May 17, 2019 — INDIA (SUN) —
PART THIRTY-THREE: When Saints are Punished
While the GBC promotes the Mayavadi-saturated The Journey Home by seeing that it has become translated into over a dozen languages, the genuine devotees of ISKCON who hit the streets for Srila Prabhupada have long since been swept out the door. They naturally feel alienated from a Society that decades back, changed the original premise of Krishna consciousness into a new form of impersonal mental speculation. Changes and concoctions are shown by many of the GBC's new and bizarre "laws", which only create more institutionalization of ISKCON and less Krishna consciousness. Add to that the pretended warmth and compassion that is spread throughout ISKCON in Nectar Drop sayings and motivational videos—all of which have been spearheaded by GBC members.
Consider, for example, that in ISKCON the only devotees who have seen the inside of jail cells are the book distributors. Is this not an outrage—considering that criminals in high places have gone scot free? There are instances wherein child molesters are actually being protected by the GBC, while stories abound of embezzlers, rapists and usurers in high places who have never been punished. Although the GBC has their "Law Book," when it comes to crimes in high places—such as a GBC member who was allegedly involved in an illegal sale of the Brooklyn ISKCON Center—no action was ever taken. During the eighties and nineties when the molestation of hundreds of children in ISKCON gurukulas came to light, not one perpetrator—and these perps included so-called good-as-God "gurus"—ever saw the inside of a jail cell. ISKCON's leadership, despite their fancy law book, just paid out millions in compensations and legal fees to put to rest a huge court case. Gurukula victims were silenced with funds that had been donated by ISKCON members in good faith for the service of Shrila Prabhupada's mission. Are these not travesties of justice?
Here, succinctly written by her son, are a few words about a genuine devotee, a humble book distributor and servant of Shrila Prabhupada who saw the inside of a jail so many times that she became known as "Jail Rosie."
From Darwin Bothwik aka Dwarkadish das:
"My mom Labangalatika … is very sick and won't recover. I went to see her this year in April. Everyone please pray that Prabhupada and Krsna gives her safe passage to the next life. She was a fearless soldier in Prabhupada's army for distributing Prabhupda's book for many years all around the world. She even went to Moscow back 1984 and smuggled in Russian Bhagavad-gitas. She placed them on window sills in Moscow and witnessed with great surprise as people picked them up. Luckily she wasn't arrested by the KGB.
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust