Former Paramadvaiti Swami dismissed as leader of the WVA

By editor - 29.6 2021

Recently there was a meeting with the leaders of the World Vaishnava Association – Vishva Vaishnava Raj Sabha (WVA -VVRS), where former Paramadvaiti Swami (Ulrich Harlan) was asked to hand over all the WVA Organisations formal documentation in his possession, after senior WVA leaders learned about his misconduct with dozens of his female disciples. He was also informed about his removal from all WVA positions which he currently held. Following his removal, a new Secretary was appointed. 

Former Paramadvaiti Swami played a major role in the revival of the WVA in 1994 and in the following years, for which he gained a lot of respect and many friends in the Gaudiya Vaishnava community. His name is associated with the WVA, like Steve Jobs is associated with Apple. 

Unfortunately in recent times, he tried to use (or shall we say abuse) the WVA, an Organisation which was originally founded by Jiva Goswami in the 16th century, to whitewash his misconduct. Since many of the Vaishnavas are/were his close friends as well, it was a difficult decision to expel him from the WVA. 

The WVA leaders came to realise, that former Paramadvaiti Swami does not represent the values of their guru-varga at this point and thus cannot be associated with the World Vaishnava Association – Vishva Vaishnava Raj Sabha (WVA – VVRS).

Forgive and forget – forgive former Paramadvaiti Swami and forget his misconduct?

In a previous (also recent) WVA meeting, former Paramadvaiti Swami wanted to discuss the topic “Forgive and forget” with senior Vaishnava leaders. Forgiveness can only be asked from those affected. Similarly, when committing Vaishnava Aparadha, Krishna won’t interfere or forgive, because only the person who was offended can forgive. 

It is unfortunate, that former Paramadvaiti Swami (Ulrich Harlan), who taught us these very principles, does not seem follow them himself. He is trying to utilise a respectable Organisation like the WVA to cover up his misconduct and to portrait himself before other Vaishnava leaders as a victim.

Meanwhile the real victims still suffer the consequences of his actions and face harassment from his zealous disciples. But it seems that former Paramadvaiti Swami only seems to care for his own forgiveness and hopes that others will forget what his victims won’t be able to forget their whole life. 

To make things worse, his disciples search for Photo-opportunities at those meetings, framing former Paramadvaiti Swami with other senior Vaishnavas to show how apparently they support former Paramadvaiti Swami as a guru in good standing. According to our information, this behaviour was not welcomed at the last WVA meeting by the Vaishnavas present.