12. Sita was the only woman

"Jivanmukta's wife Sita was the only woman active in these discussions. One of her main roles appears to have been to leak texts from the "International Women's Conference" on COM to the GHQ members."

By stating the above, does "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" want the unknowing reader to feel that the conspicuous absence of ladies on GHQ was suspiciously deviant, thus fortifying the distorted image of GHQ that he intends to convey?

Actually we very much wanted input from chaste Vaisnavis, and originally three were slated to participate. But for various reasons, as explained in Section 1, they decided it best not to be directly involved in the discussions. DMW, however, has always consisted of both men and women. On the contrary, the Women's Ministry's COM conference includes no men. This fact should perhaps be investigated, for perhaps there are "nefarious" reasons why men are excluded.

13. Intended to disempower women

Let us look at this word, "empower," and its opposite, "disempower," which are both trendy, psycho-babble-rap words of the New Age establishment. This word "disempower" is key to feminists, for they desire to be empowered with resources, administrative authority, false prestige, etc.---the selfsame goals that materialists vie for in quest for universal hegemony. But are these goals legitimate for us who seek to understand our relationship with God, to act according to that relationship, and to fulfil our birthright of pure love for Sri Krsna? Of course, they are not. In fact, this very quest for labha-puja-pratishta is a major cause of fall down from spiritual life.

One disillusioned former member of the feminist International Women's Conference (IWC) on COM made the following observation:

"When I joined IWC, I had great hopes of hearing women's perspective of becoming Krsna conscious and developing our devotional mood. But, in my humble opinion, most of the discussions are grounded in material considerations and aspirations. This is not why I came to Krsna consciousness. I have had my fill of this materially centered nonsense, and am seeking higher goals." (2.3)

A Godbrother once commented that the problem with ISKCON feminists, the cause of their unrest, is that they are not self-satisfied. And why aren't they self-satisfied? Because they are not preaching. For devotees caught up in the feminist movement, preaching has ground to a halt.

This same devotee is labeled by certain feminists as a "male chauvinist pig." Yet he is preaching and inspiring many women from the educated class to become devotees; he has guided many professional women (teachers, doctors, etc.) along the path of devotional service. Yet in Alachua, the home of the Women's Ministry, and with perhaps the highest percentage per capita of feminists in ISKCON, how many new devotees have been recruited? How is it that a "male chauvinist pig" is inspiring highly educated, professional women to become devotees but the women of Alachua cannot? We are being told that unless Vaisnavis become empowered and ISKCON modernizes for the 90s, we will not be able to attract intelligent, educated women. If that is so, then it follows logically that:

1. Women who joined ISKCON strictly on the basis of Srila Prabhupada's books are not intelligent.
2. The Godbrother mentioned above, by his "fundamentalist" methods, should not have been able to attract intelligent, educated women to the sankirtana movement . (But he did.)
3. All members of the Women's Ministry must necessarily be empowered preachers, recruiting intelligent women (and men) to ISKCON. (But are they?)

"My question then would be then why are they married? Or more importantly, why did they get a woman's body? Obviously they had some desire that got them that body so why not use it for what it was intended? Also, throughout history, oppressed people have taken action! If a woman feels she should be a preacher then she should preach!! And by showing her skill it would be undeniable that she was qualified. But walking around saying woman's rights woman's rights woman's rights seems like a waste of breath." (2.1)

Perhaps we should discount the attitude of those newly recruited educated women as merely utopian dreams of some who perhaps read Srila Prabhupada's books too much! Is the goal no longer to become a humble devotee of Krsna, but rather to seize as much power as possible? Is that what the Women's Ministry stands for? It is disturbing to think so. Most of us have spent the last twenty-plus years trying to break free from the clutches of materially motivated men in positions of power in ISKCON. Should we instead now give opportunity to materially motivated women? We maintain this to be an unacceptable proposition.

"Ardhabuddhi Dasa" objects that GHQ gathers quotes meant to defeat the feminist doctrine. But he and his camp are certainly equally free and entitled to defend their ideology in the same manner, by finding more and more sastra-pramana to substantiate their position. That is the way of Vaisnava brahmanas , which Srila Prabhupada wanted us to become. The brahmana sees through the eyes of the sastras (sastra caksus) and not through mundane logic spurred by material desires.

"The brahmana sees through the sastra, the King through his spies, the cow through her nose, and an ordinary man with his eyes." Canakya Pandita

The question now arises, "Are they who espouse that men and women should follow Vedic dharma in fact disempowering women? The answer is "Certainly not." For it is indeed that very neglect of stri-dharma which actually disempowers a woman and that very following of stri-dharma which actually empowers her both materially and spiritually.

"The wife of a brahmana suffering from leprosy manifested herself as the topmost of all chaste women by serving a prostitute to satisfy her husband. She thus stopped the movement of the sun, brought her dead husband back to life and satisfied the three principal demigods [Brahma, Visnu and Mahesvara].

PURPORT

The Aditya Purana, Markandeya Purana and Padma Purana tell about a brahmana who was suffering from leprosy but had a very chaste and faithful wife. He desired to enjoy the company of a prostitute, and therefore his wife went to her and became her maidservant, just to draw her attention for his service. When the prostitute agreed to associate with him, the wife brought her the leprotic husband. When that leper, the sinful son of a brahmana, saw the chastity of his wife, he finally abandoned his sinful intentions. While coming home, however, he touched the body of Markandeya Rsi, who thus cursed him to die at sunrise. Because of her chastity, the woman was very powerful. Therefore when she heard about the curse, she vowed to stop the sunrise. Because of her strong determination to serve her husband, the three deities-namely Brahma, Visnu and Mahesvara-were very happy, and they gave her the benediction that her husband would be cured and brought back to life. This example is given herein to emphasize that a devotee should engage himself exclusively for the satisfaction of Krsna, without personal motives. That will make his life successful." CC Antya 20.57

"One last thing. Before I started trying to be a flea on the dog of a devotee, I was never surrendered to my husband, and considered men and women equal. But after reading the glory, love, and reverence of many of the ladies in the scriptures, and their sense of duty, I was simply entranced and amazed. I never knew being in this position could be so powerful. How very sad for those who read these stories, and turn their nose up while they mutter about being equal. We didn't get a woman's body for nothing, we got it for some reason. Perhaps to learn to surrender? Hmmmmmmm........." (2.4)

Rather than becoming disempowered (as the feminists claim) by following her dharma as ordained by Lord Sri Krsna, a woman becomes very powerful and achieves perfection:

"By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, a man can attain perfection through performing his own work." BG 18.46

"I have also one another problem. I would appreciate your help in this regard very much. I just don't know how to manage time. You have to help your husband to run the business then you have four children and all house work and all the sadhana (chanting, reading, ...). How do you manage all this? "(2.5) [Sita is currently pregnant with her 5th child.]

"However, every relationship I have seen, the women were very pushy and loud and disrespectful to their men, and the men left or were unfaithful. I am the only one who was not feeling that woman's lib thing and here I am married almost seven years and going strong, while most of my 'liberated, career minded' old friends have kids with no father. Why? Because I respect my man and treat him like a man and my teacher and the leader of this house, and I act like the woman of this house." (2.1)

14. Damaging the reputations of Vaisnavi leaders

"As can be seen in the first text below, they used their secret conference to brainstorm strategies to terminate the women's ministry (including many discussions on whether these efforts should concentrate on damaging the reputations of Vaisnavi leaders or of the male ISKCON leaders who support the women's ministry)"

In reality, the party guilty of damaging Vaisnavas' reputations by making false allegations is "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" and associaties. It is a classic in contrived propaganda.

