Unqualified Guru Accepting Karma (Govinda Dasi)

[PADA: Wow! Srila Prabhupada said we neophytes cannot be diksha gurus and absorb sins. He said: If we take sins without authority, we'll have to suffer. This story explains the results way better than we ever could! ys pd]


BAD KARMA OF THE UNQUALIFIED GURU.

As told by Her Grace Shrimati Govinda Dasi.

There is a famous story in India, you've maybe heard it. A great saint was walking with his disciples and they saw a large black snake writhing in pain, while being eaten alive by dozens of ants.

He asked his disciples, "what is this"? They said, "its a snake being devoured by ants."

Their guru then said, "No, the snake was a pseudo guru, who could not save his disciples, so the disciples have become ants and are eating the snake alive, causing him to suffer so."

And so, (with apologies to Bob Dyan) ...

A Mayavadi died last week, and we're free now of his rants, but he has reincarnated as a snake, being eaten alive by ants.

And those ants they were his disciples, and they're enjoying now their snack,
cause when they paid him to become Gods, you see, there was karma to pay back.

Oh Krishna! Can this really be the end, to be stuck within samsara, and in a serpent's form again. This story reminds me of the time we were having a morning walk in Brooklyn with Srila Prabhupada. His Divine Grace was sauntering like a conquering general as usual, in front of a large crowd of devotees including me. Suddenly he stopped pointed with his cane to the cracks in the sidewalk and asked, "What is that?

Naturally devotees had answers: "Oh that is grass growing from the sidewalk, Prabhupada." (Like he did not know... duh)

To which His Divine Grace replied, "No one has come here to plant this grass so where did it come from? These are demigods whose good deeds have become exhausted. And they have fallen down in the rain to become blades of grass.

With that he tossed his regal head back once again and continued marching along ... with devotees struggling to catch up!

Panca-ratna defends JAS book changes

Panca-ratna giving class in LA, 5-25-18

[PADA: Yep, we knew it, the Los Angeles "Srila Prabhupada festival" would have at least some speakers who would attack Srila Prabhupada and / or his writings, and they would defend the JAS illicit sex guru parampara process -- including re-writing the books of the pure devotee. It seems every year at this festival they bring in some of these anti-Prabhupada preachers and give them a big seat of authority, and then they call this a "Prabhupada festival"?] 

“We changed Srila Prabhupada’s books because his teachings are outdated“

JG: I just saw Pancha Ratna (Pancharatna here on FB) at the Prabhupada Festival in New Dvarka, Los Angeles yesterday, who was sitting with Patrikananda. He made some rather disturbing comments regarding the 1972 edition of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is:

“No one wants to read it.”

“No one will buy it.”

“It will never be printed or used by ISKCON again.”

“We changed Srila Prabhupada’s books because his teachings are outdated and ISKCON needed a modern message.”

I showed him, and asked him to read Srila Prabhupada’s title below his photo, from the 1972 edition, which he reluctantly read aloud, and expressed his annoyance: “greatest exponent of Krsna consciousness in the western world“, and then commented that it should have been stripped out of Jayadvaita swami (JAS) book, because it’s “unnecessary”.

When I informed him that Srila Prabhupada wrote it himself, he said “I doubt that, but even if it was written by Srila Prabhupada, it should be removed, and it’s unneeded.”

“Srila Prabhupada’s books were filled with mistakes and had to be edited.”

“When ISKCON sold Srila Prabhupada’s original books, during the 1970’s, the sales and interest in his books, no where comes near the interest people show towards JAS’s editions.”

Mahasringha das: I like Pancaratna’s personality but being a bought and paid for Iskcon company man clouds his intelligence. ………..

Padmagarbha das:  – Mahasrngara, how can you ‘like’ ANY part of somebody who insults Srila Prabhupada as has this snake in the grass. He is not 12 years old and can therefore hide behind the excuse of being immature and stupid, and easily influenced by bad association. He ‘chose’ to be “bought and paid for”!

Mahasringha das: Hate the sin, not the sinner. He’s done a lot of devotional service which is pleasing to Prabhupada. This is Kali Yuga so there’s no where to hide. Still hiding in the woods?

Padmagarbha das: my question to you was, “how can you ‘like’ ANY part of somebody who insults Srila Prabhupada”. There was no mention of “hate”. However, there are different degrees / forms of “sin”. One who engages in ‘sinful’ activities due to weakness, such as illicit sex, or taking intoxication is not on the same level as one who rapes and murders a child. 

With the former [with someone who is ‘weak’] the saying “hate the sin and not the sinner” is perhaps appropriate, while the latter, the individual who has killed the child, he is justifiable due sever condemnation, and even hate [certainly by the parents of that child], and he should be punished most harshly by society.For you to attempt to deflect any harsh criticism of Panca Ratna, on the grounds of his likable ‘personality’, and that he has performed ‘a lot of devotional service’, brings me to present the following “analogy”.

[PADA: Right. Srila Prabhupada says the gurus and acharyas have to be pure devotees, whereas Jayadvaita swami's process "corrected" this idea to say -- gurus in ISKCON are sometimes fallen and engaged in illicit sex with men, women and maybe children. This means, they have not only changed the books, they have changed the whole idea that God is pure and therefore His successors also have to be pure. And Panca ratna has "performed a lot of service" ... by telling people that JAS is correct to say the parampara from God is chock full of deviants?

Srila Prabhupada "made a mistake" -- he forgot to tell us that gurus are often fallen if not debauchees? They have changed everything that Krishna and Srila Prabhupada said wholesale. How is this "a lot of service"? ys pd]  

GBC Goons "Calling the Police" on Prabhupadanuga Samkirtana

PADA: GBC goons called the police five times already to harass their samkirtana party. Poor samkirtana devotees asked "who trained the GBC people to call the police on us"? Hah hah, they already know, its the GBC's debauchee's acharya's project leaders. Yes, unless we all want to chant prayers to their living debauchee's acharya's lineage, we should not be allowed to chant! 

Did we forget to mention some of these Prabhupadanugas were once GBC's followers, but they read some of our Prabhupadanuga's literature and then decided not to worship the debuachee's guru process, and they wanted to worship Prabhupada instead? And then people tell us our efforts to convert the GBC people has not been a success? Its having success every single day, day in, day out, year after year!  

Right, anyway this is what these GBC's guru goondas do, these GBC's goons find it intolerable when anyone chants Krishna's name and worships the pure devotee. OK and then people sometimes tell PADA "you are giving the GBC and ISKCON a bad name." No, the GBC clan are giving themselves a bad name, we did not even have to lift a finger here. Its self-evident the GBC clan are Vaishnava oppressing gangsters. We did not even have to comment on this for these victims to know the situation themselves. 

Of course this is the same exact thing that happened with HKC Jaipur's "senior adviser" Prahlad das (Paul Coats?). He threatened he was going to assist the GBC's goons to come and kill me, because these pedophile acharya's lovers club folks all think alike, act alike etc. Birds of a feather. So that is the goonda's process since 1978, banning devotees, harassing devotees, calling the police on devotees, even having devotees beaten and assassinated -- to sum, vaishnava aggressing goondas.  

Even the police here told me, "these people want to drink your blood." Yep, even the police here know these guys are vicious gangsters who want to have us vaishnavas for dinner! Hee hee! The good news is, this is desperation tactic. When one is down to the lowest levels of -- name calling, making threats, making vicious attacks, harassing, and so on, one has run out of rabbits to pull out of one's hat. So all these GBC lover's club folks are doing is CEMENTING in the notion that they are violent goonda gangsters who defend the worship of a debauchee guru line with viciousness, because they have no siddhanta. 

Now these Prabhupadanuga people are MORE CONVINCED than ever that the GBC's party are the anti-Lord Chaitanya's movement. Again we did not even have to comment, its self evident.

So this is good news and bad news, the good news is -- these Prabhupadanugas now know for sure the GBC's folks REALLY ARE GOONDAS, the bad news is -- they are making the police and others in the public think the devotees are crank calling idiots. So the GBC folks are making a BAD PUBLIC IMAGE of devotees. The GBC folks wants to make chanting God's name a crime, so they are harassing the chanting of GOD'S NAME in public using the police. 

This is making the chanting look foolish and / or criminal, of course its what these GBC's folks do. Again! Its what they do! Anyway, hopefully the police will eventually realize the GBC folks are the criminals, just like the police here have done a long time ago. 

ys pd    

GBC Guru Expose (Hungary)

https://aharekrisnamozgalom.blogspot.com/2018/05/iskcon-tortenelem-srila-jayatirtha.html

Youth Crew Records (Devotee Couple make music business)

http://www.noecho.net/features/devarishi-youth-crew-records

Jaya Radha Madhava (Saraswati Dasi) bandcamp.com

https://jumpsuitrecords.bandcamp.com/track/radha-madhava-ft-sarasvati-dasi

Jesus Shaped Cake Imbroglio

https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/vbq37m/argentine-politician-forced-to-apologize-for-eating-piece-of-bloody-jesus-shaped-cake

[PADA: Disrespecting the master is not the only property of the ISKCON GBC. ys pd]

Lack of Child Protection Causing ISKCON's Destruction (Sanaka Rsi)

[PADA: Correct. The bogus GBC gurus and their hand maidens like Dayalu Nita's HKC Jaipur folks / Sanat / Mukunda / Prahlad / Janardana / Krishna Kirtan / Brahmatirtha etc. are all attacking those of us who wanted to have children saved from their abuse agenda and its odious conditions, and we wanted to create some sort of support system and / or shelter for the existing victims. 

As Sanaka Rsi points out herein, these are the actual people who are actually destroying ISKCON and everything it stands for, by purposefully destroying the next generation(s?) of the children of the Krishna society. Sanaka Rsi correctly points this out herein and yes, PADA agrees with his assessment. OK Sulochana simply said, these people are tossing children into a wood chipper.

Anyway! Bravo Sanaka Rsi prabhu! 

I am not sure who can argue with Sanaka's assessment, since he is a participating eye witness to their whole scenario. Sanaka's pleas for help are being rebuffed and ignored -- just EXACTLY like our pleas for help on this issue were rebuffed and ignored. We know he is right because we have experienced the same exact counter push back from these same exact individuals. 

The good news? We have many thousands of people who are now outside of their foolish infrastructure and / or institutions and they are going to make another Krishna society independent of these criminal deviants. And we are currently helping some of these people in different ways in private correspondence and etc. Several people wanted our permission to translate our stuff into other languages and etc. They get it! And the number of these people getting it is increasing strength to strength. Good job Sanaka Rsi team! ys pd]   

GBC RESPONSES REGARDING LAXMIMONI

Dear Badrinarayan Maharaj,

Please accept my respectful obeisance, All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.

As you have requested to be removed from this list, I will not trouble you with these (un?)important matters after this letter. You point out that mass emails are seldom very effective and invite me to attempt a different approach. You suggest following vaisnava etiquette, perhaps a heart to heart over the phone could be more valuable.

Under normal circumstances I would agree. Few would resort to imposing mass communication and shaming tactics as a first option.

Sadly, from my past experiences I have never seen such lovely “heart to heart” with ISKCON leaders deliver anything constructive or positive, especially when it comes to child protection. This, I assure you, despite any doubts you may have, is not due to a lack of willingness and numerous attempts on my part.

Growing up in ISKCON gurukulas, I began noticing from early on, the inconsistencies between what was preached and how my teachers and the leaders of ISKCON lived their lives. We heard a lot about mercy, compassion and forgiveness, but couldn't find any traces of these qualities: they were nowhere to be found.

As I grew older I realized that hypocrisy and corruption are rampant in this world and that sadly ISKCON is no exception. As I became more and more acquainted with the history of "child protection" in ISKCON, I was shocked with disbelief.

Nothing could have prepared me for the degree of unscrupulous malfeasance and callous indifference I encountered among many (most?) leaders. I now believe that any decent human being that carried out an in-depth study of the history of child protection in ISKCON would struggle to view the leadership in good light when it comes to this matter.

Brahmatirtha and several other GBCs have shown to be entirely unconcerned with the devastation that Laxmimoni has caused in the lives of so many girls, as if their lives are inconsequential and irrelevant. If Laxmimoni is to follow the standard CPO protocol, as anybody else would, I don’t believe she stands any chance of qualifying for an appeal, yet, truth be told, at present it is quite likely that she will be granted an appeal simply because a number of GBCs and senior devotees are (ab)using their position and influence to try and force the CPO into submission and grant her an appeal regardless.

I ask you Maharaj, knowing what you know about ISKCON and the CPO, can you honestly tell me that you genuinely believe that having a "heart to heart" may produce positive results? For the last 10 years we have been having consistent and disturbing reports ranging the full spectrum of child abuse in the Vrindavana Gurukula. The apex of this sinister operation was probably when a child drowned in 2016, yet the GBC continues to look the other way and bless the new Gurukula project that is operated by the same incompetent and abusive management.

Do you really believe that more of the same will somehow produce a different result??

In Mayapur last year a young gurukula graduate died of an opium overdose. Following in the disturbing tradition of covering up anything that could make ISKCON look bad, the official and sanitized version of the incident is that the boy died of a heart attack. Because if our children die of overdose in Mayapur, ISKCON has a problem, but if they die of a heart attack, then there is no problem!!!

Maharaj, frankly your polite request to be removed from this discussion is disheartening; it seems to say in the nicest possible manner (nobody can fault you vaisnava etiquette): "Don't bother me with these matters; I have more important things to do with my life. This is a personal disagreement between Sanaka and Brahmatirtha and it does not concern me, in fact it is a disturbance on my life and service".

I invite you to consider the possibility that, this may well be one of the most important and most neglected services. From my perspective we have a fire in the house and very few seem to even notice or care... How many more children will have to be sacrificed, before ISKCON as a society starts to give child protection the importance it deserves?

You claim that these mass emails accomplish nothing, and yet, nothing else works... Thank you for taking the time to consider these issues.

