A Review of ‘Krishnas: Gurus. Karma. Murder.’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Key art from ‘Krishnas: Gurus. Karma. Murder.’ Courtesy of Peacock.

One particular aspect of our world that deeply fascinates us, is how good and concepts regarding good, and organizations meant to help others, are corrupted. Because time and time again, we’ve seen great ideas designed to help people, and honest folks that want to push that forward to the masses, transform before our eyes into something corrupt and dark and sometimes… deadly, and well… we simply don’t understand how good can become something so unsavory. But we are compelled to learn that why, and that is why we often look to situations where such matters happened, to satiate that knowledge and perhaps learn how to avoid it the next time it comes around, and well, it just so happens that Peacock is now host to a new documentary that is eager to offer us the knowledge we crave regarding such matters.
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For Krishnas: Gurus. Karma. Murder. takes the time to explore the Hare Krishna movement. From its humble and hopeful beginnings in the late 1960s, a turbulent time in our world, to how an unsavory segment of it… thrived and embellished in corruption and evil acts well into the mid-1980s. Which presents us with a grand and sweeping story that engages the viewer deeply, simply because it gives us everything, we could ask for regarding that exploration we crave, in part by breaking our hearts. Since the purity of the movement is indeed put on display here, courtesy of a grand examination of what the movement stood for/stands for and how it resonated with people then and resonates with them now, before showing us… what corrupts something so pure. 

Which as it turns out… relates to the fact that sometimes that which is great, and that which is pure… calls to the wrong kind of people. People that are at their core, broken and eager to find something external to fix them when in fact, the external cannot. Which can introduce unstable elements into something pure like this movement and well… that’s where this documentary truly shines. Since it exposes how people with that mindset, moved to the top of the ranks and seized power not because they wanted to better mankind, but to better themselves and could not. So, they instead enacted their agendas in the hopes of finding that fix and let power corrupt. Which brings forth some harrowing and moving moments, and at times, deeply disturbing ones as well. Since some of the evil these men took part in, is devastating to say the least.

But what matters more, is that no stone is left unturned here. For the why behind every decision is put on display in this documentary through incredible interviews and incredible work from the production team. Giving rise to a complete understanding about how power, ego, and a need to find personal peace without doing the real work to find it, are the core elements that corrupt good things, and how that corruption can give rise to incredible damage. Which may make it seem as though this documentary is bleak in nature and ends as dark as the acts that took place at the holy site known as New Vindaban. But that is where this series surprises us. Because it also points out, that the darkness in such matters can be lifted and good can thrive again, provided that justice comes into play and that people do stand tall when that corruption arrives. 

All of which makes, for a documentary that offers something for everyone. For it you’re into true crime stories, you have that here, not to mention… if you’re big on education through documentaries, you have that too. After all, this is a case that some might not be familiar with, and the same goes for the Hare Krishna movement, but we are all well-educated on all of that by the end of this documentary. But above all, this tells a very powerful and human story. Of people that wanted more in this life and struggled along the way, and still found a way to prevail, to rise above the darkness. All because they stayed strong and fought those who tried to sully purity, and well in the end, this is a must-watch documentary. For it truly chronicles something we genuinely fear and see in our world right now, and gives us hope that it too shall pass, by pointing out: that which corrupts, can never last.

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