeffrey was collecting money in the name of ISKCON. He was also telling people he was a
GBC and ISKCON "guru." He also used (and still uses) the Bhaktivedanta hospital
to collect funds as well, none of those funds going to the hospital. In the early 90s,
Jeffrey himself told me that SEVERAL people had brought charges against him for child
molestation. He said there was supposed to be an investigation conducted on him by the
Lockport Social Services but, (as he said), "I have a friend who is in charge of the
Lockport Social Services, so it is all dropped."
Quite a number of people in the area were contacting me (since they knew
that I was a Krsna devotee, and properly practicing) and asking me about Jeffrey. They
would tell me of his activities (atrocities) which included drug trafficing and other
nasty things. The topic also came up with regard to child molestation. I could give no
answer (about the child molestation) because at that time I knew nothing about Jeffrey's
being involved in such a thing or not. Jeffrey's involvement in this act was later
confirmed when I went to Vrindavan.
Often enough when devotees go to Loi Bazarr, the shop keepers or their sons will ask a
devotee where they come from. I was asked this by several shopkeepers and their teenage
sons who were assisting in (or being trained to take over) their father's shops. Jeffrey
was known by many of the shopkeepers (and their sons) to whom I went, some of them even
having his picture hanging in their shops along with the "other" ISKCON
"gurus". When asked where I came from; my answer, "Buffalo," I was
asked, "Do you know Jagannath das Puripad?" I would answer, "Yes," and
it was obvious either from my face or tone of my "yes" how I felt about Mr.
"Puripad." Some other people who also live in this Buffalo area had also visited
these shops as well and were asked the same question.
In three of the shops (for whatever reason) the sons of the shopkeepers (all teenagers,
approximately 16-18 years of age) confided in me about Jeffrey's having asked them if they
would have sex with him, his offering to pay them in US dollars. One of the boys started
crying. I asked him, "Why didn't you tell your father?" He answered, "Oh, I
could never do that. My father would beat me if he knew." He then made me promise
that I would NEVER tell anyone that he had told me this. It was explained to me that even
if these boys had never consented to doing anything, (and didn't do anything) but simply
had been approached, it was considered such a shameful thing, that their fathers would
beat them.
Although I did not reveal to other devotees who these shopkeepers' sons were, there were
some other Western devotees from the Buffalo area who had asked me if I was aware of
Jeffrey's approaching some of these shopkeepers' sons as well as other teenager Brijbasis.
It was obvious that these devotees were also made aware of Jeffrey's actions. I hope this
helps. I remain your servant, Mahavegavati Dasi
Hare Krsna
From: [email protected] ([email protected])
Subject: Narayan Maharaja/ Puripada et al.
Newsgroups: alt.religion.vaisnava
Date: 2003-06-28 16:48:04 PST
4) PURIPADA by BIF
Dear PADA,
Thank you kindly, for your Newsletter and up-to-date information of ongoing events. Your
latest posting contained an expose of a character called 'Puripada'. We, here at BIF are
very grateful to Mahavegavati Mata for this enlightening piece of key work. Puripada has
been used in the GBC book 'Not That I am Poisoned" (NTIP) as another 'expert' to
silence the passion of truth with answers that have the weight of undisputed authority. He
now joins the list of lies and liars who form the spine for the GBC publication (NTIP).
On page 257, Appendix 10 of the book (NTIP), the title reads, "The Inside Story of
the Poison CD". A revealing expose by Jagannatha Dasa." A few lines into the
'expose', Jagannatha (aka. Puripada) tells us "I've had a nice career in book
publishing (he paraphrases this statement often in his 'expose'). My secular name is
Geoffery Giuliano." What he fails to tell us is that he is a pathological liar. His
publication: "Dark Horse- the secret life of George Harrison", contained so much
blatant untruths that Harrison wanted to sue him for $600,000,000. Mahavegavati Mata's
revelations give us a behind-the-scene look at this shady character: (quote) "Jeffrey
told me that George Harrison had stopped the suit. Jeffrey later told me how he had lied
in some of his books and articles to different tabloids ("Enquirer,"
"Star," etc.) about some of the "facts" that he wrote in those
biographies. He added that he "could not wait until all of the Beatles and the other
rock stars dropped dead" explaining, "because then I can write whatever I want
about them and after they're dead, none of them can sue me" (unquote).
Geoffrey Giuliano, aka Jagannatha das, aka Puripada, has since been exposed on the
internet (CHAKRA, VNN, PADA) for the "Hospital Charity" scam and other
fraudulent behaviour. These scams are also studded with bi-sexual promiscuity.
Mahavegavati DD "(quote) " according to him - his having had sex with 43 women
in those two years since his initiation...[...]....the sons of the shopkeepers (all
teenagers, approximately 16-18 years of age) confided in me about Jeffrey's having asked
them if they would have sex with him, his offering to pay them in US dollars"
(unquote). So it becomes apparent that the GBC has used another degenerate to validate
their bogus book. But the question that comes to mind immediately is why has the GBC
recruited infamy to help mitigate the poison issue? Is there so little righteousness
amongst them? Or is that anyone with a spark of honesty and love for Srila Prabhupada can
see that the investigation was wilfully squashed, and the issue lies wide open but cloaked
by authority dependant on the facts not being facts?
They insinuated in their book (NTIP, Ch 1) that Larry Kovar from CAA,..."one of the
only labs in the world that does commercial neutron activation..." was an expert,
ipso facto. But when we talked to Mr. Kovar, he said he was not an expert on chronic
arsenic poisoning. Then the GBC book tells us (NTIP, Ch 2) that "Srila Prabhupada's
Surgeon Confirms: Diabetes to Blame" We talked with Dr. McIrvine, he said he only met
His Divine Grace once...he was not Prabhupada's 'personal surgeon', and he never confirmed
Prabhupada's death as being due to diabetes. Then the book tells us (NTIP, Ch 5) that
David Neil was an engineer for a reputable 'digital mastering studio'. Our investigations
showed that Neil was the sole operator, with a secret partner; had no accreditation and;
had since gone out of business.
