Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Reaction to The Cost of Silence (Sanaka Rsi Das)

Reactions to the "Cost of Silence"

BY: SANAKA RSI DAS

"The Cost of Silence" was released 2 weeks ago. In this short period of time the video has had more than 20,000 viewings (between the website and the YouTube channel).

There has been an outpouring of support and appreciation, many letters from friends and strangers expressing gratitude. I am amazed, touched and inspired by the concern and support shown for child protection. This overwhelming response confirms the burning need there is in ISKCON to address this sorely neglected topic. I am working with a team of concerned senior devotees to form a list of proposals aimed at addressing and improving child protection standards in ISKCON.

The "Cost of Silence" makes 3 main points:

1) Child abuse of the Hare Krishna children is still a problem, today. Protecting children IS in the best interest of ISKCON at large.

2) The current system of child protection in ISKCON is far below acceptable standards.

3) ISKCON does not have a forum where these issues can be addressed in a manner that is respectful, effective, private and professional. This fosters more child abuse.

[PADA: Right, a lot of the victims and victim's parents told us that they had no means of comparing notes with one another, thus many of them thought their child's abuse was an isolated case. And so the trend was to remain silent. The Windle Turley lawsuit opened up almost everyone's eyes, and thus forced people to acknowledge there was a big problem -- and it was a pattern of how these bogus GBC gurus managed their "guru schools." 

A lot of people do not realize there was no internet in the 1980s, and only a limited one in the 1990s. Anyone remember Windows 95? That was when the internet was first being developed onto a larger scale. So, it was very hard for people to connect in those earlier days. 

As soon as I started out with my newsletters on the mid-1990s internet, my little internet provider company was getting death threats, and the little teeny lady who managed the company (and who was getting these threats) said, "these jack asses (GBC goondas) are a pile of sh** cowards." Hee hee! 

This teeny woman was more brave than hundreds of ISKCON men put together. So that is unfortunately why we had to begin to rely on outside people like her for help, it just was not coming from the devotee community that much. 

Its amazing to us how some teeny "karmi" woman has been fearless in fighting these bone heads -- when hundreds of devotee "men" were hiding under a rock in fear and would not lift a finger to help us, or these "men" were the people sending her these threats. She did not even want to go to the police, she said they are a pile of manure cowards and she does not want to give them any credit or recognition. So much for the big men's kshatriya warriors! So this is a big problem, people tell me they are worried about the public opinion of the movement, but they will not challenge the deviations within the movement, ... which naturally forces the issues into the public.] 

An important question to ask at this point is, what will be the future of ISKCON if we continue to ignore these issues? There has also been a small minority that have expressed the opinion that the Cost of Silence should not have been released. Many of these devotees have taken exception to some or much of the content and presentation.

[PADA: Same problem we have had all along, as soon as we said there was a child abuse problem all sorts of people tried to shut us down. Including, -- that they murdered Sulochana and would have murdered me. Same problem we had later with the Sanat, Mukunda, Prahlad, Janardan, Krishna Kirtan, HKC Jaipur squad, they all said we need to shut down PADA. Great. Let's do what Kirtanananda always wanted to do! 

Then people seem to wonder why we have to get help from the police, courts and media folks? Or why a little teeny little lady internet provider has more male testicles than all this lot of "men" put together, because she knows you have to oppose deviants who are posing as messiahs. OK these suppressors will suppress us, and that is what Sulochana said, we will need the help of the outsiders. He was right.   

And eventually some of the victims began to figure out -- who it is -- who is creating a barrier to prevent them from being saved, namely the perps and the conspiracy of silence to cover for the perps. Then people wonder why some of the victims have developed "a bad attitude." Really? The good news is, we have not really needed all these "Conspiracy of Silence" folks. We went over their heads and got the message out basically into the public, despite our critics massive foot dragging program. And thus now, more and more people are bringing this and other PADA issues forward.]

I have a question I would like to ask to these individuals: If even just 50% of the problems highlighted in the video are accurate, would you like to know, or would you rather not know?
Would ISKCON really be better off, if the Cost of Silence had not been released?

What IF the greater community of ISKCON had continued to be in the dark, and 20 years down the line we discovered that the lives of so many more children have been destroyed, the media was making a huge expose, and the movement was threatened by another Turley case?

