The “Computer Audio Engineering Laboratory” of John J. Mitchell of Albuquerque New Mexico conducted “forensic audio digital enhancements” of the late 1977 conversations between leading secretaries and Srila Prabhupada. Mr. Mitchell found background “whispers” with statements such as: “the poison is going down,” “push real hard it is going down him,” “poisoning for a long time,” “he’s gonna die,” “yes, a heart attack time,” “the poison is in you Srila Prabhupada,” followed by, “he’s going under,” and so on and so forth.
Does it not seem coincidental that the day after Srila Prabhupada states that He has been poisoned, is the day we find the poison whispers in the background? The day after! November 9 and 10: Srila Prabhupada says, “Someone has poisoned me.” November 11: “The poison’s going down!” and “The poison’s in the milk,” etc. Coincidence? The chances in a year are microscopic that the two incidents would follow each other as they have.
Mahabuddhi Prabhu e-mailed his discovery to Balavanta and phoned Isha. Apparently Balavanta and associates in Alachua were already aware of the whisper, because the next day, November 11, 1997, the Vaishnava News Network, or VNN, posted not only Mahabuddhi Prabhu’s letter on the internet, but also a statement from Balavanta as the newly appointed “GBC special investigator.” Apparently the GBC Executive Committee and the GBC Chairman, Madhusevita Prabhu, acted quickly, without full approval of the GBC, by immediately arranging for Balavanta Prabhu to investigate “independently” the alleged poisoning of Srila Prabhupada, beginning with research into the validity and nature of the alarming whispers.
It is noted here that, to the best of our knowledge, this was the first and last public statement made by Balavanta as GBC Special Investigator. Since then, however, Balavanta Prabhu has spoken with others about the investigation unofficially. He, Mahabuddhi and Isha discussed arranging for more testing on the whispers, and Balavanta disclosed that he had sent the T-46 “poison tape” to the National Audio Video Forensic Laboratory in California, headed by a Mr. Norman Perle. Just two months prior, Mrigendra Prabhu, a devotee attorney and former temple president of Los Angeles ISKCON, had sent the famous so-called “appointment tape” of May 28, 1977, to Perle’s lab to test for evidence of alleged tampering or editing. The appointment tape forensic test results will be discussed later on in Chapter 11 and Appendix 1.
“Do it now.” Then Srila Prabhupada drinks something.
5. Con:36.391: After Jayapataka says, “Should there be kirtana?” we hear a Bengali phrase, and then the whisper “Poison ishvarya rasa.” Srila Prabhupada says weakly and very surprised, “Me?”, then we hear, “Take it easy, get ready to go,” then a few seconds later, “The poison’s in you Srila Prabhupada.” Then, “He’s going under… He’s going under.” Then Hansadutta’s kirtan began.
The audio clips including the above whispers were posted on VNN on December 5, 1997. It is difficult for many to make out the whispers due to so much of the quality lost in that means of transmission. Dozens upon dozens of devotees have been taken by Naveen Krishna Prabhu in Alachua to a local sound studio to listen to the enhanced and “cleaned up” whispers. Most agree, after listening carefully a few times, and there is no doubt in their minds, what the whispers are about: Srila Prabhupada was poisoned in a conspiracy by His own closest disciples. The number of devotees with this experience in Naveen Krishna’s sound studio continues to grow as time goes on.
Up to this point, most analysis was done by the subjective human ear, such as was done by George Blackwell, Harikesh Maharaj and Bir Krishna Maharaj. Mahabuddhi learned, however, that speech recognition has become an extremely diverse and advanced science, as researchers are improving equipment, computers, and software that accurately recognize the human voice. Sounds of Speech Communication by JM Pickett and Acoustic Analysis of Speech by Kent and Reed are two definitive texts on the science.
One of the oldest tools used in speech recognition is still unexcelled in definitive identification of words, namely the Wide Band Voice Spectrograph. It provides detailed information about the many frequencies and intensities of the various sounds which make up the spoken word. The spectrograph clearly presents the complex harmonic structure of voiced phonemes, of which there are only 40 in the English language, being the elements of sound used to produce every word. The voice spectrograph displays one phoneme after another, providing a “picture” of each word, and will have a similar pattern regardless of the accent, cadence, and the peculiarities of a particular voice. Unlike the human ear, the spectrograph is fully objective in identifying spoken words. Voice spectrograph analysis accurately determines even barely audible whispers with a confidence level of greater than 90% and is used by law enforcement agencies and as evidence in court, for decades now.
Mahabuddhi Prabhu consulted with the American College of Forensic Examiners to locate a very professional audio forensic laboratory. He settled on Jack Mitchell with Computer Audio Engineering (CAE) from New Mexico. Although Balavanta had obtained a report from Norman Perle, the results were not released and was considered of dubious accuracy (see Appendix 1). Mahabuddhi understood the grave need for a good forensic acoustic analysis.
This author offered to bear the expenses of the work. Mahabuddhi arranged for the analysis, carefully detailing the whispers’ locations for CAE and how we wanted to analyze EXACTLY what was being spoken. Jack Mitchell was not told in advance by being what we thought the whispers were, as we wanted an unprejudiced analysis without any subtle predisposition of the analyst. CAE was given no information as to the nature of the controversy, but was apprised of the foreign language on the tape.
* Under graduate & graduate study – music education and music composition.
*Began study of electronic music in 1967. Such study includes recording and editing techniques, signal design, analysis, processing and full semester physics courses which were specific to the physics of sound. Have been involved with audio and signal analysis and processing in one form or another ever since.
