Pray Tell, GBC: Why? Why? Why!
BY: RAVANARI DAS
Aug 24, 2012 — USA (SUN) —
Part Five: Still Wondering
"Do not blame the ringer of the alarm bell, for he is trying to save you from the very fire that you yourselves have created."
BUMPER STICKER SWAMIS: Why does the GBC not raise its solemn voice in unison when a member of your esteemed council advertises himself like India's ever popular bumper sticker swamis? Please consider that bumper sticker swamis are the asampradayic panthis who have no bona fide disciplic succession behind them. Such instant avatars appear out of the thin air, wearing carnations and claiming to be some sort of incarnation or re-incarnation, but looking for fornication. They expect others to hang onto every word that falls from their venomous lips. They are characterized by trite pseudo-homilies that are easily memorized and quoted amongst their sheep-like followers as quasi-shastra.
Have you not noticed how such devotees as Bhakti Charu and Lokanath publish (or allow to be published) New Age witty one-liners, plastered over their websites? If so, what is your reaction to Radhanath's "hearts touching quotes book (sic)" that's more full of New Age quasi-wisdom than a Delhi Yoga Convention? Don't you think that maybe by now ISKCON has enough imitation Dalai Lamas, Mother Teresas and Nelson Mandelas? Perhaps you should consider, don't you think, that ISKCON needs more leaders who are simply "Shrila Prabhupada dasas"?
SILENT NIGHT: When a lady devotee wrote for the Sun her recollection of being beaten in front of Notre Dama Cathedral on Christmas Eve by your fellow GBC member, Malati and her ex-swami friend, Prithu Putra Swami, why did some noble voice from your midst not arise to apologize, or even respond? Don't you know that silence in such cases is generally construed as an admission of guilt? Malati took "sannyasa" from Kirtanananda, and to this day still wears saffron. Why is this tacit acceptance of female sannyasa, against all directions of our Sampradaya and Shrila Prabhupada's instructions, permitted and allowed? Malati is thus one of three people on the GBC who took sannyasa from and/or who were mentored by the late Kirtanananda. Have you considered that this could make the ghost of this notorious felon the de facto most powerful person on the GBC?
ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT ZONALS: Do you remember how long ago you GBC ordered the unauthorized usurpers of the seat of Shrila Prabhupada to drop their names of divinity like Shrila Vishnupada, Hari Kirtan Thakur and the others? Why then did you not object when the late Shripada and Krishnapada refused to abandon their self-adorned monikers? And are you aware that to this day, your GBC Emeritus Shrila Acharyadeva still has a website in that name: Acharyadeva.com? Do you remember that this is a name that you allowed him to gold-stamp onto the Shrila Prabhupada's Srimad Bhagavatam as "His Divine Grace Hridayananada Goswami Acharyadeva"? Why have you permitted this ongoing outrage all these years? Why are you afraid to act upon your own dictates when it comes to policing wayward members of your own team? Can you please state your reasons for these discrepancies in the way you deal with one another, and the way in which you deal with your own elite membership?
THE ORIGINAL SINS: When in 1978, Pandit Pradyumna Prabhu (Paul Sherbow) advised your body not to go whole the hog in allowing your annointed acharyas to assume all the paraphernalia that only the Founder-Acharya is entitled to, he was called a "demon" and cast out of the assembly. Many, many worthy disciples left ISKCON as a result of that outrage on our revered elder, an offense perpetrated by your then most-vociferous member, Shrila Acharyadeva. Having finally spoken to Pradyumna about this aparadha on your part, have you considered speaking to all the others who were so negatively affected? Do you know that offenses of that nature continue to burn like fire even generations later if no atonement has been made?
DHAM APARADHA: Do you know how many devotees are offended that you are sheltering an ex-swami and fallen acharya in white, whose activities have continually brought disgrace upon the Hare Krishna Movement? Certainly Shrila Prabhupada was always eager to save fallen souls, but not at the expense of hundreds of others. For example, several temple presidents brought Tamal's activities of stealing devotees before Shrila Prabhupada. It is true that His Divine Grace did not chase him away, but he engaged him elsewhere, in China. Do you know how many devotee mothers and fathers are sickened by your giving shelter, position and a healthy allowance to one who has callously hurt them and their children in so many ways, and that, too at the tirtha of tirthas, the holiest of all dhamas? Do the feelings of your peers mean so little to you, or do you have some other motivations?
Such questions are on the minds of all thinking members of the Hare Krishna Movement, and some honest answers from the august body of the Governing Body Commission would be in order. Let the world of Hare Krishna know that your collective silence is not a symptom of collective guilt.
