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WORLD March 10, 2000 VNN5653 Comment on this story Questions To The GBC (Part 1) BY MEMBERS OF ISKCON SLOVENIA SLOVENIA, Mar 10 (VNN) — Dear members of the GBC, Please accept our most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! It has been noticed by the members and friends of ISKCON in Slovenia that many matters in our society are not defined clearly enough and it brings a lot of tension, distrust, lack of vision and faith, and other negative implications among us. This is truly a disservice to Srila Prabhupada's mission and we are not pleased to see that, so we made a list of our remarks concerning every issue we find to be vaguely dealt with or yet untouched. What we present here is not a general public opinion but a collection of questions from different devotees.
Your service is greately appreciated by us and we understand the huge amount of troubles you go through in leading our society. After all, we live in turbulent period of human history, which is also reflected in ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada has left us great heritage and you are doing your best according to your knowledge and experience to spread it as widely as possible. Thank you for that. Yet, as ISKCON develops new needs and questions appear, relating to the past, present and future. Many of these are very closely connected to our own devotional service and we would humbly request you to give us at least some guidelines regarding these issues. We think it is the responsibility of you leaders to answer the voice of the members of society. So, let's get straight to our questions: First we would like to remind you of the questions put before GBC in 1996 by Jayadvaita Maharaja, where he pointed out some very important points and questions about our leadership. We repeat the main points here as a reminder, since we are convinced that these questions are of utmost importance for each individual in our society. We have experienced that immensely, especially in the last few years after the departure of Harikesa prabhu. We don't know have there been any answers to these questions. If so, we would request you to send them to us, if not, to compile them. Here is the list of main points and questions presented by Jayadvaita Swami in 1996: - ISKCON gurus in good standing have fallen. - The ISKCON GBC has supported even fallen gurus and tried to paper over their falldowns. - ISKCON gurus have opposed, oppressed and driven out many sincere godbrothers and godsisters. - ISKCON gurus have usurped and misused money, and diverted other ISKCON resources for their own personal prestige and sense gratification. - ISKCON gurus have had illicit sexual intercourse with both women and men, and possibly children as well. - Some ISKCON gurus still in good standing have had such serious personal difficulties that the GBC has been obliged to suspend them from initiating. - Other ISKCON gurus have snapped back into line only after "narrow misses." - ISKCON gurus recently led a movement advocating a premature and inappropriate emphasis on rasika-bhakti. - Some ISKCON devotees have felt obliged to accept a new guru twice or even three times over. Who is a bona fide spiritual master? What qualifications must he have? Are the gurus in ISKCON factually qualified--all of them, some of them, or any of them? If all or any of them are less than fully fit, what implications does this have for their disciples and for ISKCON? In ISKCON today, how can one be sure that the spiritual master to whom one is surrendering is genuine and infallible? Above all, how can every member of ISKCON be connected with Srila Prabhupada as his disciple, his follower, in a true and legitimate sense? And here are additional points presented by Jayadvaita Swami in 1987 (we have picked out only those pertaining to our present situation): 4. The GBC instituted, encouraged, and for many years belligerently and obstinately defended symbols, rituals, practices, teachings, and structures subversive to the unique importance of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. 7. The GBC has failed to adequately maintain and protect the reputation and prestige of the Society. 8. The GBC has failed to maintain and protect the spiritual standards of the Society. 12. On the whole, the members of the GBC have failed to maintain in their own lives a proper standard of Vaisnava behavior. ("The GBC should personally observe strictly all the rules and regulations and they should become the practical example to others. Then everything will be all right." -- Letter to Bali Mardan, May 9, 1974) 13. After Srila Prabhupada's disappearance, for many years the GBC systematically misrepresented Srila Prabhupada's teachings and instructions about carrying on the disciplic succession. 16. The GBC members have allowed, have failed to halt, or have arranged for or demanded gross misappropriation of facilities and funds for their own self-aggrandizement. 17. Various members of the GBC have unfairly pressured devotees to accept initiation from persons the devotees were legitimately reluctant to accept, and have needlessly canvassed or competed for disciples, even against the expressed wishes of local ISKCON leaders. And this is still going on. 18. The GBC has needlessly kept incompetent, fallen, or deviant persons as active members of the GBC body, suppressing, denying, and misrepresenting the nature of their incompetence, fall, and deviation. 19. The GBC has failed to insure adequate shelter for distressed and wronged persons who appealed to its members for protection. ("If a person is able to care for or give protection to old parents, a chaste wife, children, the spiritual master, brahmanas and other dependents but does not do so, he is considered already dead, although supposedly breathing." --Krsna, Vol. 1, page 354, latest edition.) 20. The GBC and its members have allowed, have failed to halt, have defended, have encouraged, and have deliberately brought about mistreatment and persecution of innocent persons. 