Yours in the service of the Vaisnavas

Sanaka

P.S. I will add an email I received from Tamohara prabhu a GBC member wherein he seems to confirm my concerns about GBC interference in Laxmimoni's case and the reply I sent him. I am also including an email that was sent to me by your Godbrother Giribaradhari prabhu, where he comments on whether the sanctions imposed on Laxmimoni are fitting of her crimes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Tamohara prabhu

Hare Krishna,
On this issue, I agree with the general direction of your comments.
I have been urging the GBC to NOT intervene in this case, and rather, support the CPO process, which is based on polices that are part of ISKCON law, enacted by the GBC itself. Processes of appeal, etc., are already built into the policies, and for the GBC to overstep and insert itself based on some members dissatisfaction with one case outcome would have many negative consequences, and could undermine many devotee's confidence in our support of child protection.

your servant,

Tamohara das - GBC, former CPO Director

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Surely this calls for a celebration! This has got to be the first time we agree on anything. In my view any attempts to interfere with the CPO proceedings in Laxmimoni's case would have several far reaching repercussions, some of which may be difficult to anticipate.

Even if the GBC were truly not sufficiently enlightened to appreciate the value and necessity of prioritize child protection on its own merits, still they ought to consider it for themselves; just in the off chance that some of you will have to come back next life.

I don't have it in me to wish being raised in the Vrindavana gurukula (in it's current state) upon anybody, not even the least appreciated GBC member...

Just a thought I've had...

I really hope the GBC can get it right this time. Witnessing the seeming short-sight of the GBC body with regards to child protection often leaves me in disbelief. ISKCON in many ways has experienced the same challenges of the Catholic Church; we are a miniature version with many of the same problems.
After Ratzinger the Church realized that they had reached a point where the institution was spiritually, morally, culturally and socially bankrupt. If they wanted to survive they had to reinvent themselves. And they came up with Pope Francis.

He is the perfect candidate to resurrect the Church from the ashes, he says and does all the right things. While I cannot measure his degree of sincerity and purity, it is evident that purely from a PR perspective he is simply brilliant, a stroke of genius! Such genious is either a God send or the work of the devil.

Even if we assume that his anointment and policies are purely cold, calculated, strategic, tactical stunts, and that he is actually an atheist playing his part exclusively for the survival of the exploitative institution; still, from this perspective alone, prioritizing child protection, makes good business sense.

And yet, it is puzzling for me to see that ISKCON leaders just don't get it. Their reluctance to prioritize child protection is leading Prabhupada's institution to destruction.

Sanaka rsi das

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does the punishment for the crimes?

Hare Krsna, Sanaka.

In examining the restrictions against Her Grace Laxmimoni devi dasi, who is 70 this year, it seems to me that she is merely being asked to retire. She can visit any temple she likes but just can't stay over night. So what! She can stay nearby.

She can stay as long as she likes in Vrindaban and in Mayapur. She can stay one night overnight in Delhi. If I read the restrictions correctly, she can choose two temples to reside in Canada and two in the USA.

She can't give classes or lead kirtan or attend meetings. And she can't offer a garland to Srila Prabhupada. She is being asked to retire. She probably wants to retire anyway. She's seventy this year. It seems to me that the punishment definitely does not fit the crimes.

No money to the victims. No payment for anything. It seems to be very lenient restrictions in my opinion. Nope. To me, the punishment definitely does not fit the crimes. 

Giri.

Hare Krsna.

Preacher: God wants me to have $54M jet airplane

https://www.christianpost.com/news/prosperity-preacher-jesse-duplantis-seeks-donations-54m-private-jet-god-wants-him-to-have-it-224401/

[PADA: Apparently, God always wanted some of these preachers to have lots of expensive toys? And the bogus ISKCON GBC also says God wanted us to have a pile of false acharyas. Really? And now some of these preacher guys say ... God wanted them to have really expensive jet planes. Wait! Is this what God wanted, or is it what they wanted, and they are trying to cheat us into believing its what God wanted? Of course we have people who rob banks and when they go to court they say to the judge, God wanted me to rob this bank! Are you absolutely sure that is what God wanted? Hee hee! ys pd]    

Eco-friendly cremations in India "a tough sell"

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/05/10/477350818/in-india-eco-friendly-cremation-is-easy-but-its-a-tough-sell

40 Lakh Devotees on Chaurasi Kos Yatra (Video)

[PADA: I know, India news videos have all sorts of annoying ads and so forth, its just to give an idea of the yatra program. ys pd]

Hidden Reason For Births Decline in USA

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/key-reason-birth-rate-declining_us_5b0725cfe4b0568a88097feb

PADA: Babies are -- not wanted? Is this why we hardly see any kids living in San Francisco? ys pd

Proposed Russian TV expose of GBC guru fraud

Thanks prabhu. Keep it pretty much simple. The GBC spokesman Jayadvaita swami (Jay Israel) says that God's guru successors are often illicit sex with men, women and children debauchees, drunkards, sexual predators, deviants and criminals etc. Anyone who disagrees is banned, beaten, sued and assassinated. Telling little children that God's guru successors are often illicit sex, pedophiles, sexual predators means, God is a deviant because His successors are deviants. This is criminal fraud because that is not what the actual religion teaches. Its also corrupting the morals of minors to tell little children that God is a criminal deviant because His successors are criminal deviants. You need to sum it up simply. ys pd

Prahlad Maharaja's Previous Life (Padma Purana)

The Glories of observing Sri Nrisimha-caturdasi-vrata

vaisakhasya caturdasyam suklayam sri nrikesari
jatas tad asyam tatpujot-savam kurvita savratam

(Padma Purana)

“Sri Nrisimhadeva appeared on the fourteenth lunar day (Caturdasi-tithi) of the bright fortnight of the month of Vaisakha. So, on this day, it is proper to worship and celebrate the appearance of Nrisimhadeva by following the rules of fasting and others.”

prahlada-klesa nasaya ya hi punya caturdasi
pujayet tatra yatnenahareh prahladam agratah

(from the agamas)

“It is proper to first worship Prahlada before worshipping Nrisimha because the holy fourteenth lunar day of the bright fortnight has appeared in order to remove the distress of Prahlada.”

It is written in the Brihan-narasimha Purana as follows: Prahlada Maharaja desired to know from Sri Nrisimhadeva how he had developed devotion to His lotus feet. Nrisimhadeva replied, “In ancient times, there lived a brahmana named Vasu Sarma in the city of Avanti, who was well-versed in the Vedas. His good wife Susila was famous throughout the three worlds for her virtuous conduct and ideal devotion to her husband. 

Vasu Sarma fathered five sons in Susila’s womb. His first four sons were learned persons of good conduct and devoted to their father. But you, the youngest son, became attracted to a prostitute and lost your character. You were then known as Vasudeva. 

Your virtuous conduct was destroyed in the company of that prostitute. Due to a quarrel with the prostitute, on the Nrisimha-caturdasi-tithi both of you stayed awake throughout the night and unknowingly observed a fast. Therefore, both of you obtained the fruits of observing Nrisimha-caturdasi-vrata. The prostitute enjoyed as an Apsara in various ways in heaven and then became My favourite. 

