Customer Reviews

Monkey on a Stick (Onyx)

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I was involved with the Hare Krishna movement from 1973 to 1977, after which I broke off all contact with them. Not because I was abused or whatever, just because I could not handle the austerity. I was never abused, I never witnessed anyone else being abused, nor did I ever hear of anyone being abused. And I wasn't at the bottom rung; I was a temple treasurer for a couple of years, then became a "pujari", or altar priest, for the remainder of my time there.

Anyway, it is also worth mentioning that most of the events in the book happened after I left, when the founder of the movement died.

I found this book in the library, and actually read the entire book in one sitting. I was mesmerized, because I knew many of the people in the book. It is like a "whatever happend to..." type of thing. I was also a little self-satisfied, since many of the jerks I knew got their just desserts. Yes, I knew some jerks: people who got caught up in a "power trip", and made life miserable (but still not abusive) for the rest of us. Every organization has jerks.

I was also shocked of learning of goings-on "behind the scenes". I have to admit I never saw any illegal things going on... but I did occasionally hear rumors. And reading this book helped all the jigsaw puzzles fall into place.

Having spent several years in ISKCON (the Hare Krishna's organization), I can always tell when I read something that shows that the authors did not do their homework, which puts their credibility in question. It is not the case in this book. I found only one minor error (where they state that the devotees use the word "Krsna" instead of "Krishna" out of respect. That is not the reason; it has to do with the Roman transliteration of Sanskrit).

The bottom line is, I felt this book to be credible, factual and authentic. And incredibly entertaining.

Although the Gaudiya-Vaishnava religion (represented in part by the Hare Krishnas) is wonderfully rich in philosophical and theological content, this book shows what can happen when greed gets in the way.

As Chuck St. Denis turned to run, 12 bullets pierced his body. Somehow he got up and stumbled away. Thomas Drescher tackled him, then stabbed St. Denis with a kitchen knife until the blade broke.

Switching to a screwdriver, Drescher kept stabbing St. Denis, then he punched a hole in St. Denis' skull with a hammer.

Finally, as Drescher and Dan Reid were wrapping the body in plastic, St. Denis opened his eyes and pleaded. "Don't do that, you'll smother me."

Incredible? You bet, but it's true. And it's just the first of many revelations about the American Hare Krishna movement in "Monkey on a Stick: Murder, Madness and the Hare Krishnas." This is a fascinating book that reads more like a crime thriller than the social history and expose that it is.

Indeed, reporters John Hubner and Lindsey Gruson effectively use all the conventions of a crime novel to draw the reader into the real story: how murder, drugs and fraud turned the spiritual intentions of a generation into a nightmare.

Besides the murder of Krishna devotee Chuck St. Denis, "Monkey on a Stick" also details the murder of a former devotee who tried to expose the movement's horrors and the supposed murder by pit bulls of a temple armorer.

Other madness detailed in the book includes the sexual abuse of children, the beating of women, money-raising scams, arms-stockpiling, drug-running, a guru fueled by LSD and other gurus more concerned with empire- and palace-building than furthering "Krishna Consciousness."

As do most thrillers, "Monkey on a Stick" also has its good guys, particularly Tom Westfall and Joe Sanchez, the only two cops to show any interest in the Krishna movement. Westfall became known as the "Krishna Cop" because of his detailed knowledge of the movement.

Yet the thriller aspect mostly provides background for an examination of the social history of the Krishna movement by Hubner and Gruson. Through extensive interviews with current and former Hare Krishnas, as well as law enforcement officials, the authors provide some provocative clues to why "people who had set out make peace and love ended up molesting children, running drugs, committing murder."

To their credit, Gruson and Hubner take pains to point out that not all the Krishnas were involved in crimes, nor were many even aware of them.

