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EDITORIAL February 15, 1999 VNN3051 See Related VNN Stories Tired Of Hot Air BY PARAMANANDA DAS EDITORIAL, Feb 15 (VNN) — (letter to Vipramukhya Swami) > Your comments are not accurate. I am accurate in my reporting of what is > happening in the GBC meetings, and occasionally even get in trouble with > the EC for the things I'm writing. I am sure you are reporting what is happening, but are you reporting ALL that is happening? And further, are you reporting on that which ought to happen but doesn't? Are you demanding that something happens to all those issues that the devotees are concerned about? I am sure you know that there are a lot of devotees who are very disillusioned, perhaps the majority. This is a major problem that has to be taken seriously. We see that the development of ISKCON is stagnating in many arenas. Somebody has to start asking why? What are our leaders doing about it? A standard way to measure success is through indicators. To measure the success of ISKCON one could check indicators like: - number of devotees joining - number of devotees remaining after 5; 10; 15; 20; 25 years - number of temples opening - number of books distributed - ratio books/paraphernalia distributed - number of second generation remaining in ISKCON - number of devotees satisfied with the protection they get in ISKCON - number of devotees having faith that the GBC are competent leaders - number of devotees satisfied with the quality of ISKCON's gurus - number of devotees satisfied with the quality of ISKCON's sannyasis - number of gurus and sannyasis leaving their responsibilities etc. Since no survey has been done we can only guess. (Chakra could ask: Why has no survey been done?) I think you will find that ISKCON is going OK where it is young and in areas of great poverty and suffering, but that things are real bad in most other places, particularly Europe and USA. A good journalist would ask why? Why can't we keep our old devotees? Why can't we keep our second generation? Why can't we keep our gurus and sannyasis? Why are the devotees so dissatisfied with the GBC and the other leadership? We have a wonderful philosophy, but our organization is on the rocks. Why? There are a lot of devotees who are very concerned about a lot of issues, such as: - the guru issue - the women issue - why don't we have decent education after all these years - who is to be held responsible for all the abuse of children and women, and how is he going to pay for it? - the Dallas gurukula started 1972, and horrifying abuse was there from the beginning. Now, 1999, 27 years later, no-one has been held responsible for this. Why not? Who is protecting the guilty? - now when Harikesa no longer pays for post trauma therapy, perhaps ISKCON could make a little sacrifice? Why not sell a temple or two to pay for the therapy? Why not demand the daksine from the GBCs? When are the GBCs going to make a sacrifice to prove their responsibility and concern? - what happened to purity? They dress as sadhus but act as politicians. One takes sannyas to gain power, prestige and comfort while preaching renunciation of exactly that. How long is this hypocrisy going to go on? - when is ISKCON going to get a class of true sadhus whose purity can be the force ISKCON so desperately needs? - we preach about protection of Brahmins, cows, women, children and elders, but the only ones getting protection are Prabhupada disciples claiming to be Brahmins. When is this going to change? Who is responsible for this? What will be his consequences? There are a lot more similar questions that are asked by the rank-and-file devotees. Why doesn't Chakra ask these questions? If you where a reporter worth his salt you would be asking these questions. You would put the leaders on the hot spot and demand answers. In the assessments of the GBCs it becomes clear that many of them need to improve. A good reporter would check assessments from previous years and see what has been done. Have they improved? If not, what will be the consequences? ISKCON has an autocratic system of people with power over the members private and personal life. These leaders are appointed, not elected but appointed by their old friends, for life! There is no way for the members to dethrone a leader or hold him responsible for mismanagement. ISKCON is totally undemocratic. The only way there is at present to put pressure on the leaders is to expose them if they misbehave. You have a great responsibility. You run the only ISKCON news media. By exposing misbehavior and mismanagement you could turn the tide. You may find me overly critical, and perhaps I am. However, my motivation rises from a feeling of responsibility. Srila Prabhupada gave us something very valuable. My assessment is that Srila Prabhupada's movement now is seriously threatened by impurity and incompetence among it's leaders. Prabhupada said that purity is the force. I don't see much force, I see mostly stagnation. I don't think Srila Prabhupada would have been satisfied with ISKCON the way it is today, and I think he would have tried to do something about it. So if we are his followers we should, shouldn't we? Your servant Paramananda Das See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this Story This story URL: http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9902/ET15-3051.html
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