[PADA: No question about it, the Windle Turley case put the whole child abuse issue on the map. Unfortunately, the GBC rarely listens to any advice, they often wait until there is a crisis before they respond. Same with their ditto head followers. Same with the Sridhara Maharaja, Narayana Maharaja, Babaji folks and other similar supporters of these bogus GBC's gurus, they tend to wait until the situation is self evidently corrupt to the general mass of karmi public before they finally figure out there is a problem, which means, the karmi mass of public is way ahead of them on these matters.]

At the very least, now the awareness of the problem has increased exponentially and from here, we can collectively seek out solutions.

Below is a list of the most common points that have been raised with regards to the video. I will address them individually. Many of these points relate to Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj, because his position is the least justifiable, and, incidentally, his supporters have also raised the loudest voice of protest.


1) If even just 20% of what is in the CPO reports is accurate, why is it that some of Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj's students support him?

2) Offences vs. forgiveness in the Vaisnava tradition (Jagai and Madai).

3) If the CPO is as incompetent as you make out, why do you quote their case files so much?

4) Why is my Spiritual Master in the video, he was "just being merciful"?

5) Unprofessional presentation.

1) At present, Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj holds the "world record" for being the person that has the longest, and oldest CPO case file, and is still allowed to teach in ISKCON schools.

In the early '90s, shortly after the first investigation was conducted in the Mayapur Gurukula, which uncovered what Dhira Govinda Prabhu later described as "the most extensive child sexual abuse to have taken place in the history of ISKCON", a phenomenon was noted, which left many devotees puzzled. Some of Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj's students petitioned the GBC for his reinstatement. These boys had very credible voice, because they lived in the gurukula and,surely, their opinion was valid.

[PADA: This is what happens all the time in cults where there is abuse, for example the people inside of these polygamy cults also usually never want to go against the leaders, because they are brain washed into accepting the leaders as their spiritual guides. For that matter all kinds of fools still worship the founder fathers, protectors, and goonda henchmen of the molester messiah's infrastructure program, like Jayapataka and his leading generals like Hari Sauri. 

JPS is the co-creator and founder of the molester acharyas program, so he is worshiped even now by a lot of fools. There is a lot of sentiment to worship these fools even among the adults, what to speak of among the younger people who are being brain washed by these adults. Gradually that is breaking down, but there is still a lot of sentiment for these bogus guru guys and their henchmen.]

It made sense to assume that if they were so upset at the prospect of having Maharaj removed from the gurukula, surely "things couldn't have been that bad". History tells us that two weeks later Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj was reinstated in the Mayapur gurukula, and that many more children have been abused since.

[PADA: Well they reinstated Jayatirtha after it was known he was a sex and drugs fools, they reinstated Bhavananda when he was having sex with taxi drivers, Sridhara Maharaja called for reinstating Hansadutta and Tamal after they were caught deviating, so that is the problem, the trouble makers keep getting big posts and us dissenters keep getting removed, easy to figure out the results.]

We also know that in 1999, when Dhira Govinda interviewed Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj, Maharaj lied about the severity and frequency of the problem, as he did again when questioned in the video.
After the release of the Cost of Silence I have received these two statements from two of the boys that supported Maharaj in the '90s:

"I was one of them ... militant acceptance that our siksa guru could not be what everyone was saying.
That's why I wanted to reach out. To let you know we care, amongst all the hate mail you might be receiving. You are much stronger and braver than most of us.

[PADA: Right, anyone who stands up against the molester infrastructure is going against "the shiksha gurus."] 

And I do have stories of my own... I'm just not yet ready to start talking."

And:

"A student in BVPS' school in the 90s has told me that when the CPO investigation was going on he and his cohort were pressured into making statements in support of BVPS. It took him some years of separation from Mayapura to realize how bad things really were. He has since apologized to Dhira Govinda for giving misleading testimony. (Probably similar to some of the stuff Madhava Gauranga has on his Facebook page.)"

Naturally, Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj's students have changed over the years, but this strange phenomenon has been consistent. Anyone who has questioned Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj's continued involvement with children has been confronted by the fierce and loud opposition of some of his students. I encourage anyone who has come across the cries of disdain from Maharaj's students to take them with a grain of salt, and find the time to study Maharaj's history...