If there is a downfall to "Monkey on a Stick," it's the book's structure. The facts and figures that make this engrossing story more credible are buried among the notes and citations at the end of the book. In a note on their methodology, Hubner and Gruson urge readers to consult the chapter-by-chapter notes as they read the book, a process that can be distracting at times.

Still, "Monkey on a Stick" will leave you shaking your head in amazement.

About 1981, I stumbled onto to grounds of the emerging palace the Krishnas were building in the West Virginia hills to honor Swami Prahupada. The Swami developed his following while living on 2nd Avenue in New York. Monkey on a Stick tells the utterly fascinating story of the Swami and his followers and how, after his death, the devotees built the grandiose and goldleafed palace that grew above the tree tops east of Moundsville, WV. Hubner and Gruson capture the power trips and plays that becomes a first rate murder mystery. My guess is that the book's grotesque title may have cost it some readers. Too bad. Highly recommended.

As a young child growing up in the Ashram in New Vrindaban,West Virginia I can verify that the accounts describe in this book aretrue. I know a large amount of people in the book including the the family of Chuck St. Dennis and the son of Bryant. This book is a must read for anyone who enjoys realistic horror, murder, and deceit. Unfortunetly this book does not tell of the aftermath of "The Swami's" reign and the devistation it left so many families in. So many families have to start form scratch,penniless, picking up the loose ends and finding their way back into society after being remove from reality for ten or twenty years. John Hubner should write a sequel containing the stories of the children in the Hare Krsna movement and the abuse (physical, mental, and sexual) and the neglect they endured due to "The Swami's" direct orders. I believe that a sequel would become a best seller. Anyone interested in cults and the chaos they bring to the unsupecting person should read this book because Monkey on a Stick will outrage you as well as keep you on the edge of your seat wanting to know more of what went on.

I was raised in New Vrindaban from 1971-1985. I lived with the very characters discussed, knew most every name in the book. Everything resonates.

Monkey On a Stick is a bizarre story of how "...people who had set out to make peace and love ended up molesting children, running drugs, and committing murder" (page 392). It's a fascinating and bizarre true story that will keep any true-crime fan up late turning the pages.

One of the best things about Monkey On a Stick is that it is an "action" book. By that, I mean that there are plenty of bizarre happenings to keep you interested throughout the book. The authors, Hubner and Gruson, are good at pacing; though they recount the history of the Hare Krishnas, they do so in such a way that you never bog down.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the book is the degree to which the Krishnas became involved in crime. You will be amazed that they constantly ran scams in order to raise money. As time passes, the movement's gurus became greedier and more arrogant; somewhat unbelievably, the movement slid into committing murders, dealing drugs, and molesting children - all with the knowledge of (some) of its leaders.

Though I greatly enjoyed Monkey On a Stick, the book has a few limitations.

Though the book is always readable, the narrative is a bit choppy. The authors choose to start with a long section on the Krishnas' criminal activities in West Virginia during the 1980s. Then, they go back in time for a long section on the history of the Krishna movement. At the end, they return to West Virginia. Some readers will find the sequencing of Monkey On a Stick to be cumbersome.

I would also add that Monkey On a Stick is, first and foremost, a crime book. The authors do not spend much time on the positive sides of the faith. The book is very negative about the entire movement and you will come away with little sense of why someone might join the Krishnas.

On the whole, however, I recommend Monkey On a Stick to anyone who wants to read a true-crime page turner.

Monkey on a Stick is a chilling account of the misuse of spiritual authority and charisma by Kirtananda Swami the head of New Vrindabin, a leading disciple of the founder of the Hare Krishna movement. What was most interesting was the "fall downs" of so many devotees - alcohol, sex, not following the regulative principles and having no appreciation of the spiritual qualities that Srila Prabhupada the founder of the Hare Krishna movement in the west expected them to maintain. Much has been revealed since this book - allegations of pedophilia, the jailing of Kirtananda and the excommunication and rehabilitation of New Vrindabin in ISKCON. It is a salutary lesson of the need for devotees to be honest, to take responsibility for themselves and of their community and this is a book for all Hare Krishnas to read and meditate on. Dhirasanta das

A college buddy of mine demanded that I read this book because, as he said, "I rode in the pick-up truck they used to kill the dude in the book!"
He was a stoner first and an aging hippie second, and he lived on and off in Athens, Ohio, a college town in the foothills of the Appalachians (and an incredible party town too). He used to bum rides from the Hare Krishnas and somehow found out that the pick-up truck sent from West Virginia to the Krishna house in Athens was the one mentioned in the first chapter of MONKEY ON A STICK.

