[PADA: It looks like the ISKCON INDIA ICC board is now trying to cancel Satya's complaint by saying essentially, well Maharaja was just reading a book to her, what is the big deal? Then they say they had their own "experts" review the situation at the time, and no serious problem was found.
Except the parents of Satya wanted to go to the police, and they were assured that the GBC would handle it instead. OK that means the independent experts from the police side were never consulted, and still are not.
Of course, even when a mass murderer goes on trial -- his lawyer might hire a bunch of "experts" to downplay the crimes, shuffle facts around to bewilder the victims, bring in bogus "witnesses" who were not even there, and generally create a lot of doubt about his client's guilt. The "experts" brought in to defend the crooks are not considered as independent and unbiased, as a general rule.
And that is why we should maybe be looking at laws that apply to clergy and "experts" who are supposed to report crimes, but don't. And did we forget to mention, the ICC is blocking the current ICPO ISKCON investigation from taking place now? In sum, it looks like the cover up is just getting started, after these guys covered up for umpteen other bogus messiahs when they were caught failing. ys pd]
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Excuse me if I do not know who Padmapani Prabhu is, he joined ISKCON
long before me and I do not know exactly when he left. Definitely, there are many older devotees who have left ISKCON but still have concern for Prabhupada's Mission.
Unfortunately when I read what he has to say I wonder if he really has
scrutinised the actual events? He seems to conclude that Lokanath Swami has molested Satya and although he does give suggestions how to deal with these issues and where the GBC could be more attentive, he does not clearly say what he wants to say!
I do agree with him in that when someone is molested it stays with that person for their whole life, it is not something you forget.
Myself having experienced this at the age of 16, though not actually molested but the attempt was there and I still remember it well, as it was a forceful attempt.
But when I read the testimonies in regard to Lokanath Swami -- I don't mean the exaggerated testimonies from the internet, but the testimonies from Satya from 1993 and 2010 -- it is hardly as Padmapani Prabhu portrays it.
Therein, where exactly does Satya say she was "molested"?
My contention with the emotional way he writes is that he makes this the fault of the GBC, is just wrong, because the GBC did a lot of things right, considering the circumstances. Is he even aware of what steps the GBC took back then?
And between the lines he gives the impression that Lokanath Swami is a predator, without actually saying it. All this just to sound intelligent.
But what about all the other extenuating circumstances? Does he know, does he even consider:
1. It was over 30 years ago.
2. The GBC body had dealt with this twice in 1993 and 2010
3. The GBC disciplined Lokanath Swami, which he followed (to the major part).
4. In 2017 again the GBC gave a green signal to initiate.
5. There is no report of any repeat offense in all of these years.
Most importantly the GBC did authorise him to initiate and there are now 5000 disciples around the world. These disciples have taken initiation on the authorisation of the GBC.
Padmapani Prabhu has not considered their situation.
Having also had a guru that had fallen down, and being in the middle of the reinitiation issue, I once asked a GBC member: "as this debate about the future of the disciples is going on and there is confusion, in the meantime our spiritual lives are in the middle. How does the GBC consider us". His answer was "it's just tough luck".
Is this the proper mood that a leader in ISKCON should give?.
These disciples of Lokanath Swami have given their lives, surrendered to the GBC, and are actively serving ISKCON. In many places they are senior leaders, so their spiritual lives must be considered first and foremost.
To conclude, our dear Padmapani Prabhu is way out of touch with reality and
just spouting off some nice sounding advice, but is he really qualified to
advise the GBC?
It is my humble request that you to see the exceptional circumstances in this case, consider the lives of all those devotees that took initiation due to faith in the GBC, consider that the incident was thirty years ago and consider that the actual facts are not what is being portrayed on social media by the detractors of Lokanath Swami.
It is said: don't believe everything you read in the paper, don't believe half of what you see on the TV, and don't believe anything you hear on social media. This is exactly what Padmapani Prabhu has done: he's mimicking what he read from those who are campaigning against Lokanath Swami.
