Who Is Amogh Lila Das? Engineer-Turned-Monk Banned By ISKCON For Criticising Swami Vivekananda For Eating Fish

In an official statement on Tuesday, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) banned a monk for his comments on Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramahansa.

The organization banned a monk named Amogh Lila Das for a month after he made inappropriate comments about Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramhansa in a viral video.

Das enjoys a huge fan following on social media, and his videos about religion and motivation often go viral online. 

Who is Amogh Lila Das?

Amogh Lila Das is a 43-year-old monk, spiritual activist, and motivational speaker who serves as the Vice President of the Dwarka chapter of ISKCON.

His real name is Ashish Arora, and he was born into a religious Punjabi family in Lucknow.

He became a dedicated Hare Krishna Brahmachari (celibate) by joining ISKCON at the age of 29 and has been associated with ISKCON for 12 years. 

In 2004, Das started working for a US-based multinational corporation after acquiring a degree in software engineering. Though, he left the corporate world in 2010.

He courted controversy after he criticised Swami Vivekananda for eating fish and saying that a virtuous person can never harm a living being.

Das also made sarcastic remarks about Swami Vivekananda's teacher Ramakrishna's teaching of 'Jato Mat Tato Path', saying that ‘'not every path leads to the same destination.''