Part Two of the book brings in the voices of authority to refute the 'absurd 'allegations
of poisoning. It begins on page 113 with the 'testimony' of Abhirama das. He tells us:
"One day in MID OCTOBER, I noticed some coolies delivering some salt bags and a
stretcher...as preparation for a funeral... therefore I asked Srila Prabhupada if I could
be relieved of my duties..." So Abhirama left in OCTOBER. He was not there in
NOVEMBER when Srila Prabhupada left his body; the time most relevant to the case. What
good is his 'testimony'? Next we get a 'testimony' from Anakadundubhi Das. He tells us
(NTIP, pg 119) that Prabhupada said" I have a kidney disease like my father before
me." And that's all he tells us. There is no mention of the poison conversations that
we hear so clearly on audio tape. What good is his 'testimony'? Then we get Bhakti Caru,
who tells us the whole poison allegation is absurd. But it was he who heard Prabhupada
complain that he was being poisoned and said, "Someone has poisoned him here!"
We hear him on tape telling everyone in the room (on several occasions) that he believed
Prabhupada was poisoned. He even said it to devotees outside the room. Now he says it's
absurd. In the face of audio and witness evidence: what good is his 'testimony'? Then
there's Bhakti Tirtha (BT) who was not there, but is used by the GBC to bring his
disciples under thought control by making his 'statement'. What BT gives us is a
philosophical approach to the issue. But what he doesn't give us is the philosophy behind
why he was pinning a devotee woman at about the same time he was penning his 'statement'.
Bogus guru, bogus sannyasi, bogus statement. Then there's "Bhavananda",
......need we say more. Jashomatinandan Das, is next (NTIP, pg 139). He was not there but
gives us his supreme thoughts on the matter, which are so off-the-wall they hardly bear
mention. It defeats anything Jashomati can think up when we realise that it was the same
mind he used to beat and torture his wife; a mother (a truly angelic; full on devotee).
Then there's Jayadvita-wanna-be-Vyasa. What he says is, "It pains me when those I saw
serving His Divine Grace with extraordinary devotion and love are made out to be devious
killers" (pg 143/44). What this tells us is that 'devious killers', according to
Jayadvita, would need to wear a cloak and mask before he certifies them devious. And this
is the extraordinary truth that reveals the stupidity behind the rationale. All of these
elevated, intelligent leaders, are so sure about nothing that makes any earthly sense. And
they hang out with, and promote, company a pig would walk away from. Look at this Puripada
fellow. Just hear (below) how he lies in the GBC book "Not That I am Poisoned",
and the GBC endorsed it as truth, as they did the rest of the book. And this story below
is endorsed by Bir Krishna no less. He is the GBC's current/official investigator into
deviations.
This is a story told by this Jagannatha/Geoffery/Puripada fellow (... "spoken to Bir
Krishna Goswami in Sept. 1999") on page 258/259 of NTIP: (quote) "And you
couldn't even get on the first step; it was completely jammed with devotees. So again I
thought, "Well, what chance have I got? I'm never going to be able to see
Prabhupada"....I thought ,"Well I wont have that opportunity"....So I went
back down into a room. I believe- I'm going to guess now- that it was not the temple room
but some adjacent room in Bury place, probably a prasadam room. And I stood there alone,
just kind of standing there in this empty room, and lo and behold, about ten minutes
later, and I have no idea how this occurred, why this occurred. Was it mystical." How
did he get down those stairs without everybody following him? To my knowledge there was
only one stairwell in Bury Place, But Srila Prabhupada walked in absolutely alone, no one
was with him at all, he walked up to me, he said, as God is my witness, these words.
"You will go back to home." And I said, "Back to Godhead?" and he went
"Jaya", and put his head back in that regal kingly way that he had about
him" (unquote).
So what is very interesting about this story is that His Divine Grace did a jantra mantra
only for Puripada. There is no record of Srila Prabhupada having done this
appearing/disappearing trick for anyone else. This makes Puri wallah very special indeed.
Another point is that Srila Prabhupada waited till this Puripada/Jagannatha/Giuliano was
alone. He says above, "as God is my witness"; so why was God the only witness?
Why not anyone else? He also tells us (above), "I believe- I'm going to guess now-
that it was not the temple room but some adjacent room in Bury place, probably a prasadam
room." So he doesn't remember where exactly this most amazing miracle occurred, but
then he tells us three lines later (quote), "...and low and behold, about ten minutes
later...."(unquote). Well Mr. Puripada, don't you think it's strange that you
remember the ten minutes you were there, but cannot remember where you were? You remember
the time to the minute, but forget the place completely. How is that? This is called
'selective memory'. What it sounds like is that one can go into the memory and select
anything he desires. But what it really means is that the selector can even create memory
that is non existent, or mix-n-match for convenience. Just like the formulae used for
'"Dark Horse- the secret life of George Harrison"; the selective memory process
that nearly had our Puri wallah scratching digits on a cell wall.
