User Profile

from The Cult Teacher

SHORT VERSION

Phillip Ahtmann was born in New York in 1947. His parents enrolled him at Yeshiva Rambam at age five. However, he defended the validity of all religions.

In public high school he joined a group of Jewish intellectuals who worshipped art, literature, and music.

He joined the then controversial Hare Krishna movement in 1973, and toured America distributing books for his Spiritual Master, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

In 1981, he received his Master’s Degree from the University of Florida, and started teaching in one public school after another, where he was compelled to keep his religious beliefs a secret.

FULL VERSION

Phillip Ahtmann was born in New York City on May 4th 1947. Hoping that he would become a Rabbi, his parents enrolled him at Yeshiva Rambam at age five. However, though only a child, he spoke out against the notion that only Judaism worshipped the one true God, and maintained that all religions were expressions of God, understood differently by different groups of people. Therefore the fighting between the Muslims and the Jews was based on stubborn mindedness only.

He was then transferred to public school, where he performed poorly until the 7th grade when his father tutored him and insisted that he study hard after school, since no Jewish kid should be an average student. In high school he fell in with a group of Jewish intellectual friends who worshipped classical art, literature, and music. He began writing poetry, but all of his early work was thrown away by his father because he did not want it stored at his home.

But his father supported Phillip through eight years of moving from one undergraduate college to another including Rollins College of Winter Park, FL, both campuses of St. John’s College at Annapolis and Santa Fe, University of Miami, City College of New York, California Institute of Asian Studies in San Francisco, and finally Florida International University in Miami, where he graduated with honors with a B.A. in Psychology.

He worked as a security guard while going through college, and became a teacher of yoga after he graduated in 1973. That same year he joined the then controversial International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna), and travelled around the United States distributing books and magazines for his Spiritual Mater, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. After the disappearance of Prabhupada from this world, Phillip became despondent, married, and went back to work as a security guard and a yoga teacher.

In 1981, he received his Master’s Degree in Secondary School English Education from the University of Florida, again with honors, and started teaching in one public school after another, where he was compelled to keep his religious beliefs a secret.

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