Bogus GBC leaders creating culture of abuse

ISKCON's Culture of Abuse

BY: DEVI DEVI DASI

After thinking about my previous article about the assault of a female disciple by Ravindra Svarupa dasa, I am still dumbfounded by the GBC's lack of action in his removal from the GBC's leadership post. I think any rational outsider would probably wonder why an organization like ISKCON would risk the liability and danger of having a person like him in a leadership position. Not only does it seem like the ethical and moral thing to do, but wouldn't other leaders be scared of implicating themselves in the condoning of abuse?

Well, it doesn't take much research into ISKCON's recent and past history to see that there is a substantial culture of abuse by leaders and a lack of response from ISKCON authorities. Not only is there a lack of response, but leaders who perpetrate vast amounts of abuse are given high positions of leadership, are publicly venerated and allowed to openly interact with children!

The example of the remains of Kirtanananda being venerated, worshipped and placed in samadhi by several ISKCON leaders stands out the most. This guy was more or less the Charles Manson of ISKCON, perpetrating crimes and abuses that defy the imagination. And here are two of the biggest Gurus in ISKCON, Radhanath Maharaj and Gopal Krishna Maharaj, openly prostrating the remains of this villain. What a total insult to all of this person's victims.

Then there is the other great example of being rewarded for your abuse: Bhavananda being in charge of the Vedic Planetarium Temple in Mayapur. This guy is implicated in all types of abusive behavior. So what's the "logical" next step for the ISKCON leaders? They put him in charge of the biggest and most important Temple project in the history of our movement? Another great insult to Bhavananda's many victims.

Then there is Bhaktividya Purna Maharaj. He is another person who is implicated in child abuse. What's the ISKCON leaderships' action in regard to him? They put him in charge of a school! How could you even imagine something like this happening? Well, this seems to be standard procedure for ISKCON leadership. And once again, this only adds to the pain and insult to all of this person's victims.

This present situation with the abuse by Ravindra Svarupa is just another example of the ongoing abusive culture of ISKCON leadership. All of these things are going to come out to the general public soon enough and it is going to be one of the biggest scandals in modern religious history. And everyone is going to agree with the sane members of ISKCON, that the leadership has created and maintained a dangerous and abusive cult. And still, neophyte devotees question whether criticizing these abusers and their supporters is 'vaishnava-aparadha? What a sad example of blind following and sentimentality.

Maybe devotees should be more scared of offending Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna. By staying silent about abusers like Ravindra Svarupa and others, they are allowing abusive people to destroy all of Srila Prabhupada's hard work in his loving service to the Lord. This is the real offense we should be afraid of. Not the criticism of real aparadhis who perpetrate violent offenses against the Lord's devotees and those who reward them for their gross offenses.