BY: ISKCON AS IT IS

Aug 02, 2013 — CANADA (SUN) —

First, we have to report that debugging of the Private discussion forum is still in progress. The vBulletin experts are working on it, so it can't be long (unless they don't work weekends…) Thanks for being patient while they sort it. Meanwhile, the Public forum is working fine, and everyone's invited to create a user account there and get the sanga underway.

With each passing day we are more and more encouraged for the success of this 'As It Is' revival. Support is coming from many quarters and there is unanimous agreement that right now is the time to make change. As Howard Beale famously said, "I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad." And that 'everybody' includes not only the grassroots devotees, but also a few of the 'front line' leaders in the society who have committed to join us, albeit anonymously for now.

Of course, change won't be an overnight phenomenon. It will take time -- six months to allow the Constitution workgroup to discuss and refine the document, and another six months to allow broad public discussion. In the meantime, we'll be working every day to put together an infrastructure that facilitates preaching, harinam and book distribution, devotee association, and local organization to spread the message of this mission to revive His Divine Grace's ISKCON, As It Is.

Over the months ahead our readers will also see a noticeable shift in editorial content here in the Sampradaya Sun. For eight years (and 10 before that in HareKrsna.com) we've given devotees facility to report and discuss the degeneration and corruption of ISKCON and the rejection of Srila Prabhupada's standards, mood and methods going on under the 'ultimate mangers' -- the GBC/ISKCON leaders. We've preached, begged and cajoled, asking them to address the many critical issues of concern. They remain impervious and totally uninterested in listening or changing. But as a recent Muru strip in Laffs noted, there's no point in beating a dead horse. This is a perfect metaphor for endlessly complaining about the ISKCON leaders, year after year. The horse is dead. It cannot be resurrected, gotten to its feet and moved in a new direction. Therefore, we have to conclude that for the most part, articles that 'beat the dead horse' are not very effective. It's time for a new strategy, and we'll aim in that direction here at the Sun.

We'll now begin to offer something new to the readership: more forward-looking articles that focus on how to fix what's broken, not simply reports on what's broke and who broke it. Of course, we'll still cover the news -- good, bad and awful -- but we'll now begin to encourage our contributing writers to frame their critical commentaries in terms of the comparables:

here's how the GBC/ISKCON is doing it wrong
here's how it looks when it's done right.

The whole purpose of the Constitution is to embody in a written document the philosophical principles established by Srila Prabhupada that enable things to work properly in the Society... if the principles are actually followed.

Increasingly in the future, you'll find articles that offer such a comparative point of view: problems and solutions; problematic trends and the preventative measures that thwart them. We have always encouraged this, but now we'll emphasize it much more. Based on Constitutional principles and mechanisms, we'll try to focus on what the long-term positive effects for the Society will be if the perennially made mistakes are avoided, and a new system is put in place. And in reality, it's not a new system at all -- it is simply a return to Srila Prabhupada's original system. As It Is.

This new mood and method in the Sun will also not be an overnight change. It will take time for everyone, including the Sun Editors and staff contributors, to shift their thinking a bit and begin to re-frame the discussion. Our regular contributors should not take this as a discouragement from submitting articles. After all, our Sun contributors already know Srila Prabhupada's perfect plan, and can therefore point out the comparables quite easily. Many writers already do this as a regular practice. We simply want to encourage more of it, and we'll offer suggestions to contributors on how they can expand this aspect of their articles, particularly by focusing on the solutions provided in the Constitution when it becomes public.

Unfortunately, our first opportunity to begin re-framing the discussion of ISKCON's bad news is imminent. Word is quickly traveling along the devotee grapevine about the latest Guru/Swami falldown, and the devastating effect its having on his disciples. Hopefully, in offering our own commentary on the situation, we can demonstrate what it is we're trying to explain here: a way of looking at problems in the context of a platform for solutions. That platform is a ratified Constitution, and a revival movement of Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON As It Is that rallies around it.