Further he says: (quote) "I met Srila Prabhupada in London in 1971 and it was at Bury
place" (unquote). The same time the incident noted above was alleged to have taken
place. So the natural point of interest is: if he had had such a wonderfully personal and
unique experience with His Divine Grace, then he would have taken initiation that very
same year, or in the next year at least. We looked through all the information that this
'special' devotee had divulged in his 'expose', but we could not find the year of his
initiation. He had carefully evaded disclosing this important aspect of his history. What
we have just discovered is: (quote) "I know Jeffrey Juliano very well...Jeffrey
himself ALSO directly told me at that time, that since his initiation two years before,
(in 1988)..." (unquote). This leaves us wondering why Puripada (or whatever), waited
after His Divine Grace had disappeared 11 years before taking initiation? Or is his story
above nothing more than another Dark Horse- the secret life of Geoffery Giuliano? And did
Bir Krishna, as did the rest of the GBC, be in such a hurry to squash the poison
investigation that they endorsed anyone or anything that even remotely added weight to
their case? The book NTIP, and the equivocation it proffers, certainly leaves no room for
doubt in this regard.
Anyway, the reason we are undertaking this exercise is to prove to devotees that the
poison issue was never 'investigated' by those who knew what to look for, or where to look
for it. There was never a committee to discuss where/what/when/who/why/or how. Further, to
put it in perspective: the investigation was smothered by authority before it ever got off
the ground. Like the 'heavies' who 'testified' to nothing (as shown in para. 4). We are
releasing a publication with audio CD (to be offered to Srila Prabhupada on his Appearance
Day). It will put the facts of our Spiritual Father's passing before our brothers and
sisters, so they may also feel the onus for reopening the investigation that never was.
Our position is that we need no financial assistance from the GBC. All that we require is
the complete and undeviating backing of all devotees in demanding our Civil Right to
conduct a full and unhampered investigation into the disappearance of His Divine Grace.
The GBC, on their part, should supply us with a letter of authority that instructs all
ISKCON members (including gurus/GBC) and their affiliates to fully assist us, so that we
can, in a mood of cooperation, bring this matter to a final and irrefutable conclusion.
Our only condition is that a full report of the investigation; the ground covered and
direction, be published as a monthly report on our website so all can see. There, what is
so sinister or deviant about that? YS BIF
From: [email protected] ([email protected])
Subject: Nava yogendra/ Deepak ki jai
Newsgroups: alt.religion.vaisnava
Date: 2003-07-13 16:37:52 PST
6) PURI PADA ETC.
Dear Puranjana prabhu,
Hare Krsna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. PAMFO I hope all is well.
I just saw your newsletter, and I had a few comments:
On the "Puripada" issue: There was other information I didn't include; so if you
want this either for your newsletter, to send to the BIF, or both, here it is:
To clear some things for the BIF:
> "Dark Horse- the
> secret life of George Harrison", contained so much
> blatant untruths that
> Harrison wanted to sue him for $600,000,000.
Jeffrey was being sued (according to him) NOT for what he wrote in "Dark Horse,"
but for something false he said about George Harrison in one of the tabloids.
> Geoffrey Giuliano, aka Jagannatha das, aka Puripada,
> has since been exposed
> on the internet (CHAKRA, VNN, PADA) for the
> "Hospital Charity" scam and
> other fraudulent behaviour.
Jeffrey was never "exposed" on Chakra - Jeffrey is good friends with Madhusudani
Radha - but his CD conversation with Beer was posted on Chakra, along with some other
things he wrote where he argued against the poison issue). On September 15, 1999,
VNN4727 "My Conscience Is Dictating Me" I did submit something to VNN about him
and they posted it.
Wanting to get in "good" with the GBC, (Beer) Jeffrey did that CD conversation
with Beer when he went to North Carolina to enroll his two younger daughters in Urmila's
school there. Jeffrey made me listen to his recording (at his house in Lockport, after he
had returned from NC), and told me "I B(ull) S(hit)ed all of this; Do you like it? I
had to get in good with Beer Krsna." (Jeffrey had called me on the telephone
INSISTING I "come for a Sunday feast," and I told him I couldn't come because I
had other things to do. Despite that, Jeffrey CAME to my apartment and INSISTED I come to
his house "for a feast," and he would NOT leave until I agreed to come with him
to his house, so I went. Upon getting there, Jeffrey told me that we "had to go for
bhoga so that we could cook the feast." "We, meant ME!!!" It was ME who
cooked the feast. This "feast trick" had happened before as well.)
It was after hearing this recording he did with Beer, and his saying that he B(ull)
S(hit)ed it, etc., that I decided to break off relations with this being. It was one thing
his illegal and other dispicable activities, but another thing when he was USING Srila
Prabhupada for his OWN material-political, and money-making agenda; THAT, I would NOT
tolerate. (BEFORE this incident - hearing that recording and Jeffrey's comments - I
honestly thought that at some point, with good association, Jeffrey might eventually give
up his bad activities, and so I continued to go there to give him some association.) After
Jeffrey USED Srila Prabhupada in SUCH A WAY, I did NOT want to have ANY connection with
such a being. (I also felt that it was my duty to say something about what I knew, so I
submitted my post to VNN at that time.)
According to Jeffrey, either purposely or accidentally there was a fire in his house. (One
time he told me it was purposeful; another time he told me someone had left something on
the stove and a fire started.) Either way, he used that fire to file a suit against one
coffee-maker company, saying that their coffee-maker "was defective," and it was
that which "had started the fire." (Jeffrey won the insurance money.)
Another time when I was there, Jeffrey's friend took his two younger daughters out to the
water near to their house where they have canoes and rowboats. The friend took the two
girls in the rowboat, and, when getting out of the boat, the friend accidentally stepped
on Avalon's (Jeffrey's middle daughter) arm. The boat people called Jeffrey to report the
incident, said they had called an ambulance and were going to send his daughter to the
hospital to have her arm x-rayed.
