Krishna, Politics, and QNET's International Pyramid Scheme

[teach1st]

From the Meanwhile in Hawai'i blog, 10/20/17. I was kicking around in hipster circles on Kaua'i during the heady days of the 70s and early 80s and know of many of the actors mentioned in the reporting. Non-Hawai'ian folks might be interested in some Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawai‘i) backstory.

Krishna, Politics, and QNET's International Pyramid Scheme

KAILUA, HI - Toward the end of Hawai‘i’s plantation economy and the beginning of the psychedelic counterculture movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, a charismatic, young yogi named Kris Butler developed a small following of surfers, drifters, and chanters. Heavily influenced by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the group lived for a while in its early days under Lunalilo Freeway, near U.H. Manoa. In September 1970, Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter Nadine Wharton found 20 of Butler's young followers living together in an oversized tent, freely chanting the Hare Krishna mantra “at the top of their lungs” and beating bongos beneath the traffic. At the time, Butler went by Sai Young and was “very familiar with mind expanding chemicals,” as stated in the biographical section of his self-published, 1970 booklet, Sai Speaks: Pleasure is the Goal.

By the mid-‘70s, after formally joining then bitterly breaking with ISKCON amid allegations of a stolen temple, the once free-spirited group grew increasingly organized and protective of its leader. Butler claimed ISKCON’s “big men” were plotting to kill him. ISKCON founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada dismissed the claim as “childish”.

Around 1975, on Kaua‘i and Maui, Butler’s loyal devotees – by then at least a few dozen - began organizing a vast political and financial network, centered on Butler as their spiritual master and earthly conduit to the Hindu deity Krishna. Initially amateurish, the group’s political arm - formally started as Independents for Godly Government (IGG) in 1976 – became a major force in Hawai‘i's politics, reaching the U.S. Congress in 2012 with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawai‘i).

A key part of the Butler group's financial arm, rooted in the Down to Earth vegetarian grocery chain and QNET's international pyramid scheme, is currently being scrutinized in the Supreme Court of India for fraud and money laundering. QNET insiders, including two long-time Butler devotees, have been arrested or are wanted by police in at least half a dozen countries.

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[cgralow]

1. Thanks for sharing ...

... that's actually my work.

[teach1st]

2. It really is a great piece of journalism

[cgralow]

3. Thanks!

I released it independently after realizing how legally afraid mainstream news editors here were of Science of Identity's reputation for legal action. Also, had it been published in a mainstream publication, it would've been just a small piece of what I was able to publish independently. And then there was the fact that Gabbard's team hired a DC publicist/fixer to discredit me to an editor.

[pnwmom]

5. Yes, Gabbard's team hired the same publicist that worked for Natalya Y. of Trump tower fame.

That is curious, isn't it?

[pnwmom]

4. It is unfortunate that Hawaii is isolated enough that most people on the mainland

have never heard of a cult that was pretty significant in Hawaii -- and that produced Tulsi Gabbard.

It reminds me of Scientology. Both of them started with a cult leader who found a way to create a religion out of what he was doing. But while most Americans have heard of Scientology, few have been familiar with the Science of Identity Foundation. And we need to get up to speed, quickly.