Hi Barbara!

Yes, Kathy Hoshijo is the same as Takahani or Katyayani. I just checked her out on the website link in one of "initiate's" posts. She is of Japanese descent and has a very beautiful face, but alas, Mother of God!, her body looks like it is wasting away!!! From the latest pics on this website, her arms, neck and shoulders look extremely thin with no flesh on them! Not a good advertisement for vegetarian cooking, I think some people watching this show now will rush out and buy some steak as they don't want to end up as skin and bone like her! Maybe the Queen of Sheeba should do her own housework once in a while so her muscles do not waste away!

As for Chris Butler - I cannot answer your question as I have not seen him in the flesh for many many years... Supposedly he was seen surfing not too long ago...

I would really like to see or hear something to indicate that there still is a "Jagad Guru", (or not).

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initiate
The lifestyle was fatiguing, stressful and alienating. Many families were very poor or on welfare.

This is so true... gone were the carefree days of playing drums in the jungles of Kauai and Maui with a chorus of rare bird-song and surrounded by beautiful trees! THE WAREHOUSE[/color:526496f1db] was now our reality! The "warehouse" was a large concrete building with no daylight and very high ceilings that was somehow cold and had a somewhat spooky feeling... I remember the time when the devotees did not install a deity room in the warehouse and Siddha went ballistic... He banished everyone from the building for several weeks... There were quite a few people from other countries (New Zealand, etc), who had no money, and now all of a sudden they found themselves with no place to stay and scrambling to get a bite to eat!... Meanwhile Siddha was living in a luxury condo overlooking the ocean at Waikiki, and didn't seem to care about our predicament... Finally when the deity room was installed, people were allowed back to the warehouse, but oddly enough that deity room remained empty most of the time, (as far as I can remember), as probably people were too busy with the "Quatermass" project - we thought we were saving the world from birth and death by getting Siddha on television so people could hear the name of god from a pure soul...

I also remember the time when a poor mother told Siddha she could not come up with the 25% donation as she was barely able to feed her children - he came down on her like a TON OF BRICKS[/size:526496f1db], yes, I remember that...

I also remember the people living in the dark attic, so dark that they became like mole people, "hiding from the man" as they were now in Honolulu illegally and had overstayed their visa... Yes, I remember these things![/color:526496f1db]

Hey just googling, at least you got to stay in the warehouse. I came to Honolulu to surrender and help out. But I was so fallen siddha would not allow me to stay in the warehouse so I had to sleep in my car outside. I didn't deserve even the hole in the attic. Sudama thought it was a good idea to drive a cab at night to make enough money to LIVE SIMPLY so I could engage in devotional service the days and rest of the time. Devotional service meant doing all the stuff siddha thought was pleasing to God like working at the big warehouse on his video project.

The only place you could make any decent money in a short period of time in Honolulu driving a cab was catering to the prostitutes and sailors that visited them in such places as the red light district of Honolulu. This was common knowledge to all the devotees who were trying to make money at that time. I remember driving whores and homosexuals who were on the prowl around at night to get enough money to eat and live. I did this under the guidance of Sudama who was just looking out for my welfare and wanted to engage me in siddhas devotional service. At that time I suppose we thought it was some type of pious austerity we had to perform in order to do service for siddha. Just the perfect job for a brahmacharya (celibate student) I must say. I remember one fare wanted to have sex in the back seat with her customer but being a good brahmacharya I would not allow it. NO BREAKING THE REGULATIVE PRINCIPLES IN MY CAB BY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! (sex outside of marriage is one of the four regulative principles)

Yea and I remember that warehouse and how they put the Lord, Nitai-Gaur, (deity form of God worshipped by all Vaishnavas) in a room with no air. The air was so stale in that room you could hardly breath or chant. It was unbearably hot as well. But by Siddhas standard that was good enough for the Lord. Siddha's own room was bigger than the Lords room with A.C. and suited just perfect to make Siddha and his wife feel comfortable with all the amenities needed to facilatate siddha and his wifes bodies. But Nitai Guar, the Lord, did not have such an opulent room.

Yea I remember in California when Siddha had two residences. One a luxury condo on the beach, for his and the queen bees living. To give you an idea of the status of the place Tom Cruise had a condo there too. Yea I remember waiting hours on end to go inside, sometimes up to three hours waiting at his door, in order to clean up the mess left by Siddha and his yogini wife. Tom Cruise could be seen riding his jet ski in front of the luxurious condo complex from time to time. Siddha had another bungalow within walking distance from the first condo so him and his dear wife could do all their important service without interfering with their home life. No householder likes working in their home. Home life should be cuddly and cozy and no real householder wants to bring work home with them. Now that is simple living to be able to walk to work everyday!!! This was in Malibu Ca. to give you an idea of what the cost was. Yea I remember at that time his servants in his personal service were dumpster diving to get enough food to eat. The cooks had another house to prepare all the masters meals as it would have been bothersome and disturbing for Siddha to have anyone cook in his presence. Even though both his home and work place had full kitchens it would have been uncomfortable for siddha and his dearest to have to put up with all the cooking. A separate house for the cooking was always standard, a necessary expenditure.

