Guest guest Posted November 18, 1998 Report Share Posted November 18, 1998 "In the initial conference texts, the GHQ members were more freely showing their true color and frequently referred to ISKCON women as "obnoxious", "feminazis" and even as not having souls, to the "ISKCON Women's Ministry" as the "ISKCON Whore Ministry" and to the "International Women's Conference" as the "International Witches Conference"." Dear Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Earlier this day I received a letter from Syamasundara Prabhu, who advised me to withdraw myself from all controversial conferences, saying that, by arguing with Basu Gosh Prabhu, who is in all respects my senior, I, a junior, was breaking Vaisnava etiquette and committing Vaisnava aparadha. He advised me to stop my discussions, so as not to cut myself on this razorblade of spiritual life. This advise he gave on the basis of my astrological chart. Three years ago I had sent him my birth data to become a member of his conference called Vedic Astrology, and now he used that information to stop me from discussing social and philosophical issues on certain conferences, namely Grhastha Culture Dialogue, Varnasrama Development and (ISKCON) Social and Economic Development Conference. I took his advice, since it (minimizing my time on COM) was already something that I had wanted to do. Therefore I wrote a public statement, saying goodbye to all the members of these conferences, expressing why I considered myself unfit for further participation in these conferences, and begging the members forgiveness for the offenses I might have committed. I will not join these conferences again, but I now realize that Syamasundara Prabhu has misused my birth data, the science of astrology and his position as an older Vaisnava. When I went on COM to send my letter, I simultaneously received a text from a friend of mine. The text dealt with a conspiracy that certain devotees are partaking in. I was shocked to read the names of those with whom I had communicated these last few days: Basu Gosh, Jivan Mukta, Guru Krishna, Ameyatma and others with whom I had had discussions previously, like Jaya Tirtha Caran, Vidvan Gauranga, Rasananda Swami, Bhakti Vikasa Swami, or about whom I had my doubts, like Danavir dasa Goswami and others. To my great shock the founder and main leader of the conspiracy was the very Syamasundara Prabhu who had written the letter as my "well-wisher". Actually he simply "wished" that I would stop challenging his friends and political campaign on these conferences. Thus he misused astrology in his nefarious scheme. This I consider a serious transgression. I call it Star Wars. I recommend all Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis to read at least some of the following texts. They expose a major conspiracy going on, even within the sacred walls of what we still define as "Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON". As far as Syamasundara Prabhu's advice is concerned, that: "I will venture to predict (I am an astrologer) that you are entering into a very unfavorable time in your life as X transits over your X while X shortly transits over your Major period lord X. During such unfavorable times persons are liable to make very egregious errors which will have serious ramifications down the road. My prescription to you is to do everything you can to keep your mind peaceful. The first thing is to personally apologize to all devotees you may have offended. ... Second, to remove yourself from all conferences on COM that have any controversy on them. In other words practically all of them except maybe "jokes". We could all use a good laugh to help us from taking ourselves too seriously. Third thing is keep a very low profile. If persons criticize you just take it, it will soon die down." My position is this: I may suffer or go to hell by exposing this conspiracy, I don't care. Truth and justice is what counts to me. Dear Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis, please read the following texts, and judge for yourself. If anyone wants to discuss things with me, please do so in private letters. yatra yogesvarah krsno yatra partho dhanur-dharah tatra srir VIJAYO bhutir dhruva NITIR matir mama All glories to Partha-sarathi! Satyam eva jayate! Your servant, bhakta Ivar. November 18, 1998 Conspiracy To Terminate The ISKCON Women's Ministry ------ BY ARDHABUDDHI DASA USA, Nov 18 (VNN) - On September 28, 1998, a secret COM conference called GHQ was launched by a small group of men known to oppose the ISKCON Women's Ministry. Originally organized by Shyamasundara (the astrologer), the goal of this conference was to turn back the clock on the recent progress made by ISKCON Vaisnavis in their struggle to be recognized as individuals with the right to serve guru and Krsna according to their propensities. The men appear to have been inspired by their discussions on the COM conference "Dharma of Women" (recently strategically renamed "Dharma of Men and Women") in which they tried to explain many current ISKCON problems as being due to women not acting according to Vedic principles. These men have been known to selectively use quotes by Srila Prabhupada, Manu Samitha and Chanakya Pandit to