Who is ISKCON monk Amogh Leela Das who has been banned for criticizing Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramhansa?

Kolkata: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has “banned” a monk who courted a major controversy by criticizing youth icon, great thinker and philosopher Swami Vivekananda and his revered guru Ramakrishna Paramahansa. Taking swift action against Das for making derogatory and lewd remarks on India’s most revered saints, ISKCON said, “We condemn his completely inappropriate and unacceptable comments and his lack of understanding of the great teachings of these two personalities.” Very sad. ,

What is the controversy surrounding Amogh Leela Das?

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In the question the monk Amogha Leela Das created a controversy by criticizing Swami Vivekananda for eating fish and saying that a virtuous person could never harm any living being. Das also commented sarcastically on Swami Vivekananda’s guru Ramakrishna’s teaching of “jato mat tato path” (as many views, so many paths), saying that “not every path leads to the same destination”.

A bitter controversy erupted after a video clip of the monk making the objectionable remarks went viral on social media, triggering sharp reactions.

ISKCON punished monk Amogha Leela Das by banning him for a month for making derogatory and derogatory remarks against Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Swami Vivekananda. The monk Amogha Das would stay in the hills of Govardhan for a month and completely separate himself from public life… pic.twitter.com/hLx1AvPvqg— Pooja Mehta (@pooja_news) 11 July 2023

Sharing the clip, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh tweeted, “We respect ISKCON. But they should stop him now. Insulting Ramakrishna and Vivekananda will not be tolerated. Immediate action should be taken against this so-called hermit.” ”

Sadhu banned for one month

Taking appropriate steps, ISKCON issued a statement in which it said that the views expressed by Das were not representative of its values ​​and teachings. It added, “We condemn any form of disrespect and intolerance towards other religious beliefs and practices.” It also said the “derogatory comments” reflected Das’s lack of awareness about the diversity of spiritual paths and personal choices.

“Considering this grave mistake committed by him, ISKCON has decided to ban him for 1 month. We have conveyed our decision to him. Amogh Leela Das has apologized for his comments, and They are realizing the great harm they have done. They did,” the statement said.

It added, “He has resolved to go on ‘prayashchit’ (atonement) for a month in the hills of Govardhan and with immediate effect will completely dissociate himself from public life.”

So, who is Amogh Leela Das?

Amogh Leela Prabhu is a spiritual-motivational speaker and social worker. He is currently serving as the Vice President of the Dwarka Chapter of ISKCON. Born in a Punjabi family in Lucknow, 43-year-old Das is a software engineer by profession. His real name is Ashish Arora. Amogh Leela Das currently lives in Delhi. He was very religious since childhood and recited verses from the Bhagavad Gita when he was studying in school.

Impressed by the philosophy and life-changing teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, Amogh Leela Das decided to delve deeper into the ancient Hindu religious text to learn more about it.

After receiving his software engineering degree, Das worked as a software engineer for some time but soon quit his full-time job to follow the path of spirituality. He went to the Dwarka center of ISKCON for his spiritual training and took a vow of celibacy.

Amogh Leela Das bills himself as a motivational strategist, spiritual activist and preacher and has a huge fan following. His videos are quite popular and grab a lot of headlines on social media.