May 26, 2013 — CANADA (SUN) — Prayers of Transformation - Mayapur Nrsimha Caturdasi 2013.
On Nrsimha Caturdasi in Mayapur Dham, a group of second generation ISKCON devotees offered prayers for protection, healing, transformation and empowerment of the children of ISKCON, and all others who need to be heard, healed and protected. The prayers were followed by strong words for the leadership of ISKCON, on behalf of generations of devotees.
My dear ladies and gentlemen, Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis, respected elders, please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to our heroic, and beloved Srila Prabhupada!
My name is Jvalamukhi devi dasi. I will be leading the prayer today, on behalf of the second generation devotees, all gathered together here, as well as all over the world, reciting the same prayer, with 12 hour kirtan. Thank you for watching us on Mayapur.tv, we are thousands assembled via modern technology. Greetings to you all who are watching. Thank you for being with us. Jai Narasimhadeva!
The prayer I will be reciting is also available on the website, praylikeprahlada.com. Everything I speak here, is already pre-recorded, in written form, on that site in case those watching are not able to tune in real time. You can visit the site, praylikeprahlada.com anytime, and hear this same prayer, and message of the ISKCON youth.
That being said, I will begin with this prayer that we will say together, and follow with a personal plea to Lord Narasimhadeva for the second generation. Please follow along with me, using the hand-outs. I will read the first two paragraphs, then you all read with me, in your most prayerful mood, the part addressing Lord Narasimha's weapons.
PRAYER INTRO
My dear Lord, You sent Your divine emissary of compassion to us, Srila Prabhupada, who gave his life to give us life. As the Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness, Srila Prabhupada declared this society to be his body.
Bhakti Tirtha Swami offered his own life for the healing of our ISKCON which he saw was greatly weakened due to offenses against our women and children. On this most auspicious Appearance Day of Lord Nrsimhadeva, let us follow in his holy footsteps, offering our hearts at the feet of the Lord for purification and rectification for the cleansing, healing and upliftment of Srila Prabhupada's body, the International Society for Krsna Consciousness. As we take courage from the association of sincere Vaisnavas we pray:
START READING IN UNISON HERE – (Prayer written by Mahanidhi Swami, adjusted for this event by H.G. Harinama Cintamani devi dasi)
O Conchshell, your name is Pancajanya and you reside in Lord Nrsimhadeva's hand. You are blown three times. With the first blow you kill the demons; with the second you bless the devotees; and with the third you announce the victory of a pure heart, reverberating with the message, "My devotee will Never be vanquished!"
O Club, your name is Kaumodaki and you are very dear to the Lord. The atheists of avidya and aparadhas have invaded the Nama Hattas in the city of our hearts and our beloved ISKCON. O Lord Nrsimhadeva, please run through the streets of our hearts and of our ISKCON society and pound these demons to pieces with the thunderbolt strikes of Your club!
O Shield, marked with a hundred brilliant, moonlike circles. Please cover the eyes of the sinful enemies of envy that make us blind to the good qualities in others and force us to offend the Vaisnavas.
O Sudarsana Cakra, chief of the Lord's emblems, symbol of power by which Lord Nrsimhadeva controls this whole cosmic manifestation. O invincible wheel of time, powerful as the sun and moon, impossible to check, You are the Lord's final and ultimate weapon to kill the demons and protect the devotees. Our souls are covered by the darkness of greed, anger, pride and the desire for fame. O Sudarsana, full of transcendental effulgence, kindly shine in our hearts and within our ISKCON and destroy the darkness. You easily disperse the magical forces of the demons, root and chase away the demon of aparadha from our minds and hearts and from our ISKCON society.
O Sword, your name is Vidyadhara. Please cut the roots of sin from our minds and from our beloved ISKCON and protect our tiny creepers of bhakti. O Lord Nrsimhadeva, there are many hidden demons lurking in our hearts and the heart
of our society, please find them and destroy them with Your powerful hands.
