Tulsi Gabbard’s Spiritual “Guru” Raged Against LGBTQ People
Tulsi Gabbard has been under scrutiny ever since President Donald Trump first nominated her to be the next Director of National Intelligence.Senators, including many Republicans, have expressed concerns about the then-congresswoman’s 2017 meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and her past adulation for Edward Snowden, a former NSA intelligence contractor who leaked classified information.Democrats have also expressed concerns about past comments the Democrat-turned-Republican made appearing to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Senators raised questions about those issues during hearings on January 30.Meanwhile, the Daily Beast published a story that seems to contradict past comments from Gabbard regarding her spiritual “guru,” Chris Butler, founder of the Science of Identity Foundation, an offshoot of the Hare Krishna movement, which describes itself as Hindu.The 43-year-old Gabbard has been a devout follower of Butler (who has taken the name Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa, or “Jagad Guru”) since childhood, when her family joined his religious movement.Gabbard, the first Hindu elected to Congress, described Butler as her “guru dev” in a 2015 video.
Confronted with accusations that Butler was the leader of an abusive cult, Gabbard told the New Yorker in 2017 that she had “never heard him say anything hateful, or say anything mean about anybody.” It’s that remark that the Daily Beast story attempts to poke holes in, alleging that Gabbard was being dishonest, or at least misleading, about her religious upbringing and beliefs.According to the news outlet, attending or listening to recordings of Butler’s lectures is an integral part of the group’s devotion.
As such, the piece contends, that because her family was deeply involved in the movement, she would have heard, or at least been exposed to, Butler’s lectures growing up.According to the Daily Beast, it obtained a 30-minute audio recording of one of Butler’s lectures, in which the spiritual leader.