Jeffrey lives practically just across the road from the boating place. He immediatly
took me with him and we went in the car to the place. On the way, Jeffrey said how he was
going to turn this into a suit against the people in charge of the boating. He was
actually HOPING that his daughter's arm was broken, and asked me to PRAY to Krsna that He
could arrange that his daughter would have a broken arm. When we got there, the ambulance
had JUST arrived there only one or two seconds after us. Jeffrey SCREAMED at them,
"DON'T TOUCH HER!!! I WANT TO FILE A SUIT!!! DON'T TOUCH HER!!! The paramedics were
shocked and didn't know what to do. (I was totally embarrassed since I was dressed in my
devotee clothes, and I did not want them to be associating this NUT with being a Krsna
devotee.)
Jeffrey then went to his friend and told him WHAT to LIE if asked anything. (I was SHOCKED
- although, I suppose I shouldn't have beeen, knowing that it was coming from Jeffrey.) He
just "turned into" such a MANIAC when the prospect of making money on a false
suit came to his mind. I tried to talk him out of this idiocy, but his mind was CRAZED on
the prospect of making money and turning this incident into a suit.
By Krsna's mercy, when we took his daughter to the hospital, she did NOT have a broken
arm. For all I know, if I had NOT been there, Jeffrey MIGHT have PURPOSELY BROKEN her arm
just so that he could have made money from the incident.
> So it becomes
> apparent that the GBC has used another degenerate to
> validate their bogus
> book.
MANY of the GBC PEOPLE KNOW that Jeffrey is a VERY LOW character!!!
Jeffrey told me (in the past) that he has PURPOSELY written BAD checks to some of the
ISKCON temple stores where he "purchased" hundreds of dollars worth of
merchandise. He got them in New Vrindavan to "sell" him the murti of Jesus, but
he NEVER paid them the $600 for the murti that he was supposed to have paid. He also told
me he has CHEATED SO MANY of the sellers in India AND Nepal, where he has taken so many
items from them, tells them he "will pay them tomorrow," leaves, and NEVER pays
them. He said that there "were a lot of shopkeepers looking for him," due to his
cheating them in this way.
When Jeffrey's son was becoming a teenager, Jeffrey SENT HIM TO A PROSTITUTE so that
he COULD LEARN HOW TO HAVE SEX!!! (And this is a devotee??? Worse, Jeffrey is promoting
himself as a "guru." He also LIES to people and says that he is Srila
Prabhupada's disciple.)
Jeffrey asked me, if I "would like to see his pictures from India and Nepal," so
I said yes." (I had never been to India or Nepal.) After a few "regular"
photos, Jeffrey showed me a picture of him sitting on a couch next to the S'alagram-S'ilas
he had bought in Nepal. Jeffrey had one of his feet crossed, sticking RIGHT IN THE FACE of
the S'alagram-S'ilas. As if that was not enough, (fool that he is), he actually PRIDED
himself on showing me the picture his friend took of him - my NOT knowing what he was
going to show me - of Jeffrey standing (stark) NAKED facing the S'alagrams, Who were
sitting on a table with his genitals at the level of the Deities. (Talk about perverted
PIGS!!!; this IMBECILE goes sticking his genitals in the faces of S'alagram-S'ila!!!)
Jeffrey directly blasphemed Srila Prabhupada to me. (I will not repeat it here.) It was
while we were in his car. This fool went on and one, DESPITE my telling him to stop.
Because the car was moving in heavy traffic, I did not jump out. I believe he got these
things from Mangal Maharaj, who had said some things to me about Srila Prabhupada one time
when I was at Jeffrey's house, (as Jeffrey had brought me for another "feast"
but instead had me cook for Mangal Maharaj). When Mangal Maharaj had said something to me
about Srila Prabhupada, I responded, defeated his misconceptions, and he did not speak
anything else to me against Srila Prabhupada. (Jeffrey was initiated by Mangal Maharaj, a
disciple of one of Srila Prabhupada's Godbrothers. Jeffrey asked him to give him
initiation in 1988, when Jeffrey saw Mangal Maharaj sitting in the temple room in Toronto
ISKCON. Mangal Maharaj has rejected Jeffrey, (which is quite understandable.)
There is so much more that can be said about this degraded being, but his activities have
contaminated this page enough.
> But the question that comes to mind
> immediately is why has the GBC
> recruited infamy to help mitigate the poison issue?
> Is there so little
> righteousness amongst them?
Obviously the GBC must be very desparate or THAT DARK, that they would get THIS
"thing" ("it," "being") to "substantiate" their
"report."
As for Jeffrey's "meeting Srila Prabhupada in London in 1971" that is NOT true.
Jeffrey himself told me he saw Srila Prabhupada once. It was on a morning walk when Srila
Prabhupada was in Toronto. Apparently Jeffrey was so obnoxious, (although he did not say
that about himself), that when he started talking, Srila Prabhupada TOLD Jeffrey to
"Be quiet" and asked Jeffrey to "go to the back" of the group of
devotees on the walk. THIS, Jeffrey told me. (He was actually PROUD that he was able to
get Srila Prabhpada to react to him in this way.)
Jeffrey was NOT involved in the movement in 1971. At the earliest, he came in 1974.
I should also add here, Jeffrey's wife Vrinda is a NICE SWEET!!! lady. Sadly, she has
suffered verbal, physical and emotional abuses from Jeffrey. (Jeffrey used to BEAT his
wife.) She has NO independent life from him. She is Jeffrey's SLAVE!!! And he is an
UNappreciative (ABUSIVE) "master."
