GHQ

[Guest guest]

> What is GHQ, please?

 

'General Headquarter'. A group of people who think they represent the

Vedic standard and who like to hurt others like me with calling me

'femi nazi'.

 

Y.s. Hariballabha dd

[Guest guest]

"COM: Maha Caitanya (das) JPS (Sarajevo - BiH)" wrote:

 

> [Text 2879678 from COM]

>

> What is GHQ, please?

>

> Ys MCd

 

Guys Having Quirks

[Guest guest]

"COM: Madhava Gosh (das) ACBSP (New Vrindavan - USA)"

<Madhava.Gosh.ACBSP (AT) bbt (DOT) se> on 23/12/99 03:34:00 PM

 

>Guys Having Quirks<

 

Is this some kind of joke???

 

My question was serious, since I see this GHQ thing being mentioned all the

time, but I am not introduced with its origins. Is the actual meaning

"General Head Quarters" indeed, as Mataji hariballabha says, or something

else?

 

Ys MCd

[Guest guest]

Maha Caitanya prabhu wrote:

 

>My question was serious, since I see this GHQ thing being mentioned all the

>time, but I am not introduced with its origins. Is the actual meaning

>"General Head Quarters" indeed, as Mataji hariballabha says, or something

>else?

 

The whole story is at:

 

http://www.vnn.org/world/WD9811/WD18-2521.html

 

Below is the summary that was posted on VNN about a year ago.

 

Ys,

Madhusudani dasi

 

November 18, 1998 VNN2521

© 1998

VNN Conspiracy To Terminate The ISKCON Women's Ministry

----

BY ARDHABUDDHI DASA

 

USA, Nov 18 (VNN) Ñ On September 28, 1998, a secret COM conference

called GHQ was launched by a small group of men known to oppose the

ISKCON Women's Ministry. Originally organized by Shyamasundara (the

astrologer), the goal of this conference was to turn back the clock on

the recent progress made by ISKCON Vaisnavis in their struggle to be

recognized as individuals with the right to serve guru and Krsna

according to their propensities. The men appear to have been inspired

by their discussions on the COM conference "Dharma of Women" (recently

strategically renamed "Dharma of Men and Women") in which they tried

to explain many current ISKCON problems as being due to women not

acting according to Vedic principles. These men have been known to

selectively use quotes by Srila Prabhupada, Manu Samitha and Chanakya

Pandit to blame everything from divorce to wife abuse on the women's

attitudes and behaviors.

 

As illustrated in the following statement made by Shyamasudara in a

letter to Jasomatinandana, it is obvious that they considered

themselves to be in a state of war. In an early text, Shyamasundara

wrote: "We are seriously organizing a counteroffensive against the

feminists who are a plague in our movement. We need your help. We have

set up a central command post and are seeking out devotees who can

help in this mission." (see below for full text)

 

As of mid September, this conference consisted of a core of up to 17

men, plus other sympathizers who were brought into the discussions on

an "as-needed" basis. These GHQ conference members were Basu Ghosh

(das) ACBSP (Baroda - IN), Bhakti Vikasa Swami, Bhanu Swami (Madras -

IN), Danavir das Goswami (USA), Dayaram (das) JPS (Mayapur - IN),

Goloka Candra (das) JPS (Malaysia), Guru-Krsna (das) HDG (Alachua, FL

- USA), Jasomatinandan (das) ACBSP (Gujarat - IN), Jaya Tirtha Charan

(das) JPS, Jivan Mukta (das) TSI (Back to Basics) (Ontario - CAN),

Krishna Kirti (das) HDG (Baltimore - USA), Prithu (das) ACBSP,

Rasananda Swami (USA), Shyamasundara (das) ACBSP (Florida Vedic

College -USA), Svavasa (das) ACBSP (NA-BBT), Trivikrama Swami, Vidvan

Gauranga (das) JPS (Mayapur - IN), and Ameyatma Dasa. The group also

included Sadhusangananda, TP of ISKCON Boston, although due to his

travel schedule, he was not very active initially. Jivanmukta's wife

Sita was the only woman active in these discussions. One of her main

roles appears to have been to leak texts from the "International

Women's Conference" on COM to the GHQ members and do search folio for

quotes intended to disempower women.

