An Open Letter to Kesava Krsna dasa
BY: HARI DAS
Jul 16, 2011 — UK (SUN) — I appreciate what you are trying to convey in your articles, but you are missing one main point: The pain and concern that many feel makes it impossible to serve and trust in ISKCON.
The problem is in the leadership, and that cannot be changed by the likes of us. This is due to the leadership structure (GBC) being totalitarian, that is, what they say goes and we cannot affect their decisions. The decisions the GBC make are often times wrong, and they are the last to admit it. To complain or raise concern about their decisions is dangerous these days.
Being a part of the solution is a wise idea, but how? How can we impact a leadership that is for the most part exclusive and does not really reach out to it's 'flock', what to speak of accept and work on feedback?
You state that it doesn't help criticizing the leaders, but what else are we to do? Just ignore the problems? We surely cannot solve them, so the websites such as the Sun serve as a forum for devotees to at least get some things off their chests.
Note that the Sampradaya Sun also hosts articles or adverts at times from big
ISKCONites that are towing the GBC party line. This is because the Dandavats editors
will not publish them. The Dandavats site is directly sponsored by the GBC, as the
Annual Minutes note in the included budget. Praghosa das, the site's editor, runs four restaurants in Dublin and is on the Manor payroll, and is definitely a man of questionable character. His fellow Irishmen have plenty of issues with him, you only have to ask...
I hate to say this about Praghosa, as he has helped me in the past, but recently my
family moved back to England and we had some serious problems that were the side
effect of abuse and bad management from temples in America and their leaders. It was
so serious that I was at risk of leaving my body, and my family was very nearly homeless on the streets. I will elaborate on this in my forthcoming article. Thus we approached Praghosa for help. He did not see the situation as desperate. We got my mother-in-law and brother involved. They wrote Praghosa several times and received no response. This alarmed my relatives greatly, and it further convinced me that ISKCON leadership is sorely lacking in the compassion department. Emails from Praghosa have been saved for evidence and will be shared in my upcoming article.
So, the point I am making is about purity, and especially purity of intent. If an editor of ISKCON'S own website is of questionable character and motive, what on earth can be said of his editorial policy? Dandavats publishes articles that paint a picture of a positive and progressive ISKCON. It hardly ever shows what goes on behind the scenes or discusses the problems that ISKCON and its members now face, which are legion. So to criticize the authors who contribute to the Sun is actually counter-productive and neglecting an essential truth -- the truth.
Devotees want to believe that ISKCON is a safe place; it is not, unless you have status and are worthy of the blessings of the elite (be a yes man). This is the way it is, and below are some examples of what ISKCON does that it shouldn't, and all of these are tolerated and in some cases directly endorsed by the GBC.
Import Indian devotees for paid pujari services
Collect money through fraudulent means and request donations for something other than what they were intended for in the first place
Install devotees as managers who have no experience of what it is to manage in a
healthy and proactive way
Hold seminars on chanting and charge big money for it
Establish yoga systems that are clearly bogus, such as Atma yoga, and present this to the public as a genuine yoga system
Start big temple projects and neglect the needs of the devotees in order to
establish a huge temple to attract Indian donors
Reduce Harinama and book distribution in favor of interfaith preaching, Indian
Preaching, etc.
Establish Hindu societies in universities such as Oxford, etc., obtain huge financial support for it, and use that as one's wages
Allow renunciates to take degrees
Establish guru committees that 'train' gurus to be gurus -- how can one take a course to be a guru? Oh maybe it is a profession after all.
Allow renunciates to own expensive properties and have big bank accounts
Present ISKCON as a Hindu organization
Allow the publishing of vast amounts of literature by devotees and thus sell such in larger numbers than Srila Prabhupada's books
This list can go on ad infinitum, but the above are of specific concern to myself and serve as decent examples.
So, Kesava Krsna prabhu, I am writing this to you directly and factually and request you to take this point by point, including the deviation list above and please comment. I look
forward to it.
I conclude by saying that to be part of the solution is to actually demand a whole
fengshui of ISKCON and it's leadership. Being a positive example is nice, but
will it really fight corruption? Right now, myself and many others cannot say with certainty that it is wise for newcomers to join ISKCON. Can you honestly say that it is safe to bring new members in?
I would appreciate it if you can give just reason of why the above-mentioned sanctioned activities should be allowed to continue. Evidence from sastra or Srila Prabhupada quotes can be used.
Sincerely,
Hari das