Vrinda told me several times that she wanted to leave him but she is afraid to do so, so
she is still with him SUFFERING!!! Jeffrey would NEVER allow Vrinda to speak on the
telephone. When he was there, he ALWAYS, MONITORED her conversations. Not only that, he
opens ALL of the mail, even that which is for her, and he will NOT allow her to read her
OWN mail if he feels she shouldn't. The cookbook attributed to Vrinda is a combination of
recipes from OTHER cookbooks. They are NOT her recipes, nor has she cooked from them or
even tried them out. Jeffrey said, "It is easy to do a cookbook. Just steal the
recipes from other cookbooks and say they are your own."
Jeffrey's children have also suffered from his sickness and abuses. The two older children
(who I feel are nice kids, but ruined by their father), got involved with drugs and
developed addictions. I have not seen Jeffrey's younger daughters since 1999. At that
time, I felt the middle daughter had problems, which I attribute to Jeffrey's abusive
nature.
My other comment is on the article, "Guru mental health symposium"
I think some of the "gurus" should go and have their mental health checked up,
BEFORE they go giving mental health symposiums. Mr. Oreo, (BhUkti Tirtha Salami), should
talk about grief and the process of grieving? I guess he would know (from the
purportrators end) since he has caused so much of it. When a person is in denial, they are
not able to openly acknowledge their purportrations, and they can speak to OTHERS about
the other people's abuses; yet, they can (and will) NOT recognize or acknowledge their OWN
abuses.
Maybe "the Swami" (BT) could list as part of his "recommendations,"
that the abuser make a REAL apology to the victim. THAT would do a LOT of solving of the
problem, if not ALL of it. BT could NOT even speak the truth in the presence of EIGHTEEN
S'ilas about his abuses. He couldn't even admit to STEALING money that belonged to These
particular S'ilas, money which he KNEW was to be used for Them.
By the way, Ravindra Svarupa, when I telephoned him to specifically speak about Malati's
abusive behavior towards the women under her care in the Columbus ashram - the ladies
begging ME to do something about Malati's behavior towards them - besides NOT wanting to
address the problem, told me in that conversation that he believed that Srila Prabhupada
"had made mistakes."
BT called Srila Prabhupada "a disembodied spirit." (THIS is the way a disciples
speaks about their Guru Maharaj?)
I remain your servant,
Mahavegavati Dasi
Hare Krsna
From: NEIL CARSON ([email protected])
Subject: Geoffrey Guiliano [sic]
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Date: 2001-02-05 07:20:04 PST
Hello,
For those of you who are interested, I would just like to say how much of a sh*t Geoffrey
Guiliano is. The famous author of many Beatles' books is just a common thief. A friend of
mine who owns a great Beatles' record and memorabilia collection was asked by Geoffrey
Guiliano for some assistance with the memorabilia book he was writing at the time :
Tomorrow Never Knows. Steve allowed Geoffrey to take away some ultra rare Beatles records
as well as some signed McCartney acetates. The idea was that Geoffrey would photo the
items for his new book and then return them, well, the items did appear in the book, but
they were never returned. No wonder that Geoffrey has amassed one of the largest Beatles'
collections in the world.
All is not lost though, apparently Geoffrey has also had a run-in with Tom Keylock (the
ex-Stones henchman). It is rumoured that Tom wants his blood. Good Luck to him!
Bye For Now,
Neil.
From: [email protected] ([email protected])
Subject: GBC's new all time low/ Puripada a crook
Newsgroups: alt.religion.vaisnava
Date: 1999/09/16
2) PURIPADA UPDATE FROM TORONTO
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 11:46:45 -0400
Subject: Jeff , Puripada ,that clown?
From: hd
Priority: normal
To: [email protected]
Dear Paranjana Prabhu, Obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada.
There are some things on the webs that I don't get around to reading. However this
Jaganatha, or Puripada fellow, I think I know this guy. I for the moment forget his last
name, but his first name is Jeffry. He wrote a book on the Beatles a few years back that
did quite well. He even told me personally, if this is the same guy, that there is
evidence that Mick Jagger had Brian Jones murdered and that it would all come out in the
end.
When I was still going regularly to the Toronto temple back in 1979-80 he would come by
the temple after doing his Ronald Mcdonald routine at a local franchise. I had to threaten
him with legal action in order to get a painting I had done returned to the temple. He
said he would have the frame repaired after it fell off the wall in Visvakarmas office.
Weeks turned into months.
This guy is an eternal opportunist, a salesman, he blows with the wind. Anyone who
associates with him or his byproducts is wasting their time and money. He should actually
have been in show business. I'm sure he must have read P.T.Barnum's own biography. Don't
you all waste your time with this fellow. After a little while he'll be on his way to
something else. He loves the publicity, good or bad. In my honest opinion, he's wasting a
very good imagination and drive. Don't tell him I said that or his hat won't fit.
Your sevant HD of "Reprint The Books"
PS. Ask him, if when he was in Toronto he ever heard of Metro Man.
Renowned Rock Biographer Reincarnates As Hindu Leader
August 30, 1999
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM THE BUFFALO NEWS
LOCKPORT, N.Y., Aug 30 (VNN) — The guru formerly known as Geoffrey Giuliano would
like everyone to know that he's just a regular guy.
"I'm the all-American boy, " he said as he sat barefoot on a gold-plated throne
in an old mansion on Market Street. He was wearing a raw silk garment hand-tailored in
India. The mark on his forehead - called Tilak - was made with clay from the riverbed of
the Yamuna, a holy river in northern India, and shows that he is a follower of Vishnu,
Sanskrit for God.
"I'm a very ordinary person, " he said. "I'm more conservative than your
grandmother. But, look, I'm in Lockport, New York, trying to start an orthodox Hindu
temple - how hard is that?"