I would not normally write to such a senior body but as Padmapani Prabhu felt the need to write, I felt the need to respond.
Your servant
Pancaratna Das
TP - ISKCON Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Chairman - IIAC (ISKCON India Advisory Committee)
Member - ISKCON India Bureau LNS issue committtee
====================
Member - ISKCON India Bureau LNS issue committtee
====================
Dear Devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I appreciate Padmapani Prabhu sharing his thoughts. On behalf of the Indian Yatra, I'd like to start by noting that, according to Satya’s own testimony,
the potentially problematic contact with an intimate part of her body was
the back of a hand, resting motionless, holding a book that was being read
at the time.
This testimony supports two potential narratives. The first is that Lokanath Swami placed the back of his hand on Satya with bad intent. The second is that the back of his hand rested on her without ill intent, to hold the book while reading.
There is, of course, no way for anyone to determine what Lokanath swami's mindset was, other than to ask him. This is because Maharaja's reported
actions aren't themselves enough to establish bad intent, as the level of contact doesn't make it clear (i.e., the back of a hand, resting motionless, while holding a book that was being read). Again, these details are coming directly from Satya's own testimony (please see our attached analysis of said testimony for a full treatment of this topic).
It's important to note that Lokanath Swami himself has always maintained that the back of his hand rested on Satya for a matter of seconds (according to him it was a couple of seconds, and couldn't have been more than five seconds). More importantly, Maharaja has stated that the contact was not made with any bad intent, but that it happened naturally during the course of reading when the book became heavy and his arm dropped down to rest, while still reading.
Maharaja mentioned having rested the book on Satya's knees a couple of times
when the book became heavy, and that one time the book (and back of his hand), came down and rested somewhat higher up on her leg (but not on her crotch). He reported instantly feeling extremely uncomfortable, and that his mind became quite disturbed, and he immediately lifted his arm up.
Maharaja's testimony, in this regard, disturbed some ISKCON devotees that were looking into the case (some of whom even had some professional training), because they felt it didn't have Maharaja admitting to doing something wrong in a simple, straightforward, and comprehensive way, nor did they feel Maharaja expressed sufficient contrition.
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I appreciate Padmapani Prabhu sharing his thoughts. On behalf of the Indian Yatra, I'd like to start by noting that, according to Satya’s own testimony,
the potentially problematic contact with an intimate part of her body was
the back of a hand, resting motionless, holding a book that was being read
at the time.
This testimony supports two potential narratives. The first is that Lokanath Swami placed the back of his hand on Satya with bad intent. The second is that the back of his hand rested on her without ill intent, to hold the book while reading.
There is, of course, no way for anyone to determine what Lokanath swami's mindset was, other than to ask him. This is because Maharaja's reported
actions aren't themselves enough to establish bad intent, as the level of contact doesn't make it clear (i.e., the back of a hand, resting motionless, while holding a book that was being read). Again, these details are coming directly from Satya's own testimony (please see our attached analysis of said testimony for a full treatment of this topic).
It's important to note that Lokanath Swami himself has always maintained that the back of his hand rested on Satya for a matter of seconds (according to him it was a couple of seconds, and couldn't have been more than five seconds). More importantly, Maharaja has stated that the contact was not made with any bad intent, but that it happened naturally during the course of reading when the book became heavy and his arm dropped down to rest, while still reading.
Maharaja mentioned having rested the book on Satya's knees a couple of times
when the book became heavy, and that one time the book (and back of his hand), came down and rested somewhat higher up on her leg (but not on her crotch). He reported instantly feeling extremely uncomfortable, and that his mind became quite disturbed, and he immediately lifted his arm up.
Maharaja's testimony, in this regard, disturbed some ISKCON devotees that were looking into the case (some of whom even had some professional training), because they felt it didn't have Maharaja admitting to doing something wrong in a simple, straightforward, and comprehensive way, nor did they feel Maharaja expressed sufficient contrition.