As the son of Hiranyakasipu, you also took birth as My dear devotee. By observing this fast, Brahma has obtained the power of creation and Mahesvara has obtained the power of destruction of the three worlds. Other people also achieve all kinds of power and perform observance of this vow to fulfil all their desired objectives.”

In his Laghu-bhagavatamrita, Srila Rupa Gosvami has written about the pre-eminence of the Lord’s appearance as Sri Nrisimhadeva, quoting the following reference from Sri Padma Purana:

nrisimha-rama-krishneshu sad-gunyam paripuritam
paravasthas tu te tasya dipad utpanna-dipa-vat

(Padma Purana)

“Nrisimha, Rama and Krishna possess the pre-eminent presence of the totality of sixty attributes. Just as one lamp lights other lamps and then all lamps follow the same nature, similarly, although Rama and Nrisimha are manifested forms from the Prime Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, all three hold the supreme position with sixty attributes.”

The next two verses were composed by Sridhara Svami in his commentary on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1.1 and 10.87.1 respectively:

prahlada-hridayahladam bhaktavidya-vidaranam
sarad-indu-rucim vande parindra-vadanam harim

“Let me offer my obeisances unto the Supreme lion-faced Lord Sri Hari who is residing within the heart of Prahlada Maharaja as condensed bliss, and who always removes nescience. His effulgence is like autumnal moonshine.”

vag-isa yasya vadane lakshmir yasya ca vakshasi
yasyaste hridaye samvit tam nrisimham aham bhaje

“On whose lips Sarasvati (the goddess of learning) dances, on whose chest Lakshmidevi resides in the form of a golden line and whose heart is the abode of grand refulgence of the opulence of Absolute Knowledge – I offer my obeisances unto that very object of worship, Sri Nrisimhadeva.”

ISKCON "gurus": Srila Jayatirtha Tirthapada Maharaja (Video)

Srila Prabhupada's Original Books (Bhakti book store)

Srila Prabhupada's original books ....

http://www.bhaktibookstore.com/product/bhagavad-gita-as-it-is-pocket/

Also has Wholesale Department:

http://www.bhaktibookstore.com/product-category/wholesale/

Srila Prabhupada's books online:

https://prabhupadabooks.com/

PADA: If there are other sources and distributors of original books please let us know, we'd like to know all the places where these books can be obtained:

angel108b@yahoo.com

Hare Krishna in China (Update)

[PADA: There are ALSO some Prabhupadanugas in Malaysia who showed me how they started making a home program, and it looks like they had maybe 25 people present at their program. Very successful already. 

The Prabhupadanuga idea is gaining steam, no doubt about it. Even a disciple of Bhakti Vikas swami told me, the whole GBC thing is corrupt and he is only accepting Srila Prabhupada's tapes, lectures and books as authorized. We are making headway even inside the institution. ys pd]

Hare Krishna (For Home) Chanter's Club

https://www.iskconbangalore.org/chanters-club/

Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.1 (Video discussion)

PADA: I have not been able to listen to the whole thing, but its nice to see more people are reading the books of Srila Prabhupada and discussing. Goody! They said this will be a series, lets see how this goes. ys pd]

angel108b@yahoo.com  

Laxmimoni Child Abuse CPO Case (update)

[PADA: Yep, Laxmimoni was "on her way to being the first ISKCON woman guru." About sums up their whole agenda. Ooops, Brahmatirtha dasa aka Bob Cohen was intimidating witnesses? Why do some people think the GBC's illicit sex with men, women and children guru parampara should be defended, at all? Baffling. ys pd] 

=========================

Iskcon of Gainesville Inc.

Robert Cohen (Brahmatirtha dasa (ACBSP)
Anil Ithikkat
Jaya Radhe Kaseder
Robert Mabin (HH Rtadhvaja Swami (ACBSP)

========================

MF: As much as I am a sincere friend and well wisher of my senior ISKCON friends and family, the time has come for a full system reset of 100% awareness, accountability, and courageous, humble, and spiritual heart centered responsibility! Especially to the younger generation of devotees, many of whom have suffered most of the ongoing fallout from grevious mistakes, negligence, and abuses of the past. 

As in physical healing, social and Spiritual healing must also align with the cosmic principle that form follows function. Until we as a spiritual and social body finally and fully take the "funk" out of the Function of ISKCON as a whole, and especially in this most key important area of Child Protection and real Justice, then there will be no real trust or progress in the society or in the KC process. 

It is absolutely time to root out the rot at the root of the Bhakti Family Tree to unpoison and unburden the fruit for everyone! Only truly honest accountability and responsibility will bring about the necessary Therapeutic Change and Empowerment. Dandavats! Jai Srila Prabhupada! & Hare Krishna! 

====================

Sanaka Rsi

Open letter to the GBC Body regarding the CPO case of Laximoni devi dasi

Please accept my respectful obeisance, All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I am writing this letter for two reasons; to express my appreciation for the recent, and long overdue verdict the CPO issued for Laxmimoni devid dasi, and to voice my concerns.

I wish to congratulate the GBC body for allowing the CPO the freedom to release a verdict that will no-doubt cause some backlash.

Laxmimoni’s case is an important one, because it is likely to be the last one of an era that many in ISKCON prefer to deny it ever happened, or at best like to minimize / sanitize it, and for those who were children during those years, many wish it had never happened at all.

From your perspective Laxmimoni's is a difficult case for many reasons; she is one of your own, and many of you regard her as a personal friend. She is more senior than many present day GBC members and she was on her way to becoming one of the first female gurus, with a loyal and vocal core group of supporters.

You now find yourselves between the proverbial “rock and a hard place”. Some of you have known her since you joined, there is something deeply unsettling about seeing her go, you may be of the view that you need to do something to protect her, offer her security and support.

If however, you decide to oppose the CPO’s decision and interfere with this case, then you will certainly reinforce the widespread concerns that the GBC is corrupt and that the CPO needs, now more than ever, to be entirely independent of the GBC.

Interfering in her favor would lend credibility to the voices of your detractors that accuse the GBC body of nepotism, lacking in transparency, accountability and purity. In so doing you would reinforce the perception that the CPO is a mere puppet, intended to protect the institutional interests.

You have always been happy to hang “low ranking” perpetrators, but with high profile cases, where the accused enjoyed the protection of friendships in high places, you have often chosen to interfere, and give in to the pressure of the influential allies of the accused. Sadly, you have chosen to compromise.

None of these considerations should have any bearing in the execution of justice of course, but we all know that unfortunately this is seldom the case. In the past, it was precisely in cases like this one, that the GBC has broken the rules.

To put is simply, you cannot be in favor of child protection, only when your friends aren't involved. That wouldn't be child protection. The CPO Manual, ratified by the GBC body, only allows an appeal of a CPO verdict, under very specific circumstances.

"The ARP (Appeal Review Panel) will first decide on the merit of an appeal. An appeal may be granted by the ARP only if:

a. Procedures used in the original Review prevented a fair and impartial hearing, or

b. There is new and compelling additional evidence".

(The Appeals Process, 2018 CPO Manual, Ratified by the GBC Body.)

