PADA: Looks like Ramesvara is back in the saddle again in Mayapur. Didn't he protect the whole Mayapur regime when he was a guru? Wasn't he cited for "dating a minor aged female disciple"?
Anyway, more devotees are asking good questions -- like: how can we preach that the Vedic idea is to protect cows, women, children, brahmanas and the elders, when ISKCON has a terrible track record of doing any of that? Oh goody, they are going to make a committee to discuss all this in 2024, after thousands of people have been burnt to toast already for the past 45 years. ys pd
angel108b@yahoo.com
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Here is what a very concerned senior devotee from Bosnia wrote to the GBC EC.
Below you can see emails of the current EC members:
Revati Raman das
Guru Prasad Swami
Tapana Mishra das
***
From: Amala Prema dd Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2023, 14:52
Subject: Child protection
To: <Guru.Prasad.Swami@pamho.net>
Cc: <tmd.bvks@iskconservices.org>, <revati.raman.tpt@gmail.com>
Dear prabhus and maharaja,
please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
My name is Amala Prema devi dasi. I live and serve in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I joined ISKCON in 1995, when I was 19. I graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, majoring in Journalism and used my professional knowledge to preach Krishna consciousness philosophy in the media in my country. That was and still is my main service, although I have also distributed Srila Prabhupada's books in the Monthly Sankirtan Festival, when my household duties permitted that.
Below is the letter about your commitment to child protection. I would like to ask all of you if the implementation of the recommendations started? If yes, how far along is it? The issue of child protection is extremely important, as if it is not implemented then it directly undermines the efforts of all of us who are preaching. How can I quote Srila Prabhupada about protection of children, women, brahmanas, cows and the elderly in media interviews if the movement he founded and based on his books fails to provide exactly that?
Journalists often ask me about the position of women in our movement.
What am I to say if they are not protected? How can I suggest people take up Krishna consciousness and join ISKCON if there is no safety for the ladies? Then it looks like a farce.
As a mother, I am deeply disturbed by the atrocious crimes that happened in the gurukulas, although my sons never attended them. Child abuse was exactly the reason that made me categorically decide against
enrolling my sons in them. My concern and sorrow is for the children who did and do attend gurukulas. I first heard of the abuse in 1997, but not about the full nature and extent of it. Having recently
learned more details about it I would like to ask you another question that is related to the whole matter.
Why weren't the perpetrators of those terrible crimes of rape and physical assault ever reported to the police and the judicial system? Isn't it included in the ISKCON Law Book that ISKCON must comply with the laws of the country it is located in? Even if at the time of the crimes there was no law for protection of children against rape and abuse in India, why weren't the perpetrators reported to police in
their native countries? That is legally possible.
If ISKCON fails to provide true and strong protection to its children and women, then it is at great risk to lose a lot of its members. Devotees do not wish to hear about protection of women, children, cows, brahmanas and the elderly only in the books, they want to see it in practice. Otherwise, what we read in Srila Prabhupada's books becomes just a theory, like a nice fairy tale from a bygone era, and ISKCON cannot be an alternative to the mundane society. We, as a society, lose the moral ground to invite people to our temples, centres, programmes and festivals if there is no safety for everybody, especially the weakest members such as children and women.
their native countries? That is legally possible.
If ISKCON fails to provide true and strong protection to its children and women, then it is at great risk to lose a lot of its members. Devotees do not wish to hear about protection of women, children, cows, brahmanas and the elderly only in the books, they want to see it in practice. Otherwise, what we read in Srila Prabhupada's books becomes just a theory, like a nice fairy tale from a bygone era, and ISKCON cannot be an alternative to the mundane society. We, as a society, lose the moral ground to invite people to our temples, centres, programmes and festivals if there is no safety for everybody, especially the weakest members such as children and women.
And justice for the victims. Not to mention that our shastras give examples of punishment to child abusers, such as Ashvattama. The greatest shock that I experienced in reading the details of abuse
was when I learned that some initiating gurus and sannyasis asked for the abuser Alan Wexler (I will not use his spiritual name, as I believe he does not deserve it) to be reinstated as the Mayapur Gurukula principal in 2000, after the two reports from different time periods about his physical beating of the children.
was when I learned that some initiating gurus and sannyasis asked for the abuser Alan Wexler (I will not use his spiritual name, as I believe he does not deserve it) to be reinstated as the Mayapur Gurukula principal in 2000, after the two reports from different time periods about his physical beating of the children.
How can those who preach dharma support adharmic individual and put him into a position of a child educator and carer? Aren't sannyasis supposed to be renounced and make decisions based on knowledge and dharma and not personal, emotional attachments? Wasn't this Arjuna's dilemma in Bhagavad Gita as it is, that those sannyasis and gurus are teaching the rest of us?
I hope that by implementing those recommendations you will save the children in schools now and Srila Prabhupada's legacy.
I hope that by implementing those recommendations you will save the children in schools now and Srila Prabhupada's legacy.
your servant
Amala Prema devi dasi
_______________________________________________________________________
Dear Devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
In pursuance of our commitment to dealing robustly with child protection, in December 2022, the GBC Body authorized an independent review of the governance and leadership in the Mayapur and Vrindavan gurukulas. The report was submitted to us in February, and since then, we have met the review team members to discuss their findings. We now share this report with you in its entirety original and complete form.
The report is candid in its critique of our governance and leadership at school, regional and international levels. We are making this report public in the spirit of transparency and to reassure devotees that we are treating this matter very seriously.
We will now be working diligently with the review team and others to coordinate the specifics of what will constitute "Phase Two" and move matters forward with the implementation of the report recommendations. We do not yet have a defined timescale for Phase Two, but we expect that the
entire process will be delivered by the March 2024 GBC Annual General Meeting in Sridham Mayapur. We recognize that devotees around the world will be keen to be kept informed as matters proceed, and we will endeavor to provide updates whenever practical.
Hare Krsna,
Your servants,
Revati Raman Das
Guru Prasad Swami
Tapana Misra Das,
GBC Executive Committee
Amala Prema devi dasi
_______________________________________________________________________
Dear Devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
In pursuance of our commitment to dealing robustly with child protection, in December 2022, the GBC Body authorized an independent review of the governance and leadership in the Mayapur and Vrindavan gurukulas. The report was submitted to us in February, and since then, we have met the review team members to discuss their findings. We now share this report with you in its entirety original and complete form.
The report is candid in its critique of our governance and leadership at school, regional and international levels. We are making this report public in the spirit of transparency and to reassure devotees that we are treating this matter very seriously.
We will now be working diligently with the review team and others to coordinate the specifics of what will constitute "Phase Two" and move matters forward with the implementation of the report recommendations. We do not yet have a defined timescale for Phase Two, but we expect that the
entire process will be delivered by the March 2024 GBC Annual General Meeting in Sridham Mayapur. We recognize that devotees around the world will be keen to be kept informed as matters proceed, and we will endeavor to provide updates whenever practical.
Hare Krsna,
Your servants,
Revati Raman Das
Guru Prasad Swami
Tapana Misra Das,
GBC Executive Committee
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