© 1998 VNN
| WORLD November 24, 1998 VNN2550 See Related VNN Stories Bhakti Vikasa Swami Answers Conspiracy Charge BY BHAKTI VIKASA SWAMI USA, Nov 24 (VNN) — This letter is in response to a recent posting on VNN by the so-called Ardhabuddhi Das (ABD) about a supposed conspiracy against women (which I saw in multiple postings on Com by some Bhakta from Europe). Actually, in Vedic culture, and in decent families even today, seniors don't argue before juniors, and juniors don't challenge seniors. Seniors settle (or maintain) their differences privately--which was a reason I preferred the secrecy of GHQ. The idea was to tactfully approach various GBC members and present our concerns to them, rather than make a public dogfight. Actually, I withdrew from GHQ three weeks ago and wasn't following the texts in it for some weeks before that. Although I accept that it is addressing grave areas of concern, I left it to others to deal with. Like other leaders in our movement (yes, I am some kind of a leader), I don't have time to get involved in every controversy that comes around. Nevertheless, my name is there as a member of GHQ, and, in light of the outcry against it, several devotees have asked me to clarify my position. Hence this letter. The outcry is fueled by ABD's portrayal of GHQ. ABD accuses GHQ members of selectively quoting Srila Prabhupada, but ABD has selectively quoted GHQ texts and added his (or more likely, her) own biased and inflammatory commentary to paint GHQ in the worst possible light. ABD lambasts GHQ for its secrecy, yet having publicly revealed private correspondence (which is in itself questionable), ABD has deliberately concealed his/her identity (Ardhabuddhi literally means "half-intelligent" and is clearly not the real name of the correspondent). If someone makes public accusations against others, they should at least have the guts and decency to say who they are. Failure to do so suggests that the so-called ABD has his or her own conspiracy or political agenda to demonize GHQ members. It is true that the rhetoric on GHQ sometimes got out of hand. But by highlighting that, ABD appears to want to obfuscate the real issues of GHQ's concern, which are the cultural direction of our movement, women's roles within it, and particularly the malaise of the grhastha-asrama due to the tacit acceptance of divorce and remarriage. These vital issues have been discussed at length in Ameyatma Prabhu's recent letter posted on VNN. I fully endorse his position, and request that before anyone crucifies GHQ members, they read his letter. Whatever else I state here is subsidiary to what is stated there. To summarize my position, which I believe is that also of other GHQ members: I feel that ISKCON should move towards Vedic social values, as discussed elaborately in Srila Prabhupada's books; and that we should be very careful not to import ideas from the karmi world. If anyone wants to know more about the cultural direction I feel our movement should be going in, they can read my book, "Glimpses of Traditional Indian Life," or come with me as I travel in the still somewhat traditional India of today--and find out why I'm convinced, (as Srila Prabhupada was) that Vedic or Indian culture is far superior to that of the West, for all its research scholars and Ph.D's. Now I'll briefly address 3 points of the GHQ emphasized by ABD. * "No women in leadership positions" * "Terminating the present Women's Ministry" * "Women not allowed to give classes or lead kirtans" Although those proposals were posted on GHQ, not all members accepted them as such, and there was much discussion on them. ABD has thus made a biased and dishonest portrayal of GHQ and has therefore misled the readers of his/her text. ABD has left out the many more moderate texts posted on GHQ. For instance, some members of GHQ (myself included) felt that women can and should give classes and preach, but in a way that does not compromise the shyness and chastity that Srila Prabhupada emphasizes as women's most important qualities. I have personally encouraged one Godsister (age over 50) to preach and give classes, which she often thanks me for doing. But when she was asked to give a Bhagavatam class in the presence of several sannyasis, she hesitated to do so, and asked my opinion. I advised her not to, as a matter of etiquette, and she was happy with that. Another concern of GHQ members is that devotees in positions of authority in ISKCON should have morally clean records. The dissatisfaction with the Women's Ministry was largely due to its being led mostly by divorcees. This position has been explained in detail by Ameyatma Prabhu and I won't elaborate on it further. GHQ members also feel that, according to Srila Prabhupada's directions and example, women in ISKCON should not be given positions of leadership. At last year's GBC meeting, a member, speaking for the inclusion of women on the GBC, said (as reported on Chakra): "Don't see what Srila Prabhupada did, think what he would do now." This statement caused much concern to GHQ members, who felt it could open the doors to unlimited speculation and compromise. There was some discussion on GHQ of the past activities of Mother Malati. I wrote that my experience of her is that she is a nice devotee. But as a Godbrother said to me, "No doubt she is a good devotee, but now she is in a high post, it is natural that people will remember her past." The GHQ discussion of Mother Malati was to bring out the point that leaders of our movement should have no record of moral turpitude. Apparently there is a GBC rule about this that has not been followed by the GBC in their appointments of a woman GBC and the Women's Minister. The GHQ was not on a witchhunt against anyone (remember, these texts were private!), but was concerned about ethos that was being created by making such appointments. Later a GHQ member who never contributed to the discussion made the point publicly about Mother Malati, without consulting any GHQ members, which I personally felt wasn't proper. Apart from all these unpleasant details, I feel that there are bigger issues here, as reflected in a text I sent to GHQ, as quoted below. This wasn't a public criticism, but as ABD has made it public by posting it on VNN, I'll quote it again here. Text 1729575 (16 lines) From: Bhakti Vikasa Swami Date: 29-Sep-98 11:53 +0100 To: GHQ [8] Subject: Some observations ------------------------------------------------------------ I recently saw in the Iskcon Communications Journal the transcript of a speech given at the infamous Iskcon Womens' meet in LA. It presented the rights of women in Iskcon according to International Law. It should be exposed that the feminists are appealing to a totally non-sastric source: the laws of a demoniac society that supports divorce, homosexuality etc. in the name of "equality" and "rights." That members of our movement can be so "off" and get Gbc support for it is frightening. What is more frightening is the possibility that our liberated mothers might throw the karmi law book at us and use the clout of state law to enforce "womens' rights" in our temples and communities. It is interesting to note how ICJ and Iskcon World Review (now Hare Krsna Today) have systematically promoted within our society the values of the secular humanist liberal (i.e. atheistic) "civilization." (end of text) -------------------- The present Women's Ministry and movement in ISKCON appears to be influenced by the demoniac feminism of karmi society, which has been and is a major factor in the ongoing moral degeneration of the world. Feminism is part of the secular, liberal, humanistic and ultimately. Still worse, feminism is only one manifestation of various atheistic tendencies insidiously infiltrating our movement through "higher studies" and New Age speculations. This is a major discussion that I won't get into here. As regards calling women "whores": "prostitute" was the word Srila Prabhupada regularly used to describe women who didn't stick to one husband. So if re-married women in our movement get themselves into the limelight, it's unfortunate but not surprising if such descriptions are remembered. Ameyatma Prabhu has already discussed this in detail and there is no need for me to repeat what he has stated. I do not condone the use of other terms like "witches," etc., and have never used them myself. "No Souls" is so obviously untrue that it may be that the author of them was ludicrously overstating his case in jest. After all, it was a private conference in which decorum is relaxed. It would be better to have asked he who wrote that what he meant, before making such a huge issue of it and interrogating so many sannyasis about it. However, it is an unfortunate fact of life, even in our society, that leaders get all sorts of nasty things said about them--which is another reason women shouldn't take leadership roles. They should be protected from such nastiness. In closing, I'll state that I'm not open to discussion with every Tom, Dick and Sally on these points, but would welcome the GBC setting up a committee to investigate the cultural direction our movement is heading in, before we glibly ride off down the road of deviation, modernism, and degradation. Dasanudasa, Bhakti Vikasa Swami Editor's note: Bhakti Vikasa Swami wanted to make sure that the above article was published in its entirety and states that he is not a fan of either VNN or Chakra. See Related VNN Stories This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/world/WD9811/WD24-2550.html |