15. Dossiers of "dirt"

We now direct our gentle reader's attention to Section 3.3. In this text, regarding her reply to Jasomatinanda Prabhu, Mother Malati dd includes another text forwarded to the IWC, which she had previously sent to other forums. The text is identical, except for the addition of a postscript:

"Yr servant, the most fallen and illiterate, Malati dd
(Text COM:1743305) -----------------------------------------
PS...(this was not sent as part of my reply) but does anyone out there know anything about above mentioned prabhu/temple president and alleged wife-beating?"

"Your accusations, nevertheless, have revealed to us that even revered Vaisnavis are not immune from the despicable tendency to make false and vicious accusations against men they dislike. They quickly stoop to yelling "ABUSER!". Defamation of character is no small matter. Krsna (and Radharani) could never be pleased when you slander someone in this way. Why are you taking it so personally? I am simply challenging your conclusions. If you are unable to defend them then be a lady and admit defeat. It's OK. We all make mistakes."

16. Strategy to get women to lose their "cool"

"Strategize how to get women to lose their cool on COM while they themselves appeared as gentlemen."

17. Feminism: A form of atheism or Mayavada

Garden Conversation--June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban

"Caitanya Mahäprabhu, He was so kind, but still there was distinction. When He was taking prasädam, personal associates, they were sitting with Him. Is it not? So this is called maryädä. Maryädä means honor. That must...Varieties must be there. Otherwise we become Mäyävädés-everything is equal, all one. This is Mäyäväda philosophy. No varieties. There must be variety. That is Vaiñëava philosophy. And as soon as you make it varietyless, all equal, that is Mäyäväda. Just see even in this flower, this is also flower and this is also flower. Does it mean they are of the same rank? This is understanding. Together they look very beautiful, but if you take separate value, then it is valuable than this flower. That distinction must be there. If somebody says "I am accepting even the leaf in this garland," then what to speak of rose? It is like that. Kåñëa says that. That does not mean leaf and rose have the same value. One is making a beautiful garland, "I am accepting everything." Mixed together it looks very nice, but individually the leaf has value, the rose has value, the flower has value. Not that because they are put together they have equal value. This is Vaiñëava philosophy."

18. BSST and the brahmana-Vaisnava debate

"One of the much-discussed strategies in the GHQ focused on how to pre-empt the legitimate concerns of ISKCON vaisnavis. The most popular strategy for accomplishing this is illustrated in the following quote from one of their texts: 'as a tactic (following BSST in the brahmana and vaisnava debate) put their concern as our first concern. Then we put the second concern to show how to deal with the first concern in reality. What do you all think? Before they jump in and show fingers to us as if we are abusing the women, we point fingers at the men and deal with this. So now they have nothing to point fingers at.'"

19. These men are not genuinely interested in women's concerns

"This quote clearly shows that these men are not genuinely interested in women's concerns but that they would simply use calls for the protection of women to advance their own cause, i.e. control of women."

By now it should be apparent that "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" is a master of disinformation. But what is the actual truth? To discover that truth, we would like to turn our gentle reader's attention to Section 4, to which we will be referring often in this segment of the presentation.

First, we should point out that "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" has apparently purposely misled the readers into thinking that GHQ members' concern for women was duplicitous. This conclusion of his was apparently not simply an innocent mistake conveyed to the public, but rather a calculated strategy to create in devotees' minds revulsion towards the members of GHQ and their agenda. Why do we say that? Let us consider the following:

1. "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" misinterprets a statement of Vidvan Gauranga Dasa (VGd) and presents that misunderstanding as the mission of GHQ.
2. However, "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" neglects to mention that VGd did not submit his first text to GHQ until October 26, 1998, nearly a month after the online inception of GHQ (September 28, 1998) and even longer away from the very first of these discussions held via personal e-mails between members. VGd had been travelling to Vrndavana for the parikrama and so was incommunicado via e-mail from September 19 to October 26. But up till that time, senior GHQ members had already logged considerable discussion.
3. "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" excludes many exculpatory texts prior to October 26, 1998, as well as after this date--texts which show that GHQ's concerns truly were for the benefit and protection of women of ISKCON and society in general.
4. "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" presented texts out of their original context, thus creating confusion to his readers. The reader would thus be misled and drawn to a particular conclusion----a conclusion far removed from the truth.
5. "Ardhabuddhi Dasa's" deceipt, as mentioned above, suggests his personal desire to further the cause of feminism within ISKCON.

"I am also in full agreement with the proper cultural behavior in ISKCON. Women must be respected and protected but not allowed to act like men……So, although we didn't allow women to lead kirtan in the temple, anyone misbehaving with women is dealt with heavy hand and offenders were publicly punished to create proper etiquette."

"Just as Husband as Swami and has authority over wife (woman) he also has responsibility towards her. Men can't have only authority and no responsibility. In Mayapura to the extent possible we tried to make sure that along with strict behavioral standards for the ladies they are not ill treated or dishonored eg. when we found that some man made lewd calls to some ladies we track the guy down and then gave him good punishment and he had to fall at the feet of the ladies whom he offended and beg forgiveness. And many ladies appreciate that. Although some ladies have made it a point to flog Mayapura on the internet or publicly, many resident ladies support us."

"…The real root source is that the men were not fully self-realized, were not fully qualified …The whole women's issue has arisen because there are legitimate complaints that the women have not been protected properly…I say our effort must therefore deal with whole issue, we must also address the legitimate issues concerning the women… If the leadership, and men, in ISKCON had provided proper protection for the women, they would not complain. The fact that women are complaining like mad is due to the fact the men have not properly protected them."

"I will repeat myself from a previous post, if the men had been more qualified leaders then the women would be satisfied. It is because our leaders have failed us, all of us, the children who were beaten and molested, the women who were left without protection, the wives who were abused with no where to go, etc., that these women have felt so powerless and so much at the mercy of buffoons for so long, that out of frustration they are demanding to take matters into their own hands. We must earn the respect of leadership by becoming good leaders before most women will back off. So, somehow, I am thinking we should incorporate these ideas into our efforts and deal with these issues as a part of our plan."

"I also thought the same thing. When I discussed with an IWC-sympathizer sometime back, I discovered that many of their concerns are indeed valid. Here's a sample of what I have heard:

1. In general, women are not being protected. For eg. During public harinams, men lead kirtans, and women follow behind. One lady told me that sometimes some karmis would try to 'attack' her and other ladies but the men were absorbed in the bliss of harinama and they got fried!…

… I also remember that once when I was a child, I went on pilgrimage with my mother, aunt, grandmother, younger sister, and grandfather. There was no accommodation in the Guest House. Finally my grandfather argued with the guest house manager that there are ladies here and that he should at least provide a small room for the ladies to stay and that he and his grandson will sleep in the corridor or in the lounge. He got a small room and the ladies stayed there while I and my grandfather slept in the corridor that night (after getting some eatables for the ladies). It was always understood that giving physical protection and emotional support to ladies was a very high priority.

Even when there were disagreements and fighting, the men always made sure that the ladies ate and were okay. I heard that from my aunt. We have to CARE for the ladies. I mean the Grhastha devotees have to take up that responsibility. It has to start somewhere and traditionally that meant the grhastha men…"(4.17)

"55. Women must be honored and adorned by their fathers, brothers, husbands, and brothers-in-law, who desire (their own) welfare.

56. Where women are honored, there the gods are pleased; but where they are not honored, no sacred rite yields rewards…."

"To me this suggests that the Vedic goals were to satisfy all walks of society. The results of not following the Vedic path results in what we often see and hear complained about."

"Rather I had different experience. One of my uncles was a drunkard and it was a big shame on the family and the uncle knew it very well. So, as long as my grandfather was alive he never came to the house in drunken state and behaved well to his wife. But later on, after Grandfather's death there was no one, who could control him. So, he would come to the house in drunken state and then started beating his wife. This was understood by other ladies who were at home and reported to the other male members of the society. So, all the other brothers got together and warned him very heavily. But he repeated one in their presence, and then all my other uncles and father got together and gave him a good beating."

