What Happened to ISKCON's Householder Managers? (by ND)

ND: Srila Prabhupada’s idea for the GBC as told originally to Syamasundar Das (who was his personal servant and sometimes privileged confidant) was at that time and forever more, that the world would be divided into 12 zones and each of these zones would be managed by HOUSEHOLDERS or devotees with BUSINESS EXPERIENCE. So he wanted the householders, and / or qualified managers, businessmen to run his society and manage all the business affairs and the SANNYASIS should be FREE from managing responsibilities and ROAM from ZONE to ZONE, wherever their feet would take them and PREACH. PERIOD. 

Now those two functions have gotten intermixed and DILUTED. Shyamasundar knows Srila Prabhupada’s original intent because Srila Prabhupada told him His idea first, and it was NOT to change- that was it. And He even sent a letter out to the 12 GBC men and said, “This shall be a democracy, and if there are matters that affect the whole society, you should all vote and the unanimous vote will hold. And if there’s a deadlock, I will throw the remaining vote. But only if it’s an egregious error." It’s in the Vedabase, the original letter. 

SO.. why is this not followed? Is it because the big sannyasis think that only they are qualified to manage the society? Imagine a society run by qualified managers who are family men and women. Do you think they would mismanage the child abuse issue as badly as the current GBC do? 

Imagine a society where ALL the sannyasis actually go from temple to temple and inspire with their actions rather than cheap words. I could go on and on about how many of the current sannyasi gurus are living plush lives and act like it's normal while they wrap themselves with Srila Prabhupada's image to lend legitimacy to their positions. That's not normal, it's sickening. They're not supposed to live like Ksatriyas or the administrator class. 

They're supposed to be Brahmanas, the teacher class, bringing out the light of sastra through their ACTIONS and words. How are we 2nd and 3rd and 4th generations supposed to fulfill Srila Prabhupada's vision when His own senior disciples aren't investing the time, energy, actions and words in training the successive generations on the right way of conducting affairs when they don't even have the decency to follow their own spiritual master's instructions. 

I sense that us 2nd generation devotees will have to wait until they die off one by one before we can effect badly needed changes. There needs to be a Maximus that gives Rome back to its people and isn't interested in becoming emperor. Long live Srila Prabhupada!

[PADA: Yep, I keep hearing that. The criminal usurper GBCs will never give up their stolen booty, that means, they have to die to have the stolen property wrenched out of their dead fingers. Why do people keep saying that? 

And this is correct, if householders and especially mothers were involved with the schools, all this molesting would not have happened. And that is why Bhakti Vikas swami keeps saying the women need to shut up, and we need to listen to his pedophile messiah's club leaders like Basu ghosh, so he can keep his pedophile messiah's project afloat. Well, they just have to all die evidently, they cannot be corrected. Agreed. The good news is, every day another person realizes what has been going on here ... ys pd]

April 2022

"Dear Sivarama swami,

Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I am writing to you today about the very important topic of protecting Vaishnava children in our ISKCON society.

Your disciple Gaurangi (Pia) said that in 2009 you were supportive to her and her husband when they found out their daughter was molested. You told them to be brave because this is going to be heavy. You told them that when their daughter is older they will want to be able to tell her they did everything they could to make it right.

I appreciate that you did this. We have child protection policies in ISKCON and they should be followed.

I was surprised then to learn just two years after encouraging your disciple to seek accountability for the man who sexually abused her daughter, that you wrote a letter of support for another child molester, Lokanath.
Lokanath had promised the GBC members in 2010 that he would step down as a guru, after his victim made public compelling statements, including:

“I hated him when I had to see him in public. And to see that this was his punishment? Being given articles to write in BTG, being given accolades as a guru, getting all the priveledges of a sannyasi-- this was what his punishment was??” https://lokanath.net/satyas-statements-july-2010

The next year, at the 2011 GBC Meeting, Lokanath made a presentation telling the GBC members that he changed his mind about stepping down as guru, and asked if he could remain a guru, despite sexually abusing a child. As part of Lokanath’s presentation, letters of support were read for him, including one from you. https://lokanath.net/appendix-g-gbc-meeting-minutes...

ISKCON leaders reviewed Lokanath’s child molestation case and consulted with outside counsel Attorney Justin Starr, who said, "In your shoes, our primary concern would be the fact that this situation increases the future risk of liability if ISKCON does not handle it properly." https://lokanath.net/appendix-x-letter-from-attorney...

My question is - will you be brave now, and ask the GBC to follow their child protection policies for Lokanath? As you said, this will get heavy, but you must be brave so you can tell your disciples that you did everything you could to make it right, for the safety of children in ISKCON.
Thank you.
Your servant,
S dasi"