blame everything from divorce to wife abuse on the women's attitudes and behaviors. As illustrated in the following statement made by Shyamasudara in a letter to Jasomatinandana, it is obvious that they considered themselves to be in a state of war. In an early text, Shyamasundara wrote: "We are seriously organizing a counteroffensive against the feminists who are a plague in our movement. We need your help. We have set up a central command post and are seeking out devotees who can help in this mission." (see below for full text) As of mid September, this conference consisted of a core of up to 17 men, plus other sympathizers who were brought into the discussions on an "as-needed" basis. These GHQ conference members were Basu Ghosh (das) ACBSP (Baroda - IN), Bhakti Vikasa Swami, Bhanu Swami (Madras - IN), Danavir das Goswami (USA), Dayaram (das) JPS (Mayapur - IN), Goloka Candra (das) JPS (Malaysia), Guru-Krsna (das) HDG (Alachua, FL - USA), Jasomatinandan (das) ACBSP (Gujarat - IN), Jaya Tirtha Charan (das) JPS, Jivan Mukta (das) TSI (Back to Basics) (Ontario - CAN), Krishna Kirti (das) HDG (Baltimore - USA), Prithu (das) ACBSP, Rasananda Swami (USA), Shyamasundara (das) ACBSP (Florida Vedic College -USA), Svavasa (das) ACBSP (NA-BBT), Trivikrama Swami, Vidvan Gauranga (das) JPS (Mayapur - IN), and Ameyatma Dasa. The group also included Sadhusangananda, TP of ISKCON Boston, although due to his travel schedule, he was not very active initially. Jivanmukta's wife Sita was the only woman active in these discussions. One of her main roles appears to have been to leak texts from the "International Women's Conference" on COM to the GHQ members and do search folio for quotes intended to disempower women. As can be seen in the first text below, they used their secret conference to brainstorm strategies to terminate the women's ministry (including many discussions on whether these efforts should concentrate on damaging the reputations of Vaisnavi leaders or of the male ISKCON leaders who support the women's ministry), share research, collect dossiers of "dirt" on opponents in an effort to discredit them, pre-empt women's concerns by pretending to care about their protection, strategize how to get women to lose their cool on COM while they themselves appeared as gentlemen, identify high level supporters/ ambivalent leaders /opponents, get feminism declared a form of atheism or mayavada philosophy, organize campaigns to protest official statements by the Women's Ministry etc. Their ultimate goal was (and still is) to write a proposal to the GBC to terminate the women's ministry and to limit service opportunities for ISKCON Vaisnavis. The members spent considerable time trying to identify possible GBC level supporters and opponents (see COM text 1737640 below). Using the analogy of "triage" in war, in which medical personnel have to quickly identify soldiers whose injuries are treatable vs. life-threatening. Shyamasundara proposed dividing ISKCON leaders into 3 categories, namely: "1) Pro-Vedic, 2) Unidentified or loyalty unknown at this time, and 3) Purvapakshin." Efforts were made to enlist the members in the first category in support of their upcoming proposal. In Shyamasundara's words "Those in group 2 should be preached to vigorously so that they support us or show their colors." In contrast, "Purvapakshins" should be discredited or simply ignored. One of the much-discussed strategies in the GHQ focused on how to pre-empt the legitimate concerns of ISKCON vaisnavis. The most popular strategy for accomplishing this is illustrated in the following quote from one of their texts: "as a tactic (following BSST in the brahmana and vaishnava debate) put their concern as our first concern. Then we put the second concern to show how to deal with the first concern in reality. What do you all think? Before they jump in and show fingers to us as if we are abusing the women, we point fingers at the men and deal with this. So now they have nothing to point fingers at." This quote clearly shows that these men are not genuinely interested in women's concerns but that they would simply use calls for the protection of women to advance their own cause, i.e. control of women. Many of the GHQ texts were also devoted to discussing the members' public replies to different COM texts. One of the most discussed such texts involved a letter written by Jasomatinandana, in which he criticized Malati's GBC appointment. Although no GHQ members appeared capable of realizing why mainstream devotees had been offended by Jasomatinandana's text, they agreed that it might be best if they tone down future attacks for tactical reasons. They also spent a fair amount of time analyzing and criticizing men who appeared to support the objectives of the women's ministry. The following statement by Jivanmukta (in response to a letter written by Hari Sauri in support of Malati) illustrates clearly the tone of such texts. Jivanmukta wrote (see below for full text) "It is men like Hari Sauri that are at the root of our problems. It is men like him that undermine a husband's authority over his wife. Instead of seizing the moment to preach to her and show her the path of dharma, how she should follow her prescribed duty etc. he wimps out and encourages her! Who said this guy is on our side anyway? He is a total embarrassment!" In the initial conference texts, the GHQ members were more freely showing their true color and frequently referred to ISKCON women as "obnoxious", "feminazis" and even as not having souls, to the "ISKCON Women's Ministry" as the "ISKCON Whore Ministry" and to the "International Women's Conference" as the "International Witches Conference". In one text, Shyamasundara asked Jaya Tirtha Caran "How do you feel about the feminists in ISKCON?". JTC replied "Mmmmmmmm! I must admit although they appear to be spirit souls like those of us either wearing male or female bodies, in actually they have no soul. Yes, you guessed it, I really can't stand them,..." (see below for full text). In later texts, the men appear to have realized that by showing their true feelings so openly on the conference, they may also later inadvertently slip up and use these offensive labels in public. They therefore devised a system of referring to their opponents either as "purvapakshins" or by their initials only. Since this change was only tactical and cosmetic, it appears clear that we can not take seriously any claims made by these men that they are interested in bringing back "Vedic culture" to ISKCON. Some of the conference members appear to be very skilled in the art of deception. For example, Vidvan Gauranga writes (in response to a question of whether he feels up to debating Sudharma and Pranada of the women's ministry): "No I am not afraid of being intimidated. I am just playing the same game they are playing. They try to get support by saying "Ah! we are called feminazis!" etc. So I am also crying out, "Ah! I am called a woman-hater! Ah!" hi hi hi When you fight, you have to use the same kind of weaponry that the opponent uses." He also explained to a concerned fellow GHQ member why he had expressed faith that the Women's Ministry was "doing something to stop feminist preaching". VG replied to this concern in the following way: "I have to say like that because only then will they start listening to us. Otherwise, they will turn a deaf ear to us, even if we speak in accordance with Prabhupada, Sadhu and Sastra. They are women, so you have to be emotional, sensitive and diplomatic with them. To NOT do so, I opine, is not strategic." Although the GHQ members typically insist that opponents always quote sastra, they seem to hold themselves to a somewhat lower standard: Shyamasundara wrote: "A man of sense only trifles with them [women], plays with them, humors and flatters them, as he does with a sprightly and forward child; but he neither consults them about, nor trusts them with, serious matters." Earl of Chesterfield. To which Vidvan Gauranga replied: "Good stuff. Bhaktividya Purna Maharaja told me the same thing." And these are the same men who are currently bashing their opponents all over COM for even daring to use "logic and common sense" if this process does not involve quoting sastra. In an ironic twist of fate, the conference organizers must have had some kind of insight into the devious nature of their scheme. During the last days of the conference, one member commented that the "COM Gods" may not be pleased by their efforts and might thus arrange to have them exposed. The conference was therefore recently taken off COM and continued privately. Unfortunately for the members, this insight came too late. Before the conference went off the air, one of its members had second thoughts. Although he agreed with many of the traditional views expressed by the others, he found their modus operandum to be distasteful and therefore decided to share the plans with Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis worldwide. Although we will respect his wish to remain anonymous, we greatly appreciate the courage he showed by sharing these texts with us. Selected GHQ texts are presented below, so that the readers can judge the mood of these men for themselves: ------ (Continued in Part 2) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 19, 1998 Report Share Posted November 19, 1998 > Whether all this you're are saying is truth or not, this is a movement > for developing Krsna's Conciousness, your mail are too > loooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnggggggggg to read them all, and is very > difficult to go on reading when you are blaming senior devotees and Gurus. > That is very dangerous to see. and very unhealthy for my spiritual life. Well, if you choose to close your eyes, that is up to you. I for one am very happy to get to know what is going on behind the curtains. > If they are doing all this, leave them with, it's their problem because > they will never reach the spiritual world, but if it is not true, you're > making an big apparadha, and this is very dangerous for your life. Many of the quotes are direct copies of exact com-texts, with numbers and everything. If it is true, it is not good to just leave them with it, in my opinion. Personally, I have never seen anything "within" ISKCON which resembles fascism more than what I read in these texts. Ys Jkd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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