"Ameyatma Prabhu has emphasized the need for training men and then the woman problem will be solved. He is correct. In the following lecture SP emphasizes that woman are mostly imbued with rajas and tamas. Men also, but only men can rise to sattva. Thus the husband must become a devotee to be able to lead his wife."

"In the following selection from a lecture by Srila Prabhupada he explains that in Vedic culture a woman doesn't even go to a spiritual master for instruction and education what to speak of school or brahmacarini ashrama. Her instructor and teacher is her husband (father when young). BUT the husband must be of high quality and gentle, etc. So the onus is on the man."

20. Mother Malati's GBC appointment criticized

"One of the most discussed texts involved a letter written by Jasomatinandana, in which he criticized Malati's GBC appointment. Although no GHQ members appeared capable of realizing why mainstream devotees had been offended by Jasomatinandana's text, they agreed that it might be best if they tone down future attacks for tactical reasons."

However, to be within the mainstream is often not at all good: mainstream Americans are proud to be beef-eaters, overly fond of illicit sex, habituated to intoxicants of wide description, and given to so many other unhealthy mainstream activities. They sport in the mainstream current of nescience, while cascading down to hellish conditions of future life.

Regarding the sentiments of various GHQ members towards Mother Malati dd, "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" (in his apparent strategy to misrepresent and malign the members of GHQ) excluded several exculpatory texts which showed that, despite certain differences, the GHQ members did maintain appropriate respect for Mother Malati dd. Please now see Section 5, wherein Mother Malati dd is the subject of several texts. HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami states:

"From my experience, Malati Mataji is a very nice, humble and sincere devotee. Not an anti male chauvinist pig type. Could be entered into dialog with."

"But I have to reveal that I do not like to read what is being told about Mother Malati. I consider her a good vaisnavi. I lived in New Vrndavana for some time as sankirtana leader (about two years ago) and I had some exchanges with her and due to circumstances I had to visited her ashram. I have to tell you that I was always pleased by visiting her ashram. I appreciated the training that she gave to her girls. They were relating with me in a chaste and polite way."

It must be apparent to the reader by now that both the public and GHQ members are victims of a deliberate program of deception designed to incite the contempt and scorn of the general ISKCON population toward the members of GHQ.

21. Women not having souls

"In the initial conference texts, the GHQ members were more freely showing their true color and frequently referred to ISKCON women as 'obnoxious', 'feminazis' and even as not having souls, to the 'ISKCON Women's Ministry' as the 'ISKCON Whore Ministry' and to the 'International Women's Conference' as the 'International Witches Conference.'"

Thus, even though "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" had (and still has) all 911 GHQ texts, he can cite only the discrepancies shown above (hardly a pattern of behavior; hardly anything to cause alarm or to warrant punitive measures; especially considering the fact that GHQ members consensually decided to stop using such words (as will be seen in Article 22). We again ask our respectable reader to consider why "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" has so falsely presented the facts.

Next, we request you to consider the following phrase used by "Ardhabuddhi Dasa": "referred to ISKCON women as..." The glaring implication, of course, is that such adjectives were used to describe all ISKCON women. But again, the truth is radically different. Certain GHQ members used those terms to describe a very small but vociferous cult of ISKCON feminists imbued with mayavadi tendencies who oppose the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.

Such feminists portray GHQ's agenda as anti-woman or misogynist, but this also is untrue. Just as many women support reestablishment of Vedic culture, so also many men choose to side with radical feminists. It is not a gender war, it is cultural conflict: modern Western secular culture versus Vedic culture. GHQ has many women supporters (see Section 2), and these women also sometimes use the very same terms (some even coined by ladies) to describe these radical women. Women are not always offended by words like "feminazi" (5.1)----which is not to say that we advocate such language, but perhaps simply to say that in the heat of anger or frustration, tempers flare, and poignant adjectives may be spawned. In any case, GHQ was not incubating gender conflict, as "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" portrays.

In a similar vein, the text which states: "as not having soul" refers strictly to feminists:

"I must admit although they appear to be spirit souls likethose of us either wearing male or female bodies, in actually they have no soul."

"In short, there is a general understanding--among people who are without motive to misinterpret my words--that to have 'no soul' simply means to have no soft heart, no mercy, no sensitivity for others, etc. It is an obvious figurative use of words that both parties of the private discussion understood:

Please note that my comment refers both to men and women who fit the mode of having "no soul." I repeat, IT IS NOT A SLUR AGAINST WOMEN, as some are taking my words to mean."

Regarding the offhand nicknaming by one GHQ member of IWC as "International Witches Conference," it is simply a game that two parties may play. The former "Dharma of Women" (DOW) conference, for example, was commonly called by Mother Prtha dd and others, "Down on Women," even though the then conference organizer, Mother Sita dd, is herself a woman and even though many other women actively participate therein and/or support its objectives. (See Section 2.)

Now, O gentle and patient reader (you must be patient if you are still reading), please come with us to Section 7, which documents several typical cases wherein certain ladies use disagreeable, offensive, and odious language while speaking with or about those who want to follow Vedic culture in ISKCON. You will see instances of Women's Ministry members and also one sannyasi using pejorative, insulting, abusive, inflammatory terms––"sexist," "chauvinist," "narrow-minded," "semi-literate," "rabid fundamentalists," "amazingly stupid"––in letters to Jivan Mukta Prabhu and his wife Mother Sita dd. (See also Section 3, in which ISKCON women who call themselves "Generals" and "Privates" falsely accuse Jivan Mukta Dasa of beating his wife.)

In a letter sent to them by Mother Madhusudani Radha dd, one writer with apparent disdain, one calls Mother Sita dd a sudrani : "Jivan Mukta Prabhu has gotten too much under the influence of the teachings of his sudrani wife... as we know, sudras are in the mode of ignorance…" Another insultingly calls all anti-mayavadi (anti-feminist writings) "scholarship in the mode of ignorance."

Mother Varshana dd (HDG) claims that in the USA the only women who agree to follow Vedic culture are foreigners, who are not advanced like American women. She characterizes these non-American devotees (Europeans, Latin Americans, Indian, etc.) as being insincere, feigning chastity to get their "green cards." Is it that American women devotees are so advanced that they no longer need to regularly attend to their sadhana, unlike "inferior" foreign women who comprise the majority of Vasinavis residing in temples and having strict sadhana and trying to follow nari-dharma?

Many ISKCON feminists perceive The Dharma of Women (now DMW) conference to be very dangerous and so often wage verbal assaults upon it. Mother Påtha dd accused it of "Hinduizing" ISKCON–which of course is deliberately meant to be an insult, as we normally understand that Srila Prabhupada and the Gaudiya acaryas view Hinduism as a corruption of Vedic culture. (See recent article in "Hinduism Today" on this very point.)

Mother Mamata dd criticized GBC members as "dysfunctional and unqualified, untrained leaders" with "dictatorial attitudes," who have "been destroying Srila Prabhupada's movement for many, many years."

Also in this section we see that Mother Sita dd wrote to HH Bir Krishna Goswami for clarification of a comment he had made to the IWC conference. Maharaja promised to reply, but then rudely posted the private exchange to IWC, along with an an introduction wherein he (a supposed protector of women) publicly called her a sexist. When her husband, Jivan Mukta Dasa, confronted Maharaja, demanding a public apology for the public insult, Maharaja responded with an inadequate, perfunctory, private apology. Nor did he reply to Jivan Mukta Dasa's subsequent letter.

