Guest guest Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Written by Krishna Kirti Prabhu - Social Analysis ======================================================================== from: http://siddhanta.com/ ======================================================================== Four Trends That Changed ISKCON In Srila Prabhupada's presence during the mid 1970s, there occurred an infamous rift between renunciates (sannyasis, brahmacharis) and grihastas. After the dispute reached a certain level of acrimony, Srila Prabhupada stepped in, spoke on the basis of shastra (scripture), and settled the dispute. Up until the 1990s, this was how most disputes were settled—authority figures stepped in, spoke from shastra, and ended the conflict. Even in the guru-reform era, which was from the mid-1980s to the beginning of the 1990s, the zonal-acharya dispute was settled when the former authorities discredited themselves and another group established itself as the new authority. Beginning with the 1990s, however, other conflicts arose that appeared immune to the control of authority. These new disputes were highly politicized and often involved one or more parties that lobbied the rest of ISKCON to accommodate some aspect of Western culture. Some of the initiatives have included rights for women, instituting elections for members of ISKCON's Governing Body Commission (GBC), and a recent petition for ISKCON to institute a "Zero Tolerance" policy for child abuse—all of them familiar social causes that have defined the West. >From the 1990s through the present, conflict between Eastern and Western culture has been the locus of ISKCON's current social unrest, and the resolution of such conflicts have been primarily sought through political action. When a number of events and scandals weakened the old authority structure Srila Prabhupada had formerly established, the presiding authority figures had to become more attentive to the demands and views of its members. Over time, this weakening of authority resulted in ISKCON's culture becoming less autocratic and more democratic, and this in turn made ISKCON more susceptible to outside cultural forces than it had been previously. This essay will attempt to identify some of the most important events and social trends that have significantly changed ISKCON as an institution and how its members view both their own society and the world at large. Four Social Trends >From the early 1990s into the new millennium there emerged four important social trends that profoundly changed ISKCON: * ISKCON's loss of control over its economy. * The guru reform movement's insufficient gains and regression. * The rise of a women's suffrage movement within ISKCON. * Child abuse within the institution's schools and the activism that grew around it. Economy By the early 1990s, ISKCON lost control over its economy. This loss of control meant that most of its members had to seek their livelihood outside of ISKCON's institution. Because their sustenance no longer came from ISKCON, ISKCON's leaders lost much influence in dictating how their subordinates conducted their lives. Sociologist and long-time ISKCON observer E Burke Rochford, Jr., wrote, As we have seen, Prabhupada's disciples, and those of his guru successors, only became further entangled in the outside culture during the 1980s and 1990s. As Prabhupada predicted, the absence of a functioning movement culture left ISKCON and its membership vulnerable to the influence of mainstream North American culture. Although so many former ashram residents became engaged in outside culture, they were still seen as insiders, not outsiders. This realignment of cultural tendencies of a large class of devotees who were considered insiders would later have a profound influence on ISKCON's core culture and would be decisive in determining how later crises were handled. Guru Reform The guru-reform movement of the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s was a considerable improvement over the zonal-acharya system it replaced. However, it never satisfactorily solved the problem that had discredited the zonal-acharya system in the first place: unsteadiness in the matter of maintaining required moral standards. Everyone expected that the guru-reform movement would automatically correct the unsteadiness of character that discredited the zonal-acharya system, but it didn't. Later reform efforts such as instituting stricter criteria and a waiting list for awarding sannyasa proved to restore a measure of faith in ISKCON's leadership and their system for approving and monitoring gurus. The most important, unresolved shortcoming of the guru-reform movement, however, was that the leadership never afforded a comprehensive explanation that accounted for the frequency of failed leaders. ISKCON's leadership saw each fall down as an isolated, individual case and publicly reported each case as such. Yet it seemed obvious to most devotees (especially those who were initiated multiple times) that there was some underlying