The Rochester-born, Tampa-raised Giuliano, 45, is a noted rock biographer and the author
of 20 books, mostly about the Beatles. He legally changed his name to Jagannatha Dasa
several years ago. In addition, the honorific title of Puripada was given to him by his
students. In Sanskrit, the classical language of India and Hinduism, the full name means
"Servant of the Lord of the Universe at whose feet rests the holy city of Puri."
"You can imagine what this town thinks of me, " said Puripada. "People
think I'm another David Koresh up here. I do have charisma, but I'm not a cult leader and
I have no intention of breaking any laws. It's only because of our location that all this
looks odd."
These are some of the things that Puripada and his family have heard said about them:
"That I'm a cocaine dealer, a devil worshipper, that we keep people imprisoned
against their will, that we're stockpiling food and weapons for the Apocalypse."
He laughed out loud. "There's nothing going on here except a little bit of yoga,
" he said.
"I don't feel we've been very well received by the townspeople. We're not trying to
capture the minds of their children and they are more than welcome to come here and see
for themselves."
While he has achieved fame as Geoffrey Giuliano, Beatles authority, celebrity biographer,
record producer and sometime actor, he has been concentrating on his spiritual development
and now prefers to have the world know him as Jagannatha Dasa Puripada.
"I was a man of great avarice, born to grab as much as I could with both hands,
" he said. "But with this interview I'm completely coming out of the
closet."
As his spiritual interests grew, Giuliano essentially developed two personas: one a
veteran of the rough-and-tumble, tell-all pop biography world, and the other a gentle,
religious man immersed in an ancient religion that rejects worldly concerns.
"We come into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing, so why waste your
time building castles in the air, " he said.
But Puripada said sometimes he has to re-assume his old identity for business or practical
purposes, for example, when he flies to New York City to see his publisher, or dealing
with city officials.
"I've met both individuals, " said Lockport Mayor Kenneth Swan. "I've met
Mr. Giuliano, the author of several books about the Beatles, and I've also met Mr.
Giuliano in his other form."
Swan said his office has had complaints about holy cattle Puripada keeps on the property
getting loose, and there were some building code infractions, which have been corrected.
"Mr. Giuliano has been very cooperative with me, " said Swan. "We have an
excellent relationship."
His Holiness Jagannatha Dasa Puripada, on the other hand, is banned for life from Payless
Shoes in the Lockport Mall.
For his trips to his publisher - last week he took a $49 shuttle from Buffalo to Trenton,
N.J. -- the barefoot guru will buy a cheap pair of shoes, since footwear is required on
airplanes.
Before one such trip, Puripada said he went into the Payless shoe store in the Lockport
Mall. Since his organization, the Spiritual Realization Institute, is registered in New
York State as a not for profit religious institution and is exempt from federal and state
taxes, he gave the shoe clerk his tax-exempt form. But he said she wouldn't accept it.
When he insisted, she called the cops. Puripada said the police officers were openly
hostile to him.
"They said to me in a sarcastic and angry tone of voice, ‘We know WHO you are
and WHAT you are.' It was scary. Then they left. The girl never did take my tax-exempt
form and she told me never to come back. Banned from Payless Shoes for life, " he
reflected. "Maybe that's not such a bad thing."
But Puripada has friends and supporters in the community as well.
"I know he appears to be a little odd, " said Gerald DeFlippo, a Niagara County
legislator, "but he's a good person."
When a fire ripped through the old house two years ago, DeFlippo, who owns DeFlippo's
Restaurant on West Avenue, took food to the family.
"They were people in distress and I wanted to help them out, " he said. "I
look beyond the superficial to find the worth of a person. My philosophy is: As long as
you believe in something."
Next door neighbor Paula McGovern said she has had trouble in the past with the group's
unleashed Irish wolfhounds running onto her property. "But nothing over there has
really bothered me, " she said. Her two children, ages 8 and 13, often play with
Puripada's children.
"As long as they don't brainwash my kids, they're fine with me, " she said.
Police Chief Neil Merritt was asked for his take on the house on the hill and its
inhabitants.
"We know Mr. Giuliano, " the chief said pointedly, and then stopped.
When asked to elaborate on that, Merritt replied, "No comment."
Lt. Ronald Vogt of the police department was a little more forthcoming.
"They're a very unique family, " he said.
Vogt said his officers have been to the house a number of times.
"Once in a while the cows get loose, but we don't have any major problems, " he
said.
Puripada founded the Spiritual Realization Institute in 1994 in the 150-year-old,
three-story mansion on 10 acres of land overlooking the Erie Canal. He lives there with
his wife, Vrnda Devi. They have four children, a 22-year-old daughter, Sesa, who has a
2-year-old son Kashi and is studying recording engineering in Buffalo; a son, Devin, 21,
who looks after the estate; and two younger daughters, Ananda Manjari, 12, and India, 10.
The two girls go to a Catholic School in Lockport, which is the "most spiritually
centered education" their parents said they could find locally.
In back of the house are two sacred animals -- a cow and an ox - and five peacocks, the
national bird of India and a symbol of the Hindu religion.
Across the street is a parkland strip running alongside the Erie Canal.
Picnickers and passers-by are often seen staring up at the house, which is adorned with a
24-carat gold-leaf dome imported from India.
The house contains two opulent temple rooms with chandeliers, marble floors and 24-carat
gold-leaf ceremonial chairs. The altars are adorned with $150, 000 worth of carved marble
statues, lavish paintings and exquisite deities, all imported from India.
"This is our church, " Puripada said. "We want it to look nice."
Throughout the year, there are generally about five male celibate Hindu priests staying at
the house, and other spiritual visitors come from cities like Toronto. There are more than
two dozen Hindu families in Lockport, but only once did any of them ever visit the house,
Puripada said.
