Brahmananda PROHIBITED from speaking at Iskcon temples/functions

[Guest guest]

Letter 1

 

Dear Devotees,

 

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

The GBC has gone on record as per GBC minutes 2002 appendix 3, that it does

not approve of the violation of copyrights and it has prohibited such

activities in ISKCON. Espe-cially when devotees work hard and then the

products they create are copied without permission, these violations create

a disturbance in the society. With this in mind, the GBC instructs all

ISKCON temples, shops, and devotees to not purchase such goods.

 

Since we want to eliminate this activity completely from our ISKCON society,

and to protect the sanctity of our copyrights and trademarks, all steps

should be taken to encourage those who are engaged in this activity to stop.

Thus, ISKCON tem-ples, shops and devotees should not purchase any goods at

all, even legitimate goods, from those engaged in the practice of pirating.

 

We are confident that devotees will follow this instruction and no further

action will be required to be taken by the GBC.

 

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,

GBC Executive Committee

 

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Letter 2 / This went to the board members of the MVT and the Vrindaban

Executive Board.

 

Dear Members of the MVT and VEB,

 

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

As there is a serious and growing problem regarding illegal activity

presently being carried out on the MVT property, the GBC EC desires to this

situation resolved. The EC is seeking your help in this regard.

 

The illegal activity in question is the pirating of various media products

by Brahmananda prabhu and Gargamuni prabhu.

 

The EC strongly urges that Brahmananda prabhu and Gargamuni prabhu leave the

MVT property, as per the GBC brokered agreement, until such time as the GBC

has determined that they are in compliance with that agreement.

 

This request is for the sake and well-being of both ISKCON and the MVT.

Should legal action ever be initiated, it is essential that we are on record

as opposing this illegal activity. Due to the possibility of legal action,

we really have no choice but to take this course of action.

 

We would like your feedback on this request and thank you all in advance for

your co-operation.

 

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada

GBC Executive Committee

 

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Letter 3 / This went to the chair of the Indian Regional Board (Bhaktarupa

prabhu is the chair this year. The board includes all temple presidents and

Indian GBCs)

 

Dear Chairman:

 

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

As you may be aware there is a problem at the moment with the sale of

pirated goods throughout ISKCON. The GBC EC is currently working to rectify

this prob-lem and is seeking your assistance in this regard. Therefore we

are requesting the following.

 

That until such a time as Brahmananda prabhu and Gargamuni prabhu are found

by the GBC to be in compliance with the GBC brokered agreement that they

entered into in 2002, they should not be given a public stamp of approval in

the eyes of the devotee public by being invited to give classes, acting as

MCs at festivals, or giving keynote addresses etc., at our temples or ISKCON

events.

 

It should be noted that the GBC EC would prefer not to be taking this course

of action but Brahmananda prabhu and Gargamuni prabhu have left us little

choice. Those engaged in pirating have created this situation and we are

obliged, as a matter of duty, to act accordingly to protect the copyrights

that Srila Prabhupada expressly vested in the BBT, as well as the hard,

honest, and sincere work done by other devotees to produce devotional

materials. The key to turning this around is in their hands. If they change

their behavior, we would be only too happy to lift all these restrictions.

Their actions have created this situation, not ours. Indeed, we have bent

over backwards to try to accommodate them; now we have no choice but to take

action.

 

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,

GBC Executive Committee