21. The GBC, both indirectly by impure acts and directly by confrontation and force, has driven large numbers of Srila Prabhupada's disciples out of their service, out of their homes, and out of ISKCON. ("You should always deal things so tactfully that people may not fall away. Every living being is important in Krsna conscious service, and we must take all precautions that one may not fall away." -- Letter to Tamal Krsna, Oct. 18, 1969) 23. The GBC members have displayed gross, rampant impurity in their dealings with one another. 24. The GBC, in neglect of its own rules, has consistently failed to promptly, fully, and accurately publish its annual resolutions. In 1986 its executive committee deliberately held back selected resolutions from the published minutes and misrepresented to the members of ISKCON that it was constitutionally entitled to do so. (In 1972, a similar act was among the GBC moves that led Srila Prabhupada to revoke authority from the GBC). 26. Various members of the GBC have permitted, encouraged, or demanded the use of ISKCON funds to publish books, magazines, newsletters, records, etc., that excessively advertise their own glories, blaspheme other Vaisnavas, propagate falsehoods, and disturb the peace of the Society. 27. The members of the GBC have systematically misrepresented-- and allowed and encouraged others to misrepresent--Srila Prabhupada's teachings and instructions about business and sankirtana. 28. The members of the GBC have neglected and misrepresented numerous other teachings and instructions of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. ("So if there are any defects within our Society it is only symptom that the instructions of the Spiritual Master are being neglected." -- Letter to Karandhara, Feb. 10, 1973) 29. The GBC has failed to adequately respond to just and ongoing pleas for self-reform. 30. Faced with the above grievances, GBC men have tried to avoid individual responsibility for acts - or failures to act - for which they are clearly responsible. 31. The GBC has lost the trust of a majority of Srila Prabhupada's disciples. 32. By allowing, advocating, taking part in, perpetuating, and defending these and other forms of contamination and decay, the members of the GBC have brought the ultimate managing authority of the entire International Society for Krishna Consciousness to a state of disrepute and pollution. Hare Krsna. We sincerely hope that Jayadvaita Maharaja's remarks be taken seriously by you and that you will give us at least some answers or reports about plans for future changes to better. Now we would like to list some of our own questions and in some cases our ideas for possible solution. The questions are both philosophical and sociological. So here is the first set: BASIS: Does ISKCON have a definition of basic standard of the vaisnava besides 4 regs and chanting maha-mantra per example being a person of integrity, mature, frank, humane, etc. (Bg., end of ch. 12)? The GBC should well define the basic standard of spirituality of the leaders and members in general in terms of our religious tradition and check it out by a trained group of devotees. It shouldn't merely rely on activities (chanting, offering prasadam, reading, association, preaching, productiveness, time of presence in the society etc.) for they often conceal the true nature of the individual, which can sometimes only be seen by a very advanced soul. And we definitely lack those, despite of us being the "topmost spiritual society" even from the point of view of less spiritual groups or even complete materialists. CRITERIA: Did GBC ever so far take appropriate measures in sorting out the status of incompetent leaders and gurus, either sannyasis or grhasthas? Is there a plan to form a sistem for checking out (a kind of inspectory) the non-appropriate or mistaken organs of the society? As far as we saw in all these years, following the regs and chanting 16 rounds and even being acquainted with large amounts of vedic knowledge is not sufficient. It takes a lot of personal integrity and a good character to be a qualified spiritual leader. We stronlgy vote for formation of above mentioned sistem, and we are seriously considering making such a sistem locally. SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS: Is ISKCON leadership considering to deal with those problems which, if unveiled, could possibly undermine the public immage of the society? We don't refer only to the child abuse issue, that was dealt with professionally by the ISKCON Communication staff, but mainly to many other issues. It seems to us that GBC has too often claimed absolute authority on certain subject matters, even though there were many such flaws within GBC. It hasn't dealt appropriatelly with the mistakes of the leading members to preserve the public image of the society. In short terms such hushing up seemed a good way to avoid problems, but in long terms it turned out it had accumulated vast amounts of serious consequences, which made the root of our society rot. It is a serious matter. PRIORITIES: What are the present priorities of ISKCON? It is about time that we "come down" to the mode of goodness and take care of us, the present members. Otherwise the population will constantly change with only the most persevering ones staying around, rationalizing others' "fall-downs" (could those be "push-downs?"). We think the prime concern of the society should be it's inside. If we spread what is inside and the inside is bad, then we are only spreading the bad. Let us become humble and admit that we need to become experts on vedic culture and general wisdom before claiming to be such just on account of Srila Prabhupada's realised knowledge. How many members know even bits an pieces of sanskrit? How many of us are acquainted with principles of logic? Rare are those who are aware how unconsicous pushings determine their actions. But we have an appology: "Prabhupada said it is not necessary to..." manda sumanda matayo... Thus pedofily, sexual abuse, abuse of money, self-estrangement, bullying, blind-following, exploitation... Please don't think we only see the bad and overlook the good. We see the good too, but in this paper our main purpose is to point out where