cause or misunderstanding at work. This led to a resurgence of ritvikism (the proxy-guru theory) in the mid-1990s, and this revival of ritvikism was more radical and extreme in its ideology than its failed predecessor of the 1980s. What this new ritvik movement succeeded to do where its predecessor failed was create a sustainable political movement around its own version of the proxy-guru theory. This movement, the IRM (ISKCON Revival Movement), although officially designated by ISKCON as heretical and its members indefinitely expelled from ISKCON property and functions, it continues to fight for political control over ISKCON. Sadhu, Shastra, and Srila Prabhupada Deemphasized The resurgence of ritvikism, however, was not the most significant result of what many devotees perceived as unacceptably high rates of fall down among ISKCON's gurus and sannyasis. The most significant outcome was that it broadly undermined their institutional authority and undermined the tradition they represented. This in turn led to adding further weight to the authority of Srila Prabhupada's published literature. Srila Prabhupada's writings have always been the primary authority for ISKCON's members. However, with this added weight to the authority of Srila Prabhupada's published works (over and above what it had formerly been), other sources of authority such as tradition and the teachings of previous, recognized acharyas became deemphasized. Although this deemphasis was unintentional, in the minds of some devotees it had the effect of detaching Srila Prabhupada's writings from its Gaudiya Vaisnava literary tradition. This disconnect made Srila Prabhupada's writings more susceptible to manipulation and creative interpretation. For some, this resulted in virtually discrediting the teachings of previous acharyas in the disciplic succession or discrediting significant sections of Srila Prabhupada's own published literature. Their radical ideologies practically required them to do so. In defense of their radical interpretations of Srila Prabhupada's teachings, they would say that some specific teaching may have been relevant in another time, place, and circumstance but today is no longer applicable. Ritvikism was one notable result of this mode of thinking, and another was ISKCON's women's rights movement. Although these two movements have very different objectives, both presume that Srila Prabhupada's teachings are more of a radical departure from tradition rather than a continuation of it. As can be seen from these two statements, one from the IRM's Final Order and the other from a meeting of senior Vaisnavis (women devotees) in Mayapura, the key similarities are their nearly identical claims that on the basis of higher, abstract religious principles, Srila Prabhupada broke with tradition and introduced a new and radical spiritual practice: "The important point is that although the ritvik system may be totally unique, . . . it does not violate higher order sastric principles. It is testament to Srila Prabhupada's genius that he was able to mercifully apply such sastric principles in new and novel ways according to time, place, and circumstance." (Final Order, page 31) "Vedic life, as extolled in our scriptures, is highly interpretive. Understanding what is truly Vedic is elusive. Srila Prabhupada, taught us about Vedic society and the role of varnashram in elevating society, but he did not practically speaking, engage his spiritual daughters within such a system. They were active preachers, pujaris, cooks, etc. Srila Prabhupada in fact, introduced a new model with new standards; one based on preaching." (Meeting of senior Vaishnavis. Feb 18, 2004, Mayapura) Prominent in both statements are two ideas: Srila Prabhupada introduced something radically new and that tradition is irrelevant (at least for their respective causes). Of course, there are number of confirmed examples of shastric injunctions that Srila Prabhupada himself said were no longer applicable today. Yet what is being recast as irrelevant are injunctions or teachings where it is possible, without much difficulty, to make a strong case for their continued relevance. The ritviks, however, sidestepped problematic statements with an appeal to "higher order shastric principles" and the women's rights supporters sidestepped statements they found disagreeable with an appeal to example and practical action. For the most part, all of this was made possible by radically elevating the status of Srila Prabhupada's authority and personality at the expense of weakening if not abandoning other traditional checks on speculative drift. The irony is that efforts to strengthen Srila Prabhupada's authority, to put him "back in the center", ended up weakening his authority and removing him further from the center of ISKCON. Women's Suffrage and ISKCON I've extensively documented the rise and successes of ISKCON's suffragette movement in an essay titled "Language, Ideology, and the Women's Movement in ISKCON". However, one thing that can be added