ISKCON bans popular preacher for one month over inappropriate comments on Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhansa

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) on Tuesday banned one of its monks Amogh Lila Prabhu for controversial remarks on Hindu monk and philosopher Swami Vivekananda and his mentor Ramakrishna Paramhamsa.

The monk, who is a popular motivational speaker on social media, questioned consumption of fish by Swami Vivekananda in one of his pravachans (discourses). He said: “Will a virtuous man ever eat fish? A fish also feels pain, right? Will a virtuous man eat fish then?”

The monk also took a dig at Swami Vivekananda’s mentor Ramakrishna Paramhamsa. He also questioned Paramhamsa’s teaching of ‘Jato Mat Tato Path’ (as many opinions, as many paths), saying “not every path leads to the same destination”.

These comments stoked massive furore on social media, causing ISCKON to take action against one of their monks. A user shared the video on Twitter and wrote: “ISKCON ‘monk’ Amogh Lila outrageously insults two of Bengal’s biggest Hindu spiritual monks Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and feels everything about them is wrong”.

In its statement, ISKCON said that it was pained by Amogh Lila Das’ “inappropriate and unacceptable comments and his lack of understanding about the great teachings of these two personalities”. The preacher has been banned from ISKCON for a period of one month.

The statement further noted that Amogh Lila Das has sought forgiveness for his remarks and also taken a vow to go on atonement for one month in the hills of Govardhan. The ISKCON statement added the preacher would seclude himself from public life with immediate effect.

According to media reports, Amogh Lila Das says he was born as Ashish Arora in Lucknow in a religious family. He claims he embarked on spiritual path at a very young age and read the verses of the Bhagavad Gita while he was still in school. Das says he left his house in search of God in 2000 when he was in Class 12.

He, however, decided to come back and pursue a degree course in software engineering. Das started working for a US-based multinational cooperation (MNC) after completing his degree but quit his job to tread on the path of spirituality.

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