“Some former members, however, have called the group a cult and said disciples were isolated from the outside world, characterizations the group has denied. Former devotees had been telling me for weeks that Butler controlled his followers’ major life decisions and demanded total obedience and secrecy. They said he spent years working to extend his reach into politics — and they suspected Gabbard’s rise in Washingtonwas the culmination of that effort.“
Tulsi Gabbard grew up in Chris Butler’s breakaway Hare Krishna group. Her parents held senior positions in the organization, which is known as the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF). The group practices a form of Hinduism that involves devotion to a single deity, in their case Krishna, and certain expectations around meditation, yoga and diet. But, some former members have called the group a cult and said disciples were isolated from the outside world, characterizations the group has denied. Former devotees claim that Butler controlled his followers’ major life decisions and demanded total obedience and secrecy. They said he spent years working to extend his reach into politics — and they suspected Gabbard’s rise in Washingtonwas the culmination of that effort.
Jon Swaine from WaPo had two interviews with a woman named Rebecca Saltzburg who in the first interview claimed that Butler did not have that much influence over Gabbard. But in the second interview, Salzburg said she recently had a falling out with the cult’s leaders and accused them of mishandling allegations of physical and sexual abuse by some members of the organization. A few months earlier, she said, she had been arrested for briefly housing a teenage runaway who alleged abuse by a parent associated with the group. She also believes the cult played a role in her arrest.
Salzburg accessed an old email account and shared numerous emails and document memos that appeared to document directives and advice for Gabbard from her time in Congress. Some contained instructions on what legislation she should propose, which policies she should embrace and how she should conduct herself on television.