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WORLD March 11, 2000 VNN5659 Comment on this story Questions To The GBC (Part 2) BY SERVANTS FROM SLOVENIAN YATRA SLOVENIA, Mar 11 (VNN) — (see also VNN Story 5653) We proceede with the second group of questions, which deal mostly with sociological considerations, but in the end there are also some points relating to vaisnava philosophy or teology. The major part of these questions are put forward by individual devotees who requested us to leave them as they are. HARIKESA PRABHU
Our country has for a long time been under the superintendance of Harikesa prabhu and he, besides doing a lot of good for increasing the membership of ISKCON and book distribution, enlightening us with bright, intelectual lectures, inspiring us to give everything to ISKCON, also left us with many unresolved issues, which now bang us on the head severly. We found out we are socialy, psychologically and philosophically very week and the relationship among us are a wrack, as far as "love and trust" go. We lack a joint interest and it seems the solutions for our problems will not be in sight for long. The parties are forming left and right, all with different interests, norms, views and visions. Recently Harikesa prabhu has very strongly indicated many mistakes in ISKCON's past and present and that pulled many devotees from their idealistic views on themselves and on the society. Of course many went to the other extreme and completely rejected or denied the value of ISKCON, their faith still reposed in Harikesa prabhu as before, and the others left their devotional practices, taking to bad habits again, many are still somewhat in line, favourable to ISKCON, but no so strict any more, especially regarding certain regulative principles. We don't blame those devotees for their choice, we can't, for we haven't heard the cases of each one of them and given them serious attention. It is sad that we can't attend to the wounded devotees and give them all necessary support. The lessons from the sad past dissipate before our own eyes. We fear the consequences get back on us, but still we hope they will dissipate as well. And we know they will not... We lived in the communistic country for many years and we see a similar dynamic repeat ISKCON -- the leader goes away or dies and in a year or two, after throwing mud on him severly, everybody forgets all about him and he remains something like a caricature from the past. That happened with Stalin, Tito, Chausesku, Tudjman, and many others. Isn't it happening in ISKCON as well? How are you protecting the society from the denial of sad history of our society which leads to the same mistakes in future? Please, work against such dissapointments happening again. It hurts a lot and we are afraid that ISKCON leadership is not taking the necessary steps to cut out all the potential cancerous tissues from the Governing Body Commision and heal the old wounds. We appeal to you to do this. GURU OR KRSNA In Gaudiya-vaisnavism we find a great stress is put on the guru and it can even go so far, that the disciples loose Krsna or Gaura-Nitai out of their sight. Is this proper? Shouldn't the guru be transparent via-media, through whom we see Krsna clearly and not that he is an obstacle between us and Krsna? SALARY Can devotee, engaged in some ISKCON project, get salary from ISKCON? Philosophically it can be seen as controversial, because it is service to Krsna is not supposed to be paid, since that means we take away from Krsna. On the other hand, if it means hiring a grhastha to do some necessary service for the society, which takes him so much time that he can't take provide for another means of livelihood, it seems salary is very well justified. But still the overall agreement is not there and the issue should definitely be discussed. THE PROTECTION OF THE WEEK MEMBERS OF ISKCON Does ISKCON have some vision and outline for protection of the week members of the society: children, elderly, brahmanas, women and children? How is ISKCON fulfilling the third goal of ISKCON, which says that the members are to be brought closer together to each other and to Krsna? Does ISKCON think it can bring the members closer to each other if it doesn't provid them with social care? Is ISKCON in favour of philosophy, that Krsna takes care of His devotees, and that devotees mustn't demand anything for their service to ISKCON? Or does the leadership of ISKCON support the philosophy, that ISKCON, on the behalf of Krsna, has to take genuine care of devotees, who in good faith took shelter of this organization? THE RESPONSIBILITY Whom are the members of ISKCON responsible to and for what? To whom are responsible the leading members? Are they responsible to anybody for abuses, missed projects, unreasonable leadership of the temples etc. or are they only responsible to Krsna? COURT Does ISKCON have or plan to have a court for just judging of social, financial and moral unjust acts, done to its members, who can't achieve justice through the authoritative structure of ISKCON. WHAT IS ISKCON? If it is found out that ISKCON doesn't have a system of accountability and responsibility, neiter jurisdictional system, nor social care or welfare for the protection of the week members of the society, what then is ISKCON? From the sociological point of view, is it a culture, faith community, denomination or cult? Which elements of society or cult does it have? Does ISKCON have a well defined mission statement? Does it have a clear vision of its future, about its development and operation? Where are we and where do we want to go? WHO IS A MEMBER OF ISKCON? Who is a member of "the house in which the whole world can live?" Is there the narrow circle of members and the broader one? What are their rights and duties? What does the leadership of ISKCON think about the fact, that great majority of the members sooner or later leave, and that the number of the members in general is decreasing? Are we really ready to take under our shelter the whole world or maybe even we ourselves don't fell well in it? SPREADING THE KRSNA CONSCIOSNESS Do we, the members of ISKCON have the right to speak to people in the name of spreading Krsna consciousness (directly or indirectly), that they are going to be taken care of in ISKCON, if only they surrender to Krsna? How much did stressing the philosophy of renunciation benefit its members, and how much was it harmful? OPENNESS OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISISM Is it desired or allowed in ISKCON to speak openly about burning problems of the society, without the member who wants to speak about such topics being openly or under cover branded as envious, criticizing, and publically or quietly expelled from the society as deviant? Which mehanisms can he take to? RESEARCH Did ISKCON do any serious sociological surveys about the public opinion, needs and desires of its members? We sincerely expect that you respond to our requests, since the cooperation is a two way street, and if we are to take your presently instituted laws seriously you ought to take our considerations seriously as well and take appropriate messures to correct those laws that don't fit the present situation. If you find our expression lacks clarity and conciseness please forgive us. We tried our best to make it as short and clear as possible, but due to vast amount of material and gravity of the topic as well as practical implications of those in lives of individuals, we couldn't cut it down more. Thank you for your attention, Sincerely, Your servants from Slovenian yatra Comment on this story  Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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