O Lotus flower, You are the symbol of the Lord's blessings. As bees live inside the lotus, may the bee of our minds always be sheltered within You. My dear Lord Nrsimhadeva please pick us up as You did Prahlada that we may become
free of all fear and lamentation, full of love for Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha Syamasundara. May we become pure in heart and mind and empowered instruments of Your compassion and mercy in this world, engaging in sweet ways to please all Your devotees. By your grace Srila Prabhupada and the mercy of Lord Gauranga, Sri Nityananda Rama and the whole Panca Tattva, may we become again a strong and united society, empowered to turn back the tide of Kali for the benefit of all conditioned souls.
Jaya Sri Krsna Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasadi Gaura bhakta vrnda
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
——————
The next part of our program is a message of healing, and forgiveness in the mood of Sri Prahlada Maharaja. When Prahlada, a small five year old boy, was asked by his father, the greatest demon in the history of the universe, what the best thing he'd learned in gurukula was, Prahlada did not hesitate to tell the truth, even though he knew he could be killed instantly for speaking it. He was only five.
Prahlada was the original gurukuli, speaking truth to power, fearlessly. He is our acarya. Please receive our attempt to follow in his footsteps.
I was born in 1976, the year just before Srila Prabhupada was taken from our vision. I received a cookie from his hand by my Mother’s grace, at one month old. He wanted for the children of ISKCON, to be protected, facilitated, loved, and taught how to love Krsna.
I am a child of ISKCON, and now I have my own children, the generation Srila Prabhupada said would be pure devotees, and change the world. What I want for them, is what Srila Prabhupada wanted for us. But what happened to us, is not what I want for them. Thus, I am here before the Lord of the Universe, Lord Narasimha Bhagavan, on His most auspicious appearance day, to plead my case, and to beg for protection of this third generation.
My generations’s complete derailment, was due to conditions that are still present today. Although a lot has changed, the true reason for what happened, is not yet understood by the general mass of devotees.
Ladies, and gentlemen, we were attacked by demons in the guise of devotees at the very beginning of our lives.
We know that the devotee and demon are present in the same body in Kuliyuga. Srila Prabhupada warned us that there are demons amongst us, dressed as vaisnavas. There is a well known analogy given of a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing, hiding amongst its prey, undetected. A simple sheep can never understand the mentality of a wolf, and thus loses one family member after another, unable to see the cause.
Oh Lord Narasimhadeva, please kindly expose those wolf demons, within and without, and with your lion’s prowess, protect us, and our children. Let the hearts of those wolves be transformed at the sight of Sri Nrsimha Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Please engage us in spreading the yuga dharma, harinama sankirtan, the way Srila Prabhupada directed. Only by your blessings will we be free from the demon of hypocrisy.
Srila Prabhupada told us that nothing was powerful enough to check the progress of this movement. Only attacks from within could destroy it. Therefore, knowing this, the personality of Kali used strategy, and proxies (people used to act on behalf of another), to do his dirty work.
Lord Caitanya’s right hand man was Srila Prabhupada. In Lord Caitanya’s pastimes, there were demoniac influences to be overcome, as portrayed in the pastimes of Jagai and Madhai and Chand Kazi. The personality of Kali has also sent his key representatives to challenge Srila Prabhupada’s powerful mission.
If we study the histories as outlined in scriptures describing the pastimes of Sri Caitanya, we will see that the rogue influences of Lord Caitanya’s time period were surrounded by their organized flanks of supporters. These supporters were controlled by their desire for power, fame, prestige, wealth, and even fear of retaliation if they showed a lack of loyalty. Similarly, in our ISKCON, there has been a similarly organized, controlling class that has not had the best interests of the family of devotees, and the pure propagation of Srila Prabhupada’s mood and teachings, as their main concern. As with Jagai and Madhai, the abuses and offenses are unspeakable, and have hardly yet been revealed.
This mood and influence has deeply pervaded our society, and its energy has been passed to our second, and even third, generation. Jagai and Madhai were conquered by the “tough love” tactics of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, and the Chand Kazi by the merciful gashes of Lord Nrsimhadeva. Let us rise together now in Harinam sankirtan, praying to invoke the special mercy of the Lord on this auspicious day, for our protection, the protection of the vaisnava parampara, and the protection of Srila Prabhupada’s glorious ISKCON, as he intended for it to be.
A whole new wave of gurukulis are remembering never before heard of atrocities. They are reliving repressed traumas that can only be understood by referencing the dark tantric rites described in epic histories such as Mahabharat, Ramayana, and Srimad Bhagavatam, as the religion of the rakshasas.
