Baba
This email contains two sections:
1. Posting: How can we forget S Gopal Shastri of Vizag
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How can we forget S Gopal Shastri of Vizag
Note: This letter addresses how one "senior margii" manipulated a
social service project, earned good money by bribing AMURT big bosses,
AM central workers, & govt officials, and he deprived the real
losers - i.e. those simple, innocent, victims who lost their housing.
For these reasons the villagers got a very bad impression about Ananda
Marga due to cheating. Here below are all the details.
Namaskar,
The general tradition is that when a person dies then those speaking at
the burial ceremony eulogise the deceased. They only glorify that person
and talk about the plus points - and even praise that person for
qualities which he did not have. That is the general trend.
In contrast, sometimes newspapers present a more balanced view outlining
the person's successes and failures. And that is needed, otherwise the
common people will not know the truth, and will not be able to learn
from that person's mistakes.
How history gets polluted
For instance, if Mr X died and he was a corrupt fellow, yet all hail him
as a great sadhu and elevated soul, then those who did not know him
will form an incorrect opinion. They will embrace a bad man as a sadhu.
Not only that, notorious wrongdoers who are still alive will think that,
“If I keep my prestige as long as I am alive, then after my death
everything will be ok. So I should just continue exploiting others as I
have been doing.”
One of the most detrimental aspects is that when a so-called important
citizen dies a glorified announcement is made of his accomplishments -
and then the matter is never raised again. In which case, there was no
opportunity to render a proper historical record as his mistakes were
not brought to light. Ultimately that proves to be harmful as society
does not get a chance to learn and grow from those missteps.
As we know, Guru's teaching about history is that it must be presented
as a teaching tool so past mistakes are not repeated. And that applies
to reviewing the lives of margiis and wts as well.
Shastri pocketed a large percentage
from the pockets of the homeless
Recently, a short, formal announcement was made about the mahaprayan
(death) of Shrii Gopal Shastri jii of Vishakapatnam / Vizag. And that
was needed as all should be informed when we lose one of our family
members. At the same time a review of his life can also shed light on
how we Ananda Margiis can improve: That entails emulating his plus
points and learning from his defects. And that is what follows herein.
One of the endeavours that Shastriji was involved in was relief work.
And this is an important aspect in the life of any Ananda Margii - to
help reduce the suffering of others.
During the disaster relief efforts of the cyclone in Andhra Pradesh in
the early 1990’s, the government allotted land to relief organisations
to construct a colony of pucca, i.e. concrete, houses for those
inhabitants who were uprooted because their house was destroyed. And
Shastri jii was part of this relief project. He took on the
responsibility of overseeing the rebuilding of homes for the very poor
inhabitants of that region. Sadly, those persons had lost their hearth
and home and so many of their loved ones in this cyclone tragedy. They
were in great despair and had no means to recover their lives. They were
at the mercy of the society to be able to survive.
Worst construction:
water was profusely seeping into the house
By this shady maneuver, all those suffering people had their homes
rebuilt with the lowest grade materials possible. And the outcome was
horrible. When it was time for them to move into their rebuilt homes, it
was quickly discovered that the roofs were leaking. Here it should be
qualified that we are not talking about a simple leak with a small drip.
Rather water was seeping into the entire roof and water was falling
like it was raining inside the house. Nearly every square inch of the
house was affected - all the walls, the entire floor, everywhere. It was
not possible to live in such a dwelling - everything just got destroyed
by the water, no one could live in that way.
One other thing to note. Generally in India houses are built with flat
roofs as there is no issue of snowfall etc. But Shastri employed one
trick. He knew he was using poor materials so he order for the roofs to
be made in a sloped fashion. His hope was that the sloped roof would
shed the water and cover up his shoddy construction. But he had applied
so much sand to the concrete that the sloped roof could not make up the
difference. All those houses leaked terribly.
AMURT houses sold to rich people,
the poorest victims got nothing
In turn, so many philanthropic people of India & foreign countries
through AMURT funded the rebuilding of their community and Shastri jii
was the head of one of those relief efforts. Big money came into his
hands which he was entrusted with for getting the work done. But instead
of taking care of the situation in an organised and upstanding manner,
Shastri jii allegedly informed AMURT big bosses that due to lack of
funds he was unable to complete the project. And he was given approval
for collecting money - i.e. 5000rupees - from the poor people who were
on the initial list of those who lost their homes due to the cyclone. In
this situation some rich people purchased two or three houses by paying
good amounts to Shastri jii . Thus rich people were awarded the houses,
not the poor people enlisted by the government from the very beginning.
The exact amount collected by Shastri jii is not known to anybody. He
bribed government officials and AMURT big bosses. Then he completed the
roof construction of all 108 houses in this project constructed in
Regupalem, Yelamanchili Visakhapatnam.
He stole money of homeless victims
Here is a key example of one thing Shastri jii did. When rebuilding the
homes of those impoverished people, instead of using standard grade
cement to make a solid structure - he paid off the inspectors so he
could add huge amounts of sand into the concrete mixture. This diluted
the concrete and cost much, much less money. So Shastri jii’s costs
were a fraction of what they should have been. This gave him a surplus
of funds which he allegedly misdirected into his deep pocket for his
luxury expenses etc. Thus real sufferers didn’t get houses,other fake
poor people. People started selling houses unofficially.