 

As can be seen in the first text below, they used their secret

conference to brainstorm strategies to terminate the women's ministry

(including many discussions on whether these efforts should

concentrate on damaging the reputations of Vaisnavi leaders or of the

male ISKCON leaders who support the women's ministry), share research,

collect dossiers of "dirt" on opponents in an effort to discredit

them, pre-empt women's concerns by pretending to care about their

protection, strategize how to get women to lose their cool on COM

while they themselves appeared as gentlemen, identify high level

supporters/ ambivalent leaders /opponents, get feminism declared a

form of atheism or mayavada philosophy, organize campaigns to protest

official statements by the Women's Ministry etc. Their ultimate goal

was (and still is) to write a proposal to the GBC to terminate the

women's ministry and to limit service opportunities for ISKCON

Vaisnavis.

 

The members spent considerable time trying to identify possible GBC

level supporters and opponents (see COM text 1737640 below). Using the

analogy of "triage" in war, in which medical personnel have to quickly

identify soldiers whose injuries are treatable vs. life-threatening.

Shyamasundara proposed dividing ISKCON leaders into 3 categories,

namely: "1) Pro-Vedic, 2) Unidentified or loyalty unknown at this

time, and 3) Purvapakshin." Efforts were made to enlist the members in

the first category in support of their upcoming proposal. In

Shyamasundara's words "Those in group 2 should be preached to

vigorously so that they support us or show their colors." In contrast,

"Purvapakshins" should be discredited or simply ignored.

 

One of the much-discussed strategies in the GHQ focused on how to

pre-empt the legitimate concerns of ISKCON vaisnavis. The most popular

strategy for accomplishing this is illustrated in the following quote

from one of their texts: "as a tactic (following BSST in the brahmana

and vaishnava debate) put their concern as our first concern. Then we

put the second concern to show how to deal with the first concern in

reality. What do you all think? Before they jump in and show fingers

to us as if we are abusing the women, we point fingers at the men and

deal with this. So now they have nothing to point fingers at."

 

This quote clearly shows that these men are not genuinely interested

in women's concerns but that they would simply use calls for the

protection of women to advance their own cause, i.e. control of women.

 

Many of the GHQ texts were also devoted to discussing the members'

public replies to different COM texts. One of the most discussed such

texts involved a letter written by Jasomatinandana, in which he

criticized Malati's GBC appointment. Although no GHQ members appeared

capable of realizing why mainstream devotees had been offended by

Jasomatinandana's text, they agreed that it might be best if they tone

down future attacks for tactical reasons. They also spent a fair

amount of time analyzing and criticizing men who appeared to support

the objectives of the women's ministry. The following statement by

Jivanmukta (in response to a letter written by Hari Sauri in support

of Malati) illustrates clearly the tone of such texts. Jivanmukta

wrote (see below for full text) "It is men like Hari Sauri that are at

the root of our problems. It is men like him that undermine a

husband's authority over his wife. Instead of seizing the moment to

preach to her and show her the path of dharma, how she should follow

her prescribed duty etc. he wimps out and encourages her! Who said

this guy is on our side anyway? He is a total embarrassment!"

 

In the initial conference texts, the GHQ members were more freely

showing their true color and frequently referred to ISKCON women as

"obnoxious", "feminazis" and even as not having souls, to the "ISKCON

Women's Ministry" as the "ISKCON Whore Ministry" and to the

"International Women's Conference" as the "International Witches

Conference". In one text, Shyamasundara asked Jaya Tirtha Caran "How

do you feel about the feminists in ISKCON?". JTC replied "Mmmmmmmm! I

must admit although they appear to be spirit souls like those of us

either wearing male or female bodies, in actually they have no soul.

Yes, you guessed it, I really can't stand them,..." (see below for

full text). In later texts, the men appear to have realized that by

showing their true feelings so openly on the conference, they may also

later inadvertently slip up and use these offensive labels in public.

They therefore devised a system of referring to their opponents either

as "purvapakshins" or by their initials only. Since this change was

only tactical and cosmetic, it appears clear that we can not take

seriously any claims made by these men that they are interested in

bringing back "Vedic culture" to ISKCON.

