Henry Doktorski III (born January 30, 1956) is an American accordionist, organist and author. He has performed on accordion with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, violinists Gil Shaham and Itzhak Perlman during concerts and recording sessions with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under conductors Lorin Maazel, John Williams, Mariss Jansons, Julius Rudel, David Del Tredici and Howard Shore.
Doktorski is the author of Killing for Krishna: The Danger of Deranged Devotion (2018), a 660-page nonfiction true-crime book about history of the New Vrindavan Hare Krishna community and the assassination of an American Hare Krishna devotee in 1986. He is also the author of Eleven Naked Emperors: The Crisis of Charismatic Succession in the Hare Krishna Movement (1977-1987), published in 2020, as well as ten volumes of Gold, Guns and God: Swami Bhaktipada and the West Virginia Hare Krishnas (2020-2023).
Early life
Henry Doktorski III was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Polish-American parents Henry A. Doktorski and Theresa Maria Czartowicz, and grew up in East Brunswick. He cites his Polish background—accordions being often featured in Polish folk music—as a main factor in his childhood decision to take up the accordion rather than a different instrument. At the age of seven he began studying accordion and early on was considered a prodigy.
As a pre-teenager during the mid-1960s he played ethnic music and jazz standards (inspired by Myron Floren from the Lawrence Welk television show), but as a teenager during the late 1960s and early 1970s his musical tastes changed, and he began playing the accordion in a rock band which performed the music of The Beatles, Grand Funk Railroad, Carlos Santana and Black Sabbath.
However, after a few performances he quickly concluded that his instrument was not "stylistically correct" for that electric genre of music, and so he abandoned the accordion for a Farfisa electronic organ.
On June 7, 1971, he was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America (Troop 28 in East Brunswick), and received a Good Citizen Award from The American Legion.
Discovering classical music
At Saint Peters High School in New Brunswick, Doktorski discovered classical music after joining the school choir, and his life's direction became more clear. He began studying classical piano at the age of 16 and became proficient enough to win a scholarship as a piano major at Park College (today Park University) in Parkville, Missouri (near North Kansas City). There Doktorski studied piano with Robert C. Anderson, acted in and served as music director for several musicals (The Good Woman of Setzuan, Godspell, Scarpino Bambino, Damn Yankees, and Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris), sang as a chorus member with the Kansas City Lyric Opera and the Independence, Missouri Messiah Choir, and performed piano, harpsichord and celesta with the Northland Symphony Orchestra.
He was elected to Who's Who Among Students at American Universities and Colleges from 1976–1978, and was nominated as a candidate for the post of 1977 Harvest Festival King. Doktorski graduated summa cum laude from Park College in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Music Performance and Music Education.
Life with the Hare Krishnas
In August 1978, hardly three months after finishing college, Doktorski's life changed dramatically when he joined the Hare Krishna movement at the rural New Vrindaban Community in Marshall County, West Virginia. He explained that he was unhappy with his life, and wanted to develop his spiritual side: "In college, I discovered music; the answer to my search for happiness. . . . But I was miserable. . . . If I wanted to compose, conduct and perform music which would awaken suffering humanity to the platform of love of God, first I would have to become a pure devotee [of God]. Only then would my talent have any value."
Doktorski began following the principles and practices of Gaudiya Vaishnavism as delineated by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977), the Indian guru and Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He accepted initiation on March 13, 1979 from Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada (1937–2011), the ISKCON guru and founder of New Vrindaban, and was awarded the Sanskrit name "Hrishikesh dasa" ("Servant of Krishna, who is master of the senses").