These last three years for me were spent in recovery and reliving the horrors of my abuse in the gurukula and beyond.
After undergoing profound transformation, passing through the progression of healing; first ignorance, repression, inexplicable panic attacks, physical illnesses from the buried traumas, disbelief, shock, horror, rage that shook my very cells and wanted to consume the universe, fighting with feelings of revenge and suicide on a regular basis, causing me to cry out from the core of my being, "Why!? My Lord! Why?!", being shown several past life sequences, coming into acceptance, integration, remorse, gratitude, and now finally, finally!, compassion….. compassion towards the perpetrators, and myself, yes now, now, I am ready to serve.
Now, I no longer hold blame or anger in my heart towards the abusers, seeing myself as no better or different from them because after intense prayers for purification, Lord Nrsimhadeva ripped from my heart with His lotus hands a mountain of sin, accumulated over crores of lifetimes. Thus the karmic bond between myself and those who abused me is ended by His mercy with the sword of forgiveness. This is why the Lord has directed me to act as His humble messenger.
The symptoms of rampant abuse are to be seen amongst the gurukulis. No one can argue that it did not happen. The multimillion dollar court case brought it to everyone’s attention, after initial attempts to be heard and reconciled were ignored and denied by ISKCON’S leaders. There are still suicides of my peers, my friends, every year, at least a few, and on a lesser scale, pervasive dysfunctional behavior.
My intention in bringing this up, is not to put a downer on this festival day, or to ask for your pity. It is to bring to everyone’s attention that the reality of child abuse, and the still present perpetrators, is still far far from resolved. If we are to move forward as a society, with such huge impediments, who else can help us but the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself? Therefore, we have flown across the globe as beggars. Oh Lord Narahari! Please obliterate this tangled mess of karmic bonds!
Because of Lord Narasimhadeva’s roaring, all the elephants in the world began to cry in fear. My dear Lord, our fledgling spiritual embassy, ISKCON, is overrun with herds of wild elephants in the form of offenses, especially to its women and children. Oh Divya Simha, please open your gaping, fearful mouth, and allow us all to hear your tumultuous, fierce roaring! When, oh when will we be free from their trampling!?
Sri Prahlada stood in front of Lord Narasimhadeva, hairs erect due to ecstasy, while incessantly shedding tears of love for the object of his constant meditation. Oh Lord Narasimha, when will we, the second generation, make You, the only Shelter of the universe, the sole subject of our meditation? Without feeling the painful duality of illusion, considering one to be a friend or foe, ourselves victims, and others perpetrators, when, oh, when, will we come to our true position as Your chastened eternal servants? When will we accept our own accountability, and be able to pray like Prahlada on behalf of the father that tortured and tried to kill him?
Dear Prahlada Maharaja, seeing our pitiful situation, please have mercy on us, and make us and engage us in the service of your Lord Narasimhadeva.
Lord Nityananda Prabhu predicted that there would arise an astonishing mandir from which the eternal worship of Sri Krsna would spread all over this wretched world. It would be the beacon of light, the spiritual embassy, and portal to Goloka Vrindavan, for all conditioned souls to come and take shelter. For the next 10,000yrs, this temple would be the very heart and core of Sri Caitanya’s sankirtan movement.
Why is such an important and divinely predicted temple being erected in such haste, with some of the world-wide devotees loving it, and others half sick to their stomachs at the mere sight of it? Why are the very same persons who raped and tortured us as children given charge of building it? What is the agenda? How has this been allowed to go on?
Just last year, in the Mayapur newsletter, there was a report of dismembered body parts of a child found. People may assume it must be outsiders. Ladies, and gentlemen, there be wolves amongst us! Ritual abuse is a reality in the 21st century. It is Kali’s favorite religion, and pervades international governments, churches, and powerful organizations.
There are many authoritative books, and interviews with former FBI agents and other experts, who report on this hard truth. You can go to the website to find some of these references, http://www.praylikeprahlada.com.
I experienced this kind of abuse as a child in ISKCON. I know for a fact the faces of the main perpetrators. I was on the sacrifical table many a time. There are others who also remember.
