KAILUA, HI - Toward the end of Hawai‘i’s plantation economy and the beginning of the psychedelic counterculture movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, a charismatic, young yogi named Kris Butler developed a small following of surfers, drifters, and chanters. Heavily influenced by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the group lived for a while in its early days under Lunalilo Freeway, near U.H. Manoa. In September 1970, Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter Nadine Wharton found 20 of Butler's young followers living together in an oversized tent, freely chanting the Hare Krishna mantra “at the top of their lungs” and beating bongos beneath the traffic. At the time, Butler went by Sai Young and was “very familiar with mind expanding chemicals,” as stated in the biographical section of his self-published, 1970 booklet, Sai Speaks: Pleasure is the Goal.

By the mid-‘70s, after formally joining then bitterly breaking with ISKCON amid allegations of a stolen temple, the once free-spirited group grew increasingly organized and protective of its leader. Butler claimed ISKCON’s “big men” were plotting to kill him. ISKCON founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada dismissed the claim as “childish”.

Around 1975, on Kaua‘i and Maui, Butler’s loyal devotees – by then at least a few dozen - began organizing a vast political and financial network, centered on Butler as their spiritual master and earthly conduit to the Hindu deity Krishna. Initially amateurish, the group’s political arm - formally started as Independents for Godly Government (IGG) in 1976 – became a major force in Hawai‘i's politics, reaching the U.S. Congress in 2012 with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawai‘i).

A key part of the Butler group's financial arm, rooted in the Down to Earth vegetarian grocery chain and QNET's international pyramid scheme, is currently being scrutinized in the Supreme Court of India for fraud and money laundering. QNET insiders, including two long-time Butler devotees, have been arrested or are wanted by police in at least half a dozen countries.