Who is Amogh Lila Das, the preacher that ISKCON has banned for a month?

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has banned one of its most popular monks, Amogh Lila Das. Das has quite the following on social media for his videos on religion and motivation. The action comes after he made controversial remarks about renowned philosopher Swami Vivekanand and his guru Ramakrishna Paramhansa, which has triggered a controversy. Issuing a press release, ISKCON on Tuesday said that Amogh has acknowledged his mistake in making problematic comments. As a form of atonement, he has voluntarily decided to isolate himself from all social activities for one month, as mentioned in the press release. But who is Amogh Lila Das, and what is the uproar that led to his ban? Let’s take a closer look. What happened? During one of his ‘pravachans’, Amogh Lila Das questioned Swami Vivekananda’s eating of fish, claiming that a good person would never eat anything that might damage animals. He asked the crowd, “Would a virtuous person ever eat fish? Doesn’t a fish experience pain as well? Would a good person eat fish?” He also made sarcastic remarks about Ramakrishna’s teaching of “Jato Mat Tato Path” (as many opinions, as many paths), saying that not every path leads to the same destination. A video clip of Das’s comment went viral on social media, triggering a storm.

ISKCON punishes monk Amogh Lila Das for making derogatory & outrageous comments against Ramkrishna Paramhansa & Swami Vivekananda by banning him for one month. Monk Amogh Das will remain in the hills of Govardhan for one month & completely seclude himself from the public life… pic.twitter.com/hLx1AvPvqg

— Pooja Mehta (@pooja_news) July 11, 2023

Sharing the clip, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh, tweeted, “We revere ISKCON. But they should stop him now. Insulting Ramakrishna and Vivekananda will not be tolerated. Immediate action should be taken against this so-called monk.” In a statement, ISKCON said the views expressed by Das are not representative of its values and teachings. “We condemn any form of disrespect and intolerance towards other religious beliefs and practices,” it said. It also said the “derogatory remarks” shows a lack of awareness in Das about the diversity of spiritual paths and personal choices.

Well done @RadharamnDas ji for taking timely action against Amogh Lila Das - however he is a serial offender & has committed worse offences by calling Mahdeva as a demi-God

It is perfectly fine for an organisation to have one Aaradhya but such words are unacceptable pic.twitter.com/Xounz18rcW

— Sameer (@BesuraTaansane) July 11, 2023

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“Taking view of this serious mistake committed by him, ISKCON has decided to ban him for one month. We have communicated our decision to him. Amogh Lila Das has begged for the forgiveness for his comments, and he is realising that what a great disservice he has done,” the statement said. “He has taken a vow to go on ‘prayaschit’ (atonement) for one month in the hills of Govardhan and will completely seclude himself from the public life with immediate effect,” it added. Who is Amogh Lila Das? Amogh Lila Das is a well-known motivational speaker on social media and has been affiliated with ISKCON for 12 years. Prior to his ban, he was the vice president of the Dwarka chapter of ICKCON. Born as Ashish Arora in a religious Punjabi family in Lucknow, he began his spiritual journey at an early age and temporarily left home to seek God while he was in Class 12 in 2000. However, he later returned to get a degree in software engineering. After completing his graduation in 2004, he started working for a US-based multinational corporation. But soon left his full-time job to follow a spiritual path. He went to the Dwarka centre of ISKCON to learn about spirituality and took a vow of celibacy at the age of 29. He held the position of project manager before deciding to leave the corporate world in 2010. Known for his unique speaking style, Das presents himself as someone who inspires and motivates people, spreads spiritual messages, and gives sermons. He has a large number of fans and followers on social media.  With inputs from PTI