Parents, keep your children close. We are among wolves.
If they are allowed to be amongst us in responsible positions, what kind of leverage must they have on others? Oh Protector of Prahlada, when will we as a society be simple like children, without guile and deceit, simply practicing bhakti, happy for each other’s association, without the blackmail and power struggles that characterize demoniac civilization?
Ladies and gentlemen, everyone knows that a building is only as strong and safe as its foundation, a society as healthy as its family units, and an individual as pure and empowered as their practices. Is a disease diagnosed by its symptoms?
As a child veteran of our ISKCON, I am almost 40 years old now. From where I stand, surveying the past, present, and future, I see very unprepared, rocky, and sinking sand, underneath the foundation of our movement, symbolized by that temple. I see the terrain littered with broken dysfunctional families and individuals, many of whom are scattered to the four corners of the earth, licking their wounds after giving their all to try to steer our present ISKCON society towards the path chalked out for us by His Divine Grace.
Simultaneously, alongside the wonderful manifestations of Sri Harinama’s propagation in the world, there is still a host of very serious symptoms of illness. Everyone knows there are issues, it is Kaliyuga after all, but until know, we could not put our finger on just why. The picture gets clearer, the more time that passes.
There is a deep arrowhead embedded in the body. It is festering and reducing vitality. It is under the skin, and not visible, but after these many long years, the body is beginning to expel it on its own. As it comes out, there will be pus, and pain, but health will soon follow. Let us not push it back in, denying that we were ever shot. Accept the injury, its cause, and courageously release it.
My dear Lord Narasimha, we are experiencing attacks from all sides. Let us make the measure of our success, the satisfaction of each and every guest and member of our society, not how many buildings are built, money collected, or projects completed. Let us passionately endeavor for the real wealth, the position of servant of the servant, of the servant, of Sri Sri Radha Madhava.
I issue a world wide plea. My dear devotees, please do not further condemn these already unfortunate souls by either enabling them, or criticizing them. In the mood of the child saint, for whose sake Lord Narasimhadeva appeared, please, my dear vaisnavas, please pray for our present day Hiranyakasipu’s.
Dear Lord, You Who have recently appeared as Lord Nityananda, Patitapavana, Kaliyuga Pavana, Gaurahari, let the mountain of sins that surround the hearts of these devotee-clad demons fall away. Let us pray for their welfare, at Your lotus feet.
With the nails of Your lotus hands, please deliver them! The only effective solution was shown by Prahlada Maharaja, the great mahajana. Let us stop feeding the rabid dog of Kali with this useless entangling approach of pointing fingers in anger. The only way to resolve the unresolvable is to first come to our own accountability for our karmic walk in life, being grateful to the instruments of our correction.
Then we must draw very rigid, strong boundaries, the kind that Srila Prabhupda drew when he was made aware of one case of abuse. He banned that abuser from ever setting foot on ISKON property again. Later, only due to the pushing of similarly contaminated disciples, did Srila Prabhupada relent, and allow that person to take prasadam at the Sunday feast.
We lack boundaries, and thus are now surrounded by wolves. It is violence to artificially offer forgiveness and leniency to a perpetrator. There is a process of transformation that must be practically gone through. It begins with strong boundaries, holding them firmly accountable. Then, after a long process of healing, both the victim and abuser can come to the transcendental position, and feelingly see that, “My dear Lord, where is the fault?”
tat te ‘nukampam su-samikshamano
bhunjana evatma-kritam vipakam
hrid-vag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jiveta yo mukti-pade sa daya-bhak
My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim. (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.8)
All of you who have been involved are now being asked to put down the dress of the enemy, let real remorse fill your hearts and wash them clean. This is the Lord’s desire for you. Accept the shelter and correction of our Eternal Father. The invasion of demons in our hearts and in Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON must now end. Give them no more power! We belong to Srila Prabhupada! Dear master, please save us!
The Lord has directed me to speak like this. It is for everyone’s upliftment only. I have no authority on my own account.
Oh Supreme Personality of Godhead, you have brought me here. Please now confirm the truth of this message. Oh All seeing, omniscient one, You are my witness. Please protect me. Please protect our third generation.