 

Some of the conference members appear to be very skilled in the art of

deception. For example, Vidvan Gauranga writes (in response to a

question of whether he feels up to debating Sudharma and Pranada of

the women's ministry): "No I am not afraid of being intimidated. I am

just playing the same game they are playing. They try to get support

by saying "Ah! we are called feminazis!" etc. So I am also crying out,

"Ah! I am called a woman-hater! Ah!" hi hi hi When you fight, you have

to use the same kind of weaponry that the opponent uses." He also

explained to a concerned fellow GHQ member why he had expressed faith

that the Women's Ministry was "doing something to stop feminist

preaching". VG replied to this concern in the following way: "I have

to say like that because only then will they start listening to us.

Otherwise, they will turn a deaf ear to us, even if we speak in

accordance with Prabhupada, Sadhu and Sastra. They are women, so you

have to be emotional, sensitive and diplomatic with them. To NOT do

so, I opine, is not strategic."

 

Although the GHQ members typically insist that opponents always quote

sastra, they seem to hold themselves to a somewhat lower standard:

 

Shyamasundara wrote: "A man of sense only trifles with them [women],

plays with them, humors and flatters them, as he does with a sprightly

and forward child; but he neither consults them about, nor trusts them

with, serious matters." Earl of Chesterfield.

 

To which Vidvan Gauranga replied:

"Good stuff. Bhaktividya Purna Maharaja told me the same thing."

 

And these are the same men who are currently bashing their opponents

all over COM for even daring to use "logic and common sense" if this

process does not involve quoting sastra.

 

In an ironic twist of fate, the conference organizers must have had

some kind of insight into the devious nature of their scheme. During

the last days of the conference, one member commented that the "COM

Gods" may not be pleased by their efforts and might thus arrange to

have them exposed. The conference was therefore recently taken off COM

and continued privately. Unfortunately for the members, this insight

came too late. Before the conference went off the air, one of its

members had second thoughts. Although he agreed with many of the

traditional views expressed by the others, he found their modus

operandum to be distasteful and therefore decided to share the plans

with Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis worldwide. Although we will respect his

wish to remain anonymous, we greatly appreciate the courage he showed

by sharing these texts with us.

 

Selected GHQ texts are presented below, so that the readers can judge

the mood of these men for themselves:

 

http://www.vnn.org/world/WD9811/WD18-2521.html

[Guest guest]

>

>

> >Guys Having Quirks<

>

> Is this some kind of joke???

>

 

Yea, on a lot of levels, including both my response and the whole actuality

it is based on. They have a website, I don't have it bookmarked, perhaps

someone can provide it. You could also search VNN, where the GHQ holds forth

for all the world to see. Look for articles by Sita, Jivon Mukta, Ameyatma,

Shyamasundara(astrologer), Guru Krsna, to name a few.

 

>

> My question was serious, since I see this GHQ thing being mentioned all the

> time, but I am not introduced with its origins. Is the actual meaning

> "General Head Quarters" indeed, as Mataji hariballabha says, or something

> else?

>

>

 

General Headquarters is what they call themselves.

 

Guys Hurling Quips would simply be an inflammatory remark, an example of trash

talking.

[Guest guest]

> USA, Nov 18 (VNN) Ñ On September 28, 1998, a secret COM conference called

> GHQ was launched by a small group of men known to oppose the ISKCON

> Women's Ministry. Originally organized by Shyamasundara (the astrologer),

> the goal of this conference was to turn back the clock on the recent

> progress made by ISKCON Vaisnavis in their struggle to be recognized as

> individuals with the right to serve guru and Krsna according to their

> propensities. The men appear to have been inspired by their discussions on

> the COM conference "Dharma of Women" (recently strategically renamed

> "Dharma of Men and Women") in which they tried to explain many current

> ISKCON problems as being due to women not acting according to Vedic

> principles. These men have been known to selectively use quotes by Srila

> Prabhupada, Manu Samitha and Chanakya Pandit to blame everything from

> divorce to wife abuse on the women's attitudes and behaviors.

 

 

When sannyasi's start to behave like sannyasi's.

When brahmacary's start to behave like brahmacary's.

When our leader's start to behave like ksatriya's.

Only then can someone point their finger at our Mataji's.

 

By exposeing publicly so quickly and efficiently the member's of this

conference, Krsna has shown how much are our soft hearted Matajis dear to

Him.

 

Your servant,

Janaka das