Lokanatha Prior Offender? / Lady ISKCON Visitor / GKG Vyasa Pooja

WAS THERE A PRIOR INCIDENT WITH LOKANATH SWAMI?

Permission to share from Nandini dasi:

"In 1987 I was living in the Laguna Beach temple. During that time, Ramesvara was in trouble for not chanting his rounds and for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a gurukula girl. I remember a conversation in the Laguna Beach temple room with other women from the temple. In those days, these things were whispered, not spoken openly. 

I remember people were accusing Lokanath of the same thing as Ramesvara - inappropriate relations with an underaged girl. The brief conversation in the temple room is all I remember. After that I dismissed it as a rumor, because at the time people considered Lokanath a possible single successor for Srila Prabhupada. 

The zonal guru system was undergoing "reform" and some people thought it would be better if there was one main acharya guru for the whole organization. That also never happened. The concerns we discussed that day have never been proven. I have asked around, but nobody else remembers it. If proven, this could be significant since it predated the 1990 allegations against Lokanath, and could indicate there was more than one victim."

If anyone has any corroborating information to the above story, please contact me or the Child Protection Office at iskconukcpo@gmail.com

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PADA: A lady who is a long time ISKCON temple visitor asked me for my phone # as she wanted to ask me a few questions about women issues / ISKCON gurus and other issues. 

She said the Lokanath incident shows how the ISKCON leaders spend ninety nine percent of their time trying to cover up and fix their guru problems, and only one percent of the time trying to find a suitable replacement for Lokanath -- and phasing him out. Since time will phase him out eventually anyway, he will pass on, his replacement should have been in the works all along anyway. There does not seem to be any real successor in the works for him or most of the other gurus.

So that means their whole operation was short sighted the whole time, and is not destined to last. After Lokanath goes -- most of his people will drift off to other sanghas, because they already despise the GBC and won't cooperate with them. This is what happens when the other guys leave. The temples just get more empty. 

She is upset that at her temple the "little people" have to sign up for some elaborate -- and for some of them -- expensive -- "disciple's classes" to get initiated, while evidently the wealthy Hindus there are initiated with little questions asked. They do not even know if these wealthy Hindus are following anything strict really, but they have money and therefore "money talks." She says this is clearly a mundane system of initiation. I told her we never had any such arrangement under Prabhupada.

Next, if she were to ask them -- why she has to worship a guru who may fall down at any time, they would tell her there is not a problem, she will be re-initiated -- by another person who may fall down at any moment. She says this is not a very reassuring program, we have to worship someone who has not attained the platform of God realization. 

Never mind Srila Prabhupada says we have to find a "tattva darshan" guru, or he is not a guru. How can he be a guru if he has a tendency to fall down? So that means, they do not know what is a guru. She said this is not something most people are going to sign up for, we have to worship a guru is is possibly falling down already.

Next, she said that it is evident that the GBC has been treating women horribly, because just look at the way their followers are attacking the women who are forwarding the Lokanath case. They are demonizing these poor women, calling them ill names, calling them animals etc., because they have been trained as vicious misogynists and women haters. Never mind this is not the way to even show a shred of respect to other Vaishnavas. Lets face it, they hate these women Vaishnavas. 

They claim to be trying to give Krishna a good name, then they call women demons, animals, and other horrible things on forums that can possibly be seen by the public. They have even threatened violence to some of these women. So they have no real interest in giving a good name to Krishna, they are just as nasty as the first wave of fanatics that the GBC made in 1978. Nothing has changed one iota. 

In the end, she is glad that they made her getting initiated such a hassle, it saved her from getting in too deep with them. She is now going to avoid taking initiation and she is already reading Srila Prabhupada's books. She will visit the temple from time to time -- and keep their who program at a distance. So anyway, this shows there are people who are in and around ISKCON who know what is what, they just don't accept these gurus. And they are reading our stuff. 

OK. She was glad she called. She said she thought maybe she might be the crazy one, but nope, everything she felt is true -- is true. This was a great confirmation and affirmation experience she said in closing. Goody!

 ys pd 

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Gopal Krishna's Vyasa Pooja

V DASA: This is just too sad for words. It's beyond a travesty. Yet, nobody, not a single person on the GBC, or anyone else in any position of influence in Iskcon has seen fit to comment on this tragic situation which has befallen us, and just how far removed the society founded by Srila Prabhupada has deviated from his original teachings. The paucity of criticism stemming from this 'vyasa-puja', especially from the 'leaders' in Iskcon, says it all. As the saying goes, 'Silence is affirmation'.