to what has already been written is that the widespread falldown of ISKCON gurus was largely seen by many also as a blow against ISKCON's patriarchal authority. Since it appeared that after Srila Prabhupada's departure patriarchy in ISKCON did not work out, social gender-egalitarianism ("equal rights") quickly reasserted itself. In the wake of so many falldowns there was no idea or group that could substantially oppose it. Within ISKCON, gender-egalitarianism is not a new thing, but Srila Prabhupada and the renunciates who represented him after he passed on kept it in check. Their influence on the rest of ISKCON's core members was something like the influence of a powerful, conquering army on the culture of a foreign country. Once the conquerors are perceived as weak and vulnerable, the patriotic resistance forms and works to overthrow the invaders. A similar thing happened within ISKCON: once its patriarchal authority, represented by gurus and sannyasis, was perceived to be weak or lacking authority, a resistance movement arose to overthrow the "oppressive", patriarchal system. Eventually, this movement succeeded. In March 2000, the GBC in their annual meeting overwhelmingly and enthusiastically endorsed laws and guidelines that reflected this newly established gender-egalitarianism. Child Abuse More can be said about the philosophical and theological implications of the establishment of gender-egalitarianism, but ISKCON's child abuse scandals likely did more to discredit ISKCON's old authority than anything else. Aside from actual and egregious neglect and misbehavior on the part of some of ISKCON's leaders, their loss of control over ISKCON's economy created a large class of devotees who were financially independent of ISKCON and who could now literally afford to criticize their authorities. Since many of these financially independent devotees also had long and distinguished records of service within ISKCON's institution, they were seen as insiders, not outsiders--even if their means of livelihood and the vast majority of their time was spent outside of the temple. Their voices and demands could not be ignored by the leadership. The exodus of householders from ISKCON temples, as Rochford pointed out, realigned them with Western culture and thought. Hence, their demands for reform would have a distinctly Western pattern. As Dhira Govinda Prabhu (David B. Wolf, Ph.D.) observed in his essay "Child Abuse and the Hare Krishnas," their demands reflected their felt need to be accepted by the larger society they were now culturally more aligned with: "Currently, the vast majority of devotees are concerned that their religion be integrated into society as a church, rather than a cultish sect, and thus such responses as were formerly accepted are rejected in favor of views more representative of the larger society, including an emphasis on rehabilitation and mental health therapy, and involving governmental social service and law enforcement agencies when child abuse is suspected. Jenkins, describing the effect of child abuse scandals on the American Catholic Church, wrote, "In the 1980s the American Catholic church was still sufficiently different to excite criticism, but its members no longer responded by 'circling the wagons,' as they had so predictably in the past. .. . Whereas once the religious institutions would have been thought worthy of enforcing internal standards of behavior and morality, the current trend is to seek external controls from the civil and criminal law, and to impose the value systems of nonreligious groups. . . . The clergy-abuse scandals demonstrated a near collapse of public confidence in the integrity of church institutions" Similarly, ISKCON is clearly sufficiently different from mainstream society to attract public outrage for scandals such as child abuse, but the great majority of devotees are no longer inspired to rally around the organization in defense of ineffective social policy and practice." (Wolf 339) Among ISKCON's members, the popular demand for Western culture is reflected in the current popularity of psychotherapy and demand for self-fulfillment seminars. The sheer number of devotees who have sought advanced education and training in the areas of counseling, social work, and clinical psychology is yet another indication of the strong trend to accommodate Western culture and ways of thinking. Consequences of These Trends and new Ethical Dilemmas These trends raise serious questions about the future direction of ISKCON, and a number of ISKCON's devotees suspect that these trends are against the best interests of ISKCON and its members. Over the last 30 years we have seen that it is possible to use Srila Prabhupada teachings as a means for furthering agendas Srila Prabhupada himself never would have endorsed. Shastra, Gender-based Social Roles, and Family Life Revisited The rise of gender-egalitarianism as a preferred social norm within ISKCON raises questions about the validity and authority of tradition and shastra itself. If