My dear vaisnavas, please join with me in prayer:
svasty astu visvasya khalah prasidatam
dhyayantu bhutani sivam mitho dhiya
manas ca bhadram bhajatad adhokshaje
avesyatam no matir apy ahaituki
May there be good fortune throughout the universe, and may all envious persons be pacified. May all living entities become calm by practicing bhakti-yoga, for by accepting devotional service they will think of each other’s welfare. Therefore let us all engage in the service of the supreme transcendence, Lord Sri Krishna, and always remain absorbed in thought of Him. (Srimad Bhagavatam 5.18.9)
vancha-kalpa-tarubhyas ca
kripa-sindhubhya eva ca
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaishnavebhyo namo namah
Please join us for all night kirtan on Monday May 27th outside in the courtyard of Sri Sri Radha Madhava’s altar. Bring your torches, mridangas, whompers and conch-shells, and a burning fire for Harinama in your heart!
UNDERSTANDING HOW TO HEAL ISKCON
The sankirtan movement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the greatest benediction for all mankind. By participating in it under the guidance of the bonafide acharya, one is invited to the Divine Realm, which is characterized by the absence of envy, a mass consciousness of appreciation for the unique devotional service of every living being, and a heart-centered joy in pushing others forward to be recognized by the Divine Couple, Sri-Sri Radha and Krsna. Participation in this preaching movement ends the material sojourn, where there is repeated birth and death, and where the modus operandi is ongoing action to cause pain to others. The magnitude of what has been offered to us by Srila Prabhupada is hardly able to be understood or appreciated in our conditioned state. The mission to present this rare opportunity of devotional service on the earthly realm could only be undertaken by a highly empowered personality who is very intimately associated with Krsna. As Krsna sent His powerful right hand man to inaugurate this Krsna Consciousness movement in the bleakness of this material world, the personality of Kali also sent his most powerful representatives to try to impede it. This is really the pastime of the Lord, as the glorious outcome is already predicted. Yet, there is plenty of work to do, and our second generation of devotees is now being called upon to sweep the road clean for the manifestation of the purity of heart and purpose of the upcoming third generation.
As a collective body of devotees, we may have heard of, or even experienced, atrocities and abuses that have disguised themselves as part of the organized mission that our dearmost Srila Prabhupada began on behalf of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, the vaisnava parampara, and Sri Krsna Himself. In the past, there have been many reports of abuse, complaints, lawsuits, and alienations, all accompanied by the energies of blame, retaliation, revenge, victimhood, denial, or simply lethargy. There has long been a sense that the pure spiritual essence and the organization (ISKCON) have become somewhat separated from each other. This is the time of awakening. The correction of the errors within our devotional society, and the removal of the dark threads that have been so expertly woven by the agents of Kali into the pure whiteness of ISKCON as Srila Prabhupada envisioned it, is now possible. Why is this correction possible now and has not been so in the past, in spite of so much effort and expense? Giving full credit to Krsna as the Supreme Time Factor, I will also briefly digress in order to explain some of the finer points.
I was born with a very sensitive and intuitive nature, and was always intrigued by the metaphysical. As I got older, I apprenticed with one of the world's topmost exorcists. She was a powerhouse of a lady, very devoted to her Lord Jesus Christ and determined to do God's work. As she approached a foreign spirit, however, she too was in a mood of polarization, same as our ISKCON victims of child abuse, rape, and torture. "You were not invited here. Get out in the name of Lord Jesus Christ." It was a war of "good vs evil", and the exorcism could go on for hours. However, she would always quote Jesus, "You will do greater things." As I went on with my work, I learned that the best way to clear out these energies was to step out of the game of duality and operate from a place of heart-centeredness, love, and compassion. Then, there was opportunity for wonderful results and personal transformation in a very short time. Yes, I have done greater things. And, I say to my second generation students the same thing, "You will do greater things."
