08/23/98 - 2062

Reformation of the Current ISKCON Structure

USA (VNN) - by Krishna dasa [zone108@hotmail.com]

This document was originally sent to many ISKCON Sannyasis and Guru's but I received no positive response.

To solve the problems that ISKCON is facing at the present moment, we should analytically diagnose ISKCON as a body to discover the cause that has made us disfunctional. To proceed in this train of thought, we have to have an example of a functional Vedic society to compare with, thus through comparison, the cause will become obvious.

The symptoms of the problem

A lack of competent managers.(ksatriyas)
A systematic drain of managers since Srila Prabhupada's disappearance.
Absense of enthusiasm amongst second generation older devotees.
Reluctance of householders to participation in ISKCON activities since Prabhupada's disappearance.
Brahmacaris are uninspired and diverted from the pioneering mood that Prabhupada installed in his disciples.
Sannyasis not following their vows- too involved in acquiring money, disciples and managerial power, and less engaged in preaching, training, writing books and practicing vairagya.
Due to feelings of insecurity, and because of their lack of faith in the men, the ladies are trying to grab the reins of leadership by imposing a guilty conscience to sway the weak and surrogate leaders of the day.
Intense envy, frustration and even hatred of gurus and GBCs from godbrothers who have been made obsolete in the present ISKCON structure.
Many of the above points can be elaborated upon, but for this overview we will not do that.

A Brief Synopsis Of How the Problems Arose

When Srila Prabhupada started ISKCON, he was one man and therefore had to play many roles, some of which are not traditional to the sannyasa ashram. Later when more men came, Srila Prabhupada trained them up to be managers, preachers and collectors. At a certain point Srila Prabhupada expressed his desire that the senior men should free him from the burden of management so that he could preach and translate ñ a more appropriate activity for a sannyasi. It is not that Srila Prabhupada was becoming old and could not cope, or was tired of managing a society that had become too big for him. No! He was imparting by example a very valid instruction on varnashram dharma.

After his departure, 11 of his disciples became Acharyas and divided the world among themselves. These Acharyas engaged in fierce competition with one another to amass money and disciples. In order to do this they solicited the allegiance of their godbrother managers to strengthen their zones. As time went by many of these godbrothers had disagreements and left ISKCON, or were forced out of one zone to the next until there was no place in ISKCON for them to manage. The zonal Acharyas then replaced their managers with yes men and disciples. The consequence of this was that the Acharyas had to do more management than ever before. They spent more time solving managerial problems than engaging in their ashrama dharma. Thus, not being situated in the proper activities of sannyasis, many of them fell down.

After repetitive fall-downs, the GBC tried to rectify the situation. Their solution indicated that they presumed the problem stemmed from the Acharyas exclusive rights to guruship.

"We were able to put forward two proposals to the GBC, which, taken together, would dismantle the system. The first was to make the process of receiving authorization to initiate radically more open. "From my perspective, the central intent of this proposal was to eliminate a de facto 'property requirement' for becoming an initiating guru. Since a guru had to have his exclusive initiating zone, one or more of the established gurus had to lose territory to create a zone for any new gurus. Such a major change, sometimes entailing the migration of large numbers of disciples, required negotiations at the highest level. And many gurus were reluctant to shrink the area of their authority" . (Cleaning House and Cleaning Hearts - reform and renewal in ISKCON" - Ravindra Svarupa Dasa 1994)

Therefore the GBC engineered policy that would allow any senior Godbrother with a clean record and proper recommendation to initiate disciples. Many of those godbrothers, who were managing, soon realized that they had to take sannyasa or become Gurus to maintain a position that would give them facility to manage. These Sannyasis were good managers but not good sannyasis. In other words the Guru and sannyasa ashrama became a platform for wielding executive power. In the purport to the verse from B.G. "karmany evadhikaras te" Srila Prabhupada delineates three subdivisions of duties namely; "routine work, emergency work and desired activity." It is stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam Canto7, Ch.11 summary. "In times of emergency all classes but the ksatriyas may accept professional duties of others." In other words emergency work does not give license to the administrative class to artificially usurp the position of Sannyasa or Guru for the purpose of governing.