And yet, only a couple of years back in the review of Sri Radhe’s case, she was granted an appeal, despite the fact that she did not meet the criteria for an appeal. I was told that due to her connection with Bhaktividyapurna Swami, some GBC members pressured Champakalata devi dasi, who was the director of the CPO at the time, to grant her an appeal despite the lack of merits, and she complied. 

This (illegal) appeal panel revoked some of the sanctions imposed by the CPO judges the first time around. Laxmimoni’s case is very similar in the sense that it is highly unlikely that she would meet the criteria for an appeal. In the interest of transparency and to safeguard the integrity of the CPO and the GBC body, if she is granted an appeal, the reasons for warranting this appeal ought to be made available to the devotee public.

Laximoni’s case is actually very simple, but unfortunately for her victims, she has many powerful friends. From the very beginning, Brahmatirtha das (Bob Cohen, from Perfect Questions and Perfect Answers) began flexing his muscles to intimidate the victims and to try and influence the outcome of this case, but I suspect that now that the verdict is out, many more leaders will have joined his ranks.

Today the GBC body stands at a crossroad, this is a defining moment; not only for you, but also for the entire society you lead. You may give well read purports in your classes, but what really count are the choices you make in tough times. What is the essence that you convey with your example in these difficult situations?

You have two choices and both come at a price, you can choose to pay the price of convenience, at the cost of your integrity, or you can choose to pay the price that is required to do the right thing. If we look at similar high profile cases from the past where the GBC chose to interfere, like Lokanath Maharaj, Dhanurdhara Maharaj, Bhaktividyapurna Maharaj and Bhavananda, ISKCON paid a huge price, a price that cannot be easily quantified. These cases still haunt ISKCON today, and they will remain as a blemish in the history of ISKCON for generations to come.

Does ISKCON really need another repetition of the Dhanurdhara Swami saga? Can the GBC afford another scandal for protecting yet another child abuser?
Only a few days ago Archbishop Philip Wilson, the highest leader of the Catholic Church in Australia, was found guilty for covering up and protecting child abusers in the ‘70s…He may very well end up in prison when he is sentenced later this year.

Time and again, history has shown us the devastating outcome when you chose convenience at the expense of ethics! Today, Laxmimoni's case can be a priceless opportunity for you to reform the public image of the GBC, thus uniting and reinforcing ISKCON, or it can be another chapter of the shameful and dark history of ISKCON Child Protection.

The choice is yours.

May Krsna guide your hearts to the decision that will serve the best interest of the Vaisnava community at large.

Yours in the service of the Vaisnavas

Sanaka rsi das

This email was sent to the personal emails of the following devotees:

ISKCON CPO, Praghosa prabhu (GBC), Sesa prabhu, Tamohara prabhu, Brahmatirtha prabhu, Anuttama prabhu, Bhakticaru Swami, Gopal Krsna Swami, Kaicandra Swami, Romapad Swami, Yadunandana Swami, Ramai Swami, Bhadrinarayana Swami, Bhaktarupa prabhu, Braja Bihari prabhu, Laxmimoni prabhu, Sivaram Swami, Malati prabhu and Bhaktivikash Swami.

The Sad and Troubled History of ISKCON Moscow

[PADA: After Harikesh left most people lost faith and left -- or went to other Vaishnava institutions. Well that about sums it up, their bogus guru program is destroying ISKCON. Even they know that. 

The good news is that PADA is in touch with a small group of Russian devotees who are really deeply understanding all these issues, and they are trying to educate other Russian devotees -- and they are making gradual headway. 

Meanwhile another devotee from near that region wanted my advice on legal action and I told him, the current ISKCON GBC program claims that God's guru / acharya / parampara successors are often illicit sex with men, women and children deviants, BUT that concept is not found in any of the legal incorporation charter documents of ISKCON, and we can easily prove they are frauds in court. In addition, we should say that teaching children that God's successors are often debauchees and deviants is corrupting the morals of minors. He thanked me for giving him these arguments.

Lets see what happens with this .... 

ys pd]

The Sad and Troubled History of ISKCON Moscow


BY: JAYA MADHAVA DAS (ACBSP)

In a new letter from H.H. Bhakti Vijanana Goswami, he washes his hands of the mess he and many many others created for ISKCON Moscow Russia.

Introduction:

The thing that really hurts me when reading Bhakti Vijnana Goswami's letter, below, is Bhakti Vijnana Goswami and his followers' utter stubborn attitude to do as they want with the money that was collected for building the Moscow Temple, which never got built. Time is running out for Moscow ISKCON. Soon the RENTED building which is Moscow Temple will be closed again.

My heart breaks at the gross mismanagement and impersonalism here. Russian devotees deserve better leaders and Krsna conscious leaders who follow strictly HDG Srila Prabhupada's instructions for Krsna consciousness and management of ISKCON.

The Temple and land purchased for a Temple (outside Moscow).

Land was purchased here several years ago, yet no accountability from the devotees who were put in charge of this land and the failed project, They answer to 'No One'. Money collected for the Moscow Temple was used to make separate Brahmacari Ashrams which have nothing to do with the Moscow Temple. It un-united the yatra.

The Russian devotee's (including me) have no voice whatsoever on this issue. The devotees here have NO IDEA what the hell is going on! What is this?

Worse, after Bhakti Vijnana Goswami's disciples purchased this land several years ago, it was later found to be farm land and not zoned for building anything! Land outside Moscow worth $2 Million dollars which sits idle for a so-called concoction of an "Educational Center' to be built … but with money collected for building the Moscow Temple.

I don't agree at all and Russian devotees are losing faith.

The Future Moscow Temple Plan

Independently of that group, Moscow ISKCON recently purchased an old dilapidated Soviet factory, which needs millions of dollars of renovation. The trouble is, they don't have that money and will be kicked out soon.

Rent for the current Moscow Temple is a staggering $50,000 USD a month. The land and the money is tied up by Bhakti Vijnana Goswami's disciples, and worse, they refuse to cooperate and give it to ISKCON Moscow so it can be sold to repair the old dilapidated factory, which is huge in size. (I took a tour of that building.)

Bhakti Vijana Goswami in this new letter thanks the devotees and Radhanath Swami (who is a deviant in ISKCON). Frankly, Radhanath Swami is no example of how to follow HDG Srila Prabhupada.

Very unnecessary hassles were created for Moscow ISKCON, which soon will be homeless again due to the fact the owners of the building they now rent are selling it in one year's time. It's a very serious situation … bad management and no accountability for the money by the devotees. NONE whatsoever! WHY?

Once again, why won't Russian devotees who control the land they bought OUTSIDE Moscow to build a temple (which won't get built) simply just be humble and surrender to Krsna and Prabhupada – GIVE IT BACK TO ISKCON Moscow to sell, so they can use the money for repairing the recent old factory purchased.

This building is to be the future Moscow Temple, and millions of $$$ is needed to fix it. We don't need any Educational Center. We need a proper temple for ISKCON Moscow. ASAP!

Instead of UNITING the Moscow Yatra, it was split up, and the Brahmacari ashram is no longer with the Moscow Temple. It's too independent – THIS IS DISGRACEFUL. The former GBC created this MESS and he is the only one who can fix it now. Forget about your Educational Center – give up this idea.