Now, the time has arrived to come to a place of prayer, a place of healing, a place of compassion, even for those who have acted as our so-called enemies. The energies of revenge, anger, hatred, blame, etc, simply fuel the fire of material existence, keep us in the material world, and create even more revenge, anger, hatred, blame, and other activities that simply cause pain. They solve nothing. We have sojourned in this world of form for eons, as victims, as abusers, and gotten ourselves embroiled more and more deeply in polarization, forgetting our true nature as pure servants of Sri Radha. In the past, the approaches to cleaning up the abuses within the organization of ISKCON have created polarization, with the victims being labeled as "demons" or dismissed as crazy, insane, or delusional troublemakers. The undertaking to restore purity can now come from a place of purity, led by those who have accepted their own accountability and seen the precarious position of the living entity in this world. An ISKCON exorcism, in a sense.
It is awkward and painful to accept that organized sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and violence have taken place within our ranks. There is a lot of denial, even with so many sad stories and so much symptomology glaring us in the face. However, it has occurred, and is still occurring.
Even though there is advanced healing going on among members of our first and second generation, there is still a general lack of awareness of the situation among most devotees. However, there are many symptoms of a disorder. There are many members of the second generation and their parents who exhibit depression, bitterness, uncontrolled and pervasive anger and rage issues, an inability to be focused on tasks, a lack of motivation, addictive behaviors (including sexual), panic attacks, aversion to going to an ISKCON center, strange health disorders, and self-sabotaging behaviors. On an organizational level, there has been a deep disrespect for children and those of us in women's bodies, and a general harshness in our dealings with each other and with ourselves.
Everyone has been affected by the threads of evil and the veiling energy around it, whether or not there is a conscious awareness of it. For example, are we able to honor our gut sense around a person or situation that gives us "the creeps?" Or do we, out of false humility and self-doubt, simply assume that we are "in maya" for having such "offensive" thoughts? Have we had our enthusiasm for spreading Krsna Consciousness and our creative application of that enthusiasm endorsed and supported by the organizational leaders, or have we been ostracized for our unique inspirations and lost that spirit and enthusiasm? Do we feel free to propagate these topmost teachings and win people's hearts by our personal dedication and expertise? Or do we feel stifled by some unspoken voice that says we are of lesser stature than those who follow the approved protocol? Do we have a sense that there has been a loss of potency and purity? That something is not right? Do we have reservations about bringing people to whom we are presenting Krsna Consciousness to the temple? If we can look at things objectively, we might note that things around us are not in the mood that Srila Prabhupada himself introduced. Maybe something really IS wrong. The first step in enacting a change is the recognition that it needs to take place.
There are still abusers and sexual predators in our midst. They have systematically attacked the very core of our strength as a functioning spiritual society. They have polluted and crippled our children and worked to destroy the deepest of relationships, those between the mother and the child. They have worked to destroy the family unit, and to betray the deep loyalty that the sincere devotees have for Srila Prabhupada. They have used well intended, qualified, devotional gurukula teachers as bait to lure the children of unsuspecting devotee parents into their demoniac, hidden lairs.
In order to be effective in enacting a change within our organization, facilitating a mass healing, and taking on the war against maya as Srila Prabhupada called it, we must restore and maintain our standards of purity. For example, Srila Prabhupada told us that prasadam is a vaccination against the modes of material nature. Foods not offered or offerable have a subtle, increasingly powerful effect on clouding our spiritual intelligence and reducing our spiritual potency. They energetically attract forces that are not conducive to our spiritual well being. The famous exorcist previously mentioned had a great affection for the devotees. When she asked her Lord Jesus Christ what was impeding our preaching mission, he told her, "Food and pornography."
That should not be such a shock. Our society of devotees has been gradually sinking into the patterns of the world around us. We have compromised our integrity, and now have a society, to a large degree, that is fully abreast of the seductions of the popular culture, including the latest in cinema creations, music, mundane charitable pursuits, products, and so on. We have all but forgotten our proper eating standards and often feel that it is sufficient to simply be vegetarian. It is not. Our deviations have created within ISKCON a society of secret dealings, denial, a lust for reputation, and the punishment and ostracizing of those who dare to speak the truth. This is the way of the material world. Behaviors that are not strictly in line with the teachings of the guru parampara have empowered the demons within us, and the demons without. Our ISKCON was never meant to be an ordinary society. It was meant to be an "oasis in the desert" of Kali Yuga.
What can we do? I have some thoughts, you may have more.
We can allow ourselves to accept and process the truths that are contained herein. We may have emotions around what is written. It is not "maya" to experience them.