Unfortunately, those brahmanically inclined devotees who took up sannyasa were swamped with too many management problems, which they could not solve. Thus the entire sannyasa ashrama, with a few exceptions, did not follow sannyasa dharma and tried to manage ISKCON by engaging more "yes men". ISKCON became further weakened and divided.

Previously there were 11 gurus trying to manage, now there are more than 100. The proliferation of gurus and sannyasis taking up the dharma of ksatriyas (and vaisyas) and ksatriyas taking on the garb of renunciates has caused an imbalance in the social order of ISKCON.

If you envision the society as a whole, then, problems would stem from ignorance of duty, and lack of proper leadership. The real ksatriya has vision and knows how to govern, realize his goals and protect and satisfy his dependents. If the ksatriyas are intimidated and controlled by the sannyasis they will leave and most have left. Now we have a society of burnt out sannyasis - some are intellectuals looking for freedom from management and some are ksatriyas frustrated by the restrictions imposed upon them by the sannyas order. The result is the "8 symptoms of the problem" listed above.

The Solution To The Problem

Ksatriyas are allowed certain concessions since it is difficult to remain renounced when dealing and controlling the material energy from a high level. Therefore they are allowed much opulence, worship and association with women. If somebody tries to control the material energy and remain renounced, he either has to be a paramahamsa or he will risk fall down. That is why the demigods considered that Bhisma took a terrible vow, since he was a ksatriya, otherwise so many brahmanas remain celibate. So unless we have Bhismas strength and determination then we should not attempt to imitate. This point is confirmed by Krishna in Bhagavat Gita;


B.G. 3.35
Sreyan sva-dharmo vigunah
Para-dharmat sva-anusthitat
Sva-dharme nidhanam sreyah
Para-dharmo bhayavahah

"It is better to discharge ones prescribed duties, even though faultily, than another's duties perfectly. Destruction in the course of performing ones own duty is better than engaging in another's duty, for to follow another's path is dangerous."

B.G. 18.47
Sreyan sva-dharmo vigunah
Para-dharmat sva-anusthitat
Svabhava-niyatam karma
Kurvan napnoti kilbisam

"It is better to engage in ones own occupation, even though one may perform it imperfectly, than to accept another's occupation and perform it perfectly. Duties prescribed according to ones nature are never affected by sinful reactions."

B.G. 18.48
Saha-jam karma kaunteya
Sa-dosam api na tyajet
Sarvarambha hi dosena
Dhumenagnir ivavrtah

"Every endeavor is covered by some fault, just as fire is covered by smoke. Therefore one should not give up the work born of his nature, O son of Kunti, even if such work is full of fault"

In the Bhagavat Gita Krishna is repeating this instruction to Arjuna over and over again. Arjuna wants to leave the battlefield and Krishna is telling him that he is a ksatriya and his duty is to fight. So much emphasis is put on this point. As sannyasis if we think, "someone has to organize the society, so let me do it," then this is in affect sacrificing duty for the sake of the society. Srila Prabhupada mentions in the purport to B.G. 3.35,

"For example a brahmana, who is in the mode of goodness, is nonviolent, whereas a ksatriya, who is in the mode of passion, is allowed to be violent. As such, for a ksatriya it is better to be vanquished following the rules of violence than to imitate a brahmana who follows the principles of nonviolence. Everyone has to cleanse his heart by a gradual process, not abruptly. However, when one transcends the modes of material nature and is fully situated in Krishna consciousness, he can perform anything and everything under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master."

One may argue that we must practice yukta-vairagya. However, we should practice yukta vairagya within the boundaries of our ashram dharma. That Srila Prabhupada said 50% of his work ñ to establish varnashram dharma ñ was not complete, implies that he did not establish these boundaries, but expected that we would do so in the
future. Yukta vairagya of material energy and activities within the material energy are two different things.

1) Yukta vairagya of the material energy means engaging it in Krsna's service. This is the principle.

2) Activities within the material energy should be based on duty so that we engage our natural propensities in Krsna's service. This is the application of the principle.

Thus, both our propensities and the elements are engaged in Krsna's service and a mood of loving service can develop.

