Perpurtrating attitudes of abuse

[Guest guest]

Braja,

 

It's interesting to see how much you misread me.

 

I give you the list of places and abuses to demonstrate my creditials on

the topic of guru-kula. It is first hand, intensive, confirmed in detail

by hundreds of other kulis and long term--over decades. All you can see

is that I am "wounded." Misreading me like this demonstrates what

happens when your ideas are skewed about guru-kula past and who we are

as its veterans. You insist that we should accept your "perspective"

even though it is taken decades after the fact, second hand, from a few

guru-kulis you think you know.

 

Because of this, you also fail to understand that your attitude is the

very reason why the abuses continued so long, so severely. The gravity

of what we said was shut out by people like yourself that dismissed us

as exagerators, cry babies and unappreciative to our good fortune as

devotees. What we had to say was seen as a distraction from the real

business of 'preaching' and krsna consciousness. And so the abuses went

on, day after day as everyone philosophized endlessly about everything

else but how to stop the abuse.

 

You do exactly the same thing again here today. This is what I am

responding to you. You think I respond because I "want to own it" or

that I am in some kind of "compition" with you. You show how little you

know when you suggest this. You now continue the same attitudes of abuse

that lead to all these problems in the first place. Once again, the

guru-kuli is attacked as we have been for decades. You can bring all of

this to end by simply honoring what I have to say. It is only in

honoring my experience over your own opinions that you can be allowed to

appreciate how sinister these attitudes really are to both the past and

the present. You attitude hinder those like myself actively working to

stop the abuse as we see going on in the boarding school there in India.

 

 

WE will know how much you really know buy how much you actually help us

in stopping this abuse.

 

raghu

 

GBC.Unmoderated (AT) pamho (DOT) net [GBC.Unmoderated (AT) pamho (DOT) net] On

Behalf Of Braja

Monday, February 18, 2002 6:17 PM

Raghunata (John) Anudasa; GBC Unmoderated

Perspective

 

> Braja,

>

> I am so disheartened by what you say here.

 

Don't be It's not intended to dishearten you. And I think the text

was

rather general - that it was a response to yours doesn't mean you are

the

sole recipient or target of the text. A call for maintenance of

perspective

is quite reasonable in an issue that is so emotionally charged.

 

> How could you possibly think

> I have not considered 'simply another perspective?' If not, why would

I

> have stayed on for 30 years as a devotee even after my horrendous

> horrors. Why are you telling me this?

 

For the same reason you feel the need to repeat paragraphs like this:

 

> > We were 6 to 13 year old kids 10,000 miles away from our parents in

> > third world country, in a village where we did what we were told,

when

> > they told it, or life became full of pain, starvation, beatings,

work,

> > no clothing, bedding etc. How can someone not know this already?

 

I could say the same, and sound as 'wounded' as you do now: why are you

telling me this? Do you think I don't know? etc. I'm simply putting

across a

different perspective, because it is an emotional issue that a lot of

people

seem to run away with. I *am* allowed to post a perspective, yes? There

is

no need to take it quite so personally.

>

> > lives and having been to most every guru-kula in the world from the

> 70's, 80's and 90's over the 10 years and as many schools while I was

> guru-kula.

 

That's very good.

>

> How many gurukulis do you know?

 

What is this, a competition let me see ... possibly a couple of

hundred,

maybe a bit more....

 

> Why do you think I speak as an isolated victim rather then the voice

of

> the majority?

 

Well, your quote was, after all "we lived ... we were starved ... we"

like

that, you know? That kind of indicates that you're speaking for the

whole.

This is a limited medium, so don't be offended if you're misunderstood.

It

happens a lot No offense intended.

 

> Why do you feel I need your opinion

 

And why do you insist on yours being the 'only' one? Your personal

experience overrides everything? Is that it? I am not *allowed* to post

a

text requesting 'maintain perspective' because *you* deem yourself to be

in

possession of the *only* knowledge or facts? We're bouncing a little

back

and forth here....

 

And I'm quite within my rights to say so what I want about the child

abuse

topic. You don't "own" it. If you feel the need to be 'heard' (even

more)

then take it to a private child abuse forum. If you don't like what I

say,

you don't have to hear it. This is not a child abuse forum. It's a forum

for

discussion on many topics - and I am a member of this forum. I'm not out

to

'get' abused gurukulis, no matter what MRdd has told you privately

 

Braja Sevaki dd