These devotees purposefully suppressed Maharaja's side of the story, and some of them even went so far as to write apology letters on Maharaja's behalf, saying what they thought was appropriate, and then publicizing these letters in Maharaja's name, despite his protests.
It's noteworthy that Maharaja's testimony was considered to be credible by the top-notch professional team that ISKCON hired to investigate the matter. That team of professionals, specializing in child-abuse and clergy, reached a determination that Lokanath Swami was not a pedophile and that he hadn't
acted in a predatory fashion. It's noteworhty that these professionals had
expertise in child abuse far exceeding that of any CPO that's ever operated
within ISKCON, to date (and we've detailed this in a previous letter, also
attached).
Please also note that any questionable touch could have reasonably occurred while reading, without any criminal intent. Therefore, what was reported by Satya doesn't rise to the level of criminal activity in the state of New Jersey, or anywhere else.
There's basically two groups of devotees that have interacted with this issue. In one group, there's devotees who aren't aware of Maharaja's statements and / or don't care what he said. Padmapani Prabhu would fall into this group. They have largely called for Maharaja to be stripped of all positions and / or retried, even though no new allegations or evidence has been presented. They also don't consider it to be relevant that the case was already fully adjudicated twice by the entire GBC body, with Maharaja being punished for years each time.
Then there's another group, which includes the professional team of experts that dealt with the case, along with devotees that are aware of Maharaja's side of things and have found it to be reasonable and credible. Many of these devotees are POC (Indian, to be specific), and they largely see Maharaja's admission of feeling uncomfortable when the back of his hand rested on Satya while reading, as him being guilelessly honest, and not as him having had any bad intent.
In the eyes of the law, what happened was most unfortunate, but not a crime.
Similarly, in the eyes of the Indian Yatra, where Maharaja primarily serves, this is all most unfortunate, and we feel very badly for Satya and her family and well wishers.
That said, we (170+ Indian leaders voting unanimously), don't think that what happened qualifies as a fall down warranting Lokanath Swami to be stripped of sannyasa, nor do we find Padmapani Prabhu's generic quotations from His Divine Grace to be relevant to this case, nor do we think that Srila Prabhupada would approve of punishing Lokanath Swami any further, especially not when considering Maharaja's more than 50 years of spotless service (20+ years prior, and 30+ years since).
Thanks for considering all of this.
Your servant,
Sanak Sanatan Das (Vice President - ISKCON Vrindavan)
On behalf of the ISKCON India Bureau LNS issue committee
It's noteworthy that Maharaja's testimony was considered to be credible by the top-notch professional team that ISKCON hired to investigate the matter. That team of professionals, specializing in child-abuse and clergy, reached a determination that Lokanath Swami was not a pedophile and that he hadn't
acted in a predatory fashion. It's noteworhty that these professionals had
expertise in child abuse far exceeding that of any CPO that's ever operated
within ISKCON, to date (and we've detailed this in a previous letter, also
attached).
Please also note that any questionable touch could have reasonably occurred while reading, without any criminal intent. Therefore, what was reported by Satya doesn't rise to the level of criminal activity in the state of New Jersey, or anywhere else.
There's basically two groups of devotees that have interacted with this issue. In one group, there's devotees who aren't aware of Maharaja's statements and / or don't care what he said. Padmapani Prabhu would fall into this group. They have largely called for Maharaja to be stripped of all positions and / or retried, even though no new allegations or evidence has been presented. They also don't consider it to be relevant that the case was already fully adjudicated twice by the entire GBC body, with Maharaja being punished for years each time.
Then there's another group, which includes the professional team of experts that dealt with the case, along with devotees that are aware of Maharaja's side of things and have found it to be reasonable and credible. Many of these devotees are POC (Indian, to be specific), and they largely see Maharaja's admission of feeling uncomfortable when the back of his hand rested on Satya while reading, as him being guilelessly honest, and not as him having had any bad intent.
In the eyes of the law, what happened was most unfortunate, but not a crime.