We can accept that "inner knowing" comes from Paramatma. It is not a New Age concept. That includes our "gut feelings."
We can strive to learn the difference between being "dissociated" (not present) and having attained transcendence. We can only be fully effective in this realm if we are in a state of awareness. Srila Prabhupada was fully present and aware, totally effective, and in a state of transcendence at every moment.
We can stop thinking that societal atrocities and the most heinous of organized crime cannot happen to us. It already has, and it has been going on for a long time. Read "Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century" by Randy and Pamela Noblitt.
We can recognize the wisdom, sacrifices, and mistakes of the first generation and not repeat the mistakes. The patterns have already been passed down. Let's become aware of them and make rectifications.
We can, within our ranks, honor and preserve the last leg of religion that is available in kali-yuga: truthfulness. The earth planet cannot bear the weight of even one liar.
We can strive to come to a place of full accountability and no longer blaming anyone else for our walk while simultaneously being fierce as lions in preserving Srila Prabhupada's legacy.
We can make the decision to no longer let political or financial agendas take precedent over purity. This pertains to personal and societal affairs. Anything done just for the sake of money or other artificial gain is simply prostitution.
We can organize small and large "Festivals of Healing" in a mood of humility, openness, and service.
We can learn to accept truths even if they are presented in language that is not familiar to us. Truths are not owned by a certain "jargon." Let's open the horizons. Krsna owns everything, and He is everywhere.
Let's not be "rubber-stamped" Hare Krsnas. Let's get real.
Let's be very cautious of those who propound "False Memory Syndrome (FMS)" and its insidious ramifications. Of what are you afraid? What might you be hiding?
Let's become ready and eager to enter into our own healing. If nothing else, we owe it to Srila Prabhupada. Take it as service. Excitement and purpose can return to our lives.
We can finally acknowledge the proverbial "elephant in the living room."
Let's not retreat into our own sadana in a mood of fatalism.
We can honor ourselves and others by speaking what we know to be true while honoring vaisnava relations and protocol.
We can agree to, and adhere to, a policy of zero tolerance for abuse and abusers within our ranks. It does not matter if our numbers decrease. A blind uncle is not better than no uncle. Purity is what will attract people to Srila Prabhupada's teachings. Compromise will not. Enough is enough.
We can look at what is real and no longer accept dogmatic principles and our perceptions of other people's expectations of us as our motivating force.
We can offer ourselves at the lotus feet of the Lord in full surrender and again make a commitment to His service in simplicity, purity, and devotion. Sort of like picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off, and trying again….
We can think deeply and examine ourselves before we condemn and categorize someone who has creative inspirations for the spreading of Krsna Consciousness that may not fit into our limited little box of understanding.
We can recognize that the demon and the devotee now reside within the same body. We can pray to be able to conquer the lower self by the higher.
We can look into our hearts and pray to Lord Nrsmhadeva that the last shards of material desires be destroyed and ask that our inspiration and purity in preaching be restored.
For those who have left the association of devotees, please try again. For those who are angry, please let the anger be purified and properly used as a weapon of mercy towards the abusers. We need to rise up together and reclaim Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON for its purpose of facilitating loving exchanges among devotees and enthusiastic preaching.
I have also been wounded. I have had both my motherhood and my loyalty to Srila Prabhupada and his mission betrayed. I have also seen how tiny this experience is in the face of eternal time. In that regard, it cannot be taken so seriously. However, we need to serve the acharya in his mood and see from his perspective. This ISKCON is a product of Srila Prabhupada's blood, sweat, and tears. It is his offering of love to his spiritual master and to the Divine Couple. This organization is the portal out of the material world for us and so many other conditioned souls. It DOES matter. Let us fight, internally and externally, for Srila Prabhupada's mission. That is what burns in my heart. These are critical times.
Although this is written for all the devotees, I have a special investment in the ISKCON "youth." Srila Prabhupada has clearly shown me that my service is the second generation of devotees. To this second generation, please accept me as your servant. It is time for you to become fit for the great responsibility that is falling upon you: the cleansing and restoration of the organization, the cleansing and restoration of your own hearts, and the creative, empowered propagation of Lord Chaitanya's sankirtan movement. My constant meditation is upon how I can assist you.