Then there is the example from Section 6.1, wherein Mother Madhusudani Radha dd is quoted hurling a string of insults at Basu Ghosh Prabhu:

"over-zealous, arch conservative, backwards, women-hating, oppressive people who give ISKCON a bad name"

(If Srila Prabhupada had ever heard any of his disciples speak in this way to or about any of his Godbrothers, surely it would have been a dark day for that devotee. But in these days, with no compunction, very junior devotees insult seniors with nearly absolute impunity. Considering that such impudence is suicidal to one's spiritual life, and that the guru must absorb reaction for such offenses of his disciples, we sincerely hope that initiating gurus of such offensive disciples will take cognizance and appropriate action.)

Returning to the original point, we assume that you agree that the tone of the speakers in Section 7 is highly disagreeable, offensive and odious; nor would you desire to be a recipient of such insults. And, for your edification, the dictionary meaning of the word "obnoxious" is: "highly disagreeable, offensive, odious" (American Heritage Dictionary). Thus, when feminists were described by one GHQ member as obnoxious, it was definitely not an unfair description.

Regarding the term "feminazi," it is commonly used in the USA to describe radical feminists. The meaning of "femi-" (feminist) is apparent; the suffix "nazi" refers not only to obnoxious behavior but also to underhanded and ruthless tactics. A modern ex-feminist author, Camilla Paglia, calls the feminists "social-Stalinists," for similar reasons. If one compares how the Nazis ruthlessly waged psychological warfare to spread anti-Semitic disinformation through the Propaganda Ministry of Joseph Goebbels, to how "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" has foisted upon the hapless devotees a treatise of disinformation meant to create anti-GHQ sentiments in order to illegally arrest GHQ's progress in preparing a proposal to the GBC, then the term "feminazi" fits. (Please recall that GHQ's only purpose was as a think tank for drafting a proposal to the GBC, due process for effecting change in ISKCON.) Unfortunately, it is a very accurate description of "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" and company, who will break ISKCON laws and even state laws (libel and slander) to achieve dubious ends.

So as to make sure there is no misunderstanding the term "femi-nazi" was not a blanket description of ALL women in ISKCON as "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" insinuated. The word is an apt description of a very small group of militant, extremist, feminist activists within ISKCON who have used all kinds on unfair tactics such as using Chakra (controlled by feminists) as their "soap box", and BTG (see Article 25) and other ISKCON publication to push their own agenda (which is contrary to Srila Prabhupada's teachings).

In regards to the term "whore" as in "International Whore's Ministry" as opposed to "International Women's Ministry" as is reproduced by "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" in the following text:

So, possibly we might also want to see, if 100% dismantling the WM may prove too big a fight, what about pushing to have it redefined in accordance with SP teachings, and headed up by a very chaste Indian mataji, one whom anyone can relate to as mataji ? ?

That's a beginning. But regardless of who's involved, it should be under the protection and guidance of the grhastha Ministry. If woman has no independence, how can a group of women have independence?

A Prostitute Ministry would also be appropriate considering the current state of affairs. Actually, it could be called Whore Ministry so that the initials can remain the same. In this way those big gun gurus, sannyasis and GBCs who enjoy such association can do so without contaminating our daughters.

Ys. JMd

What Jivan Mukta Dasa is referring to here is the fact that Mother Malati dd had been recently been made a probationary GBC. He, and many others objected to this because Mother Malati dd has a very dark history. She had deserted Srila Prabhupada as a disciple and been out of the movement longer than many devotees have been in it. She became a follower of Jiddu Krsnamurty (pakka mayavadi), and was a drug addict. But what really upset him and others was that she had become a madam of a high class whore house in New York. Thus the appellation "Whore Ministry." The following texts provide the context for Jivan Mukta Dasa's statements:

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 98 11:35 -0400
From: "Jivan Mukta Dasa" <btb@georgian.net>
Reply-To: btb@georgian.net, GHQ@com.bbt.se
To: "COM: GHQ" <GHQ@com.bbt.se>
Subject: Re: Madame Malati
Lines: 73
[Text 1762234 from COM]
Mother Sita dd writes to Mother Jayasri dd
>On Thu, 8 Oct 1998 18:30:12 -0400 (EDT)
Sita Devi Dasi <btb@georgian.net writes:

Ok, glad to know it's you. I've been wanting to ask you something for some time actually, since I spoke with you in Toronto a few years ago, and never got the opportunity. You see, I remember you having told me, if my memory serves me well, that Malati Devi had run some type of whorehouse while she was out of the movement--I don't know if it was before she took sannyasa or after. I mean no disrespect to Malati herself nor do I wish my inquiry to seem as though I question her spiritual status in Krsna consciousness nor do I feel her past somehow impedes her ability to perform devotional service. The reason it has been on my mind is related to her new GBC candidacy. I thought you might be the right person to ask confidentially about this and I am hoping you would be willing to clarify this for me.

Hoping all is well,

>Your servant, Sita dd

Mother Jayasri dd replies

>Hari bol Sita prabhu. Nice to hear from you. As far as my talking about Malati's condition when she was gone I must have been in some befitting context because it's not my habit. She is too dear and I respect her very much. Anyway her past is no secret to the devotees of the GBC connection but I must say she has no atmosphere of her past fallen condition. She is very empowered by Srila Prabhupada now. I must say that when she was fallen she was honest about it. She didn't do it at or around the temple etc. She is not a luke warm person, preach KC but do all nonsense. When she was out she lived in a fallen way and now she is a great example of as pure of an endeavor as I have seen anyone make. She selflessly does 25 hrs. worth of service and hardly even sleeps or eat, which can be verified by the girls whom she lives with. I'm sure your questions are not out of malice but her past is not generally a common topic for me. If you want to know, contact her at Malati.ACBSP.@com.bbt.se she I'm sure will tell you what ever you want to know. She is quite a humble person.

>Hare Krsna Jayasri dasi

Jivan Mukta Dasa's comment

So now we know how to properly address Malati: not Prabhu nor Mother or Mata but Madam. I don't feel that a protest of *Vasinavi aparadha* is appropriate in this case. I have never said nor is my intention the denial of this woman service in Srila Prabhupada's movement. My only question is the constitution of appropriate service.

A madam is not only a whore herself, but she employs other young ladies (and/or men) in the sex trade. Even if she has reformed herself, is it appropriate to elevate her to the position of GBC? If Bhavananda, Kirtanananda, Bhagavan, etc. were to re-emerge repentant for their past indiscretions, would we be willing to re-institute them in their former leadership positions? For all I know, Madam Malati may be a pure devotee right now. But that does not justify elevating her to any position of public prominence as much as it would be unthinkable to reinstate any of the above males as GBC's or let's say Murali Vadaka as a teacher. Such actions are an insult to all those chaste women and responsible men who have not only honourably fulfilled their prescribed duties but have done so irrespective of the disruptions, pain and confusion caused by these very same individuals. May I get your thoughts on this please.

I would like to see someone like Basu Gosh Prabhu ask the GBC EC about their knowledge and feelings of her prostitution ring. What do you think?

Ys. JMd

From: xyz
Date: 08-Oct-98 02:00
To: Shyamasundara (das) ACBSP
Subject: cat fights with women
------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Shyama Sundara Prabhu.
PAMHO.AGTSP.

I could not disagree with you more on this. I am not interested in getting any law passd by the GBC nor lobby for any resolutions. How can you trust these people who goof like that and then we have to baby sit them to teach what SP taught? I can't waste my life like that.

I didn't know what you wrote about Malati on IIN. Her ex husband Shyamasundar told me last year that just some five or six years back Malati was a madam arranging girls for high class customers in a brothel house in, I think, New York just before coming to Kirtanananda. I mean she had hit the bottom of the pit. They couldn't find anyone better? What is the use of your trying to hobnob with these men and lobbying for their support who have no discrimination whatsoever.

Hari Bol.
YS xyz
(Text COM:) -----------------------------------------

It should be stressed that no one doubts that Mother Malati dd is a devotee nor is it suggested that she should be denied service. What is upsetting is the kind of service she is doing. The GBC already has credibility problems why make it worse by appointing her?