Public formed poor opinion about Ananda Marga
because impoverished victims were cheated
That happened because proper concrete was not used - rather the sand
infested concrete mixture that Shastri jii ordered was porous. In
result, the good name of Ananda Marga was dragged through the mud as
everyone in that area thought Ananda Margiis were corrupt thieves who
cheated the common people.
So those who had already suffered and lost so much now had to deal with a
house that had horrible leaks everywhere. And these impoverished people
had nowhere to turn to find justice. All the payoffs and bribes were
made and the paperwork presented to the government was shined up.
By this shady maneuver, all those suffering people had their homes
rebuilt with the lowest grade materials possible. And the outcome was
horrible. When it was time for them to move into their rebuilt homes, it
was quickly discovered that the roofs were leaking. Here it should be
qualified that we are not talking about a simple leak with a small drip.
Rather water was seeping into the entire roof and water was falling
like it was raining inside the house. Nearly every square inch of the
house was affected - all the walls, the entire floor, everywhere. It was
not possible to live in such a dwelling - everything just got destroyed
by the water, no one could live in that way.
One other thing to note. Generally in India houses are built with flat
roofs as there is no issue of snowfall etc. But Shastri jii employed
one trick. He knew he was using poor materials so he order for the roofs
to be made in a sloped fashion. His hope was that the sloped roof would
shed the water and cover up his shoddy construction. But he had applied
so much sand to the concrete that the sloped roof could not make up the
difference. All those houses leaked terribly.
In desperation, victims had to pass sleepless nights
with tarps on the leaky roofs of their houses
All those poor people could do was put tarps on the leaky roofs of
their houses in hopes that would seal them up. But invariably the wind
would blow those tarps away. Yet with no other option, that is the way
they carried on.
It is well known that Shastri jii manipulated the project and hoarded
huge funds into his own account by bribing AMURT big bosses, AM central
workers & government officials. Sadly the real losers were those
impoverished families on the government list who were supposed to
receive help and support etc. In that end they got nothing due to
Shastri jii’s selfish and deceptive tactics etc. That is why all those
villagers got a very bad impression and formed a very poor opinion about
Ananda Marga.
A slur on the name of Ananda Marga
And this all happened due to Shastri jii’s own greed and lack of
concern for those whom he was supposed to serve. It was a major debacle
and a gross injustice. This is not how our Ananda Marga service projects
are supposed to be conducted - rather it was a slur on the name of
AMURT.
All should understand that this account is just an honest review of his
actions so that such a scene is not repeated in the future. None should
let greed and avarice consume them in this way or allow anyone to derail
our Ananda Marga social service projects by engaging in immoral and
destructive behaviour.
Namaskar,
in Him,
A. Venkat Ramana
Note 1: About Regupalem village -
location of AMURT relief housing project
Regupalem is a Village in Yelamanchili Mandal in Visakhapatanam District
of Andhra Pradesh State, India. It belongs to Andhra region. It is
located 51 KM towards west from District head quarters Vishakhapatnam
and 542 KM from State capital Hyderabad where - under Shastri's
leadership - AMURT constructed shady houses for homeless victims of the
cyclone.
Note 2: Nutshell of this letter
The summary of this letter is that Shastri ji manipulated the project,
earned good money by bribing AMURT big bosses, AM central workers, &
govt officials, and he deprived the real losers - i.e. those simple,
innocent, victims who lost their housing. For these reasons the
villagers got a very bad impression about Ananda Marga due to this
incident.
Furthermore, whatever Shastri jii looted, it is alleged that Ac
Bhaveshananda Avt, Ac Savitananda Avt, Ac Pranavatmakananda Avt got a
pittance offering and that is why they always supported him. It is just
like how one rich homeowner, when dining, feeds his three dogs scraps
under the table.
Note 3: Death ceremony of Shastri jii and
three dadas planning to meet him in heaven
Because these three Dadas - Ac Bhaveshananda Avt, Ac Savitananda Avt, Ac
Pranavatmakananda Avt - were given a pittance they felt obliged and
desperate to perform Shastri jii's shraddha ceremony - even though
Shastri jii and his family had no interest in the Ananda Marga death
ceremony system. But these three Dadas were thinking that one day they
will all meet Shartri in heaven and he will again reward them with some
pittance.
Note 4: That car used by criminals in kidnapping of Ac Maniisananda Avt
Shastri jii gave his car to the two alleged criminal avadhutas - Ac
Raviishananda and Ac Viitamohanananda - as they attempted to kidnap
Acarya Maniisananda Avadhuta in October 1995 from the master unit. After
the kidnapping, then Raviishananda and Viitamohanananda drove Ac
Maniisananda Avt to the Vishakapatnam jagrti. Yet somehow Ac
Maniisanandji escaped in the middle of the night Vishakapatnam jagrit,
Dadaji literally escaped the jaws of death, by Baba’s grace. Since then,
for the last 20 years these blood thirsty criminals have been searching
for Ac Maniisananda Avt / Ac Maniishananda Avt. But now that they
themselves are in jail so the situation is a little safer for Ac
Maniishanandji.
Now those two Dadas - Raviishananda and Viitamohanananda - are sitting
in jail for the murder trial of Ac Abhipremananda Avt. These criminals
are under arrest in Purulia Central Jail along with other avadhuta
criminals.
== Section 2 ==
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