SJVC Site - Hacked?--more reasons and answers to your question

[Guest guest]

Dear Rampriya:

 

I TYPED "ISKCON" IN THE SEARCH AND FOUND THE FOLLOWING IN ABOUT

30 SECONDS, IF ONE DIGS DEEPER, ONE MAY FIND MANY MORE SCANDALS.

 

 

"The death of Prabhupada in 1977 generated an internal crisis in

ISKCON; with no legitimate heir or power structure, the movement was

quickly torn with inner conflict. While Prabhupada appointed eleven

gurus to lead ISKCON several months before his death, the Governing

Body Council was almost immediately in conflict with the gurus

(Ibid., pp. 222–24). Legal and doctrinal conflicts led the GBC to

suspend three gurus for one year, but these suspensions were soon

lifted (Ibid. 230–34).The veneration of gurus began to decline after

the GBC moved to ensure that the majority of initiating gurus would

be appointed by the GBC (Encyclopedic Handbook, p. 240).

 

The first serious internal crisis was generated by Kirtanananda Swami

Bhaktipada, leader of ISKCON of West Virginia and founder of the New

Vrindaban community. Bhaktipada was attacked in 1985 by a former

member; during his recovery, another former member who blamed

Bhaktipada for the dissolution of his marriage was killed in Los

Angeles (this individual had previously brought a pistol to West

Virginia and threatened Bhaktipada) (Ibid., p. 246). During this

period Thomas Dresher, a member of New Vrindaban, participated in the

murder of a former member in St. Louis; Dresher was given a life

sentence (he was also later convicted of racketeering) (Ibid.).

Bhaktipada was excommunicated by the GBC in 1987 after a federal

investigation, and after child molestation charges against two New

Vrindaban teachers (Ibid.). He was sentenced in 1991 to twenty years

in prison for racketeering for amassing millions of dollars through a

fund raising scam, and conspiring to murder two followers in 1983 and

1986; the sentence was reduced in 1997 to 12 years due to his failing

health ("Bad Karma." One World 12.31, 1997). The GBC recently

readmitted New Vrindaban, subject to an annual review for two year

("New Vrindavana Rejoins ISKCON." Hare Krishna World, July-August

1998, p. 1).

 

ISKCON is currently undergoing another serious internal crisis. E.

Burke Rochford, Jr., a sociologist who studies the organization,

recently published a study in Krishna exploring instances of child

abuse at ISKCON gurukalas (boarding schools) in the 1970s and 1980s.

ISKCON was forced to confront the situation in 1996 when ten former

Krishna students testified that they had been beaten, sexually

molested, and denied medical care while boarding at ISKCON schools

("Hare Krishna Faith Details Past Abuse at Boarding Schools," New

York Times, October 9, 1998). The most serious abuse allegedly

occurred in Dallas, Seattle, and New Vrindaban (Ibid.). ISKCON

communications director Anuttama Dasa states that the organization is

currently working to "repair the damage to the kids and show them we

do care as a religious society" (Ibid.). ISKCON no longer operates

gurukalas in the United States (Ibid.).

 

ISKCON has also endured several serious external crises. The most

significant involves the 1983 case of George v ISKCON. Robin George,

a former member, filed suit against ISKCON in 1977, alleging that she

had been brainwashed by the group (International Society for Krishna

Consciousness

<http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~jkh8x/soc257/nrms/hare.html>); the suit

followed a period in which she was moved from temple to temple to

avoid being deprogrammed (Encyclopedic Handbook, p. 240). George was

initially awarded $32.5 million by the jury; the judge cut the amount

to $9.7 million, and an appeals court further reduced it to $3

million in 1987. The Supreme Court further reduced the damages to

$75,000 (International Society for Krishna Consciousness

<http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~jkh8x/soc257/nrms/hare.html>).

 

The second major external crisis was ISKCON's loss in the ISKCON v.

Lee case. The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that airports are not

public facilities, and ISKCON members can thus be prohibited by port

authorities from soliciting donations (International Society for

Krishna Consciousness v Lee, 505 U.S. 672 (1992)). "

 

 

Some of the allegations included above (this is public information,

no secrets that I uncovered) include fruad, child molestation, child

abuse, assault with deadly weapon, etc.

 

NOW RAMPRIYA, DO YOU REALLY WANT SJVC-USA RUN BY/ASSOCIATED WITH

PEOPLE WHO WERE FORMER MEMBERS OF AN ORGANIZATION LIKE ISKCON?

 

MD

 

 

 

 

 

vedic astrology, "Ramapriya D" <hubli@v...> wrote:

> Dear MD,

> Other things apart, your statement that someone should be barred

because his/her spouse was something isn't acceptable. Why should the

other be punished for no fault of his/hers?

> Ramapriya

> hubli@v...