The radical feminist members of the IWM and IWC accuse GHQ members of gratuitously calling all divorced women prostitutes. This is simply not true.

"This is not to say that I advocate divorce. In my practice I never do such a thing. What I am advocating is taking a long view of the situation and getting the right perspective, and being careful not to alienate someone who is actually an ally simply because of a past marital fiasco. Remember, even though the vast majority of ISKCON devotees have had divorces they still support divorceless marriage as the ideal, they just didn't have the ways or means of achieving that goal. Our task should be on providing such ways and means so that the next wave that hits the beachheads will have fewer casualties." (4.23)

For other examples of harsh language used by the feminists please see Sections 3 and 11.

22. Only tactical and cosmetic

"In later texts, the men appear to have realized that by showing their true feelings so openly on the conference, they may also later inadvertently slip up and use these offensive labels in public. They therefore devised a system of referring to their opponents either as "purvapakshins" or by their initials only. Since this change was only tactical and cosmetic, it appears clear that we can not take seriously any claims made by these men that they are interested in bringing back "Vedic culture" to ISKCON."

Through that one paragraph, "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" attempts to solidify revulsion toward the members of GHQ, even though an unbiased reader would otherwise naturally understand that GHQ members had decided to not speak disparagingly of the purvapaksins. These texts indicating GHQ's desire to remain gentlemen, claims "Ardhabuddhi Dasa," mean exactly the opposite.

Now again, we request our reader's attention upon Section 5 (and also Section 1.2), which provides many exculpatory texts in full context (not slices) over a long span of time. These texts show the actual reason why we decided to refine our manner of speech on GHQ. Now, you might wonder why "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" omitted these exculpatory texts from his presentation. And why does he show only bits and pieces reassembled into a "Frankenstein monster," with no resemblance to the truth? In Kali-yuga, the last vestige of dharma is truthfulness, yet here again "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" demonstrates his unconscienable tactic to despoil truth and thus deceive the entire assemblage of ISKCON devotees. But why?

Before showing you direct quotes, we'll now simply state the actual reasons that we became concerned about our choice of language:

1. Anger clouds the mind of the angry party.
2. An angry state of mind leads to Vaisnava-aparadha, which destroys one's spiritual life.
3. Our mission was to present a proposal not to feminists but to the GBC; thus we wanted to establish a high, philosophical platform of logic and reason and avoid destructive emotions.

"There is a lot to be angry about, it is difficult to see the philosophy twisted by junior devotees. But simply to be angry is not enough. Anger begets anger. There will not be understanding through anger so I decided to drop it of my own accord."

"From my experience, Malati Mataji is a very nice, humble and sincere devotee. Not an anti male chauvinist pig type. Could be entered into dialog with. I feel that the GHQ presentation should be high on reasoned argument and sastric quotes, and low on verbiage and invective…Never insinuate that the opposite party are not devotees or bring their sincerity into question."

"Why should it degenerate into a scrap? But yes, ad hominem attack must be avoided & philosophy and the issues must be kept 'up front'."

"It is easy for me to get caught up in anger and its offspring. (Perhaps others have a similar problem?) So I will need you to keep me from falling into Vaisnava aparadha. That is why it will be important for devotees like BVS to read our material before it is presented. For a start we should simply call the other side "our opponents" or use the Sanskrit term "purvapashin", that is, those who present the antithesis. That will help to keep us more dignified. They are not our enemies, after all, when this is over we will have to work with them."

"So as you say we have to do our utmost to keep this at a high level…Aside from that, taking the high road will be good for our own consciousness."

"Maharaja made some good points about not descending into the cat fight mode of the women. Thus we should not address them as "feminazis" as it may slip out and the term is inflammatory to them as well as to us (makes us more angry). Similarly, even though I coined the name "Mad Radha" we should not use it in this forum just so that we discipline our own minds against the raja & tama guna."

"Suggestion to use abbreviations for names that will often be repeated in our discussions. I offer the following simple beginning list:

(We already have MR)
R-Radha dd (MG)
P-Pranada dd
S-Sudharma dd
V-Visakha dd
J-Jyotirmayi dd

Maybe we use 2 letters for our own names (?)"

As humans err, we did not always follow our own guidelines, but if one of us would stray, another would point out the error to preserve our intended focus:

"I humbly submit and agree that we DO need to keep cool-headed at all times. If we are not careful to avoid Vaisnava-apradha, then we are likely to be destroyed in our attempts to cause positive reform in ISKCON. We cannot afford to lose our few fighting soldiers to the clutches of *maya* in the form of unnecessary, exaggerated, blanket, or false criticism of the purvapakshins… To that end, I humbly submit that we remain very CAREFUL to avoid Vaisnava-apradha and unecessary criticisms and unecessary entanglements with the purvapkshins, all of which will cause havoc or destruction to our own spiritual lives."

"I suggest that we gain victory on this issue without the need of personal criticism. We should benefit ourselves by sharing our realizations in sastra and Prabhupada's behavior and words."

"But IMHO we ought to keep it as gentlemanly as possible (guess I'm preaching to myself here as much as to you!) Malati is doing 1000 times more service for ISKCON than *** (who is doing precious NOTHING) &***, etc. Seems to me that Srila Prabhupada would've taken cognizance of that - I speak with reference to the actual history."

23. Art of deception

"Some of the conference members appear to be very skilled in the art of deception. For example, Vidvan Gauranga writes (in response to a question of whether he feels up to debating Sudharma and Pranada of the women's ministry): "No I am not afraid of being intimidated. I am just playing the same game they are playing. They try to get support by saying "Ah! we are called feminazis!" etc. So I am also crying out, "Ah! I am called a woman-hater!"

24. Earl of Chesterfield

"Although the GHQ members typically insist that opponents always quote sastra, they seem to hold themselves to a somewhat lower standard: Shyamasundara wrote:

"A man of sense only trifles with them [women], plays with them, humors and flatters them, as he does with a sprightly and forward child; but he neither consults them about, nor trusts them with, serious matters." Earl of Chesterfield.

To which Vidvan Gauranga replied:

"Good stuff. Bhaktividya Purna Maharaja told me the same thing."

And these are the same men who are currently bashing their opponents all over COM for even daring to use "logic and common sense" if this process does not involve quoting sastra.

Not once on GHQ was it ever suggested that the views of secular authors could become our pramana, or textual epistemology. Nor can "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" demonstrate that but is simply making false accusations to further tar and feather GHQ.

By claiming as he has above, "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" fails to employ the "logic and common sense" which he defends; for GHQ members never based our arguments upon such mundane quotes-----all arguments were based on sound sastra. The above quote simply confirms what is already stated in sastra. Sastra presents the truth, and the Earl of Chesterfield has restated that truth as obvious. Srila Prabhupada also says that women are like children:

"As for behavior, there are many rules and regulations guiding human behavior, such as the Manu-samhita, which is the law of the human race. Even up to today, those who are Hindu follow the Manu-samhita. Laws of inheritance and other legalities are derived from this book. Now, in the Manu-samhita it is clearly stated that a woman should not be given freedom. That does not mean that women are to be kept as slaves, but they are like children. Children are not given freedom, but that does not mean that they are kept as slaves." BG 16.7p

"Prabhupada: These are all imagination. When woman, when she is misguided, she becomes dangerous. There is no question of love. But one thing, according to Vedic conception life, that women and children are on the same level, so they should be given protection by men. In childhood the protection is from the father, in youthhood the protection is from the husband, and in old age the protection is from the grown-up sons. So they should never be given independence. They should be given protection, and their natural love for father or for husband or for children, then that propensity will grow very smoothly, and that will establish the relationship with woman and man very happy, and both of them will be able to execute their real function, spiritual life, by cooperation. The woman is known as his better half, so if she looks after the comfort of the man, a man is working and he is looking after the comfort, then both will be satisfied and their spiritual life will progress. Woman is meant for certain duties; man is meant for... Man is meant for hard working, and woman is meant for homely comfort, love. So both of them, if they are situated in their respective duties under proper training, then this combination of man and woman will help both of them to make progress in spiritual life."