"The local Indian families have not supported the temple, and that saddens me, "
he said.
The only Indian in Lockport who occasionally visits the house is a Muslim doctor, Puripada
said.
"Here we have a Muslim, often at odds with their Hindu brethren, coming to the house
and treating the monks for free, " he said.
The house is protected by a state-of-the-art alarm system, including motion sensors and
smoke detectors that automatically dial the fire department.
Huge, ornate gates will soon be erected at the foot of the driveway.
Many of the deities in the temple rooms were donated. Money to pay for the institute comes
from donations raised during religious ceremonies and lecture tours the guru undertakes
from Toronto to Jamaica. His frequent trips to India are paid for by his students or
followers. So far he has initiated about 30 disciples, who have been given spiritual names
and are now part of the ancient Vaishnava heritage, plus about 50 congregational members
from across Western New York.
Although they have the same spiritual leader, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
Puripada pointed out that his followers are not Hare Krishnas, members of a sect often
seen at airports. But it's tough convincing some local folk that.
Most of the discrimination simply comes from the way they dress, said Vrnda Devi, who
often wears Indian silk saris and has a Bindi, a small red dot, on her forehead indicating
she is married.
"Our religion has to be part of our everyday life, unlike many Christians who only go
to church on Sundays, " she said.
Her son Devin wears blue jeans and work boots, but said he sometimes gets hassled by the
police when he goes downtown to shoot a game of pool. But it doesn't bother him.
"I enjoy living here, " he said. "It's made me a better person."
His sister Sesa said as a teenager there was some stigma attached to the family.
"We were misunderstood, " she said. "But that made me a stronger
person."
Sesa has traveled all over the world with her father.
"It's been a wonderful experience, " she added. "I look up to my father. He
came from nothing, and everything he achieved he had to work hard for."
Puripada doesn't smoke, drink alcohol or take drugs and he eats no meat, fish or eggs. He
goes to bed at 9 p.m. and gets up at 5:30 a.m. For two hours in the morning he chants a 5,
000-year-old Vedic mantra, a repetitive prayer, saying in Sanskrit, "Oh, energy of
the Supreme Lord, please engage me in your service."
"Chanting God's name is a very intimate practice, " he said. "Unwanted
passions and unhealthy habits naturally subside and you find a peace of mind that deepens
over time."
The mantra - a simple prescription for spiritual health -- is one of millions passed down
from guru to guru from the Vedic scriptures.
Among the many holy books the SRI advocates is the Bhagavad Gita -- the song of God -- the
Hindu equivalent of the Christian Bible.
There is no eternal damnation in the Hindu religion.
"We believe in reincarnation, according to merit - and I don't mean Chief Merritt,
" he quipped with his booming laugh. "Your promotion or demotion in the next
life is dependent on your behavior in this life."
His 12-year-old daughter, Ananda Manjari, received initiation into the religion last year
in India. Her 102-year-old guru, Puri Maharaj, is the oldest and most venerated Vaishnava
in the world, Puripada said.
Puripada said he wants to open a satellite SRI center in Niagara Falls, N.Y., with a
reading room, small temple room and vegetarian caf�.
It was his fascination with the Beatles that first led him down the path of Devotional
Yoga.
"I was a lonely kid, " he said. "I didn't have a father. I lived with my
chronically depressed mother. The Beatles were leaders to me. They spoke to me. When they
got into something, I would take a serious look at it. When George Harrison became
involved in the Krishna philosophy, I wanted to also."
Giuliano was 15 when he began seriously studying Bhakti Yoga, a spiritual science as
taught by Prabhupada. Giuliano traveled alone to India and lived in the village of Mala in
Uttar Pradesh in the foothills of the Himalayas for three years. He joined the Hare
Krishna organization Iskcon, but left in 1980 when "certain improprieties of my
god-brothers came to light."
Giuliano wanted to start his own organization, simplifying the philosophy to make it more
palatable to everyday Americans, such as "letting them eat what they want."
After several months as a follower, however, a person would be required to give up all
meat, fish and eggs.
"The Bible says thou shalt not kill, " he noted, "but people fill their
bodies with dead animal parts every time they sit down at the table."
When Prabhupada died in 1977, Puripada said George Harrison urged Giuliano to take another
major step along the Yogic path.
"It seems to me you should think about taking up where Prabhupada left off and
becoming a spiritual master, " Puripada said Harrison told him in England in 1983.
"It looks to me like you have the right qualifications."
Before becoming a guru, Giuliano, in his first real acting job after graduating from State
University of New York at Brockport, would become Ronald McDonald. The lifelong vegetarian
was hired as the McDonald's hamburger spokesman throughout Canada.
"After a year of this, I could no longer abide the hypocrisy of being an ethical
vegetarian, yet promoting possibly the No. 1 killer of animals in the world, " he
said, meaning McDonald's.
The institute he subsequently founded has a board of directors, whose treasurer handles
all money matters. Puripada said he holds no position on the board, collects no income and
has no involvement in any of the finances or policy, functioning only as a spiritual
advisor to the group. Everyday living costs come from donations.
"I never touch money, " he said. "There was me before, and there's me now.
I have no bank account, no credit cards and I get no royalties from my books.
I lead a very peaceful, spiritual life and I'm very happy."
In his previous incarnation, Giuliano's books included "Dark Horse: The Private Life
of George Harrison, " which Rolling Stone magazine called "evenhanded and
soundly researched."
His latest book, "Two of Us: John Lennon and Paul McCartney - Behind the Myth, "
has just been published by the Penguin Group. In the acknowledgments, Giuliano thanks,
among others, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Giuliano/Puripada has separated his secular and spiritual life in the past, but now wants
to cut back on the secular pursuits. As Puripada, he intends to continue to tap Giuliano's
creative energy.