I picked up the book, saying I'd read but not really jumping into it. A couple years later, during a serious bout of insomnia, I pulled it off the shelf...and then could not put it down.
Absolutely fascinating. It begins with the prolonged murder of a guy the Krishnas wanted dead, then the book takes the reader on the bad, crazy trip of how the Hare Krishna movement started--at first as a magical, mystery tour by American hippies in the Far East before turning into a drug-fueled nightmare of cult control and sex abuse.

Like the former Krishna said in his review: "You can't put it down."

Going in to reading this book, my knowledge of the Hare Krishnas was peripheral. After reading the book, I certainly do not understand everything about the group, but I do have a better understanding of the angst toward the group.

The title of the book may confuse some readers as it does not appear to have a lot to do with the topic. However, the roundabout way the author employs the metaphor for making an example out of somebody actually works. But for the sake of cleverness, it may have confused more readers than it is worth.

The story follows the development of the Hare Krishnas in America. The back cover sites child abuse, torture, slavery, drug trafficing, arms dealing, and murder. While all of these crimes are in the book, they center around two men. Keith Hamm (Kitanananda) is the lead of New Vrindaban amd oversees much of the criminal activity. Thomas Dreschre (Tirtha) executes the murders. Other Krishna in the book are minor players.

If the author's thesis is to portray the Hare Krishnas as a criminal organization, I do not believe he was entirely effective. Only two people committed the majority of the crimes. This does not make any of the crimes less awful. The danger in this comes in viewing the Hare Krishnas as innocuous organization. Of course, the mission of the Krishnas itself is not bad but the motives and means are disturbing.

The author was helpful in providing a conversion chart between "western names" and "Krishna names". Without this, I suspect many readers would get lost among the long and often similar names. Because the book was published in 1990, the story is far from complete. Interested readers can easily do a search to complete the story of some of the players in this book.

Many readers think that this book is all about the illegal activities that occurred in 1980s at New Vrindaban in Moundsville, WV: But the authors also dedicate significant part of their discussion on the birth and growth of Hare Krishna movement in the United States.

In 1966, both Keith Ham (Kirtananada) and Howard Wheeler (Hayagriva Dasa) were in graduate school with bright future. Howard Wheeler later became a faculty member at the Ohio State University and Kirtananda could have gone up the academic ranks at a major university, but he chose to lead a movement and later turned it into a criminal enterprise that would have made the godfather of a crime family proud. It is incredible that their drug trafficking into this country did not get them into direct conflict the crime families of New York, let alone FBI. This story has all the elements of murder, mystery, drama, drugs, physical and sexual abuse of women and children, pedophilia, stealing, sankirtan scam, and stockpiling of weapons and ammunitions that worked like a hard-core Christian cult. They forgot everything the movement was founded on and followed Kirtananda's sadistic ambitions. The end justifies the means; this was his motto. Use whatever method you like, legal or illegal, to raise money for building the temples, expand the movement, bring more converts, and enrich personal coffers of Kirtananda. The followers thought when all the karmis (sinners) are converted into the Hare Krishna movement, and then they don't have to do drugs to raise money. Many female devotees thought they are serving the Lord when they were offering sexual favors to their gurus. The leaders at several temples, and members of the governing body council (GBC) were also severe abusers of power and authority. Some episodes are described with a great detail; this is a collection of chilling stories and ruthless men.