there is a lot of room for improvement. This should be dealt with promptly otherwise the leadership will loose all its credibility. DOWN-TO-EARTH: How is ISKCON dealing with objective problems which trouble the society? We refer per example to very meager qualification of many of those who are in charge; their prejudice, subjectiveness, irrational fanaticism, neglectance of facts, etc. This spreads to their foIlowers as well. Is there any interest among those on top to solve these problems among themselves? We believe they should admit their shortcommings, and take the position which befits their standing. They should learn to look in their mind and heart and see the roots of their problems. SOCIAL MATTERS: What to do with the conservative model of Varnasrama which is so obviously inappropriate for the present society? It should remain our goal to gradually establish varnasrama, as close to the vedic system as possible, because it is the best basis for happy, well-organized society. But at present we should determine it more objectively, taking in account time, place and circumstances. Social pressure to follow certain rules without *deeply* understanding the underlying principles of such following, creates estranged individuals who are far away from Krsna consciousness, even though they give impression of it. How are we to deal with devotees who realize that some behaviours were forced upon them, that they were victims of spiritual abuse, thus feel cheated, and want compensation for the damage done to them? Some wrongs were definitely done to many members, and their cries for justice are often more then true. There should be a serious investigation done about all the mistakes done on this field and proper meassures taken to heal the old wounds and prevent the repetition of the same mistakes in the future. - INITIATIONS: Is ISKCON planing to revise it's initiation sistem especially considering the issue of qualification of the guru and the disciple? It should also take into account the following considerations: balance between diksa and siksa, proper education about psycho-sicological influences of initiation pressure on devotees, further education of devotees about all the impications of this topic. Many ISKCON gurus are very bad off with their character and wisdom and they don't increase trust of devotees. By abusive pressure they create a body of followers, mainly of those who are not well-versed in logical thinking and easily get carried away by sweet words of the guru and his entourage without understanding the purpose of following. VAIRAGYA: ISKCON doesn't have a proper culture of vairagya, dettachment. It is again more a social fasion then a product of genuine understanding of our inclinations and our nature. We should approach vairagya through vidya. Without knowledge renounciation is just another side of the coin of attachment. The knowledge makes it spiritual. Despite all the culture of spiritual knowledge we can see a lack of self-knowledge among devotees, which ought to be the beginning of learning. SHORTSIGHTEDNESS AND OBJECTING TO ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT: This is a matter of utmost importance. How is ISKCON contrasting the general tendency of newcomers to become shortsighted, fanatical, overly conservative, etc.? Isn't it our duty to help them develop broad understanding of the absolute truth and make them genuine brahmanas? In Bhaktivinoda's Bhagavata essay everything about social considerations of religion is clarified. We should broaden our vision and become broadminded brahmanas. Brahmana who is not broadminded is not worht being called a brahmana. DOGMATICISM: Again we see there is lack of education among devotees because they assimilate many principles of bhakti-yoga very superficially, and thus they are not any better then dogmas. We often hear: "I am on the right path, because I follow Srila Prabhupada." But following Srila Prabhupada is not like blindman following his dog. It takes a lot of intelectual sharpness to stay in line. We should never be too sure we are completely in line. Always check it out and be ready to revise our convictions if they don't match the reality. The truth is the main consideration. IMPERSONALITY: Although ISKCON is meant to help us identify less with upadhis and more with spiritual identity we find that we are very much conscious of our different titles and names: ISKCON devotee, brahmana, vaisya, karmi, rttvik, mayavadi, pandit, pure devotee, pasandi etc. and thus we don't develop relationships with people but with their titles. The proof is that if somebody "falls down" or changes his views or advances to position of a leader or guru we deal with him completely differently then before (per example, we are not friends anymore, we don't trust him). Let's say you meet an old friend after 6 years and you say: "Haribol Mathuranatha prabhu, how are you!" He says, "Oh, I am so glad to see you, Krsna-govinda prabhu, it must have been ages since we met." You hug him and when you continue the discussion you get to know that he was initiated by babaji from Radha-kunda. What feelings does this bring to your heart? Did you hug your friend or your notion of him? We don't even see eachother, how can we have relationships basing on love and trust. It is all a subtle competition who will be less off line from the standards. Be a devotee, be a sankirtana devotee, be a traveling sankirtana devotee, be full time travelling sankirtana devotee, be completely dedicated full time travelling sankirtana devotee... more and more identifications without our properly understanding the anarthas which burden us. GUILT: In our activities we can be driven by guilt or by joy. Joy is spiritual impetus while guilt is completely material. It takes quite some training to see the guilt ridden mentality in us and others, and only by overcoming it can we reach up to spiritual dinamics of joy ridden activities (susukham kartum avyayam). What is ISKCON doing in that direction? Continued in the part 2. Comment on this story  Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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