GBC JOint Resignation Proposal

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Letter COM:3418349 (98 lines)

Nrsimhananda (das) ACBSP (ITV Los Angeles - USA)

27-Jul-00 04:18

Devakinandan (das) JUHU (Bombay - IN)

orchidmarketing (AT) mediaone (DOT) net

Reference: Text COM:3415864 by Devakinandan (das) JUHU (Bombay - IN)

Comment: Text COM:3418438 by Internet: ORCHIDMARKETING (AT) MEDIAONE (DOT) NET

GBC JOint Resignation Proposal

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Dear Devakinandan prabhu,

PAMHO AGTSP

Your letter was thoughtful and insightful - enough to get me to respond. I

usually stay aloof from these matters. However, I want to get my two cents

in to the fray because I also want the society to be led by a respected body

of managers.

 

The fundamental managerial issue is to "follow the laksmi trail." Nobody

wants to talk about the money. I tried to bring us this issue three years

ago and got shut down hard by the EC. My name was trashed, and I had to

fight hard to get an apology. Character assasintion is a common tool used

to discredit dissident opinions. But I'll go out on a limb once again.

 

There is little or no accountability for the guru daksine and other bank

accounts. The GBC rules are very clear about the necessity of accounting

for all ISKCON related AND private bank accounts of gurus and GBC's. There

must be yearly accounting. There must be three signatores on each account.

All private monies, inheritences, etc. must be revealed in detail (bank

names, locations, account numbers, statements (withdrawals, deposits,

interest, etc.) All these records should be public knowledge so that there

is no doubt about the use of funds or what facility a sanyassi or guru has

at their disposal. Of course, many will now argue that such an open

policy would play into the hands of lawsuits, etc. There should at least be

a committee who is not composed of the "old prabhu network" that reviews all

accounts. Anyone not sending in the information or caught withholding

information should be immediately censured or worse. Ultimately, all laksmi

coming to ISKCON gurus and leaders belongs to the society. We should do as

every government is suppose to do, determine what to do with all the money

as a legislative body, not as individual gurus doing their own thing.

Laksmi should be designated for various expenditures including travel,

projects, etc. Then disciples can give for specific projects and be assured

that the laksmi is used in that way. If a guru has a guaranteed income from

some inheritence, the disciple has a right to know before putting his or

her family into financial jeopardy funding that guru and his pet projects.

In this day and age when the GBC has declared that the guru's are not on the

topmost platform, a disciple should be giving money with the knowledge of

where it is to be spent; he should know whether it just goes into a slush

fund for his guru. The guru must be established as subserviant to the GBC in

all respects. There is no other way to accomplish the goal than to create

unequivocable financial accountability.

 

The independent decision-making of the "big" gurus has resulted in a lot of

suspicion and waste of funds. Just to mention one of countless

misappropriations: Harikesa prabhu's investments. This is only one example

of unilateral financial folly. I don't want to point the finger in public of

current gurus who have wasted Prabhupada's laksmi. We all know of many

cases.

 

In conclusion, you get a grip on the finances, and you'll see who is really

sincere about "cooperation." Those who want to keep control, power over,

"their" laksmi will soon fly away from ISKCON.

 

There will be no real reform, in my humble opinion, until all the money is

emptied from private coffers into a general fund from which an enlightened,

and unguru'ed GBC, can allocate according to the needs of the society. Of

course, even that situation would not be ideal because there would always be

a "good ole boys" network of influence, but it would be severely tempered by

openess and accountability. Gone would be the days when a guru could give

financial support at his whim to one of his disciples who serves his

purposes, whatever they are. Gone would be the days when gurus can fly

anywhere at anytime with unlimited budgets. Gone would be the days when

gurus could get their tuitions or houses or doctors or tutors or whatever

paid for by disciples without getting prior approval of the GBC body. Gone

would be the days when we suspect someone of having millions of dollars in

their bank account to use any way they want. Sanyassi's could finally live

the simple life of an itinerant preacher and serve as an example of

renunciation to others. Now they don't have to worry about laksmi because

they have so much security in the bank. What kind of example is that? They

should be living on the edge all the time, showing us how to depend on Krsna

for everything including the next meal. We should not imitate Srila

Prabhupada's position, but we should follow his instructions in regards to

our ashrams. And, to be fair, there are a few sanyassi's who are like that,

and may Krsna bless them over and over again. They remain my inspiration.

 

Financial accountability has been sorely lacking in our ISKCON society.

What are we going to do about it fifteen years since "guru reform?"

 

SHOW ME THE MONEY! (and if you recognize where that phrase comes from,

you've been watching too many movies)

 

I hope this letter finds you in good health and blissful in KC. I appreciate

that you remain in the fire of working to improve ISKCON. I beg to

remain...YS,

 

Nrsimhananda dasa

 

Since I am going out of station, if anyone wants to respond to me directly,

they will have to use my alternative address <nrsd (AT) usa (DOT) net>

 

PS...and when is Juhu temple going to become a distribution center of ITV

tapes after all these years? Our Indian distributors were suppose to be

Madhu Pandit's crew who purchased the masters. I can't even get him to

respond to my many inquiries to him, Ananta Tirtha,Chancilapati, etc. I

finally have given up. So much for the integrity of his program. He was

suppose to send quarterly reports according to our signed agreement, but I

haven't even heard from him in years, even before we produced "Disciple of

My Disciple" which just debued in Moscow in Russian language to an

appreciative audience in a rented hall.

(Text COM:3418349) --------

 

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