This new letter from former GBC Guru H.H. Bhakti Vijnana Goswami was dated March 17, 2018. He has abandoned his responsibility to fix this situation he caused, and holds onto his own ideas. Plus, he installs his devotees, who are unaccountable to the GBC or Moscow Temple President. What a MESS!

I'm sad that such nonsense management was done. I DEMAND that the land be given to ISKCON Moscow for renovation of its future Temple.

$$$ FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY in ISKCON NOW!!!


BHAKTI VIJANANA GOSWAMI'S NEW LETTER 

HISTORY OF MOSCOW ISKCON 
May 2018

Hare Krishna, dear Vaisnavas! Please accept my obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

As you know, in April 2017 I left Moscow, thinking that my departure won't be for long, but the condition of my health didn't allow me to come back to Moscow. It was caused by the stress of the last few months and the last few years.

When I was in relative isolation, I thought a lot about what I was doing before and what I should do in the future. My age is ripe to make some conclusions. If not final conclusions, then definitely some intermediary conclusions. And since starting from 1994 I made most of my efforts in serving in Moscow, my thoughts again and again were coming back to the Moscow community and to the building of the temple. 

Some people claim that this project was a complete failure. And they blame me in many mistakes: real and imaginary. Quite often they are distorting the facts while doing that. These accusations are very hurtful to me. In the end, I invested about 20 years of my life in this service. Many devotees labored together with me in this project, putting their hearts and their efforts into it. At least for them I consider it necessary to briefly describe the story of this project to show the facts and give my report about what the Moscow and the Russian community of Vaisnavas acquired as a result of our work on this project. I would also like to ask your forgiveness for the mistakes I made and thank all the Vaisnavas who were working side by side with me.

Many of you weren't there at the time when I would like to start my story. The direct responsibility of the development of Moscow yatra fell on my shoulders in 1998. It was one of the most difficult stages of life for the Moscow yatra and for the whole Russian society for Krishna consciousness. This year Harikesha Swami suddenly left his service. He rejected his sannyasa and rejected his position of a guru. 

His personal contribution to the development of preaching in the former Soviet Union is immense! Practically all the first devotees in the Soviet Union were his disciples. That's why his departure from ISKCON was very painful to all the devotees. A lot of devotees simply left the movement at the time. Some of them followed him, while others were just disappointed, while still others went to other Vaisnava organizations.

And it so happened that the full burden of responsibility fell on me. 

And this burden was very heavy. As a result of all these events, the devotees were left with a temple on the "Begovaya" subway station. It was in a very bad condition and was designated for demolition. We had another temple in a boyscout (pioneers) camp in Sukharevo, in the suburbs of Moscow. And the third building was for Russian BBT, and it was plundered. 

Both of the temples were in a short-term lease. So when I hear complaints that we lost the temples on "Begovaya" and in Sukharevo, and that late we also lost the temple on the "Dinamo" subway station, I want to reply that strictly speaking none of these three buildings ever belonged to us, so we couldn't lose them. We were just moving from one rented place to another. At the time we practically had no money. We could hardly pay the rent for the temple on "Begovaya". The temple in Sukharevo several times was on the verge of closing down. Book distribution was almost completely stopped. The spirit of devotees was broken, and the seeds of doubt were sown in their minds.

But in spite of all these difficulties, by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, the devotees would gradually recover our movement from the ashes. They were able to maintain its unity and bring it to the new level. The history of the Moscow temple project started soon after these events - in 2002 and 2003. I should emphasize from the very beginning that although this project demanded a lot of efforts and was very visible, it was still only one of the directions of our service in recovering the Moscow yatra. We shouldn't forget about all the other directions, otherwise we wouldn't be able to objectively appreciate what was done and what was the role of this specific project, because woking on this project helped us develop many othe spheres in the mission of Srila Prabhupada.

So, in 2003 the government of Moscow started making insisting demands that we evacuate this building on the "Begovaya" subway station that was designated for demolition. By doing that they were practically depriving us of a foothold in the capital. We started working on trying to maintain and preserve our presence in the most important city in Russia. We didn't have any resources of our own, and we hoped that some of our friends would help us buy a building in Moscow as our property. Devideva Prabhu, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, promised to help us. We found a few very good options, but it wasn't meant to come true, althoug we did a huge work from our side.

In the end, we could only accept the offer of the government of Moscow. They offered to give us a piece of land in the center of the city, close to the "Dinamo" subway station instead of the building that we were renting at the "Begovaya" station. Everybody realized the difficulties of this from the very beginning. We knew that we were taking big risks, but we only had two options: either to completely reject the help of the government of Moscow and vanish from the map of the city for a long time, or accept this offer with all its consequences. In essence, when we started on this path, we deprived ourselves of the possibility to take time for thinking and we abandoned any other options. Our movement resempbled that of a train going downhill, which is committed to only move straight, the rails wouldn't let it move any other way, and its speed would make any kind of a safe stop impossible.

I'm often asked: "Why did you trust the Moscow authorities?" It's quite a speculative question. What else could we do? Besides, we had quite good grounds to trust them. All the agreements to build Krishna's temple in Moscow were signed on the level of top officials of the country and the city. The question of building such a temple in Moscow was raised by the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Vajpai, when he was talking to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in May 2003. And the agreement to build the temple of Krishna was one of the agreements between the mayor of Moscow, Mr. Luzhkov, and the main minister of the government, factually, the mayor of Delhi, Mrs. Dikshit. This question was discussed by the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh on his meeting with Vladimir Putin in 2005, and it was also discussed at the meeting of the ambassador of India, Mr. Shukla with the mayor of Moscow, Mr. Luzhkov, in 2008. All that gave us some hope.

At the same time we were laboring very hard, trying to get permissions and official confirmations. We were in a state of constant dialogue with the government. In all these years we received dozens, even hundreds of authorization documents, permits and expert reviews. We went through endless authorities and satisfied a huge number of their demands. The documentation that we received through all that constituted several heavy volumes of paperwork. And each of those papers required a lot of labor. In terms of governmental decrees alone, we had five of those. In other words, we satisfied all their demands and we had good grounds to believe that the goverment of Moscow will likewise fulfill the obligations that they took upon themselves. We were one step away from starting the construction, when the resolution of the Urban Planning and Land Commission of Moscow came on the 4th of April 2016. After 10 years of working on this project, we were told that putting a temple complex on this plot of land given to us by the Moscow government was "inexpedient". Nobody even took the trouble to explain to us why this project suddenly became inexpedient.