The gurus and the sannyasis are the head of the society. Srila Prabhupada said that if the head is conscious then all the limbs function properly. If ISKCON is to survive, the sannyasis and gurus must strictly remain aloof from all forms of management and refrain from manipulating material energy. They should practice vairagya, train devotees, travel, preach and write books on Krsna Consciousness. Under certain circumstances the S.Bhagavatam 7.11.16 says that a "brahmana may alternatively take to the occupation of a vaisya." Thus it is never advised that the brahmanas as a rule will perform the duties of a Ksatriya. We can see how perfect the vedic culture is since if followed perfectly there will be no dissention between Brahmanas and Ksatriyas. The relation between these two varnas was most important and thus Brahmanas are discouraged from becoming Ksatriyas and Ksatriyas are discouraged from taking on any other duty.

The gurus and sannyasis should openly hand over the reins of management and positions to qualified managers or ksatriyas. They should encourage the managerial class of devotees, whether inside or outside the movement, to take up these responsibilities with great enthusiasm. When the managers see the attractive quality of renunciation manifesting in our sannyasis and gurus, they will naturally desire to maintain and seek advice from such saintly vaisnavas. There will be no envy since the ksatriyas will rightly hold the opulence, prestige and power. When the sannyasis and gurus give up management and manipulation of the material energy, and take to the path of renunciation, cultivation of bhakti, preaching, etc, they will be qualified to give advice to all classes of men. They can then help liberate others in the material energy, since they themselves will be liberated. If this is not done very soon, an inauspicious wave of apasiddhantic philosophy will take over this movement since the majority will see no alternative than to put an end to the parampara system "since the gurus are the cause, therefore cut them out!

The post of GBC is a managerial post and therefore a Ksatriya post. Brahmana's /Sannyasis / Guru's should not take up the duty of Ksatriya's. Krsna warns that this is dangerous.

A Scenario

One suggestion could be that the GBC body, elect a braminical council of GBC men. These council members whether Gurus, sannyasis or grihasthas will be completely free from any type of executive management and will just strictly follow the dharma of brahmanas. They should have absolutely no responsibilities, neither should they be pressured into finding solutions for a certain problem by the next meeting. They should simply study SP books, practice austerity, write, preach and give direction etc.

These brahmanas after due consideration should then elect competent Ksatriya GBCs to take on administrative responsibilities for ISKCON. The ksatriyas they elect will be on probation and must deliver results. Since we have a lack of managers, some sannyasis and gurus could temporarily step in for a two-year period. They would train up good ksatriyas to replace them. After two years, these improperly situated sannyasis and gurus can be lifted into the secure boat of brahminical dharma, from where they will be able to give advice and guidance to the ksatriya class and develop the purity that will drive this movement into great success.

The ksatriya class must be very strong and loyal. They must be able to manage, control and expand their zones and also have a vision for future development. They should be able to engage others in their prescribed duties. In every human being there is a propensity of being a brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya or sudra. This propensity is like a river flowing through the person. So even if that person engages the material energy in Krishna's service but does not engages in his duty, still he will not get full purification. By tapping into that river (varna) and engaging it in Krishna's service under the direction of a Bona-fide spiritual master, then he can be fully purified. This is called performing one's duty in Krishna service. The ksatriyas should know how to engage others in there duty. The ksatriyas must be fully accountable, thus there should be a small body of GBC ksatriyas who do not engage in any management are expert in accountancy, law and philosophy and travel systematically from one temple to the next. They will then submit a report after doing a full audit on a temple or zone. In this way every temple manager will be kept in check philosophically and can be given advice if they are making mistakes financially. The records from this audit will be used as reference if a manager has to be replaced. That is why it is imperative that the ksatriyas must be expert (daksyam).

When the Ksatriya class of GBC's expand and the brahminical class of GBC's become more renounced and aloof, then they can function symbiotically. The brahmins advising the ksatriyas and the ksatriyas taking good care of the society at large.

Solving the 'guru issue' is not the primary solution to the problem. It will automatically be understood when the gurus and sannyasis are properly situated. There will be less chance of fall-down and they will be qualified to find the solution to any problem facing the society, since being properly situated they voice the desire of the Lord.

We hope that the leaders of our movement will take these points into consideration when confronting the difficulties that ISKCON is facing now.