The point is that even if an abuser never offends again, which as we have seen, is definitely NOT the case with Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj, still, what sort of society allows a known offender to continue being involved in the education of its children??? What example is being set? How does that show respect and consideration for child abuse, and to Maharaj's past victims? Is it really that difficult to understand that, to continue allowing him to interact with children is a liability for ISKCON?

[PADA: OK that is why people are not going to the root issue, which is that the Jayapataka, Hari Sauri, Gopal Krishna swami, Radhanath and others regime has been upholding deviants as gurus and teachers. And -- making it difficult for those of us who protested ...]

The fact that some Mayapur residents, who are well acquainted with the history, find the request to remove Maharaj from children to be so outrageous, is a testament of the severity of the problem.

2) Some argue that offenders should be encouraged to serve; and I fully agree with this. What is not clear to me is why, to progress in the path of devotion, this offender needs to be allowed access to children?

Can Bhaktividyapurna be forgiven? Absolutely! Does forgiveness necessitate that he is allowed to teach children? Absolutely NOT!

Some have mentioned the story of Jagai and Madhai and how they were forgiven, for sins which were possibly even more severe. Yet they seem to forget an important part of the story. Mahaprabhu was ready to kill Jagai and Madai for offending Nityananda… Mahaprabhu, the very incarnation of compassion, had no mercy and no forgiveness to spare for them. Only when Nityananda begged for their lives did He forgive them. Nityananda, the aggrieved party, had to beg Mahaprabhu to forgive them, before the Lord changed his mind. Mahaprabhu did not forgive them on His own accord…

I do take issue when I see leaders "forgiving child abusers for offences that were not inflicted on them" …

Another important detail in the story is that they spent the rest of their life living simply and practicing their bhajan. They didn't go on to become worshipped, high profile gurus, like Dhanurdhara Swami or Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj.

[PADA: Right, a former child student in Los Angeles went home and hung himself after seeing how the Los Angeles crew promotes his abuser Dhanurdar as their big authority there. That makes the Los Angeles leadership responsible for the death of this victim, we need to go after the root and not the symptoms. And the root issue is -- that deviants are being promoted as gurus, teachers and leaders, and there is a conspiracy of silence to keep them in these posts, or worse an active opposing to removing them.] 

The genuine forgiveness of child abuse is Divine, to forget it is reckless.

3) My experience, observing the CPO dealings over several years, has been that the vast majority of its shortcomings are related to insufficient reporting and inadequate sanctions imposed on offenders. In my experience, instances of false accusations or sentences that are too severe are so rare, that it's almost a non-issue. To give an example, Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj's 2007 case file lists several serious transgressions:

He was present when young girls were bathing naked, he was massaging them, when they were only wearing their underwear, and he had a 16 year old girl, rub oil all over his back, because apparently Maharaj had some back pain. At the time, the devotees that compiled this document were convinced of the accuracy of these accusations, and yet the only sanction they suggested was a recommendation that in view of his Sannyasa ashram, Maharaj should not have any further involvement with the girls gurukula, and that he be banned from entering the girls school grounds.

As the 2015 investigation on Sri Radhe shows, he did not follow these recommendations. The 2007 and the 2015 investigations were conducted by two different teams of devotees, and yet they both uncovered serious problems with Maharaj's girls gurukula.

4) Some have expressed their disappointment in seeing their spiritual master featured in the video. While I understand why this would be distressing, I encourage these devotees to meditate on how they would feel if their own children had been abused, and they saw their guru Maharaj support the abuser, invite him to give classes, etc… This is what some devotees have had to witness.

Few among these devotees seem able or willing to even consider the fact that, however serious you may regard my offences, they pale when compared to the physical, emotional and spiritual abuse endured by generations of Hare Krsna children.

Indradyumna Maharaj was included because some his interactions with children are inappropriate, and set a dangerous example. If a man his age was taking photos of little girls in bikini and cuddling them the way Maharaj does, he'd probably get questioned by the police. Imagine if the older brahmacaries in temples around the world started behaving the way he does… His actions pose a threat to both Maharaj's reputation and the children.

