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Mediation Fails between ITV
and Brahmananda/Gargamuni
by Nrsimhananda dasa

My Dear Vaisnavas,

I am sorry to report that the mediation attempted to resolve the piracy issues between ITV and Brahmananda/Gargamuni have failed. After two months of emails between the mediator, Braja Bihari, who was in physical contact with the two brothers, and myself, I finally invested in an hour-and-a-half phone call from ITV in Los Angeles to Vrndaban to try to find an agreement. The three points were accountability, authorized distribution, and past redress.

Brahmananda ruled out any third-party oversight saying that he and his brother had to be trusted completely. He refused to accept another existing authorized distributor as either a manufacturer or even distributor of the VCD’s. Finally, he refused to pay any past royalties for the thousands of VCD’s that already have been pirated. I received the following letter just the other day:

Dear Nrisimhananda
Pamho Agtsp
In the Goshala shop on the temple territory that I was writing you about, whole day TV is on and in big quantities Brahmananda’s cd s are getting sold. He sells the cd s in big packs containing 20-40 cd s. And also he sells the Japanese cartoon Ramayana. I met gurukula-graduates who told me that they are working with Gargamuni and Brahmananda. The brothers pay them 50 Rs each per hour. The boys work 6 hours a day. They also understand that it is all piracy, but because they pay them money they don t care. I asked them what they do there. They said they do lots of things like scanning pictures and Prabhupada's books, record all different type of cd s, make covers for cd s and even teach Gargamuni to play games and different cheats to pass the level. What I just discovered is that the "Bhagavad-gita Interactive", is also being bootlegged by them. I am sure the copies are being supplied to the markets in Vrindavana, especially in Loi Bazaar.
YS, (name withheld)

The gurukula is supposed to be for educating boys to become brahmanas, but, instead, they are learning how to cheat other devotees and karmis for money. If this activity were happening off of ISKCON property, there would be no institutional culpability. But, in fact, Brahmananda/Gargamuni operate out of the MVT (though a separate trust, it is run by ISKCON managers), sell at the ISKCON goshala and temple, and are offered facility by ISKCON authorities there. So much for setting an example to our youth.

I also have received reports that Brahmananda/Gargamuni continue to defend their pirating of ITV, BBT, Archives, musicians, etc., by the reasoning that they are providing the goods at lower costs than anyone else. Of course, they don’t have to pay any royalties, amortization of equipment in authoring the goods, preservation expenses of the masters, etc. Moreover, they continue to pirate goods such as the "Animated Ramayana" when the producer has specifically issued a cease and desist order. But the cost issue is not the real point. They are violating the GBC resolution and international law. For years, they have been notified by various authors to stop their piracy, but they continue unabated.

I call upon the leadership in Vrndaban to ban them from ISKCON and its related properties until restitution is made to all the complainants.

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