Many Moons Episode 18: 'Educate the Children with Love-Spotlighting Child Protection in ISKCON' with Dhira Govinda Das Monday 27 February.
Srila Prabhupada envisioned a Gurukulu school system that would educate children to become illustrious devotes & dynamic leaders who would be empowered to re-spiritualise society.
Tragically the authoritarian mismanagement of the Gurukulu school system caused the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of hundreds of devotee children from the 1970s until the early 1990s.
The GBC called for the establishment of an ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection (CPO) in 1998. Dhira Govinda das established the CPO & worked tirelessly with CPO teams to investigate reported child abuse; offer training in Child Abuse Awareness; establish policies for Child Protection in ISKCON, & arrange for support for child abuse victims.
The work of the CPO has been continuously praised by professionals in the field of child protection, devotee families, child abuse victims, & ISKCON leaders.
ISKCON now has robust Child Protection policies in place & awareness about the importance of Child Protection has significantly improved. However, the GBC continues to intervene with the work of the CPO, when it involves 'High Profile' offenders; AND strongly resists CPO's efforts to demand accountability from leaders who have failed to report abuse that happened in their area of responsibility.
There is a widespread feeling that the GBC themselves, have neither taken full accountability nor adequately address the suffering of the victims of abuse.
While in the 'West', reports of child abuse have declined, the dismal situation continues elsewhere. In India, in 2019 after only after 73 days of observation, the CPO reported 62 cases of abuse at the Vrindavan Gurukul.
While in the 'West', reports of child abuse have declined, the dismal situation continues elsewhere. In India, in 2019 after only after 73 days of observation, the CPO reported 62 cases of abuse at the Vrindavan Gurukul.
There are reports that three of the five top leaders of ISKCON Bangladesh are child abusers. When the CPO director visited Bangladesh in 2022 to investigate child abuse at an ISKCON school, seventeen of the child victims were poisoned, to prevent them from speaking to the CPO.
In 2021 government authorities closed an ISKCON school in Abkhazia Georgia after the head teacher was found guilty of physically & sexually abusing children.
Can we as individuals justify turning a blind eye to ongoing child abuse issues because we don't regard Child Protection as our service?
What can be done to ensure that ISKCON Child Protection Policies are implemented without favoritism?
Can we as individuals justify turning a blind eye to ongoing child abuse issues because we don't regard Child Protection as our service?
What can be done to ensure that ISKCON Child Protection Policies are implemented without favoritism?
How can we create a leadership culture which takes full accountability?
What can be done to end the culture of enabling child abuse in ISKCON?
What should be done to make ISKCON schools with existing child abuse, safe for devotee children?
What can be done to end the culture of enabling child abuse in ISKCON?
What should be done to make ISKCON schools with existing child abuse, safe for devotee children?
About the Speaker: Dhira Govinda dasa (David B. Wolf, Ph.D.) was introduced to Krsna consciousness in 1980 at State College, Pennsylvania.
In 1984 he entered temple life in Israel, where he preached Krsna consciousness till the end of 1990. There, his services included Temple President and sankirtana leader.
From 1995-2001 he served on the Board of Directors of the ISKCON New Raman-reti Vaisnava community, including chairman for four of those years.
In 1998 he established the ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection (CPO) and served as its director until 2004.
In 1998 he established the ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection (CPO) and served as its director until 2004.
His writings include a book entitled Krsna, Israel, and the Druze- An Interreligious Odyssey, and several publications on Vedic social and mental health science in leading journals in the fields of psychology and social work, such as Psychological Reports and Social Work. He developed the Vedic Personality Inventory (VPI), a guna-based personality assessment tool that is utilized worldwide by researchers and practitioners.
He is the author of Relationships That Work: The Power of Conscious Living, and the founder and director of the Satvatove Institute School of Transformative Coaching. He has extensive experience in areas including children and family counseling, medical social work, and counselor training.
Dhira Govinda has been featured as a communication expert on numerous media sources, including Fox News and CNN News. He has conducted self-realization and personal transformation seminars in more than a dozen countries.
JOIN us live for the discussion on MONDAY 27th FEBRUARY at:
PST 10:30 am/ EST 12:30 pm/ GMT (UK) 5:30 pm/ CET (Central Europe) 6:30 pm/ CAT (Central Africa) 7:30 pm/ GST 9:30 pm/ IST 11 pm/ AEDT 4:30 am the next day.
LIVE & RECORDED:
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