5) Some devotees have attacked the all-around lack of professionalism in the production of the video. This argument is possibly the most amusing of all. I am not saying this as an excuse, it's just the simple and plain reality: The only education I ever received was whatever I was taught in gurukula. The project was not funded. None of the team members were professional producers, scriptwriters, journalists or investigators. We did the very best that we could with the very limited resources that we had.

It's like if your house was on fire. Would you stop to make sure you are suitably dressed and that the dishes are washed, etc… Or would you just jump out of the first window to try and save your life? Our gurukulas have been on fire for far too long…

Please take the time to sign the petition, for the creation of a well-funded, independent child protection body. We have almost reached the 1,000 signatures bench-mark, and we are hoping to get many more.

I will close with a message a gurukula alumni sent me a few days ago:

"My personal experience with child abuse is that people are so uneasy with it that mostly they choose to feel sorry for the perpetrator...

Especially devotees, strangely enough: Devotees would ask news of my father when he was in jail and felt sooo worried for him, but never thought to ask about his victims...

A study shows that 80 % of child abuser's wives take their partner's side against their own children. How much worst can it get?

I'm really not surprised with the reaction. It just makes it even more important that you do it. Because it looks like no one else is doing it."

[PADA: Well, this is a good start to "put out the fire." We need accountability of these leaders and if we cannot get it, we should rectify things our own way. And if exposes or legal action are required, that is also an option. Of course notice, as soon as some Bangalore folks say they do not want to be part of this sexual predator guru's project, then all sorts of GBC cry babies come out to protest how Bangalore is making a cause celebre of separating Srila Prabhupada from this deviant program. 

Oh boo hoo, this is making a public court case, well you GBC guys wanted a public court case, because you GBC folks spent apparently $20,000,000 making it public. You wanted your whole sexual deviant guru's dirty laundry to come into the public and court, and you spent lavishly to make your deviations public materials.

And some of the worst cry babies who are upset with Bangalore contesting the evil regime are people like Sanat, Mukunda, Prahlad, Janardan, HKC Jaipur crowd, because these guys seem to want to perpetuate the evil regime. Its practically self evident they are still in bed with the deviants, because we caught them red handed promoting Bhakta das and Hari Sauri, the big cheer leaders of the evil regime. 

And then we have folks like Sudarsan das vanacari, he thinks Monsanto is the issue, when Srila Prabhupada never once mentioned this corporation? In fact Srila Prabhupada told us not to get entangled in discussing these prajalpa issues, nor did he even want us to harp on much more harmful programs like abortions and meat eating. How did you guess, Sudarsan thinks anyone who establishes the worship of Srila Prabhupada in court is the bad guy. Read: he wants the molester messiahs program to win -- even in court.

And so its simple really, these folks either by omission or commission do not even have the testicles my little lady internet provider had on the one hand, and on the other hand they would rather have the molester messiahs in charge than anyone else, including having people who worship Srila Prabhupada. Anyway, the good news is, we are getting a lot more sympathy for the child abuse issue, and more and more folks are finally starting to speak openly about it, which means, the conspiracy of silence is breaking down, and the issue is being openly discussed threadbare by some folks, and this trend will continue until the GBC is made accountable. 

Its taking time, but one by one, all of the PADA issues are coming out and getting discussed. And this is now officially opened floodgates, its going to increase. We need to get this movement on the right track, its too important to let it go into a ditch, and the children in it are too important to let them also go into that same ditch along with these bogus leaders. ys pd]

1 comment:

  1. Right, we need to unite all the different camps. Good idea, had this been done a long time ago, all these deviations could have been checked earlier.

    Anyway, we are basically saying: -- These gurus were not appointed; They created a sexual predator's guru program; They changed the books, and -- Srila Prabhupada complained he was being poisoned. And thus that the actual idea was and still is to have his worshiped continued.

    Some people agree with us on these issues, some do not. However, what is surprising to us is that many karmis agreed with us right from the get go, many, many "karmis" told us way back in the 1980s that these guys are not gurus etc. So it seems like the mass body of devotees has to catch up to what a lot of the materialists figured out ages ago. Its happening, for sure, but gradually. ys pd

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