You've Got to Know When to Hold and
When to Fold
BY: JANMASTAMI DAS
Jan 26, WEST VIRGINIA, USA (SUN) — We can appreciate the righteous indignation felt by Ravanari das and expressed in his recent article, "The Evil that Child Molestors Wrought". What we cannot fully comprehend is the mentality in ISKCON management that must protect these abusers, even at the expense of driving away the second generation that we were supposed to be "serving", not abusing.
The problem comes when the "service attitude" is spoken of in the past tense regarding these so-called "acaryas", or even worse, the "service attitude" is only what others are to be bringing with them when they come. Clearly in today's ISKCON, service is a one-way street. That is certainly not how ISKCON was initially structured. This is a post-1977 embellishment that serves the current power brokers of the institution. This is not how ISKCON always was, and certainly not how it was intended to be.
Ravanari's selection of Kirtanananda as ISKCON's "molesterpada" is appropriate until the point in time that Kirtanananda left ISKCON, after which time he and his followers alone are responsible for their own behaviors. ISKCON should no longer bear the burdens for the likes of such actions but rather, the "bhakti yoga swami" types who pander to and give shelter to the pedophiles, they should be addressed as the real culprits. That is not to say that ISKCON should not be held liable for the damages done by returning the likes of Bhavananda to the Vyasasan, or Murali Vadaka to the Alachua gurukula. ISKCON has and will pay for its past transgressions, most notably all those against the devotees that they have alienated and exiled, and they will pay for them into the future they so timidly face.
The proposal to inform law enforcement of these molesters is consistent with ISKCON's anti-abuser position, but the hypocrisy of the offer should be revealed by ISKCON's failure to follow it's own good advice regarding the prosecution of these molesters. Not only have none of these pedophiles been charged with any crimes, all the required contact information for pursuing these molesters is with ISKCON, and none of it will be made available to assist in the prosecution of the perpetrators. This is a blight on Sesa and his fraudulent ISKCON Resolve, and everyone should be aware of this. All the testimonies given by the abused youth were supposedly lost by Tamohara prabhu on his watch. No one is very surprised by these types of frauds being perpetrated on the rank and file devotees by the management level manipulators.
Ravanari's concerns are for those that were abused and since this is clearly not the ISKCON mood, we cannot expect that there will ever be cooperation from ISKCON in that regard. The experience with the disaffected Kirtanananda (or whichever so-called guru behaves poorly) followers has usually been to reject KRSNA consciousness, rather than merely the bogus presenter of said philosophy. The long term effects of these alienated devotees, their lack of contribution over the recent years, FOR WHATEVER REASON, must be seen as an overall minus for the ISKCON as it was in 1977. To try to claim "gains" while ignoring the massive losses and alienation, this is disingenuous at the least, and it may well be downright deceptive. Still, most yatras will offer propaganda reporting increases in book distribution, membership and enthusiasm, which seems pale to many of those who personally experienced the 1960's and 1970's. A blind uncle may be better than no uncle at all, but to call them "Lotus Eyed" is offensive. The warning, "Don't buy a one-way ticket to a spiritual black hole!" is taken as "fault finding", rather than the gentle admonition that it was intended as. Stranded in reality in the age of quarrel and hypocrisy.
Those disciples that find their guru's behavior inconsistent with KRSNA conscious philosophy as expounded in Srila Prabhupada's books, they have no options within the ISKCON organizational structure. If ISKCON has not declared one's guru as errant, if he is still 'in good standing', one cannot reject him and stay within ISKCON. These kinds of inconsistencies only occur when they try forcing the square peg, neophyte bhaktas, into the round hole of pure devotional service. Good luck in that regard.
