ISKCON Leaders were Forced to Come to the Table
BY: GADADHAR DAS
Mar 05, 2012 — DALLAS, TEXAS, USA (SUN) — ISKCON leaders were in denial of "child abuse" for decades, they have been dragging their feet to avoid addressing it for decades, and they paid lip service for decades.
It is the children who forced ISKCON leaders to come to the table by taking their case to the courts and making some settlement proposal. It was not charity. They had to suffer and fight for decades to get little compensation, and maybe some closure to what they went through.
The sad part is that child abuse cover-up continues as of now.
Now let me make it clear that I am not defending Yadunandana Pada Prabhu's article, "Revenge of the Godfathers", but it has done one good thing -- it has opened up discussion on "Child Abuse & Leaders Role". As a consequence we see following articles:
I agree with Gupta das and Nrsimhananda das that the course taken by ISKCON was to save the temples and give some compensation to victims instead of fighting the court cases for years to come, wasting all time and money and some temples and/or properties. Thanks to both of them for expressing what they knew and their thoughts.
However, abusers and who covered-up abuses still remain leaders in ISKCON and as a result, new cases of abuses and their constant and conscious cover-up continues as of today. What was accomplished by children taking their case to the courts and forcing ISKCON leaders to come to the table is being compromised once again. The tragedy of child abuse and its cover-up continues.
Below is a section from "Report on the Status of the ISKCON Child Protection Office written by Dhira Govinda das, who was CPO Director from 1998 to 2004:
"History: By the late 1980s there were widespread reports about extensive child maltreatment throughout ISKCON. In 1990 the ISKCON Governing Body Commission (GBC) passed resolution 119, which attempted to establish a system of investigating, reporting, and preventing incidents of child abuse. Though this resolution did not contain significant power of enforcement, it did provide some common-sense guidelines for child protection, and it sent the message that ISKCON recognizes that mistreatment of children in its communities is a serious issue.
Increasing numbers of Vaisnava youth voiced themselves, in forums such as newsletters and reunions, and their stories of abuse and neglect were increasingly publicized. At a meeting in Florida in May1996 a group of former gurukula pupils addressed the assembled devotees, including most of the leadership of ISKCON North America, about the suffering they experienced as children under the care of ISKCON. This resulted in the formation of Children of Krishna, an organization that issues grants to assist Vaisnava youth with educational and vocational development, as well as mental health therapy. Children of Krishna also facilitates the organization of devotee youth projects, such as camps and reunions.
In 1997 the GBC established the ISKCON Child Protection Task Force. This committee produced the ISKCON Child Protection Task Force Report and submitted it to the GBC in 1998. At the annual GBC meetings in 1998 the GBC ratified this report, which proposed the establishment of a central office of child protection to coordinate the child protection activities for the movement. On April 1, 1998, the ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection began functioning. Legally, the organization is incorporated as a non-profit organization in the State of Florida called The Association for the Protection of Children (APC), also sometimes known as The Association for the Protection of Vaisnava Children (APVC). This report will refer to the APC as the ISKCON Child Protection Office (CPO), and will discuss the history and present status of its functions, including serving as a resource and guidance center, investigating and adjudicating cases of alleged child maltreatment connected with ISKCON, providing grants for youth who were mistreated when they were children in ISKCON, and facilitating temples and schools to institute child protection education and prevention systems. For more extensive description and analysis about the prevalence, background, causes of and response to child maltreatment in ISKCON refer to the chapter Child Abuse and the Hare Krishnas: History and Response, in the book The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant, published by Columbia University Press in 2004."
So you can see how much and how long ISKCON leaders were in denial of child abuse, how long they have been dragging their feet to avoid addressing it, and how long they paid lip service.
Below is some analysis which shows that ISKCON faced stark realities of child abuse lawsuits, one after another, and as to how costly it would have been to fight child abuse cases.
Gupta das's statement, "Moreover, it was the studied opinion of counsel that the case filed against ISKCON in Texas was fully defensible based on the applicable statutes of limitations." comes under questioning. However, in spite of that legal option, the decision was made to create a multi-million dollar compensation fund under the auspices of the Bankruptcy Court to uniformly compensate as many Gurukulis as possible rather than expend those financial resources to oppose ninety-one Texas plaintiffs.
This raises the question of "defensible at what cost?" The underlined statement, ""rather than expend those financial resources to oppose ninety-one Texas plaintiffs." suggests that it would be costly. Please note the underlined and bold parts in the following quotes from Nrsimhananda Prabhu's article to get an idea of how costly it would have been to fight the case(s):
"Amarendra, a family man, had a passion for doing justice for those who were really harmed and for protecting Srila Prabhupada's temples that were in jeopardy of being lost to the initial Turley claimants. He was concerned that not only would new cases keep appearing over many years, but that the constant drain on ISKCON's resources would force the sale of ISKCON properties, and deprive victims who didn't have the foresight or courage to lodge their complaints earlier of their deserved compensation.
I also am aware of Amarendra's sincere desire to "right a wrong" while, at the same time, preserving Srila Prabhupada's legacy of temples that he established. Despite the appearance of being flush with cash, ISKCON had a difficult time affording the legal fees for the case, the bankruptcy charges, and the additional costs of living in receivership for five years. Then it had an even harder time raising the millions of dollars to pay the claimants. The result is that the temples were saved and deserving victims got some compensation."
Once again, abusers and those who covered-up abuses still remain leaders in ISKCON and as a result, new cases of abuses and their constant and conscious cover-up continues as of today. What was accomplished by children taking their case to the courts and forcing ISKCON Leaders to come to the table is being compromised once again. The tragedy of child abuse and its cover-up continues.
It is time for the same Amrendra Parbhu or a new Amrendra Prabhu or Gupta Prabhu and his friends to spring back into action and drive away the Gundas, Bandits, and Crooks; rogues, thugs, and rascals pretending to be Rajarshis; and bait and switch operators from ISKCON. Your work is half done – the other half remains.
One may object to my words. My point is that a group of 5 people may fail, but how can a group of 30 GBCs and Gurus who claim to be 'sincere and bona fide followers of Srila Prabhupada', "as Rajarshis", or "as good As God" fail to see and address the abuse of children for decades, unless there are some/many crooks who dominate the group and others who put up with it?
What happened to the "Zero Tolerance" in regard to child abuse?
