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Gentrification, Your Face Is . . . A Hare Krishna B&B

Everybody — everybody — has some sort of hustle going on in this town:

A faction of Hare Krishna — the kooky cult whose members are supposed to promote goodwill and forgiveness — is in the middle of a civil war following a string of lawsuits and a fistfight in its East Village temple in recent months, court papers show.

The New York chapter of the Interfaith League of Devotees — whose bizarre and shady practices were first exposed by The Post in March of last year — is being sued by its nationwide leader for putting the sect’s nonprofit status in jeopardy by renting rooms at the temple building to tourists.

The temple’s bed and breakfast takes in more than $300,000 a year.

Joe Bonomo, a k a His Holiness Krsna Balarama Swami, filed the suit against the group’s treasurer, Susan Bauer, a k a Eternal Love, in Manhattan Supreme Court last month.

Submitted as evidence is a Post investigative article that details a reporter’s weeklong stay at the devotee digs and that uncovers the cult’s method of getting cash from unsuspecting guests and pushing them toward Krishna.

The bed-and-breakfast, which remains in operation, makes an estimated $360,000 a year tax-free, according to Bonomo’s attorney, Krishnan Chittur.

“The bed-and-breakfast is generating huge amounts of cash money — $30,000 to $50,000 a month,” he said.

Posted: August 14th, 2006 | Filed under: You're Kidding, Right?
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