Founder of US Hindu temple is a pedophile
AUSTIN — The founder of the Barsana Dham Hindu temple in Hays County has been arrested in Washington, D.C., and charged with 20 counts of indecency with a child.
Prakashanand Saraswati was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday afternoon at Dulles Airport and was being held in Alexandria, Va., according to the Hays County sheriff’s office.
“He’s waived extradition, and arrangements are being made to bring him back to Hays County,” sheriff’s office spokesman Leroy Opiela was quoted as saying in an Austin American-Statesman online report Friday.
The charges stem from an investigation that began in August, sheriff’s officials said.
According to his indictment, Saraswati, known as “Shree Swamiji” to his followers, is accused of groping two girls who were under age of 17 at the time on several occasions between 1993 and 1996.
A spokesperson for Saraswati and his Barsana Dham temple did not immediately return a call Friday to The Associated Press.
The Barsana Dham center is located in a rural part of Hays County on the outskirts of Austin. Society members have been living at the 200-acre ashram, or spiritual retreat center, since 1990, practicing Saraswati’s philosophy of “divine love consciousness” based on ancient texts common to Hinduism.
The center’s Web site says Saraswati was born in 1929 in India and that he traveled the world before establishing the Hays County temple. It was designed as a representation of the holy land of Braj in India, according to the Web site.
Barsana Dham is the first Hindu temple of Austin, Texas. Today, Barsana Dham is one of the largest Hindu temples in North America.
what a shocker.
a creepy swami was in reality a pedophile?
aniche
April 25, 2008
Guruvarya,
I will ask some hindu god questions send me the answers on e-mail. 1)Durga bhavani has power in his hand what is that power name? 2)Tadasthu or any other power is there to create any thing what is that power name?
ysunil
June 4, 2008