Open Letter to the GBC (G Das)

From a Dasi:

BB: Holy sh*t people. Whole house of cards is coming down ... fast. A lot of these bogus guru guys not only ... knew full well ... about the abuse, they were grabbing candy from under the table themselves. The abusers were in charge of monitoring the other abusers. 

And all of that is "according to ISKCON law." A law is only as good as the people in charge of enforcing it. They made ISKCON into a cesspool and they are the ones dumping sh*t into it. 

These people are the ones Srila Prabhupada always warns us about, rogues in sannyasa dress. "These rogues are the most dangerous elements in human society." Meanwhile they will lecture us about "the dangers of female temptation." The hypocrisy of these people knows no bounds.   

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE LEADERS OF THE HARE KRISHNA MOVEMENT

(Trigger warning: references of child sexual abuse and suicide.)

You know … I haven’t even started the conversation yet; a conversation about a beautiful, ancient, culturally-rich tradition rooted in the largest and most developed body of literary knowledge known to humankind, and I had to preface it with a trigger warning of child and sexual violence.

How unfortunate it is that the level of damage that’s been done over the past forty years to a lineage dating back thousands, now requires a warning before discussing.

Don’t get me wrong. I feel truly fortunate to have discovered the path of bhakti at a relatively young age, and to have embraced it to the level I did as a strict brahmacari (celibate monk) for a time, as Lord Nrsimhadeva’s pujari (priest) and as a sankirtana man. I sincerely want to thank the leadership of the movement for your pioneering spirit and the endeavors you made in the early development of our mission. Certainly, your contributions have been invaluable and will remain in the history books of the Vaisnava sampradaya.

So, too, though, will all the heinous acts that you all (yes, all) had a hand in covering up. These will never be forgotten; not by your victims, nor by their advocates; certainly not by Krishna.

Of course, I’m referring to the decades of brutal pastoral abuse of children in Vrindavana, Mayapur, West Virginia and Dallas, as well as farms and gurukulas around the world; farms and gurukulas that Srila Prabhupada worked tirelessly and painstakingly to develop and that you systematically hijacked and made a mockery of, through carefully twisting our teachings to serve your own self-aggrandizement, creating celebrity ‘sub’ cults where you ‘humbly’ adopted a God-like status and accepted the level of worship that that entails, repeatedly failing at your own positions of renunciation while criticizing others in their pursuit of the same.

Shame on you! 

You all knew what was going on all those years and did nothing to stop it, while doing everything to hide it. 

Even I, as a young brahmacari in the early 90s post-Kirtanananda-era ISKCON, had some awareness of the abuses that took place in Vrindavana and Mayapur. 

I can refresh your memory, if you’d like:

For forty years after the passing of our beloved guru, Srila Prabhupada, some of his leading disciples; disciples like Kirtanananda, Bhavananda, Dhanurdhara and Anirdesya Vapu (formerly Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami) engaged in the most atrocious demonstrations of severe physical, sexual and psychological abuse of children, leading to several high profile court cases and, sadly, to the suicides of several members of our movement’s youth. Of those abusers, the latter, Anirdesya Vapu, was, by far, the most severe (trailed by Dhanurdhara Swami) and longest-sustaining.

How is it that I, a lowly bhakta with no position or voice in the movement, was made aware of these atrocities within the first year of joining the ashram, before I was even initiated, yet some of our leaders, whose sole responsibility and purpose was to know the goings-on of our movement, somehow or other, didn’t?

I call your bluff.

There can’t possibly be a single devotee who has ever served on the GBC (Governing Body Commission), who was not, at some point, made aware of the reported abuses. 

Not one of our "gurus" can claim absolute ignorance on this subject. It’s been a topic of conversation at every GBC meeting for the past 40 years, if not longer.

Yet, now, in the wake of countless allegations resurfacing, as the worldwide congregation of devotees begins to call you out, one by one, some of you have decided to save face and release statements about your complicity; less for the advocacy of the victims and more for your own defense, while some of you flat out defend the abusers, asking for “financial packages” for those being excommunicated from the institution (because the forty years and millions of dollars they already took from the movement wasn’t enough).

Essentially, we’ve got a bunch of old white guys who think they’re Indian and a bunch of old Indians who think they’re gods, many of whom were involved in some pretty dicey transactions over the years. This is not new knowledge.

They’re all part of the “good ol’ boys club” and they all hate women and they’re all pushing this agenda that was nowhere in Srila Prabhupada’s plans.

While they continue to struggle with their own ability to follow a strict, monastic, celibate lifestyle and to pastor to a fledgling congregation, they still question a woman’s  inherent equality and ability to lead and, to this day, refuse to endorse female leaders. 

Of course, they’ll say I’m “making the movement look bad” by bringing all of its abuse into the public spotlight.

But, guess what…

YOU made the movement look bad, not us! 

YOU abused its members, not us!

Don’t blame us for your dumb decisions. We followed you. This is where you took us.

Devotees are starting to wise up and understand how you’ve weaponize our philosophy with the fear of committing ‘vaisnava aparadha’ (offenses to the devotees) by daring to question you, their infallible leader, and they recognize it for what it is; essentially, spiritual gaslighting in its grossest form.

The time has come for you all to step aside.

Our movement can no longer survive and flourish under the guardianship of old, misogynistic, out-of-touch MEN with questionable pasts and damaged reputations. The ship is sinking and too many of the life rafts are punctured.

We need to train the current generation on managerial, pastoral, financial, political and operational duties NOW and transfer the reigns. Somehow, I think they may know better than you already.

Any smart business person would look at the current state of our movement and recognize the dire need for a restructuring, rebranding and rebuilding. Without a complete overhaul, there is no chance for sustainability within our ranks.

The path forward has to recognize and prioritize our shortcomings as a movement. Only through rectification and reconciliation can this sankirtana mission move forward, lest we continue to perpetrate and protect decades of unfathomable, brutal abuse at the hands of our most trusted spiritual authorities.

PLEASE, please, please - leadership of ISKCON, I implore you! For the future of our movement, for the benefit of the world and for your love of Srila Prabupada, you HAVE to start making rational and sensible decisions on how you’re going to deal with abusers, uplift your congregations, empower your women and protect your children!

You can’t undo what you’ve done, but you can still atone for it.  You must! 

The world is watching. 

Srila Prabhupada is watching.

Yours,

(G dasa)

PADA: Yup. angel108b@yahoo.com