*Other: Have taught both public school and college. From 1987 to 1995 was the editor/arranger/orchestrator for the John Donald Robb Musical Trust, University of New Mexico Foundation.
This first complete audio forensic report by CAE is included in Appendix 2, and details the exact methods and technology used. Five color spectrographs of the whispers, conclusively verifying their actual content, are displayed on the front and rear book covers, and near the front of the book.
Technical language aside, the heart of the report left Mahabuddhi, Rochan, and this author in shock and depression. Two of the four whispers had been verified as containing the word POISON. There was now far less doubt that there had indeed been a poison conspiracy. Mitchell also verbally communicated that he had isolated another very faint whisper on the same tape which he felt quite sure contained the word poison, but it was too faint to verify by phonemes. He also found whispered words adjacent to what we had asked him to study, such as “We know he’s trying to trap us“, and “I’m not afraid to die”, which, unfortunately, fits in better with the discussions of a secretive and nefarious plot than normal devotee discussions in the course of caring for a prostrate and bedridden Srila Prabhupada.
VOICE 2: THAT’S REALLY ORIGINAL.
VOICE 1: GET READY TO GO.
VOICE 1: MY NUMBER’S IN THE PASS (PORT OR BOOK).
SOFT ELDER VOICE: (YES, TODAY or YESTERDAY).
VOICE: ANYTHING MIGHT OF HAPPENED TODAY.
VOICE: (LOOK), I’M NOT AFRAID TO DIE.
SOFT ELDER VOICE: VERY GOOD.
VOICE: YOU’RE TAKING IT RIGHT NOW.
SOFT ELDER VOICE: HOWS THIS?
We can find no positive manner in which to interpret these words; they speak the unthinkable. It is obvious that no definitive conclusion can be drawn simply by listening with the human ear, and that therefore audio forensic analysis should carry much more weight as to what actually is being said, or whispered. The CAE report makes the whispers a hundred times more significant, and, coupled with other evidence, should help convince all those silent fence-sitters with political interests or weak hearts to get off their duff and get behind a broad, impartial inquiry as will be proposed later.
A third whisper was also analyzed by Jack Mitchell, namely the one which takes place on page 380 (November 11, 1977) of the Conversations Book #36. This whisper has been previously reported to be Tamal Krishna Maharaj saying, “Put poison in different containers…” This whisper has been explained by Bir Krishna Maharaj and others to be, “we’re voicing different opinions…”and this is exactly what Jack Mitchell verified.
On March 26, 1998, an addendum report was received from CAE. CAE had not yet begun the final testing for possible edits and tampering, but, with the new digital copy of the “poison tape”, there were more whispers discovered, analyzed and noted. After “Poisoning for a long time”, there was more discussion in whispers which has already been added into the earlier report of the whisper analysis in Chapter 7.
“I TOLD YOU WHAT’S GOING ON. ORDERED TO (?).
This is what CAE found on the new analog to digital transfer tapes received from the Archives. What to make of these new whispers? Again, we see the words “going down,” probably referring again to poison. Thus two separate “going down” whispers confirm each other, being very near each other on the same tape. Heart attack time? Who’s as sly as they come? These secretive whispers about Srila Prabhupada’s death and slyness have raised great suspicions as to the whisperers’ conspiracy to poison Srila Prabhupada.
Also, the whispers CAE had analyzed and reported on in January (Chapter 7) were reviewed on the new tapes and all previous findings were re-confirmed. With McCaffrey’s confirmation, this makes triple verification of the forensic analysis of these whispers, what to speak of Balavanta’s multiple confirmations of the same whispers.
In late April 1998 this reporter received Part Two of CAE’s audio forensic analysis, which focused on the authenticity of the appointment and “poison” tapes, but also revealed again more additional background whispers.
These new whispers found on the poison tape show how audio forensics are able to hear what the human ear would miss or cannot understand, and are listed below to illustrate the point. Background whispering became common in Srila Prabhupada’s room in those last days, perhaps because Srila Prabhupada’s hearing had become so poor that the poisoners no longer worried about speaking incriminating whispers in the same room. But the tape recorder heard them.
When one takes ALL the incriminating whispers together from just one tape, any possible explanation to allay fears of the worst scenario, namely the poisoning of Srila Prabhupada, becomes a real stretch of the credible. Plainly put, these whispers clearly indicate a poisoning conspiracy.
“Fifty percent’s your cut” and “God damnit.”What do we make of this? The most disturbing whisper comes last, where what sounds exactly like Jayapataka Maharaj’s distinct nasal voice, speaking with Srila Prabhupada.
Taking what? Poison? Medicine? Some of these phrases are very unusual and puzzling. Whatever is being referred to in these whispers, when held together with other evidence (especially Srila Prabhupada’s own words), and knowing the last 22 years of ISKCON history, how could any sensible person not become highly suspicious? Many would become thoroughly convinced that Srila Prabhupada was indeed poisoned by his own leading disciples, the whisperers. This reporter is among the latter.
Life is crucial and cruel.
Hare Krishna! Srila Prabhupada says something like this in one of his lectures- “a devotee may forgive you, but Krishna will not forgive you if you offend a devotee.” He repeats this many times.
Shocking! Have devotees exhumed his body for any evidence of poisoning? DNA science can now identify even mummies thousands of years old!
Actually recently they discovered 200x levels of cadmium (far worse), something that wasn’t tested for in the first tests, as far as I have heard.
Very depressing to read and hear that prabhupada was poisoned by his intimate disciples.
This quotes are from me.