Apparently the email I got that his tumor was cancerous was premature. Here is a response I received as a forward from Kirtanananda himself:
“All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
“I am glad to hear, and as far as we know at this point I don’t have cancer. The test results finally came back from the biopsy, and it says no malignancy. The surgeon however suggested we send the tissue samples to another laboratory for confirmation, and we are doing that. The results should be back in about 5 days. Krishna’s mercy!
“Of course whether we have cancer or not, we still need to thank Krishna
for everything, and simply look how to use the present situation in His
devotional service.”
Kirtanananda Swami, an early and influential leader in ISKCON and New Vrindaban history has been diagnosed with lung cancer and will be starting chemotherapy. Although he made his mistakes, he was much loved and forgiven by Srila Prabhupada and contributed greatly to the advancement of Krishna Consciousness in America.
Details are scarce, so I don’t know what stage lung cancer he has.
Lung Cancer Stages and Survival Rates
When diagnosed with lung cancer, a stage of the lung disease is identified to describe the severity and indicate the extent of its progression. This staging of lung cancer is used by healthcare professionals to determine the choice of treatment that will best rid the body of the lung cancer.
Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer
Stage 0 Lung Cancer
The lung cancer is localized; it is found only in a local area and only in the first few layers of cells. The lung cancer has not penetrated the surface lining of the lungs.
Five-Year Survival Rate = 70 – 80%
Stage I Lung Cancer
The lung cancer is confined to the lungs and surrounded by normal tissue.
Five-Year Survival Rate = 50%
Stage II Lung Cancer
The lung cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Five-Year Survival Rate = 30%
Stage III Lung Cancer
The lung cancer has spread to the chest wall, diaphragm, or other nearby organs or blood vessels. The lung cancer may have spread to lymph nodes in the mediastinum or the other side of the chest or neck.
Five-Year Survival Rate = 5 – 15%
Stage IV Lung Cancer
The lung cancer has spread to more distant sites in the body.
Five-Year Survival Rate = Less than 2%
While Kirtanananda wasn’t a smoker, smoking, although the leading cause, isn’t the only cause.
Whether he was predisposed to chronic health problems due to his post polio syndrome and that contributed is hard to say, but one speculation is that combined with that maybe he was exposed to second hand smoke during his eight years of atonement in federal prison, and that is a cause of lung cancer.
June 20, 2008 at 10:35 am
Hare Krishna. Praying to Krishna for his health and well being. May he be blessed with tolerance to get through the treatment, may he be surrounded with loving devotees, and turn more and more towards our loving Lord Sri Krishna.
July 6, 2008 at 12:07 pm
“…contributed greatly to the advancement of Krishna Consciousness in America.”
It would perhaps be more accurate to replace “advancement” with “infamy” in that sentence.
I moved to New Vrindavana in 1997 with my wife and baby daughter, ignorant of the history there but with the idea that we were moving to a Hare Krishna farm community (as in Hare Krishna devotees actually farming together), but after hearing of the unfathomable craziness and corruption of the Kirtanananda cult there, we got completely freaked out and moved out in a hurry one night, fearing for our physical bodies and spiritual lives. What he did at New Vrindavana was not “advancement” of Krishna consciousness. It was an obscenely harmful deviation at the time, and continues to be an embarrassment today.
In consideration of your description of his 8 years in prison as “atonement,” I’m skeptical. Sitting in prison is punishment; atonement means doing something to compensate for the harm he has done. How much money has he contributed to ISKCON’s child abuse settlement fund?