Guest guest Posted December 9, 1999 Report Share Posted December 9, 1999 Dear devotees, Hare Krsna! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! In this letter I would like to talk about two problems which are very closely conected. First problem is related to the set of responsible people in our society, and the second problem is explaining:"Why are devotees leaving ISKCON"? Most devotees in our society when explaining causes of some problem usually emphasize only the following categorys: 1.The abusers 2.The abused 3.Confused 4. ? They usualy skip the most important set of people.They are called the RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE (ksatriyas). The group of people who are responsible for keeping law and order in our society.The people who are protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty ones.The people who are watching over every member of society, so the abuse dosn't take place. Devotees have tendency not to mention these set of people, because they are consisting of sannyasis who are also their gurus.Since we are not suppose to criticise our gurus, there is no question of responsibility in ISKCON. Second problem which I would like to talk about is: "Why are so many devotees leaving ISKCON and joining other maths or some anti-ISKCON organizations like: Ritviks, Pada, poison whispers etc..? It is well known that ISKCON has: -the most beautiful and opulent temples -the most beautiful deitys -the best guest facilitys -best prasadam -nice loveing devotees -nice loveing gurus So what is forceing these devotees to make such a drastic decision in their life, and to leave the shelter of our organization.Where did we go wrong? If the responsible people did their job properly, there would be very little or none abuse going on.Because of that there would be not much abusers also in ISKCON, and because of that, there would be little or none confused, agitated and angry devotees. We are all witnessing the heavy crises that ISKCON is experiencing right now.We can't solve old problems, which are hunting us like a terrible nightmare, and new ones are emerging one after another.Our responsible people (GBC), don't know how to deal with it, and because of that, the results are devastateing for ISKCON. We all know that our nice sannyasis have taken the role of ksatriyas for the sake of Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON.Without any experience, training and proper qualification, that demands the position of ksatriya, their task was beforhand sentenced to be a setback.Just so you dont get me wrong, we have very nice sannyasis, but they have put them selves in a very dangerous position, which is completely unsuitable according to the rulles and regulations of their varna and ashram. Because of their soft nature, they didn't know how to be hard towards the abusers, so abusers always escaped from being justly punished.They never provided supervision of teachers and ashram leaders.GBC pressured childrens parents to send them away to guru kula schools. We should always pay respect to a sannyasi, but ksatriya has to deserve his respect by properly protecting every members of society. So what kind of devestateing effect am I talking about, that this type of brahminical management has caused, and why are devotees leaving ISKCON ? I will add some statistics and facts, so you can get a clear picture of the problem: 1.Investigation made by ISKCON's Office of Child Protection (OCP), has showen that more than 1 000 children have been phisicaly or sexualy abused by 220 perpetrators. 2.For 15 years, most GBC men knew that molesting was going on in different gurukulas, but they didnt know how to stop it, until the victims them selves confronted GBC. 3.GBC never punished abusers properly.They never brought criminal charges against them.Instead of handing them over to the police,GBC lightly punished a small number of 220 abusers by removing them from leadership positions and by prohibiting them from leading kirtan, giving class etc.., which is big nonsence.Just two years ago an ex-zonal Archarya guru who molested boys was heartly welcomed with a big kirtan in Mayapur.This kind of behaviour our GBC made many devotees turn against ISKCON and join Gaudiya Math or some anti- ISKCON organization. It is very difficult to perform proper therapy on the abused victims when the abusers are walking free in ISKCON, even takeing important positions like Satadhanya.So most abusers are still in ISKCON, waiting for a chance to strike again.Because of that, many children are still living in fear of their abusers.If we really want to help the abused children, than we have to first drive the abusers out of ISKCON.If punishment is properly inflicted after consideration, it makes all people happy (aspecialy the victims): but inflicted without consideration, it destroys everything. 4.The drop that spilled the glass was when 7 months ago, GBC rehabilitated notorious peadophile Satadhanya das, and chose him to represent them in the Calcutta high court, against Ritviks.Just few years ago Satadhanya was found guilty by the GBC themselvs of anal intercourse, and other gross acts of paedophilia against young boys.So bad was the abuse that one boy needed stitches. How was it possible that GBC put the fate of ISKCON in the hands of such a sinful man, is it just for the sake of saveing some money?This shameles decision made by GBC was a slap in the face to all gurukula victims and was destroying that little faith that devotees still have in ISKCON. It is no surprise that gurukula victims field a law suit against ISKCON, seeing how GBC is promoting sexual abusers.It is very distasteful seeing devotees criticizeing gurukula victims for fileing a law suit, and not criticizeing the people who provoked the whole thing. 5.We have so far two court cases against ISKCON in progress: a)Ritvik court case b)Gurukula court case The second one is threatening to completely destroy ISKCON, depriveing it of all the money, lend and temples. 6.Because of such unskilled dealings of our brahminical management, the number of anti-ISKCON organizations is constantly riseing.Now besides Ritviks, there is PADA, poison whispers etc.. 7.GBC also promised to pledge $ 750.000 to ISKCON's OCP.However, the representative of OCP has issued the following statement: "That pledg was a lie and the money never existed ". So what should we do to set things straight?What should we do to make ISKCON a better place for everybody except for the abusers? You will find my suggestion in the next letter. Your servant, Janaka das Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 1999 Report Share Posted December 12, 1999 In a message dated 12/11/99 1:30:49 PM Central Standard Time, Janaka.HKS (AT) bbt (DOT) se writes: << 1.Investigation made by ISKCON's Office of Child Protection (OCP), has showen that more than 1 000 children have been phisicaly or sexualy abused by 220 perpetrators. >> Sounds like celibacy is dangerous for some people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 1999 Report Share Posted December 12, 1999 In a message dated 12/11/99 1:30:49 PM Central Standard Time, Janaka.HKS (AT) bbt (DOT) se writes: << Devotees have tendency not to mention these set of people, because they are consisting of sannyasis who are also their gurus.Since we are not suppose to criticise our gurus, there is no question of responsibility in ISKCON. >> This is the great irony of the paramapara. The very arrangement that will deliver one from samasara can also be formula for disaster when misued. Ys. Mahatma dasa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 1999 Report Share Posted December 12, 1999 In a message dated 12/11/99 1:30:49 PM Central Standard Time, Janaka.HKS (AT) bbt (DOT) se writes: << 1.Investigation made by ISKCON's Office of Child Protection (OCP), has showen that more than 1 000 children have been phisicaly or sexualy abused by 220 perpetrators. >> Sounds like celibacy is dangerous for some people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 1999 Report Share Posted December 12, 1999 In a message dated 12/11/99 1:30:49 PM Central Standard Time, Janaka.HKS (AT) bbt (DOT) se writes: << Devotees have tendency not to mention these set of people, because they are consisting of sannyasis who are also their gurus.Since we are not suppose to criticise our gurus, there is no question of responsibility in ISKCON. >> This is the great irony of the paramapara. The very arrangement that will deliver one from samasara can also be formula for disaster when misued. Ys. Mahatma dasa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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