patriarchy is inherently oppressive, then why has it been the case that all the societies Krishna has personally appeared in have been distinctly patriarchal? As recommended in the shastras, including the Bhagavatam, Krishna conscious social theory and practice is overtly patriarchal. As we have seen, in order to maintain the notion that patriarchy is inherently oppressive, it has been necessary to discount tradition and extensive portions of Srila Prabhupada's own relevant statements on the matter. Furthermore, we have seen that modern, industrialized countries that have become gender-egalitarian societies are unable to reproduce themselves in sufficient numbers to maintain their culture. Europe, for example, has an average Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.4 children. For Europe, this means that over their lifetimes, every 10 women will produce an average of fourteen children. However, to maintain a stable population in an industrialized country, it requires the same number of women to produce 21 children during their lives. (TFR of 2.1) A 2.1 TFR means that a population neither grows nor shrinks—it replenishes itself. But a 1.4 TFR means that each successive generation will be 1/3 smaller than the previous generation, and that plays havoc with economies. To maintain their economies, these countries have resorted to massive immigration to make up for shortfalls in their populations. As a result, European culture has been slowly shifting toward the culture of its immigrants, who happen to be predominantly North African or Arabic Muslims. Feminism and low levels of fertility are closely linked, and Western civilization embraces feminism. If Western civilization cannot maintain its own cultural identity on account of being crowded out by its more fecund competitors, then would this not be a vindication of the very portions of shastra and tradition that have been dismissed by ISKCON's advocates of gender equality? Medicalization of Wrongdoing On May 18th, a former gurukula student of ISKCON named Ananda das McClure committed suicide. Soon afterwards, among devotees at all levels within ISKCON there arose a groundswell of opprobrium directed at Dhanurdhara Swami, who they believe is primarily responsible for his suicide. This expression of popular sentiment raises questions of fidelity to ISKCON's spiritual tradition. Is Ananda das's suicide, and others after him, to be treated primarily as a bad decision on his part or are his actions to be medicalized and primarily treated as someone else's fault? If the former, that he made a bad decision, then that is consistent with the notion that the soul can transcend its past and rise above adverse circumstances. If the latter, that personal decision is irrelevant, then that is consistent with the notion that the soul is not transcendental and is always at the mercy of the material energy. According to Vaisnava shastra and tradition, suicide is a sinful act. It is based on the notion of false proprietorship of the body. If we are not the body, then we do not have a right to dispose of it as we please. Like suicide, murder takes away someone who works every day to feed and care for others. People close to the person who took his own life experience grief, and it puts his dependents in real difficulty. Since murder and suicide both have near-identical outcomes, for all practical purposes suicide is murder. Yet it is not possible to consider suicide reprehensible and sinful unless we also accept that the person who committed suicide had the ability and opportunity to weigh the consequences of his decision. An animal cannot sin because an animal is compelled to act according to its own nature. Medicalizing the act of suicide is therefore a kind of denial of one's humanity. The medicalization of wrongdoing has social consequences that reach far beyond acts of suicide. Here is a particularly poignant example of the moral reasoning that follows from the medicalization of misbehavior: (bold emphasis added) "I was abused for years in an ISKCON gurukula, and to this day I can't come to terms with what happened. I tried telling my parents about it but they would not listen. I tried telling others, including prominent authorities, but, again, no one wanted to listen. Often I was told that reporting the abuse was the worst kind of offense. Friends deserted me in droves. Today I'm married to a very supportive wife. But between the ages of 16 and 25 ( I am now 34), I tried suicide, got arrested, married, got divorced, moved about ten times, all to try to find peace, and I still seek it." (Chakra) Notice that he places the responsibility for his own marital misbehavior and criminal actions on someone else. He does not consider himself guilty of wrongdoing because he sees his own wrongdoing as a medical condition instead of as a bad choice. Who has medicalized wrongdoing? It is fair to say that as a science and profession, psychology has over the last half century been responsible. ISKCON's efforts to "heal" its