GBC Deliquent with Farm Inspections

[Guest guest]

"COM: ISCOWP (Balabhadra Dasa & Chaya Dasi - USA)" wrote:

 

> [Text 2561717 from COM]

>

> Dear Prabhus,

>

> Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

>

> We received a letter from the Hungarian farm. They wanted our snail mail

> address so they could send the papers signed as we requested. Sivarama

> Swami, when we sent him the forms, asked us to send them to the farm

> managers in Hungary. Have not received them yet. Otherwise there has been

> no word from anyone, no GBC, no ISKCON farm managers. What do you all

> suggest?

 

To my mind, when the GBC passes a resolution and agrees to do something, that

is

something like a vow. They *voted* to accept the Minimum Cow Protection

Standards. Those standards require that GBC's visit their farms 4 times a year

to meet privately with the cowherd and inspect the farm, and then submit a

report on what they found.

 

I know times are tough and that they have a lot to do -- but we did not hold a

gun to their head and force them to agree to this standard. They themselves

freely gave their consent to serve Srila Prabhupada in this way. Now they are

not living up to their vow.

 

Sometimes a devotee makes a vow to chant 16 rounds of Hare Krsna every day, but

then he fails to live up to his vow. Okay, we can be sympathetic -- but still,

the fact is that this is below the minimum standard for being a devotee in good

standard.

 

Similarly, the GBC may have had good intentions when they made their vow to

meet

with cowherds and inspect ISKCON's farms 4 times a year -- but now they find

themselves incapable of fulfilling their vow. Okay, we can be sympathetic --

but still, the fact remains that this is below the minimum standards for cow

protection. And, it should be publicized as such. I believe that publicity is

the only possible way to get them to work up the determination to keep their

vow.

 

Just like we did for the GHQ problem, we need to post a list of all the ISKCON

Farms and their GBCs, and indicate which ones have turned in their reports. I

recommend that this list be posted on COM and Chakra every Thursday. And, if

Chakra cannot publish it by Sunday, it should be posted on VNN.

 

When a law is made, it must be enforced. Otherwise it is simply a joke. There

must be some type of weapon to enforce the law. If the law is "Don't steal

from

a bank" there is a policeman standing there with a gun to make sure no one

steals from the bank. Well, we don't have any gun to protect Krsna's cows.

The

only possible weapon that we have is publicity. This is the only weapon that

Krsna has given us to protect the cows. So we should use it.

 

At the same time, we must emphasize our praise of the GBC members who *did*

keep

their promise to make farm inspections.

 

Let's not forget why we requested the farm inspections. We requested them

because every time their is a problem, the local GBC throws his hands up in the

air and says, "Oh my goodness! This is terrible. If only I had known that our

cows were being neglected like this, I would have done something immediately."

This specific rule of GBC farm inspections is critical to providing meaningful

protection for the cows.

 

For example, I just heard that 9 cows are missing from Murari Sevaka Farm in

Tennessee. Question: Who is the GBC for Murari Sevaka? Is it still

Jayapataka

Maharaja or is it someone else? Did whoever is the Murari Sevaka Farm GBC turn

in a report by the July 30th deadline? Did that report confirm or deny this

rumor?

 

The point is: **The requirement for the GBC's to visit ISKCON's Farms, meet

with the cowherds and submit reports to the Ministry of Cow Protection and

Agriculture is for the purpose of protecting Krsna's cows.** If this Minimum

Standard is not met, Lord Krsna's cows will be abused. And it will be very

inauspicious for the residents and the GBC of the community in question.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi