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WORLD February 11, 1999 VNN3017 See Related VNN Stories GBCs Meet Adridharan And Madhu Pandit BY VIPRAMUKHYA SWAMI INDIA, Feb 11 (VNN) — Mayapur, India - February 9, 1999: The GBC Body met with Madhu Pandit, Sattvik and Adridharan this afternoon in a special closed-door session discussing ritvik and guru reform. GBC Deputies and guests were not allowed in either the morning or afternoon session. Addressing the GBC Body, Madhu Pandit made a presentation with an overhead projector and explained his ritvik conceptions to the GBC for an hour and a half. He spoke in a monotonous tone. There was no opportunity for GBC members to interject or interrupt. At the end, only 20 minutes was reserved for questions and answers. Prahladananda Swami took half of that time. Then Harivilasa stood up and said, "You are wrong. Disciplic succession is a law." However, he then ripped into the GBC, but came back to the ritvik philosophy, claiming it to be a deviation. "The bottom line is, are you willing to work with GBC within the institution and not flaunt the institution?" asked Sesa dasa, in a pointed question. Madhu Pandit and Adridharan replied that they haven't actually done any ritvik initiations and therefore they weren't going against the GBC, however they do want to change the resolution saying it's against ISKCON law to even talk about ritvik. The mood of the GBCs was respectful toward the years of service offered by the visitors even though there was nothing new in the presentation. GBCs were not swayed by the presentation. The GBCs have voted unanimously to include the Deputies and guests in the discussion tomorrow. They say it was an "oversight" to exclude the Deputies today. "Perhaps it was a bad decision to exclude us, but it was not an oversight," one Deputy offered. "Because any time one of us went up there we were ushered out of the room, we cannot accept it was a simple oversight. It was an ongoing, conscious decision of the GBC to exclude us." Actually, there was no discussion on ritvik today, only a hearing of the presentation of Madhu Pandit and Adhridharan. Tomorrow the GBC will discuss the issue in depth and Deputies and guests will be invited to participate. The reaction to being excluded was mixed from the Deputies and invited guests. "If we respect the GBC body and if they feel they have to do like this, then it's okay. If there are too many in a meeting and it's too broad, their meeting won't be effective," said Padyavali dasi. Others were not as generous as Padyavali. "Considering myself as a neutral party, I was very disturbed that I was not able to observe the proceedings," said Jaya Sila dasa, ISKCON Minister of Grihastha and Community Development. "I can understand privacy on personal, private issues, but on philosophical differences it would seem logical that the more devotees involved the better to get a broader, more general consensus," said Pragosh dasa, GBC Deputy from Ireland. Having said that, he still claims loyalty to the GBC. "Real, genuine and lasting growth in a society comes from trusting and giving responsibility, not from exclusion," he said. "Such an important topic for the society, the ritvik issue, and these are the leaders, and we are the Deputies, supposedly representing the GBC in these areas. We feel we should have been allowed to hear, or at least some representation from the Deputies should have been there, so we could know first hand what's going on," said Jagat Caksur dasa, GBC Deputy from Venezuela. "It's very closed for a supposedly open meeting," one Deputy said. "It is certainly disappointing that I traveled so far with expectations of giving input into these important issues and being restricted from entering into the most critical meetings. We assist the GBC all year, working sometimes in very difficult situations. We feel we have something important to offer to these discussions, but it appears, externally at least, that maybe there's still a lack of trust by the GBC. Could that be why we're not in there now?" asked Ramabhadra dasa, Temple president of ISKCON New York and GBC Deputy. "I feel the steering committee has guided the meeting with an iron fist from the beginning." "Ritvik is a matter for everyone, not just for a private GBC meeting. It is a very important point for everyone in the ISKCON institution," said Kesava Swami from Miami. Braja Bihari came down to speak to the Deputies to see how they were reacting to being excluded, and tried to pacify them on behalf of the GBCs. He quickly discovered the Deputies were not very happy. It appears from talking with the Deputies that Aniruddha dasa, who was not present with the Deputies this afternoon, has not been fully aware of the mood of all of the Deputies and effectively communicating that to the GBC. Aniruddha feels there are no major problems with the private meetings. "Personally, it's an appropriate division of manpower to deal with sensitive issues," he told CHAKRA this morning. Despite the malcontent, the Deputies are sympathetic to the GBCs and understanding of the difficult task before them. Nevertheless, they are dissatisfied with the round of secret meetings. Meanwhile, today the Deputies broke into subcommittees to continue working on Sivarama Swami's siksa proposal, the ISKCON Constitution, various personality conflicts and other issues. Today there was pressure placed on the GBC from disciples of ISKCON gurus in Mayapur. Several signed petitions were handed to GBC members as they entered the GBC meeting this morning. One of the petitions read, "We don't want the worshipping of the guru to stop - that is what is keeping us alive in spiritual life. It is against Sastra and Srila Prabhupada himself. Encourage the worshipping - it's an ISKCON Law that the disciple has the right to worship the guru. Thank you for your attention." 102 devotees signed the petition. Another letter attached to the petition read, "I'm a grand-disciple of Srila Prabhupada and I'm very concerned, and all Srila Prabhupada's grand-disciples I know, because we heard a rumor that the GBC's are going to reduce the worship of ISKCON gurus. The worship of the guru is what keeps us alive and enthusiastic in spiritual life. Being in India for some years, I realize that if guru worship is stopped in ISKCON, many devotees will lose faith. They are just going to go down the road to take shelter in a Gaudia Math, seeing that their guru must be bigger because they are being worshipped by disciples. We are not important or famous in ISKCON, but we feel the right to worship our gurus, so therefore we humbly ask you to kindly do something against the law that will stop the worshipping of the guru, creating havoc and splits in ISKCON. Thank you very much." Still another letter read, "There is an ISKCON law that establishes the right of the disciple to worship the guru. Please do not stop the worship of the guru because that is what keeps us alive and enthusiastic in spiritual life. We are disciples of present ISKCON gurus and we humbly ask you to kindly do not create havoc and splits in ISKCON and drag devotees to the Gaudia Maths. Thank you very much." 42 devotees signed it. Other letters were also included. See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this Story This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/world/WD9902/WD11-3017.html
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