students, however, have primarily relied on modern psychology. If wrongdoing is medicalized and recipients of therapy internalize this conception of wrongdoing, then are ISKCON's efforts to "heal" its students only further implicating them in immorality? Conclusion What direction will ISKCON take, and what will be its final destination? At this point we do not know. Any decision can be made, and anything can happen. One of the biggest problems ISKCON faces is its members' willingness to break with tradition. What recognized acharyas within and outside of our parampara have said, and the traditions they have said it in, is an authorized check and balance on speculative drift. Much of this willingness to break with tradition is indirectly the result of large numbers of ISKCON's core members becoming realigned with Western culture. Although leaving ashram life on account of economic necessity had more to do with this than any other cause, many devotees nevertheless feel a strong desire to become "respectable" in the eyes of the greater public. They no longer want to be seen as being on the fringe of society. They want a pious yet "normal" life. They seek acceptance and friendship not simply from other devotees but also from their non-devotee family members, coworkers, employers, and neighbors. They want to be on the "same page" with everyone else, but getting there has meant accommodating some beliefs and attitudes that are incompatible with Krishna consciousness. It has also meant jettisoning some Krishna conscious beliefs the non-devotees find unquestionably objectionable. For a devotee to accommodate Western culture with his practice of Krishna consciousness, it would be necessary to adopt a way of understanding Srila Prabhupada's teachings that gave more freedom of interpretation than tradition ordinarily allowed for. At the heart of this almost visceral desire to accommodate Western culture are patterns of viewing literature that privileges the intentions of the reader over the intentions of the author. Some devotees privilege Srila Prabhupada's actions (and whatever significance they ascribe to his actions) over the spoken and written word, no matter how explicit and consistent with tradition those words might have been. This has also led to efforts to problematize or obfuscate instructions that are otherwise explicit and consistent with the entirety of other such statements. Accommodation has also meant that the more abstract aspects of religion are given more emphasis. The more abstract a religion becomes, the more heterodox its practice becomes. In this view, exemplary acts are seen more as arbitrary cultural expressions that vary from culture to culture. According to this view, acts that point to cowardice in one culture may be bravery in another. An inappropriate display of affection in one culture may be regarded as acceptable in another. For example, it can be argued that just because most people described in the shastras got married by the arrangement of elders, it does not follow that arranged marriages are any better than "love marriages". Those who make this argument might further say that getting married is what matters; how you get married is an arbitrary cultural detail constructed by a particular society in a particular time, place, and circumstance. Once this line of reasoning is accepted, however, we lose the shining examples of great saintly people in the shastras. How do you follow in the footsteps of saintly people if their footsteps are as good as anyone else's footsteps, perhaps no better than our own? If to us purpose is all that matters, and that's all we care about, then once we have our list of abstract virtues we can happily do our own thing according to our own tastes. Hence, the more abstract a religion becomes, the more heterodox it becomes: Yatha mat tatha path. This is going on. Everyone will say something, and it is all right. However nonsense it may be, it is all right. Even Gandhi followed that philosophy. Therefore he invented one, another philosophy, nonviolence, which is impossible. When Hindus approached him, that "You have got so much influence over the Mohammedans, so why not stop cow killing?" he said, "It is their religious principle. How can I interfere?" Just see. Srila Prabhupada. Morning Walk -- October 3, 1975, Mauritius Works Cited Central Intelligence Agency. "Total Fertility Rate" 20 Jul 2006 World Factbook 26 Jul 2006 <https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2127.html> "Total Fertility Rate" 20 Jul 2006 Wikipedia. 26 Jul 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility_rate> "Still Seeking Peace." 4 Jun 2006. Chakra <http://chakra.org/discussions/GurJun04_06_02.html> Desai, Krishnakant. The Final Order: The legal, philosophical and documentary evidence supporting Srila Prabhupada’s rightful position as ISKCON’s Initiating Guru. Bangalore: ISKCON Revival Movement (IRM), 2002. Rochford, E. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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