Notice

[Guest guest]

>

> That seems a rather negative way of looking at it.

 

Your opening comment (above) is followed by your own letter full of

negativity. Please clarify: do you disapprove of negativity in general or

only that of others?

 

>ISKCON has disappointed a lot of devotees

 

ISKCON also has inspired and continues to inspire "a lot of devotees". I

wonder if the maxim that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" could be

applied here. Or, "Is the cup half full or half empty?"

[Guest guest]

Hare Krsna.

 

Perhaps I should have said "imbalanced" or "biased" instead of

"negative," because actually I don't mind the negative as long as it's

truthful, and I hope to be exposed to both the positive and negative

because at least it gives a sense that I'm working with honest people.

 

Of course ISKCON has inspired a lot of people. It's inspired me, and I

hope it will again. It's just that I became extremely confused when I

saw the local guru praise and honor an unrepentant child molester; and

when I asked about that ethical dilemma, I was threatened, conspired

against, and lied to by his disciples who are the big majority at the

local devotee community. They even undermined my relationship with my

guru by having secret conversations with him about me, framing the

issues against me and setting him up to also lie to me so to not break

their confidentiality. So today on Govardhana Puja I have no local

temple to visit, no devotee community to chant Hare Krishna with, and

I've lost trust in my guru, all because I dared to question someone whom

the locals believe is beyond question. I asked that question to do my

part for the ethical integrity of ISKCON, what I saw as a service to

Srila Prabhupada. I can only hope that Srila Prabhupada and Sri Krishna

will protect me.

 

I came to ISKCON expecting purity, integrity, and honesty from those who

are cultivating Krishna bhakti. I never expected to see a dishonest and

unrepentant child molester sitting with sannyasis, getting fanned along

with them, as shown in the top-left corner of the large picture on this

page:

http://www.btswami.com/images/BTG_4.jpg

 

I was there, sitting near the feet of a disciple of Srila Prabhupada who

had repeatedly molested a girl, who was lying to everyone about it (and

had even told the CPO investigators that he would lie), who refused to

apologize to the girl, slandering her instead; he was sitting with

sannyasis receiving praise and honor with hundreds of devotees at his

feet, all while ISKCON is in bankruptcy over widespread, severe child

abuse. I'm sorry but that just seemed terribly wrong to me, like a

nuclear assault on my faith. Then having several brahmana Vaishnavas

lie to me was just too much for me to handle.

 

So now, regrettably, I'm an outsider, trying to figure out what went

wrong. I commented on this thread because the Sampradaya Sun has

helping me to do that, and is giving me some connection with devotees.

Without that, I'm not sure what I would do. I'm sorry if my letter hurt

anyone, but if I didn't care so much about ISKCON, I wouldn't say

anything at all.

 

Hare Krsna.

 

Sincerely,

Pandu das

 

 

 

 

>

> Mahadyuti (das) ACBSP (TP Soho St. London - UK)

> [Mahadyuti.ACBSP (AT) pamho (DOT) net]

> Wednesday, November 02, 2005 3:41 PM

> Danavir Goswami (USA); Mahat-tattva (das); Pandu (das) BMS (Gita

> Nagari, PA - US)

> Notice

>

> >

> > That seems a rather negative way of looking at it.

>

> Your opening comment (above) is followed by your own letter full of

> negativity. Please clarify: do you disapprove of negativity in

general or

> only that of others?

>

> >ISKCON has disappointed a lot of devotees

>

> ISKCON also has inspired and continues to inspire "a lot of devotees".

I

> wonder if the maxim that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" could

be

> applied here. Or, "Is the cup half full or half empty?"