Real Action

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> A fair question. I've been part of ISKCON since 1969-70. I've withdrawn

> from active participation in ISKCON on a couple of occasions because of

> the nonsense perpetrated by its leaders.

 

Thank you, Babhru, for a very open and honest response. I personally think

it brings things to a much more realistic platform when we're dealing with

'personalities' rather than just a name on the screen.

 

The reason I questioned you I made quite clear: you'd made quite a few

comments about ISKCON leaders, so I felt quite within my rights, and within

etiquette, to ask you where you stood. I'm glad you didn't object or find it

challenging.

 

My alarm at the constant bickering about the leaders - past and present - is

simply at the point of frustration because I never hear anything that even

resembles a positive approach or a solution. My experiences with ISKCON have

been good - by choice. I've had several situations where 'authorities' have

tried to restrict my choices, or dominate me in some egotistical way, and

whilst it may effect me for a short time, it's always something I see as my

choice, so who's to blame? Some fool wants to stick around a little bitty

temple lording it over some people just because he can't cut it in the real

world - doesn't appeal to me much at all to align myself with that. They're

welcome to it. Some of the situations I've been in have been life changing,

some are really quite boring, but in the end, it's my choice, and I wouldn't

think that airing it on a forum and talking about it years after the fact

would be beneficial to anyone - least of all myself. So that's why I object

to derogatory comments about ISKCON leadership, that's all. To you, they may

seem 'realistic' comments. To me, they sound like constant criticism.

 

But the most important thing, I think, on a forum such as this where there

are Prabhupada disciples and Prabhupada granddisciples, is that the

etiquette between both disappears. You may be quite within your rights to

discuss your Godbrothers' seeming disqualifications with Mukunda datta

prabhu or any other Godsister or Godbrother, but frankly to do so in a forum

where some of those Godbrothers have disciples, it can breed offensiveness

in those disciples, especially if they have doubts to begin with - and it

is very obvious that this is the case with some disciples here. That's what

I see here. A lot. To be honest, if I ever doubted my guru, I would hate to

be on this forum, and I'd definitely never reveal my mind to this forum,

because I just feel like there are those here who would actually relish that

fact, or take some pleasure in seeing me lose faith in ISKCON and my guru.

 

That is my objection, really. So if you're going to ask what we should

discuss under the auspice of Applied Krishna Consciousness? I would say

"anything" EXCEPT past leaders and the disqualifications (in one's own

opinion) of current leaders. Does that sound fair enough?

 

As for my own history, we just had an exchange on Granddisciples, and are

currently still doing so, about personal histories and how we came to

Krishna consciousness, what we do now etc. Like I said, it personalizes

things in a way nothing else can. Perhaps you should make it one of the

'conference rules'. Anyway, since you asked, I'll send it to you.

 

And if it's *not* and ISKCON forum, then what is it? And what do the PAMHO

operators think of that? We've seen the history, and frankly it's pretty

ugly.

 

Ys,

Braja Sevaki dd