So if Lord Chesterfield says that woman are like children, does it somehow become a falsehood? No. He has stated a fact which has been true and observed since eternity. Similarly, cow dung is pure, whether stated in sastra or confirmed by professor Bose in his laboratory. It is not pure because professor Bose declares it so; he has simply confirmed that which is already fact.

In any case, the important point is that GHQ members do not employ secular authors as our pramana, nor do we depend on faulty logic or common sense. We perceive reality through sastra caksus, the eye of the sastra. This is the way of the Vaisnava brahmanas, the followers of Vedic culture. Although we would never accept secular authors as pramana, still there is no harm to recognize others who have realized the very same truths and thus simply reconfirm the sastras . Therefore, let us reaffirm: Our authority is sastra, not secular authors.

Srila Prabhupada himself would sometimes cite a secular author (like Shakespeare) to illustrate a sastric point. That point is true not because Shakespeare said it, but because the sastras affirm it. Here is an example of Prabhupada citing Shakespeare. Please note that Srila Prabhupada does not imply that Shakespeare is an authority above sastra:

"I think there is a line in Shakespeare's literature, "The lunatic, mad, and the poet" or something like that, "all compact in thought." [The actual reference is A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V, Scene I: "The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact."]. So a madman and a atma-rati person, self-satisfied man, outwardly, you will find there is no difference, but inwardly, oh, there is vast difference. (Lecture: Bg3.1-5, LA, December 20, 1968)

"When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male."
Female of the Species by Rudyard Kipling

"Urvasi said: My dear King, you are a man, a hero. Don't be impatient and give up your life. Be sober and don't allow the senses to overcome you like foxes. Don't let the foxes eat you. In other words, you should not be controlled by your senses. Rather, you should know that the heart of a woman is like that of a fox. There is no use making friendship with women.

PURPORT

"Canakya Pandita has advised, visvaso naiva kartavyah strisu raja-kulesu ca: 'Never place your faith in a woman or a politician.' Unless elevated to spiritual consciousness, everyone is conditioned and fallen, what to speak of women, who are less intelligent than men. Women have been compared to sudras and vaisyas (striyo vaisyas tatha sudrah). On the spiritual platform, however, when one is elevated to the platform of Krsna consciousness, whether one is a man, woman, sudra or whatever, everyone is equal. Otherwise, Urvasi, who was a woman herself and who knew the nature of women, said that a woman's heart is like that of a sly fox. If a man cannot control his senses, he becomes a victim of such sly foxes. But if one can control the senses, there is no chance of his being victimized by sly, fox-like women. Canakya Pandita has also advised that if one has a wife like a sly fox, he must immediately give up his life at home and go to the forest.

mata yasya grhe nasti
bharya capriya-vadini
aranyam tena gantavyam
yatharanyam tatha grham
(Canakya-sloka 57)

"Krsna conscious grhasthas must be very careful of the sly fox woman. If the wife at home is obedient and follows her husband in Krsna consciousness, the home is welcome. Otherwise one should give up one's home and go to the forest.

hitvatma-patam grham andha-kupam
vanam gato yad dharim asrayeta
(Bhag. 7.5.5)

"One should go to the forest and take shelter of the lotus feet of Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
SB 9.14.37

Our ISKCON feminists are fond of declaring that because they are "devotees," the negative depiction of women given by Srila Prabhupada does not apply to them as it would to ordinary women. But is this true? In his purport, Srila Prabhupada specifically says "Krsna conscious grhasthas must be very careful of the sly fox woman." This directly means that there may be women who associate with devotees (for example, a wife who associates with her devotee husband, or other women who associate with ISKCON devotees) who are "sly fox women." They may call themselves devotees, but do their actions reflect those of devotees?

We should like to very carefully point out and bring to your full attention that we are not in any way, shape, or form labeling all women in ISKCON, or in society in general as "sly foxes." It has been the consistent tactic of "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" to say that we are making blanket statements about ALL women, but that is not so. Anyone who accuses us of this is wrong and would be doing so only for the sake of sloganeering and spreading disinformation about us in the attempt to stir up hatred and animosity toward us. We are focusing our attention on a very small minority, the kind that support mayavad philosophy in the form of feminism, stri sämyavad. We know that that are many women in ISKCON who are sincerely trying to follow the orders of Srila Prabhupada as enunciated in his books regarding nari-dharma, a few examples of such glorious and worshipable women can be found in Section 2 of the Appendices.

Having said that we have to wonder about the Women's Ministry and it supporters of whom "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" is most definitely one. Let us not forget that "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" wrote Conspiracy To Terminate The ISKCON Women's Ministry; this strongly suggests that "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" is intimately associated with the Women's Ministry. Otherwise, why would somebody "leak" the information to "him" (as "he" claims) and why would "he" go to the trouble of writing such a long paper? While the identity(ies) and gender(s) of "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" is hidden behind the cloak of a pseudonym (we don't know if it is one person or several, or what their genders are) the actions of this person are well known. We have demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that "Ardhabuddhi Dasa's" action are characterized by distortion of the truth, half-truths, misleading statements, disinformation and other tricks of an expert prevaricator. The fact that "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" has chosen to hide behind anonymity again suggests the "sly fox" mentality. "He" has hidden his identity because "he" knew that the truth would eventually come out and "he" would be known as a "sly fox."

If this is the kind of behavior the people in the Women's Ministry find acceptable, it indicates a lack of integrity and character, and we wonder if those are the kind of people we would want to have involved in our governing body.

All in all, this attempt by "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" and associates to cast aspersions on the members of GHQ because of quoting a few secular authors is simply another ingredient in their colossal fabrication of the "GHQ Conspiracy" scandal.

25. Conspiracy

conspiracy, n., 1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, treacherous, or evil act. 2. A combining or acting together, as if by evil design: a conspiracy of natural forces. 3. Law. An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or to accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action. (American Heritage Dictionary)

"As I understand it Maharaja, GHQ is going to be a think tank with the mandate to prepare a paper with proposals to the GBC to check apasiddhanta in the form of 'feminism' in ISKCON."

But before that opportunity for due hearing of GHQ's proposals had transpired, its objective was subverted by "Ardhabuddhi Dasa." Furthermore, an attempt continues to thwart and suppress our duty to participate in the decision-making process of the GBC. Rather than support the feminist position by lawfully presenting philosophical theses, our opponents "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" and cohorts, aware that their position has no sound merit and is philosophically indefensible, resorted to base, unethical, dirty tricks, by unlawfully conspiring to nullify our efforts. If this action of "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" goes unchecked, then the very basis of ISKCON government is seriously threatened. Rather than being governed by philosophy based on guru-sadhu-sastra and the rule of law, the GBC may well become influenced by conspiracy, psychological manipulation, vox populi, mob mentality, and secular theories. If ISKCON wishes to usher in a golden age of 10,000 years, it must adhere to the former and reject the latter.

At this time, we do not know exactly how the private texts of GHQ were procured by "Ardhabuddhi Dasa." We do know however that, supplied with those texts, "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" then compiled "Conspiracy to Terminate ISKCON Women's Ministry." This "Conspiracy" file was then sent to VNN, an anti-ISKCON website.

"Ardhabuddhi Dasa" has stated:

"Before the conference went off the air, one of its members had second thoughts. Although he agreed with many of the traditional views expressed by the others, he found their modus operandum to be distasteful and therefore decided to share the plans with Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis worldwide. Although we will respect his wish to remain anonymous, we greatly appreciate the courage he showed by sharing these texts with us."