At one point some complaints had come from somewhere in the world, most likely from some of his big contributors, who thought perhaps money was being wasted. Siddha agreed and at the same time he also thought people were not honoring his prasadam, the remnants of what the master was eating. So Siddha being a pretty could economics man decided the solution was to charge for his remnants. I still am not sure who was supposed to pay for his prasadam (mercy), as all the devotees I knew were just practically maintaining their bodies and souls together by the skin of their teeth and had no money at all. Him and the queen bee where getting no less than 15 preps a meal, twice a day, so it is true a few crumbs were coming back for sale. I remember the cost of that kitchen was something like $100.00 a day. But the food being prepared by his servants was not up to snuff enough and the queen bee wanted to have restaurant food to supplement their yogi diets. To insure the restaurant food was high standard and not contaminated the cook at the restaurant was required to wear a germ mask just like all siddhas cooks. I am not sure how much extra that cost. Also special pots were brought to the restaurant to ensure Siddha or his wife did not eat from the restaurant pots, that would have been a great offense to such a yogi and yogini. I am not sure if the restaurant was even vegetarian. I remember how Siddha said he had to get restaurant food (on top of the daily 30 preps) because his servants could not make anything that tasted good. At the time the thought that perhaps Katyayani should take over cooking for the master and mistress yogis but put it off as probably a great offense to even think such a thing.

Yea life had really gotten simple by that time.

Just Googling,
Thanks for jogging my memory.

Hey Barbara, Jagad Guru is alive and watching this stuff, trust me.

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gulag
www.wwoofhawaii.org
and where does all the money go? Do they run programs for the poor or homeless or a hospice for aids sufferers?

It is a Vaishnava tenet to do welfare activity. Srila Prabhupada actually said no one within a 12 mile radius of any HARE KRISHNA temple should go hungry. That was his desire, that every temple should try maintain that standard. . I know of one Vaishnava temple in India who feeds no less than 5,000 people a day. These activities are common in any genuine Vaishnava mission. How many missions actually do this I cannot say. But that is the standard. Much welfare activity should be done to qualify as a legitimate Vaishnava mission.

If you are going to support a Vaishnava mission or any other mission regardless of what religious affiliation be sure they are doing welfare activity.

Buyer beware!

I overlooked this one previously. I don't have the date of this, either.
Does anyone have any more information on this?

[www.vrindavan.org]

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In Poland there are several active Vaisnava missions. [b:667fcb0284]The mother of a new devotee girl was very upset, as is often the case when someone's child changes their religious belief and life style due to association with the Vaisnavas.[/b:667fcb0284] 
In an attempt to destroy the reputation of the Polish Vaisnavas, she allied with a Catholic nun who had worked in Bengal in a Christian mission.

Their accusations were numerous. Some of them were as follows:
1. The Hare Krishnas worship an immoral God who married 16,108 wives.
2. They transgress the customs of our country and manipulate our children.

The WVA was asked to send a representative to the court case. Tusta Krishna das, the press secretary of WVA was sent with written documentation to represent the WVA.

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barabara
I would really like to see or hear something to indicate that there still is a "Jagad Guru", (or not).
There is proof that the organization still operates, but where is the evidence of its leader?

Yeah, maybe he and Osama are room mates now! :lol:

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gulag
What with all the enterprise, business and money-making going on here how does it jive with non-material life and where does all the money go? Do they run programs for the poor or homeless or a hospice for aids sufferers?

Ha, no chance! I think Siddha's philosophy is that if you are poor it is due to your own bad karma. :(

It seems to be that all the money goes to pay for mansions and private jets for the Pharoah of Egypt.

From what I could glean over the internet, Tusta went to Poland to defend their religion in some sort of court case... Apparently they got off any charges. However, it appears as there was some fanatical Catholic element in Poland who were harrassing the devotees over there and there was some violence. They were tearing down their posters, stoning their homes (not sure if fire bombs were used). Although Eastern block countries are now officially "free", it seems as though the freedom of religion has not really caught on there yet.

This is also another example of how religion seems to be a breeding ground for conflict, hatred, and ultimately even war!

Jesus said: "In my Father's kingdom there are many mansions." Unfortunately, most of them are owned by Chris Butler! :lol: