04/18/98 - 1750

We Need The Women

USA (VNN) - by Dharmapada Dasa

Ladies, Please Reconsider!

I was reading Volume 22 of Priti-lakshanam recently, which basically dealt with the women's conference in Los Angeles last December. It was very uplifting to see that abuses of the past are being brought out in the open and dealt with now. I also received some very harsh treatment from my Godbrothers in ISKCON, which I will probably be bitter about until I go to my grave. Actually, I shouldn't remain so bitter; those experiences were the result of my own activities from previous lives, but it is so.

Anyway, there was still something which seemed out of place about the whole report, and it didn't take me long to put my finger on it. It seemed that my Godsisters were considering their particular set of problems apart from the problems of ISKCON as a whole. They probably want it that way. That way, any other politics won't confuse the issues. Their problems will be considered based on the merit of those problems, nothing more. And their problems are worthy of attention in their own right.

But the current state of affairs in ISKCON practically constitute an emergency- there exists the threat of collapse, division and failure, our founder-acharya has been minimized, and we hear tell of misuse of funds on a huge scale, too. Given this scenario, the idea of considering the problems of women in the movement without keeping one eye on the pulse of ISKCON is akin to the passengers and crew of a sinking ship analysing their inter-relationships and not concentrating their efforts on saving the ship.

We need the women. They are half of the population of the world, if not more, and probably half of the population of the Hare Krishna movement. How can one solve a problem without the participation of half of the population? One devotee, Bimala Dasi, said on page three of the Priti- lakshanam issue" ... the time has come - we're being called upon - to accept that we are the leaders." And I agree. Women should lead the fight to help clean up the movement, in every which way.

One of the big problems facing ISKCON is that certain powerful gurus, whom we trusted as leaders, have chalked out the right for themselves (don't ask me how) to siphon off the resources of the movement in the name of guru dakshine. Specifically, their disciples are seen as " theirs," separate from ISKCON, such that they leave a photo of Shrila Prabhupada on the altars and maybe enough devotees in the temple to keep the temples from going under completely, while they themselves make off with hundereds of thousands per year. It's not hard to see where this will lead, as the Prabhupada disciples are getting older every day. This situation is similar to the political action contributions (PACs) which go on in the United States- these kinds of contributions have been called legalized bribes. The gurus who make off with the loot collected by their disciples and buy luxury cars, houses and who have secret bank accounts in the name of " guru dakshine " are basically legalized robbers in the same vein.

Therefore, I was surprised to see that the matajis of the conference seemingly sought out a pat on the back in the form of comments and approval from a legalized robber guru or two. I opine that it is a mistake for the matajis to dignify such individuals by seeking their support and understanding. After all, such individuals agrandize themselves by pushing hard on young brahmacaris who don't understand how they are being taken advantage of and, even though the ladies may have suffered at the hands of the male devotees in the past, maybe they will have a mother's compassion anyway for the young boys standing under traffic lights collecting money, in good faith, for higher ups with false pretenses. If the ladies have ever suffered and felt cheated, and if they don't want to see Shrila Prabhupada minimized in our society, then maybe they will now raise their voices and just say " no!" to drugs and to the patronage of such individuals. The women leaders in ISKCON should reconsider the idea of achieving validity for their efforts by seeking the approval of robber gurus, and I hope that they will broaden their horizons because we are all on the same ship and it is in danger of sinking.

I thank the good readers for their indulgence and I look forward to hearing from a few of you soon.

Yours Truly,
Dharmapada Dasa
dean@uninet.com.br