The very first chapter gives the grizzly details of the murder of Chakradara (Charles St. Denis), a New Vrindaban "fringie" and drug dealer who did not share his inherited fortune with Kirtananda. He was murdered and buried at New Vrindaban by his two henchmen, Thomas Drescher (Tirtha Dasa) and Dan Reid (Daruka Dasa). The second and third chapters chronicle the birth and growth of Hare Krishna movement in 1960s. These two chapters are largely influenced by the book "Hare Krishna Explosion" by Hayagriva Dasa (Howard Wheeler). It is an interesting account of how the founder Prabhupada started his mission on the lower east side of Manhattan with humble beginnings and later turned into a major religious force. Many of his early followers included; Beatles, Henry Ford's grandson, Walter Reuther's daughter, Allen Ginsberg, Harvard MBA's and many from reputed medical schools and graduate programs.

Both Kirtananda and Howard Wheeler were homosexual men and the latter had many male partners including young men from Mexico. His eldest son Samba was five or six when Kirtananda started sexually abusing him, and he became his constant companion. What kind of father Howard Wheeler is to sell out his own son? Dharmatma (Denis Gorrick), a polygamous leader of New Vrindaban's women's sankirtan team had sexually and physically abused many female devotees. When Cynthia Hebel was sexually assaulted by three men in New Orleans and badly bruised, when she returned to New Vrindaban Dharmatma said, "hey, I heard you had a party, how come you didn't invite me?" That is the kind of sensitivity the leading men of ISKCON had on female devotees. Sulocana (Steve Bryant), an early ISKCON devotee who challenged the illegal operation at New Vrindaban was killed in 1986 by Kirtananda's enforcers. Jadurani, the first brahmacharani to join ISKCON was also beaten up for questioning Kirtananda's status as a guru. The children at New Vrindaban were living in very filthy conditions and were highly malnourished, while the male leaders were eating like pigs; alcohol included. Larry Garner and Fred DeFrancisco were pedophiles who abused children in the gurukula of New Vrindaban. The latter served time but the former is hiding in India.

Jayathirtha, the London guru was beheaded by his own disciple, Navanticara in 1987. He was confused with the personal life of his guru who had abandoned his wife and taken up with a much younger woman. This disciple believed that his guru was Lord Krishna himself but when he realized that Jayathirtha is only a mortal sinful man, he stabbed repeatedly into death and later severed his head. When London police discovered the scene the next morning, Navanticara was sitting next to the decapitated body cradling the severed head against his chest. His face was streaked with blood and tears. He was muttering, "I have done my work" repeatedly.

In mid-seventies, Joe Davis, Roy Richard and Alex Kulik had smuggled million's dollars worth of hash oil into California and they used that money to build the Los Angles and San Diego temples. Some of the followers got into troubles with local mob and were killed by the mafia. Kulik and others were convicted and served time. Bhagavan, another ISKCON guru was known as Sun King was well known for his extravagance. The faucets in his bathroom were gold plated. He would eat only from gold plates and drink from gold goblets, and he was chauffeured around Europe in Mercedes 500. Hansadatta, a member of GBC and a resident at Berkeley temple had tremendous ego problem who assaulted devotes, sexually abused women and had a large collection of weapons and fascination for mixing rock and roll music with Krishna consciousness.

There are many websites and blogs that details the atrocities committed by the goons of New Vrindaban. Some of the paragraphs are literally reproduced from this book. Notable sites are Krishna.com, Chakra.com and others. You may find this by a simple Google search of an individual.

1. Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life behind the Headlines of the Hare Krishna Movement
2. Hare Krishna Transformed (The New and Alternative Religions Series)
3. Inside the Hare Krishna Movement: An Ancient Eastern Religious Tradition Comes of Age in the Western World
4. The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant
5. The Hare Krishna explosion: The birth of Krishna consciousness in America, 1966-1969