By now, we have scrutinizingly analyzed and elaborately demonstrated that this expose by the feminists is essentially a weapon in their unethical campaign to besmirch the members of GHQ. Having no basis in Krsna conscious philosophy, they have resorted to this measure out of desperation.

Since the release of "Ardhabuddhi Dasa's" expose, on November 18, members and ardent supporters of the Women's Ministry have remained silent while profuse, terrible, false accusations were waged against GHQ members--based wholly upon the misinformation contained in "Ardhabuddhi's" expose. And mob mentality was conjured by the professional manipulators (psychologists), as can be seen in text 13.7 (where devotees are urged to "hang" other devotees). Although we understand that statement to be metaphorical, nevertheless there have been cases of devotees threatening physical violence upon each other in relation to the "GHQ Conspiracy." All this cyber-lynching was based on totally false information. It would appear that the person(s) behind "Ardhabuddhi Dasa's" article was also in possession of the exculpatory texts bearing the actual truth. We trust that, having read those texts, our respected readers now hold a much more favorable view as to the purposes and intentions of GHQ.

For someone to possess exculpatory texts yet allow innocent devotees to be abused on the basis of falsehood would be a malicious sin of omission. Worse still, is that he would then be indirectly responsible (first by publishing the conspiracy expose, and further by holding silent) for hundreds of Vaisnava-aparadhas. In Kali-yuga, the last vestige of dharma is truthfulness. We therefore are distressed and aggrieved at heart, knowing that devotees have fostered an atmosphere wherein half-truths and outright lies are paraded as facts. It is indeed disturbing to consider what the future of ISKCON will be if criminal expediency is the chosen method for defeating philosophical opposition. Has attainment of power at any cost now become a supposed virtue? Or is it now commendable to mock those who humbly try to follow Vedic culture?

As per ISKCON Law, an ISKCON devotee may be censured for "Acting irresponsibly in publicly expressing grievances rather than taking recourse to the prescribed process for settling grievances as per ISKCON Law." We therefore officially request that a special GBC commission be formed to investigate the identity of the devotee behind "Ardhabuddhi Dasa's" VNN article and then apply appropriate disciplinary measures to that individual.

We should also mention that the IWM COM conference has now become hidden from the devotee public (as can be seen in Section 13.3, which shows the "Status" for that conference.) Please also note that membership of Mother Sudharma dd, organizer of the conference, also is not registered. This indicates that the conference is now fully cloaked in secrecy.

We now humbly direct our reader's attention to Section 13.4, which contains the top few lines of the "Status" of the International Women's Conference (IWC). Here we see a direct connection between the Women's Ministry and the IWC. Mother Hariballabha dd is one of the organizers of the International Women's Conference and is also a member of the Women's Ministry Conference (IWC's other organizer, Madhusudani Radha dd, has refused to answer queries of whether or not she was involved in the VNN expose). And it is a fact that almost all members of the Women's Ministry are also members of the International Women's Conference. Since the two organizations are so intimately connected, it is highly likely that "Ardhabuddhi Dasa" is connected with them.

Nor did it end there...

It appears that other players joined in for further chicanery. We direct the gentle reader's attention to Section 13.5-13.6. This text seems to indicate that HH Mukunda Goswami and the BTG Editorial Board were also involved.

You may note that in 13.6, Mother Sudharma dd states that Mukunda Goswami (and several other men) is part of the Women's Ministry (though not a member of IWM Conference on COM, which is for women only). Now please turn to text 13.5, focusing especially on the first long paragraph after the salutations:

"Some of ISKCON's leaders and members have apparently been making extreme statements about the women in our movement. For those of you who may have already seen some of these statements, please forgive the redundancy. It appears that some of these declarations have become part of the public record via internet. Postings and other information indicate that these are not just a handful of disgruntled individuals, rather there appears to be a cabal, a group of conspirators engaging in a pseudo-military-styled strategy that aims to ill-name, misrepresent, exploit and minimize a section of our society. This crosses the line of vaisnava etiquette, to say the least. We are have information that certain parties have given these statements to the anti-cult movement. Therefore, as leaders of ISKCON, we should be prepared to take appropriate steps to publicly condemn such positioning and language, lest these be considered collectively to be (God forbid!) ISKCON's 'official' position."

We do not know exactly from which COM conferences Maharaja extracted the nine or ten sample texts that he provides. Other than the very last one, none were from the GHQ forum. No doubt they were prompted by "Ardhabuddhi's" misleading and prejudicial expose, posted on VNN.

Let us now consider the second to last paragraph. But first note that, according to Text 13.1 and 13.2, both Mother Visakha dd and Mother Pranada dd are members of the Women's Ministry (regarding Mother Pranada dd, see also 4.11-4.12).

"By way of contrast, the following article, which was started several weeks ago and was put on the COM BTG staff conference on Tuesday, 17 November 1998, is scholarly and civilized. Although it is not customary for the entire GBC to review a BTG article before publication, I thought this could be an exception. In fact it was Visakha prabhu, the author, who originally requested just such a review. BTG's editor-and-chief, Nagaraja dasa agrees and welcomes your comments. We request, however, that every GBC member give a "yea" or "nay" to BTG publishing this article in the usual "generally in favor" or "generally opposed" style of straw voting. We need your response by 29 November, 1998."

We do not wish to jump to conclusions, but something doesn't seem right. It seems plausible that the above "coincidence" is the continuation of a conspiracy to sabotage GHQ's efforts for presenting a proposal to the GBC. Why do we say this? First, it would seem that it was not a coincidence that Mother Visakha dd was working on this paper. Please consider that Mother Visakha dd is a member of the Women's Ministry and as such would have been in possession of the large number of texts that were suddenly sent to the Women's Ministry, texts which appear to have originated from GHQ. She then would have had these texts for a long time. Her paper certainly appears to be a preemptive strike against GHQ. (We should also note that she is an associate editor of BTG, as is Mukunda Goswami.) It certainly appears that this is not serendipity—but rather fully deliberate. We also note that the treasurer of the Women's Ministry, Mother Pranada dd, is also the wife of BTG's editor-in-chief, Nagaraja Prabhu. This is a very curious concatenation of personnel: Mukunda Goswami and Mother Visakha dd, both members of the Women's Ministry and associate editors of BTG; Mother Pranada dd, treasurer of the Women's Ministry; and her husband, editor-in-chief of BTG. Is there "something rotten in the state of Denmark?" It could all very well be innocent and have a logical explanation. But it certainly doesn't seem that way.

It is all very curious:

1. According to "Ardhabuddhi dasa": "Before the conference went off the air, one of its members had second thoughts. Although he agreed with many of the traditional views expressed by the others, he found their modus operandum to be distasteful and therefore decided to share the plans with Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis worldwide."
2. Who did he share those "plans" with?
3. It just so happens that between the time the GHQ forum is started and the time "Ardhabuddhi's Dasa's" article is published, 876 new texts appear on the Women's Ministry Conference----a 50-fold increase in the amount of texts that it usually gets.
4. What is the nature of these texts?
5. On November 17, 1998, Mother Vishaka dd, a member of the Women's Ministry and a BTG editor, submits an article on women's issues (Krishna Consciousness and Women. How may Krishna Consciousness women serve the Lord? Can they be leaders in His spiritual society?) to the BTG editors.
6. The very next day (November, 18,1978) "Ardhabuddhi Dasa's" expose entitled Conspiracy To Terminate The ISKCON Women's Ministry, appears on VNN.
7. A merciless avalanche of abuse and character assassination is piled upon the members of GHQ via COM forums and in the feminist controlled media, especially Chakra. Untold Vaisnava-aparadhas are made. Physical violence is threatened.
8. On November 22, HH Mukunda Swami ( a member of the Women's Ministry and BTG editor) writes a letter to the GBC, asking them for their imprimatur on Mother Vishaka's dd article, as well as suggesting that leaders of ISKCON, "publicly condemn such positioning and language" (meaning GHQ and it's agenda).
9. Who gave HH Mukunda Maharaja the 10 texts he uses as examples?
10. On or about November 27, 1998, Mukunda Goswami's letter and Mother Vishaka's article are sent to GHQ by a person who thought that the entire affair was very one-sided and highly suspicious, to say the least.
11. Then the NA GBC Executive Committee apparently censures the GHQ members. It should be noted that all members of this committee are members of the Women's Ministry.
12. Shortly there after the GBCEC follows suit.
13. Neither the NA GBC or International GBC Executive Committees thought it necessary to communicate with active members of GHQ to find out their side of the story before censuring GHQ and its agenda.

