Rose

"It was about 1967, I guess when I placed an ad in the San Francisco Oracle. (To form an ashram of sorts here in West Virginia, in the rural section where I own about a half a section. The conception is one of a non-profit, non-interfering, non-denominational, retreat or refuge, where philosophers might come to work communally together, or independently,—where a library and other facilities might be developed.) It had been probably twenty years or so since I'd had my Experience, and I'd almost given up hope of ever finding anyone to pass it on to...

"Then in the Sixties, the zeitgeist changed...Before you know it we were having regular gatherings on the weekends. Nothing formal, just sitting around, shooting the bull about philosophy. If circumstances were right, maybe I'd read a mind or two. I became really curious about why these kids were suddenly so open and aware about esoteric matters. Eventually, I realized that it was dope--LSD in particular--that was opening up their heads. They saw other dimensions that seemed just as real as this one. And what's more, acid seemed to give them an artificial intuition--they understood me.

"Well, I figured, maybe the time has come. With the Experience comes an obligation. So I ended up putting an ad in a couple of underground newspapers in New York and San Francisco, letting people know I was looking for sincere seekers who wanted to take part in a philosophic ashram." Rose smiled. "I didn't know what I was getting into."...

"Is this when Ham and Wheeler came?" (Hare Krishna devotees Kirtanananda Swami (Keith Gordon Ham) and his partner Hayagriva Das (Howard Morton Wheeler) “Yes, it was about this time. They told me they'd previously been in the Krishna movement, but had given it up. They said the Krishnites were too closed-minded, and that they were looking for some kind of non-dogmatic ashram, a place where people of different beliefs could come and meditate and exchange ideas. And of course, this appealed to me because this is what I was trying to do, too. So anyway, I had the back farm, and since I had the family in town and was raising cattle on the other farm, I couldn't keep an eye on the place. The hillbillies were breaking the windows out of the house, and it was growing up like a jungle, so when Howard Wheeler suggested I rent the farm to them, I thought, sure, why not. Maybe something good would come out of it." “In some ways the Krishnites are better to have around than the hillbillies," Rose said once. "At least they don't get drunk and steal the radiators out of your trucks."

The two secured a 99-year lease on Rose's backwoods farm which eventually developed into the sprawling New Vrindaban Community which eventually included Prabhupada's Palace of Gold, a huge structure featuring two hundred tons of white Italian and blue Canadian marble, and a dome covered with twenty-four-karat gold leaf. This community pressed against Rose's farm from all sides. When Rose attempted to fight the Krishnas in court and win back his land for non-payment of taxes, there was some talk at the community about "eliminating" him, and a hit man allegedly followed him for a while. Despite his troubles with the Krishnas, Rose reportedly never expressed outright regret over his decision to lease his back farm to them, even though they lied to him about their intentions and eventually turned it into a sprawling Hare Krishna empire that pressed against his farm from all sides…




While it was true that the locals harbored no love for the Krishnas, their opinion of Richard Rose was not much better, especially since they blamed him for letting the Krishnas get a foothold on the ridge in the first place. "I came to Mister Rose," she said, "because I remembered him from when I first came here and the farm was just a broken down house. I don't know, it just seemed like he'd be a friend to somebody who needed help." "From a purely legal standpoint, this is pretty straightforward," I said, looking up from the court order. "Based on this, a local judge should issue a Writ of Habeas Corpus, commanding the child to appear in Marshall County Circuit Court. Unless there's some compelling reason not to, the judge there would defer to the California order and your son can go home with you." "This is not just any child at the commune," Rose said. "Ham will fight it with everything he's got." "What do you mean?" "My son is Keith Ham's protégé and constant companion," Cheryl said. "They eat together, travel together, and...sleep together." Her mouth tightened and she turned her head away for a moment…






"Well, what happened?" Rose said… Rose spoke evenly, but with great force. "You lost." I was stunned. "Lost? What...?" "You let that big bloat intimidate you, and then you just walked away with your tail between your legs, worried about what else he might do to you." He shook his head. "I would have expected more out of you." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "What the hell else could we have done?" I cried out, forgetting myself in my emotions.




"If you're in the right, you don't just run away. Even if it's hopeless, you force yourself to fight. When you're in the right there are no minor battles, no occasions for retreat. You fight with everything you have, every time. That way the power of your conviction will deter opponents with weaker motivations than yours. You fight, or you die in shame. Or worse--you live the rest of your life as a coward."…"I don't understand, Mister Rose," I finally replied. "I just don't understand." "Yes you do," he said. "You were right and he was wrong, but you're the one who ran away. You understand that don't you?" "He's a judge, for godsake..." "I don't give a damn and you shouldn't either! If you can't stand up to an earthly phantom in a black robe, what makes you think you're ready to become the Absolute?"…




Cheryl Wheeler never regained custody of her son…As a footnote...twelve years later Ham was indicted on federal racketeering charges."




~ David Gold




"Rose developed a system which he described as the "retreat from untruth," an examination of personal belief systems and lifestyles. In that system one discards what one finds to be false on a case-by-case basis. He believed a spiritual Ultimate truth exists and can be found for oneself with sufficient application of effort, and recommended skeptical approaches such as his." ~ Wikipedia




The TAT Foundation came about as a result of the life of Richard Rose. It was his dream to form an organization grounded in what he found so little of in his years of searching: sincerity and true perspective. TAT—Truth and Transmission—was founded on the conviction that our investigation of life's mysteries is expedited by working with others who are exploring, perhaps down a different road, so that we may share our discoveries, exchange ideas, and "compare notes" in order to come to a better understanding of our self and others.


photos ~ Richard Rose at 24, Richard Rose (1917-2005) in 1974