We have always understood that this can happen. At the same time, we were hoping for the best, following Srila Prabhupada's advice to get the most benefit out of a bad bargain. We were labouring in a lot of different directions, and we reached good results in many of them:

1) By accepting the offer of the government of Moscow, we were able to remain in the center of the city for 10 years: from 2004 - to 2014 on that plot of land that was given to us, although officially it was taken from us in 2005. Thanks to this we were able to continue our missionary activities, hold big festivals and celebrations, where thousands of people came. The Moscow community didn't just successfully overcome its spiritual crisis, but was able to grow substantially. The pandal that we built on the plot of land in the center, given to us by the government, gathered more than a thousan people for the Sunday programs. And up to ten thousand came for Janmastami. In the temporary temple on the "Dinamo" subway station we continued to serve the deities, and all the programs of Srila Prabhupada were going on. The Moscow community held several big festivals to celebrate the anniversary of ISKCON coming to Russia. It was here that such programs as Harinamas, "Food for Life" and others reached a completely new level.

2) Under the guidance of Dayavan Prabhu we were able to form a full-fledged brahmacari asrama and maintain the main program of Srila Prabhupada - distributing his books. We should point out that after 1998 practically all the brahmacaris disappeared from Moscow, but now this asrama is flourishing and developing. About 50 people are living there, they hold sankirtana festivals, brahmacaris from all around Russia are coming here to share their experience. The asrama functions as the central asrama of sankirtana in Russia. They have already distributed more than 200,000 books of Srila Prabhupada. They are shipping the books all around Russia and the CIS countries as official BBT representatives. And they are also teaching others on-site and online how to do sankirtana. Plus, they are maintaining the sankirtanam.ru website.

3) Besides that, another brahmacari asrama appeared in Moscow. It's the Bhaktivedanta asrama, where spiritual education and training is in the center of the brahmacaris' life. It is specifically meant for young people who didn't decide what's their purpose in life yet. Here they can get the spiritual experience that will be valuable for them in the future. They are worshiping the Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai Deities from our former Sukharevo temple in the Bhaktivedanta asrama. This center plays a very important role in the Moscow community. Devotees from this Bhaktivedanta asrama are holding the Bhakti-sastri and other educational programs, spiritual retreats for grihastha men, and they are also responsible for a few other asramas in Russia. Besides that, this asrama served as a template (example) for some asramas in Russia (Krasnodar, Omsk, and Tyumen). Those who graduate from the Bhaktivedanta asrama become the leaders of our society and take more and more responsibility in various spheres. And yet for me the most important and interesting result here is the experience of binding together education and mentorship. This allows the students to get real spiritual experience in real Vaisnava relationships.

4) We gradually formed a big, united, and very professional team around the project of building this temple in Moscow. The efforts of this very team give legal, expert, and managerial support to our current projects. This is especially important in light of the law on "missionary activity", which was recently passed in Russia. The Moscow community has never had such good documentation procedures.

5) Our financial capacity grew a lot during our work on this project. The number of our friends grew considerably, even outside Moscow. We started with nothing, but in that time we were able to not only create the material base for 2 brahmacari asramas (both of the buildings are in our property). After the termination of the project, we were able to acquire a good plot of land measuring 2.5 hectares in close vicinity of the city, where the sankirtana asrama is already active. The building is about 750 square meters. To compare, the government of Moscow gave us only 1 hectar of land for construction in Molzhaninovo, and another plot that they gave was right under the high-voltage power transmission lines. That plot of land was given to us for development, and it's situated farther from the Moscow ring road. It's also very important that now we can legally designate this land for any purpose that we see fit. The question of what to do with this land is still open. A group of Vaisnavas continues to develop the project of an educational retreat center called "Gita-Nagari". Moscow Vaisnavas, as well as the Vaisnavas from all around Russian need an educational center near Moscow for on-site Vaisnava education like Bhakti-sastri and Bhakti-vaibhava. Otherwise the Vaisnavas from Russia need to go to Mayapur or Vrindavana to get it. This center can also develop such practical educational programs in Srila Prabhupada's mission as Deity worship, book distribution, raising children, agricultural communities, devotee care.

6) The third asrama was opened near Moscow. This is the achievement of Bhakti Ananta Krishna Maharaja, Akincana Krishna Prabhu, and Yasomatinandana Prabhu, who initially created the second Moscow temple, and later transferred its activities to the new asrama building in Korgashino. At the same time, our temple project was providing their project with organizational and legal support.

7) The most important result is that thanks to our efforts in gathering resources, developing relationships with friends and parthners, and also thanks to the big donation of Mataji Gandharvika, we were able to purchase another building in Moscow. We used the money that was left from the temple in Molzhaninovo, and then we broke all the records in gathering the remainig sum to complete this purchase. Few people know what efforts we had to make to accomplish this. But now the Moscow community has something that Vaisnavas were dreaming about all these long years. They have their own conveniently located building. It consists of one big structure 2,900 square meters, and another technical structure of 70 square meters. After the reconstruction its useful area can be increased 1.5 times. Plus, there is 800 square meters of land around the building. It is only 500 meters away from the "Nagornaya" subway station, which itself is only 3 stations away from the belt-line of Moscow subway. There are no housing constructions, schools, etc. within the line of sight or the hearing vicinity of this building. It is very important, because otherwise the use of this building would have been seriously limited. The building is conveniently desighed, so we can make a big temple room, and plan all the other rooms according to our needs. Its market value is already substantially higher than what we paid for it, and it will keep increasing as we develop the site, and as the area around the building develops.

8) The final conclusion of this whole saga is probably the law suit against the government of Moscow that we lodged following the advice of our lawyers. We demand the govermnent to compensate our expenses for making the project of the new temple. It's around 2.3 million dollars or 140 million rubles according to the current exchange rate. The lawyers say that this law-suit has a good chance of success, because all the works were made according to the order of the government of Moscow. Personally, I don't believe much in the success of this endeavor, but it's a logical step and all the key sponsors of the project agreed to make it.

9) The difficulties with the temple helped the new leaders manifest and come forward. These new leaders took a lot of responsibility. Thus, thanks to the efforts of Sadhu—Priya Prabhu we now have an opportunity to continue our service to Sri Sri Doyal Nitay Sacisuta without decreasing the standards, and maintain various spiritual programs. I think that the fact that we have this place is part of Krishna's plan.

10) To finish the whole picture, we should enumerate the successful educational programs that appeared as a result of our work on the project of the Moscow temple. We realized that the future temple would need to be filled with educated preachers and interesting programs. That's why such long-term educational programs as "Bhakti-lata", "the School of Japa Meditation", "Big Vedic Practicum", "the School of Bhakti" were created.

11) Besides that, the work of the BBT publishing host was restored during that time. It reached the level of work it had before the crisis, and even improved on it. Devotees all around Russia and the CIS are distributing Srila Prabhupada's books in millions. The material and technical facilities of BBT were restored. Even more, the work of this publishing house is now organized better than ever before.

12) And the last point is that as the result of all these events, the Regional Council was formed. It consists of mature devotees, who accepted responsibility for many directions of our activities. This is probably the most representative collegial governing body of all that we ever had in Moscow.