And then of course, there is CHAKRA. (For your information, CHAKRA is owned (see 8.1) and funded by none other than Mother Madhusudani Radha dd, who, as you can see from Text 13.4, is the organizer of the IWC. It should be no surprise that CHAKRA has unceasingly blasted GHQ. Although CHAKRA claims to be an ISKCON-friendly website, CHAKRA has proven to be a feminist promoting website.

And while not directly involved in this conspiracy yet, Hare Krsna World is overseen by Mukunda Goswami as the Executive Editor and is also a feminist-propaganda machine. (See 12.2.)

We have outlined a very plausible scenario, that there was in fact a conspiracy----not a conspiracy by GHQ, but by the Women's Ministry and affiliates----to sabotage the lawful proceedings of the GHQ think tank, by publishing highly prejudicial disinformation about GHQ and its membership, amounting to merciless character assassination. With all the humility at our disposal, we request the GBC to form an independent committee to investigate this matter.

Even more urgently, we humbly request that the GBC create a special panel to research the matter of the feminist heresy. As we have seen, feminism has a corrosive effect on anything it touches. To resolve the matter in a Vaisnava-brahminical way, both sides should be cordially invited to present treatises to be referred to the GBC for its most philosophically correct decision on the matter.

Before closing we would like to share an observation with our gentle readers on something we see happening in ISKCON. We note that many of the individuals involved with feminism in ISKCON are also part of HH Mukunda Maharaja's Communications Ministry: Maharaja himself, Anuttama Prabhu, Mother Sudharma dd, Mother Madhusudani Radha dd, Mother Radha dd, and Saunaka Rsi Prabhu, as can be seen from the following COM status (although Mukunda Maharaja is not included in this status it is well known that he is the global director and GBC for this project):

Name: ICNA (ISKCON Communications North America)
Number: Conference 2925
Type: Private, Only Members, Files
Netmail address: ICNA@com.bbt.se
Created by: Dharmaraja (das) HKS
Created on: 09-Mar-97
Organizer: Madhusudani Radha (dd) JPS (Mill Valley - USA)
No of texts: 140
No of members: 12
Downloads: Yes Uploads: Yes
Text expiration time: Default
Maximum Size of Forwarded Files: 0 KBytes
ICNA (ISKCON Communications North America) has the following members:
Unseen Last present * Name
0 12-Jan-99 Anuttama (das) ACBSP (IC N.America)
0 13-Jan-99 Dayananda (das) ACBSP (26 2nd Av., New York - USA)
0 13-Jan-99 Devakinandan (das) ACBSP (Bombay - IN)
0 13-Jan-99 Hari Kirtan (das) SDG
0 13-Jan-99 Madhusudani Radha (dd) JPS (Mill Valley - USA)
0 13-Jan-99 Nandi Mukhi (dd) SDG
0 13-Jan-99 Parijata (dd) RNS (IC Mumbai - IN)
40 05-Jul-98 Premananda (das) NRS (Boston, MA - USA)
0 13-Jan-99 Radha (dd) MG (New Vrindavan - USA)
0 13-Jan-99 Radha Seva (dd) NRS (Moscow - R)
0 12-Jan-99 Saunaka Rsi (das) SDG (IC) (Ireland)
0 13-Jan-99 Sudharma (dd) ACBSP (Alachua - USA)

From a: Room Conversation with Siddha-svarupa -- May 3, 1976, Honolulu

Hari-sauri: Well, their idea was that because sometimes the public is becoming disturbed by the book distribution, then therefore it's not being done correctly. So it should be stopped.

Prabhupada: Public may disturb, but we are following our own course of action. It is not obligatory. We are requesting you, "Take this book." That is not obligatory. "If you like, you can take. If you don't like, don't take."

Siddha-svarupa: I think that...

Hari-sauri: So what their idea was that we shall build some public relations, like you said with this store. They prefer to try to spread Krsna consciousness by public relations, give good impression, and then people will come.

Prabhupada: Then you are dictated by the public, not by the dictation of your spiritual master. Spiritual master has ordered to distribute books; you shall do that. That is obedience. Now the public may take or not take, that is public's option. But my duty is-because spiritual master has said-I must try my best. Spiritual master has not said that "You must sell so many books daily, otherwise I will reject you." He has not said that. So everyone may try his best, that's all. The public may take or not take, it doesn't matter. And if you are, want to please the public, public says that "You dance naked, I will be very happy with you, I'll give you (indistinct)." So I'll have to do that. Then what is the use of making a spiritual master? Public, they have got their whims, how to become pleased. So we are to follow all these things? We have to follow our instruction of the spiritual master. That is... (indistinct) Why to manufacture "The public will be pleased like this"? Public may or may not give you, what you can do?

Hari-sauri: Our success is in the spiritual master's pleasure, not the public's pleasure.

Prabhupada: Yes, that is bhakti. Otherwise why Krsna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]? "You haven't got to please so many religious instructions. You simply please Me." That is Krsna's...

Siddha-svarupa: I don't think the devotees who factioned out were against book distribution. I think that a little bit was that some of the devotees were using very, very forceful tactics and trying to give people books and take their money, and people were becoming very offended...

Prabhupada: That is not (indistinct).

Siddha-svarupa: That is not what you want.

Hari-sauri: That's all right, but don't give up the book distribution.

Siddha-svarupa: Yes.

Hari-sauri: This is what happened. The temples fell down, the devotees went away. The ones who were distributing the books went on and distributed more books, became more expert, so that the public were not so much disturbed, and still they're distributing books. But these people who factioned off are not distributing books even now, two or three years later. So it was simply actually a question of faultfinding more than earnest desire to please the spiritual master.

Prabhupada: Yes. (pause) Discuss.

Devotee: All glories to Srila Prabhupada. (end)

We would like to see this deficiency rectified, by having all leaders in ISKCON spend lengthy times in India getting serious training in applied Vedic culture. It was for this reason that Srila Prabhupada wanted all his disciples to spend at least one consecutive year in India, to absorb Vedic culture by osmosis

A final observation is that ISKCON Communications (which is steeped in feminism) is now practically controlling the NA GBC and likely infiltrating into the International GBC as well. One veteran TP was asked if the TPs were controlled by the IC people. Here is his blunt answer:

<< Do they listen and fall for that garbage? >>

"Take a look at the resolutions and you'll know that they eagerly fall for it. I can tell you already in advance what the next resolutions will be. Their overall program is to make everything in the movement as karmi-like (and 'acceptable') as possible + they are expert to avoid the real issues (and problems) within the movement. The reason the presidents fall for it is mainly because many of them are simple yes-men who have no clue how to manage, or women who go along with sentimental political agendas - being already blissed out that they could be seen in the same room with big guns, or old TP's who take rest during the meetings. To spice the meetings, they generally invite a few 'professionals' from the real world or Christian priests. No president ever gets to talk or have any control whatsoever over the meetings. It's all Anuttama and Sudharma with the help of Badri, Bir Krishna Goswami & Co. Absolutely pathetic.

What to do.

Y.s."

Thank you very much.

Your humble servants in service to ISKCON,

Members of GHQ

Please visit the GHQ website at www.GHQD.org