Similarly, in the eyes of the Indian Yatra, where Maharaja primarily serves, this is all most unfortunate, and we feel very badly for Satya and her family and well wishers.
That said, we (170+ Indian leaders voting unanimously), don't think that what happened qualifies as a fall down warranting Lokanath Swami to be stripped of sannyasa, nor do we find Padmapani Prabhu's generic quotations from His Divine Grace to be relevant to this case, nor do we think that Srila Prabhupada would approve of punishing Lokanath Swami any further, especially not when considering Maharaja's more than 50 years of spotless service (20+ years prior, and 30+ years since).
Thanks for considering all of this.
Your servant,
Sanak Sanatan Das (Vice President - ISKCON Vrindavan)
On behalf of the ISKCON India Bureau LNS issue committee
[PADA: Wowsers! The illicit sex with men, women and children and maybe cats guru parampara leaders have spoken. I have full confidence in that group, hee hee. ys pd]
Dear Bhakti Chaitanya Maharaja and other Vaisnavas,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada
The case of Lokanath Maharaja was exhaustively adjudicated and decided on decades ago, by the entire GBC and the professional group they hired and consulted (CAP Behavioral Associates). Please note that this group had professional credentials that far exceed those of any CPO that has ever operated within ISKCON, to date.
Because of this, it’s our committee’s conclusion that the equivalent of a full CPO case (and considering the credentials of CAP Associates, something even more rigorous), has already been undergone, and thus this case has already been definitively investigated and concluded. It is thus inappropriate to start the process all over again with the ICPO, or even with another GBC-sponsored committee (as Bhakti Caitanya Maharaja recommended in our meeting yesterday).
In that meeting, Bhakti Chaitanya Maharaja challenged this position, by questioning the bona fides of CAP Associates, saying that this group had been convicted of financial fraud by the US government. Maharaja used this as evidence for re-opening the case for investigation, but after looking into this we’ve been unable to find that CAP Associates was, in fact, convicted of fraud. Here is the only article we were able to find on the case:
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2001/operator-counseling-program-charged-medicaid-fraud
The article states that Kevin Cullen, the owner of CAP Associates, was charged with fraudulently billing the state of New York for counseling services. The article also states clearly that these charges are only accusations, and that the defendant should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Now, Mr. Cullen being accused of financial crimes (or even convicted of them), years after his group concluded their investigation of Lokanath Maharaja’s case, doesn’t in any way invalidate the conclusions CAP Associates reached. For example, if a surgeon that owns a medical clinic is accused of cheating on his taxes (or accused of committing financial fraud, or even convicted of it), that doesn’t then medically invalidate the efficacy of surgeries performed by said clinic. Or just because Bhakti Chaitanya Maharaja himself was found guilty of financial crimes at some point by the GBC, that doesn’t invalidate all the service he and his disciples previously did within ISKCON.
Please also note that there were several other professionals that worked on Lokanath Maharaja’s assessment, such as:
Christina Casals-Ariet, M.D., J.D.
Vera Beato-Smith, Ph.D.
All these professionals appear to have been highly respected in their field (based on searching their names), and by reaching their conclusions about Lokanath Maharaja not being a pedophile or predator, CAP Associates risked incurring liability if he were ever to re-offend; and in spite of this potential, they still saw fit to vouch for Maharaja’s character after thoroughly assessing him.
And any procedural errors in the first investigation would’ve been the fault of the NA GBCs that were in charge of the case, and it’s unfair to now hold Lokanath Maharaj responsible for any mistakes they may have made.
Finally, above and beyond all this, the full GBC body has already voted on this issue twice, and without new evidence coming to light, there is nothing that justifies subjecting Lokanath Maharaja, his disciples and well-wishers, and the Indian Yatra, to yet another investigation with potential further punishment. The promise of any judiciary process is closure for both the victim and defendant, and given that a decision was already reached by the highest appellate authority in ISKCON (the entire GBC body), then without any new allegations there’s nothing to justify re-opening the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.