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WORLD June 19, 1999 VNN4132 See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this story Bhavananda Still Worshipped In ISKCON Sydney BY MADHUDVISA DASA SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, Jun 19 (VNN) — It may be hard to believe for some, but it is a sad fact that the "Founding Father" of the child molestation problem is still living within ISKCON and is even today offered respect and worshipped as an advanced devotee by the members of ISKCON. (*note*IRG received a phone call from OZ, 3 days ago and the reporter said that 'B' was sitting in the Vyasasana twice a week giving class, while making his living by running a male (gay) escort agency.) In any responsible organization one would hope if it was discovered a member had sexually molested dozens or perhaps even hundreds of the organizations children the criminal would be treated as a deviant and handed over to the proper authorities to prevent him from molesting more of the organizations members in the future. Surely that would have been the responsible thing to do? But not ISKCON. No! Instead when one of the self-appointed ISKCON "guru's" sexual activities became too embarrassing for the GBC they officially banned him from taking new disciples, however, they did not ban him from the organization or notify any authorities of his crimes. Rather, they immediately appointed him as practically the manager of the Sydney ISKCON Govindas restaurant! He proceeded to turn that into an extension of his living room by inviting his homosexual friends there to "party". I have personally seen with my own eyes "Govinda's restaurant" in Sydney full of this ex-guru's "gay" friends drinking beer and screaming at the tops of their voices... A very "spiritual" atmosphere indeed! So, on one hand the GBC banned this "guru" from initiating new disciples, but on the other they offered him a very highly paid job in the Sydney ISKCON Govindas restaurant and provided him with a nice apartment and car to go with it. Personally I informed many ISKCON devotees and GBC members of the situation in Sydney, and of course they were all regularly visiting Sydney themselves, so everyone knew exactly what was going on. But no one seemed to mind that this ex-guru, who is openly homosexual and at that time very active in the Sydney "gay" community, was the most public representative of ISKCON in Sydney as the manager of the "Hare Krishna Restaurant." Unfortunately no one in ISKCON seemed to think this was a problem at all. The "Back To Godhead" magazine, ISKCON's official magazine, continued to print the address of the Sydney Govindas restaurant along with all the other ISKCON restaurant's and the ISKCON internet sites continued to list it as an ISKCON restaurant even though I informed them what was going on. I was distributing books in Sydney at the time and had to deal with so many bewildered members of the public who had visited the restaurant, which by then was commonly known as "Gayvindas." It was a very embarrassing situation, but no one in ISKCON seemed to see any problem at all... It was therefore quite a surprise when this ex-guru moved back into the Sydney temple to live with the male devotees. Of course there are a number of his old disciples in the Sydney temple, the Temple President is a great supporter from the "good old days" and one of the GBC's for Australia is his sannyasa disciple and a great supporter also. So it is a very comfortable position for him in ISKCON now. Right now, this ex-guru is considered to be one of the most advanced devotees in the temple, therefore all the devotees are expected to offer him a great deal of respect. Of course if one cannot stomach the idea of respecting someone who has molested so many young devotees and practically destroyed their lives and given them the idea that Krishna consciousness means being molested by your "guru," then of course one is not at all welcome in ISKCON Sydney. In fact, if you don't offer this ex-guru sufficient respect you will be considered a great offender and most likely thrown out of the temple and called a "demon..." So ISKCON is STILL enforcing the worship of child molesters and banning, bashing and blaspheming anyone who disagrees with this policy. EVEN NOW. They have NOT CHANGED even in the slightest degree. Whatever the GBC say in their official press releases about "protecting children" is simply propaganda and politics. By their actions we can see they have no desire to stop the worship of child molesters in ISKCON nor do they have any desire to get the child molesters out of ISKCON. After all the ISKCON leadership and the GBC have not changed at all. The current leaders are the same leaders who supported the child-molesters and banned, bashed and blasphemed anyone who spoke out against them. It is barely twelve months since it was discovered that when the GBC finally did appoint a "Child Protection Minister" he was also a child molester! The most amazing thing is one devotee has been very publicly pointing out the fact that child molesters can not ever be bona fide gurus who are respected on the same level as God. He has been doing this since the 80's and trying to get the GBC to agree to this simple point. This would seem to be a completely reasonable proposition as the spiritual master is meant to be a very advanced devotee and even a neophyte Hare Krishna devotee has to follow the four regulative principles which include "no illicit sex." Therefore how can a bona fide spiritual master be a child molester? Despite dozens of attempts to get the GBC to agree to this simple point, up until now they have completely refused to accept this point! How serious are they really to stop child molestation in ISKCON? They are not even prepared to agree that a child molester is not a bona fide guru in the disciplic succession!! Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! Your servant Madhudvisa dasa Related VNN Stories | Comment on this story | Contact VNN about this story | Send this story to a friend
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