Will ISKCON Change Because We're Angry?
BY: GOVINDA DASA
Mar 07, 2012 — CANADA (SUN) — I've been reading the exchanges about the ISKCON Chapter 11 case, and as an abused gurukuli give a reply. This is my opinion and not that of all gurukulis.
Did the ISKCON members who organised the Chapter 11 try to do their best so that ISKCON got out of their abused kids mess with the least loss possible ? Yes. Did they do this because their hearts overflowed with love and care for the abused kids? No. Were some of the members on that board looking out for our good being distressed with what happened to us? Probably. Did some of them have the attitude described by Yadunandana Pada? Probably. In all cases, I wouldn't be surprised because I've seen it and heard it personally.
So how do I feel as an abused kid from ISKCON Gurukula? I don't feel vindicated for the abuse I suffered because I got $22,000 somewhat dollars from ISKCON, but I know it's all I will ever get. I tried going to the CPO and our local GBC, but met the same kind of resistance and frustrating attitude you can read about in Sanaka's letters.
Knowing that child abuse is still going on in ISKCON and all the other stuff we can read on the Sun makes me wonder on the integrity and honesty of the leaders. So Gupta das, I really don't swallow your line about their love and care for us. You sound like Anuttama or the PR men of politicians.
However, I also feel abused by the devotees who use my history/our history of abuse as a platform to vent their frustration and anger against ISKCON. Yadunandana, if you got something to say or really feel like you gotta spill the beans, then just do it. Don't just threaten, hoping for I don't know what from ISKCON, brandishing a banner of abused kids.
Mahavidya, I've been reading your letters in the Sun since a while now and they've become (sadly) so repetitive. You think something's gonna change? How many years are you gonna keep writing the same message every time someone brings out one of ISKCON's many scandals?
I like the Sun because from it I get different news than the official ISKCON portal, but lately I've been wondering if it hasn't become like any other news media. It says in scripture that Krsna will put side roads on a devotee's path to see if he's really serious about bhakti, and often these side roads take up most of our time. Some of these can be valuable, like the abused kids scandals, guru hoaxes, deviating from Srila Prabhupada's instructions, Hinduisation of temples, humanitarianism, etc., etc. But still, very often I get the impression that these things become our main focus. I know I get some kind of gratification reading about these things, like I can do when I read "karmi" news media.
For example some time ago I was reading one of Hasya Mukhyi's first letters Srila Prabhupada didn't write, and got to thinking how much of her time she spent on these, that could have been spent on japa for example (the finger points right back at me because I could have spent the time chanting rather than reading). It made me wonder what would Srila Prabhupada say to her about these letters? I also notice that sometimes these issues bring out replies from very angry devotees who seem overwhelmed in their anger, like Vrajananda from France, who makes general (some crazy and untrue) accusations about devotees in the French yatra. I guess that Rocana doesn't speak French, because some of his name calling is very gross and definitely not suitable for a site which is supposed to represent Srila Prabhupada. [Editor: No, we don't speak French; the offending comment has been omitted, with apologies.]
Is the Sun just an outlet for angry people or is it a website where we can express ourselves honestly, all the while remembering Krsna and the philosophy of Bhagavatam ? Are gurus going to change or ISKCON become more honest because we're angry, frustrated, threatening, name calling, etc? Or is our consciousness going to go down associating with this kind of energy?
with respects,
Govinda dasa