On the third floor of the temple house, there is a modern digital video and recording
studio, where SRI, under its own label, releases CDs of lectures by various spiritual
masters, including Puripada himself.
He's just putting the finishing touches on his first spiritually oriented book,
"Savior Soul: Teachings of the Lord in the Heart."
The institute has applied to the FCC for a license to operate a not-for-profit radio
station that would broadcast spiritual songs and readings, children's programs and
vegetarian cooking tips 24 hours a day. It would be only the second Yogic radio station in
the western world, Puripada said.
SRI has also been an agency of the Food Bank of Western New York for the past two years.
Known as the Dasa Food For All, it is the only vegetarian pantry in the region. One room
on the second floor of the house is full of cans and boxes of food for needy people in the
community.
"Every day people come here and get food, " Puripada said.
The institute hosts a free vegetarian feast every Sunday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., preceded
by a short lecture on SRI's philosophy.
Puripada and his family also collect children's clothing from Christian churches in the
area, fill as many suitcases with the clothes as they're allowed to take on a plane and
distribute them personally in the poorest parts of Bombay and Calcutta.
"On my last visit to Delhi two months ago there was a near riot as people rushed
forward, " Puripada said. "I had to beat a hasty retreat for their safety."
In the summer of 2000, Puripada and his family plan to spend a year in India building
one-room schoolhouses and medical clinics with money collected from wealthy Indians. As in
the United States, his organization is a registered charity in India and Nepal.
"My heart is in India, " Puripada said. "I have little interest in America.
I think of it as the un-culture. It is a country that has become fatally
materialistic."
One of the reasons for going to India is to ensure that his two youngest daughters
"are exposed to the true spiritual culture of India and therefore may escape some of
the devastating problems that American teens are often exposed to, " he said.
Before the India trip, Puripada plans to embark on what he called an ambitious North
American lecture tour, featuring several Indian musicians and a computerized multi-media
slide show. It will begin in Los Angeles in the fall.
SRI's focus in the new millennium will be Asia, not America, he said.
"Lockport is where SRI got its start, and once we have installed the deities they
cannot be removed, " Puripada said. "They must be worshipped twice a day in
perpetuity. My plans are not to live permanently here, but the temple will carry on. This
is not some crazy new religion. It's a 5,000-year tradition that has millions of
followers."
Puripada invites people to visit the Spiritual Realization Institute at 735 E. Market St.,
Lockport, N.Y., or call the temple at 716-433-6322. Web users are invited to visit his
website at www.neonblue.com/sri. Or, they may e-mail SRI at [email protected].
� 1999 William V. Michelmore
All rights reserved, internationally.
[Reprinted from the Buffalo News]
Puripada Guestbook Entries [Geoffrey Giuliano's (aka Jagannatha Dasa Puripada) official guestbook, puripada.com]
Name : Amal Kumar
Country : India
E-mail : [email protected]
Url : N/A
Post Date : Dec 30,2003
Puripig is an asura. He wanted my brother to have sex with him in Brindaban
Name : Hitesh Gupta
Country : India
E-mail : [email protected]
Url : N/A
Post Date : Oct 31,2003
SRI does NOT donate any money to Bhaktivedanta Hospital. I work there.
Name : Mary Katchins
Country : USA
E-mail : [email protected]
Url : N/A
Post Date : Sept 22,2003
Because these entries only allows less than 400 characters, I could not post my entry
together.
Thus it is in parts. This is from an email I got from one of my friends. We were both
making donations to SRI and being duped.
Dear Mary,
Hi. Sorry I haven't written to you in a while. I was
out of town.
I wanted to forward this on to you. Don't give this
slob anymore of your money. He is cheating people, a
lot of them.
Love,
--- [email protected] wrote:
> Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 13:52:04 +0530
> From: [email protected]
> Subject: BEWARE ! BEWARE !
> To: .com
>
> Dear Ms. Clayborn,
>
> Please do not give any donations to Geoffrey
> Giuliano (Jagannath Dasa
> Puripada) for Bhaktivedanta Hospital.
> He is a big
> fraud, collecting money
> in the name of Bhaktivedanta Hospital but no money
> is coming to the
> Hospital.
>
> Yours sincerely,
> Kalpana
> Secy.to the CEO. Mr. Rajesh Talwar
> (Raghunath das)
>
Name : Jaya Dasi
Country : N/A
E-mail : [email protected]
Url : N/A
Post Date : Aug 13,2003
Puripada is a pig. It should be known that he is a child molester. He has engaged in
sexual activity with children in both India and Nepal. This has been confirmed by several
people, including some of the children themselves
Name : Janet Roth
Country : USA
E-mail : [email protected]
Url : N/A
Post Date : July 22,2003
I sent these emails (below) many times to Jagannath Puripada and Vrnda, but I got no
replies whatsoever.
Based on their not replying, I would think that maybe it is some political ploy.
--
I sent you this email several times in concern for your plight. I was willing to help you
with a good lawyer, etc., but you did not even have the courtesy to get back to me.
Either you really don't care about your cows, or, the situation has been settled. But if
that is the case, you could have at least showed me the courtesy to write back and tell me
that.
Janet
--
I am an animal rights activist and I would like to help you with your situation. I was
informed of your situation through a good friend who is also an animal rights activist.
Sincerely,
Janet
Name : Kirtida Dasi
Country : USA
E-mail : [email protected]
Url : N/A
Post Date : July 19,2003
Did anyone ever tell you - Puripad - that you are an egotistical jerk? as well as a liar.
Use your cows for your politics and to get money from poor people who get sucked into your
lies. But Krsna will give you your reactions.