So, now the actual property of the Moscow community consists of 3 buildings suitable for living, and several technical buildings in the suburbs of Moscow, one big plot of land, and one big building not far from the central part of the city. The total floor space of all these buildings is more than 5,000 square meters. I want to emhasize again that, to my mind, it was the project of the new temple in Moscow that directly or indirectly helped all these projects to start and to develop, to become firm. Of course, it would be unfair to enumerate all the achievements of the Moscow yatra that were made at that time, and finish at that, without saying anything about the mistakes that we made. I sincerely think that the credit for all these victtories is mostly not mine but other Vaisnavas', who were developing the mission of Srila Prabhupada in all these aspects. While the responsibility for all the mistakes, expecially for the temple project, is personally on me. At least because at the time I was actually leading this project, and in the consciousness of devotees I personified it. Without analyzing these mistakes and learning our lessons, we cannot close this page. So, here are some of them:

1) When we started this project, of course, in all respects, we were not prepared for such a big one. We had practically no financial basis, we had no qualified professional team, we had no experience in handling such large-scale projects. And, although we grew a lot as we were working, it was, strictly speaking, not intelligent to start such a big and expensive project in those conditions. Yes, we had to do it, but in the future we need to be much more sober in evaluating our capacities.

2) The temple that we were going to build on the land given to us by the government of Moscow would factually mean that the society for Krishna consciousness is at last officialy accepted. We didn't just want to build a temple, we wanted to develop a signature line of our society, our own landmark that would fix our presence in the consciousness of Russians. That's why we dared to take a shot at such a big temple. At the same time, we became too dependant on the city authorities, and we were deprived of the freedom we needed. We had to act in very strict circumstances regarding time and other demands. It was the source of constant stress for all the members of our team.

3) Looking back, I can understand that it would have been better to not aim at building such a big temple. We factually could create a building around 2,000 square meters, and then the resistance of our ill-wishers could have been less. It would take us less time to complete the desigh-work, and the project itself would require fewer investments and would be more realistic.

4) As a sannyasi, I shouldn't have been directly involved in the day-to-day management of the project and its finances. Even more, I should have insisted on the independent financial audit of the project from the very beginning. The inner financial audits that we made turned out to be insufficient and gave grounds to doubts in their results.

5) The project took too much of my time and efforts. It required sustaining tremendous pressure. As a result, other spheres of my service suffered. I just didn't have enough resources for many other spheres.

6) We were too much engaged in the project, and being constantly under the pressure of the circumstances, we, to some degree, forgot of our main value - the people who were coming to us. Of course, we were trying to somehow or other make investments in this sphere, to develop various programs of spiritual care, but my over-engagement with this too big of a project didn't allow me to put more of my efforts where I actually needed to put them. I'm looking at the example of Srila Radhanatha Maharaja, who is developing very big projects, but all of them are appearing naturally when there are enough resources and when there are enough qualified people. Unfortunatelly, we put the cart in front of the horse. We were trying to find people and resources to match this very ambitious project, which, on the one hand, stimulated and inspired the people, but on the other hand, pressured and suppressed them by the sheer size of it. Of course, now I would have acted differently, not so rash and reckless. Yes, we should have been more precise in evaluating our capacities, but history knows no givens. Krishna manifested his perfect plan through us, people who are prone to mistakes. I am grateful to Him and to Srila Prabhupada that I was able to engage my energy in my service to them, no matter how imperfect this service was. Speaking about the final result, I can say one thing for sure: If we didn't aim for such a big temple, we wouldn't have all that we have now. We were able to achieve all that as a result of our efforts. We chose a very high goal, and that's why even though we missed it, we got a much bigger result than we would have gotten if we initially planned for a modest project. The main thing is that now Moscow Vaisnava community has a coneniently located building with huge potential as our property. We have a big plot of land in the suburbs of Moscow for development. We have brahmacaris, missionary and educational programs. And the most important of all is our enthusiasm. Now the leaders and the whole community of Vaisnavas in Moscow need to decide what to do with all that, and how to keep developing the mission of Srila Prabhupada in Moscow.

I took a lot of lessons from this story. First of all, I realized that I shouldn't take the position of a formal leader. I was doing that because of the circumstances, but I can be much more useful if, as a sannyasi, I have nothing to do with the day-to-day management and finances, trying to dedicate more time to the spiritual practice insted, taking care of my disciples, preaching, books, and education. Last year, in September, I resigned from the GBC, and I left all my official engagements. It is my final decision. There is no turning back.

A lot of new leaders developed since then, and they have already proved their competence. In particular, Acyutatma Prabhu shared the responsibility of developing the mission in Moscow with 2 other GBCs: Srila Niranjana Maharaja, and Srila Gopal Krishna Maharaja. Srila Prabhupada wanted to change the world for the better. And we, as his followers, should help him in that. But each of us has his own place and his own role. 

That's why when we were making this decision about the purchase of the building for the new Moscow temple, I was the only one who abstained from voting. I didn't do it because I doubted of the necessity of this project. I did it to emphasize my position for the future. Of course, I'll keep coming to Moscow when I have more strength, and when the doctors allow me long distance travels. In the future, when my health stabilizes, I'm planning to take care of my disciples as much as I can, to work in education and to help the brahmacari asramas. In all that time, I almost finished writing one book, I prepared small seminars and participated in several educational projects. I also realized that I shouldn't allow any project stand in the way of my relationships with the devotees. Especially those devotees who are spiritually close to me. There is nothing more valuable in this world than relationships based on love. Developing them requires time, strength, and energy. In my attempts to build a big temple, I lost my relationships with several devotees. Willingly or unwillingly, I cause pain to some people. I didn't pay enough attention to other, didn't spend enough time with them. I didn't live up to some people's expectations. I sincerely regret all that, and I beg all these people for their forgiveness. I'm full of hope that I can still serve all of you.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the devotees who were laboring together with me on this project. The team that was formed around it achieved a lot. The results of their labor didn't go in vain. They have already brought their fruits and will still bring more in the future. I can't thank enough each of those people. That's why I can only praby Krishna about their spiritual well-being and happiness. I also want to express my gratitude to all our critics, who helped me personally and our whole team to not relax and to take valuable lessons in all the spheres of our lives. Thanks to them, we made fewer mistakes than we could have made.

Another big lesson for me is that any project that we're starting should correspond to our capacities. A project is a way to engage the energy of the devotees, to help them get purified and to strengthen their enthusiasm. But a project should not become a goal in itself. Now there are many important projects in Moscow. The project of the new temple, the functioning temple, three brahmacari asramas, the "Gita Nagari" educational center, the Harinamas center, Bhakti-vriksas, Food for Life. All of them give a lot of new opportunities for the development of the mission. Experienced leaders are in charge of these projects, and I hope that they don't become projects for the sake of projects, but will actually serve people, helping them change their hearts.

With gratitude and love, 
Your servant, 
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami

ISKCON History 1976 "The Gopi Bhava Incident" (video)

How I Found Krishna (Mahananda das)

https://krishna-radhe.blogspot.com/

Akshaya Patra Expands Program (Times Of India Newspaper)

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/kids-to-get-meals-fortified-with-oats/articleshow/64295434.cms

[PADA: Wow, you mean to say Krishna's devotees are doing something that produces good newspaper headlines for a change? Heh heh heh! ys pd]

HKM Jaipur "Culture Camp" for children

[PADA: Great idea. ys pd]


http://www.iskcontimes.com/hkm-jaipur-culture-camp-2nd-batch-from-may-28/