Is ISKCON bankrupt?

[Guest guest]

Will I still be able to visit temples in the future?

[suchandra]

devarsi-bhutapta-nrnam pitrnam

na kinkaro nayam rni ca rajan

sarvatmana yah saranam saranyam

gato mukundam parihrtya kartam

 

“Anyone who has completely surrendered unto Krishna, Mukunda, giving up all other duties, is no longer a debtor, nor is he obliged to anyone—not the demigods, nor the sages, nor the people in general, nor kinsmen, nor humanity, nor forefathers.” (Bhag. 11.5.41) That is the indirect hint given by Krishna to Arjuna in this verse, and the matter will be more clearly explained in the following verses.

_________________________________

 

Devotees are basicly always attacked by the material energy - especially in this age of Kali:

 

Letter from Mantrini devi dasi, Tamohara's wife,

Posted July 16, 2005,

 

While we were in Montreal attending their Rathayatra and joining the Youth Bus Tour for the first leg, we were kidnapped in our truck camper! It is a long sorry tale, but basically while we were sleeping in the camper outside the Montreal temple, our camper truck was car jacked (stolen!) with us in it! We could not see the criminals, we were just jolting around in the back on the phone with the police (who only speak French, mainly...) The upshot was that at the first opportunity to escape, we jumped out of the back in the middle of the street (me barefoot in my nightgown!) Tamohara had the presense of mind to grab his glasses, shoes and my purse, but the thieves got away with all our most important personal belongings, the most dear being our beloved Goura Nitai deties! They basically took our entire house! The Montreal police were very luke warm about chasing after them...they seem to not like Americans, so we have little hope of recovering anything. We count our blessings that we weren't killed in the process...thank Lord Nrsinghadev for that!

 

But, we were forced to cut our trip around to various temples short and were lucky to get back into the U.S. without passports and id's. We are back in Alachua to stay for a while.

 

It is amazing, but devotees have been coming up to us and telling us stories of having their deities stolen...some recovered, some not. We are still devastated by that part of the incident!

 

Anyway, we must depend on the mercy of the Lord and His devotees at all times!

 

your very humbled servants,

Mantrini & Tamohara

 

 

 

 

 

[theist]

Prabhupada's disciples open a center that follows his bhakti program there you will find Iskcon. Do not be concerned if it is a big lavish building or a small rented house. If you want a way to associate with Krsna's devotees have no doubt Krsna will arrange it for you.

[jagatpurush]

the temples will always be intact. it is still possible to be bankrupt, i think, and still maintain some key properties, like temples that are open for the public.

[Kulapavana]

if Iskcon followed the original advice of SP to establish each temple as a separate legal entity with no centralized management, things would have been different.

 

centralization followed the desire for more power to the leaders. local devotees should open and manage their temples, not big corporate organization. then the risks of bankrupcy would have been minimal.

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

 

They don't seem to have any problems.

[suchandra]

Once A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami commented, although India is the land of religion, it will only sincerely take up Gaudiya Vaishnavism through American Vaishnavas demonstrating and showing Indians their own culture.

Something smiliar could now help western Vaishnavism being whipped into shape by Russia's 100 thousand members and sympathizers, 97 registered communities, 22 ashramas-monasteries and about 250 Vaishnava groups.

 

 

CESNUR 2005 International Conference

June 2-5, 2005 – Palermo, Sicily

 

http://www.cesnur.org/2005/pa_falikov.htm

 

...The multimillion arms deals are in the making. Russian vaishnavas meet with Indian dignitaries who come to Russia on official visits (including the former premier Vajpayee) and invite them to pray together (sometimes the invitation is accepted). The ruling nationalist Bharati Janata Party encouraged their efforts to spread the Indian culture abroad but more secular National Congress which regained power last year also doesn’t mind it. It’s not surprising they got a permission of Moscow government for building a new temple in Moscow as the old one was demolished during reconstruction of the city. The mayor Yuri Luzhkov thought he was promoting Indian-Russian friendship this way. The protest campaign of orthodox fundamentalists and anticultists followed with noisy public rallies in downtown Moscow under slogans like “Hindu fundamentalists kill Christians in India, there’s no place for them in Moscow!” The Moscow Krishnas organized press-conferences and arranged interactive radio and TV debates with anticultists’ leaders. The radio audience (the debate took place at a liberal station “Echo of Moscow”) supported Krishnas, but more conservative TV audience gave a victory to their opponents (the program “To the barrier!” at NTV channel)[16]. The poll was also taken at the Internet site Credo.Ru, mostly attended by religious affairs experts, which overwhelmingly supported the Krishnas’ right for a temple.[17] Hindu community of Moscow signed a letter asking for the place to worship. But more important the Russian defense minister Sergey Ivanov was on visit to India at the time and signed a contract for a sale of Russian aircraft carrier for almost 700 million dollars. Its Russian name was subsequently changed for Akramaditya (the Indian prince and Krishna worshiper). Luzhkov hesitated for a while but then granted building permission again. Being sixtish Moscow mayor doubtless remembered as the Soviet people were taught to greet Jawaharlal Nehru in Hindi on his visits to Russian capital – “Hindi-Rusi bhai bhai!” (Hindus and Russians are brothers!). As the National Congress came to power in India Russian vaishnavas hurried to meet with Sonya Gandhi and enlisted her support for building a temple. Orthodox church still doesn’t drop the efforts to influence the government but the latter has its own interests in the affair and it’s more or less obvious now that the temple project will be realized though in a much downscaled version.

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It’s evident that Hare Krishnas have taken root in changing Russian society. With their about 100 thousand members and sympathizers, 97 registered communities, 22 ashramas-monasteries and about 250 religious groups they are to stay in Russia.[18] Their refusal to storm heaven and well measured politics of cultural integration through open dialogue with society at large let them avoid pitfalls of their Western counterparts. The only split that took place happened in 1998 when Harikesha Swami who personally initiated many Russian devotees renounced his monastic vows and left ISKCON. Then about one hundred of his Russian followers mostly in St.Petersburg left the movement and captured the temple. But in 3-4 years the group of schismatics disintegrated and now there are no more than 10 people in it united mostly by economic but not spiritual interests.[19] The vaishnavas who were initiated by Harikesha Swami had to be reinitiated. Among them was Bhakti Vigyan Goswami himself who was reinitiated by the other well known pupil of Bhaktivedanta - Radhanath Swami.

 

Judging by the results of interactive radio and TV debates of Krishnas with their orthodox adversaries Russian public recognizes their right to existence. The further to the East from Moscow – the more so. It makes one think that cultural and religious identity of Russia is not as well defined as the Orthodox Church would like it to be.

 

Russian authorities also tend to tolerate them more than the other groups blacklisted by anticultists as “totalitarian sects”. The foreign policy interests obviously prevail over the customary government’s support of the Orthodox Church.

 

Anticultists and orthodox fundamentalists will go on to fight them as a threat to spiritual monopoly of the Russian Orthodox Church. And the threat they are! In their official declarations Russian vaishnavas are careful to insist that they don’t proselytize among Russian public and accept candidates for initiation only after a long probation period. They call for interreligious dialogue and seem to be ready for it. But as long as the Russian Church doesn’t do its own missionary and educational work properly and concentrates only on the counter-mission, fighting “sects and cults”, it will lose at least some young people to Hare Krishnas. Those who are looking for strong mystical experience and don’t care if it’s given by a foreign faith. As Russia becomes more and more a part of the globalizing world there will be more of such people. And the only chance for the Church to retain them is not to stress its Russianness and thus “the birth right” for all Russian souls (which it does now) but to tap its own sources of mystical experience. When Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada went to America he accented not his hinduness but the universal appeal of love for God. And he offered an accessible way to realize this love in kirtanas. A good lesson for missionaries of all faiths to learn.

 

 

 

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

 

The fact that Most of Iskcon still refuces to acknowledge Gaudiya Matha, maybe not so bad in itself. But most are offensive. Plus political hypocracy is there.. I don't know why that is niether can I sence anybody making a solution. Maybe it is because we are forgetting to love Krishna.

[theist]

 

Maybe it is because we are forgetting to love Krishna.

 

 

When we balk at the idea of genuine love for the Lord the fall back position is often religon. And religious organizations offer plenty to keep our minds off loving Krsna, like ritual, expanding membership, acquiring property etc. which are not so bad in themselves but are no substitute for the real thing and at this point are used as a distraction.

 

But the modes are always shifting. And the shakey platform of religious involment can morph into inter organizational intrigue, competiton with other oraganizations that come to be seen as rivals vying for members and territory.

 

The only stable platform for a vaisnava is love for Krsna. There is no substitute.