PADA: Thanks JD, you got it, the meat eating Christian ritviks are embraced by the ISKCON leaders, but the Krishna ritviks are beaten, sued and killed. Yep! Meanwhile, another Hindu guru's temple followers came to the ISKCON temple to hand out fliers to advertise their program. Everyone knows ISKCON is a Hindu program, including the Hindus. And yep, a number of them eat meat.
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She also said she would have yanked that bogus guy off his seat all by herself if this had happened in her Church, and she could not understand why all the Bhagavad Gita warriors were going along with all this nonsense. She is right.
The bulk of the devotees at the time, especially at New Vrndavana, were all going along with this. And almost all of the devotees would not support me and Sulochana -- and many or most of them opposed us. All of that empowered and enabled the pedo pooja program, to the peril of ISKCON.
And to the peril of the children of ISKCON, as we see herein:
angel108b@yahoo.com
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WHY I LEFT ISKCON
BORN IN ISKCON -- BUT DISTRESSED
PH:
I was born into ISKCON and grew up believing it was a place of love and protection. What I saw, and what many others have seen, was different: silence around abuse, leaders protecting abusers, and families like mine left broken and forgotten.
This letter to Srila Prabhupada is my way of giving voice to that pain and asking for change. It speaks for my mother, my sister, and for friends who were also hurt in gurukulas and devotee homes. We are still living with the effects — illness, trauma, fear. I share this because I believe that truth is part of healing.
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My father worked hard and served the temple, but he was distant from us. His spirituality often felt like rules without love, service without tenderness. Over time I watched him grow angry, and my mother grow smaller. I saw him belittle her, insult her, and call her names no wife — no devotee — should ever hear. I saw her do everything for the family, for the temple, and for him, and still be told she was not enough.
When the abuse became unbearable, we left — my mother, my sister, and me. We had no safety net, no protection from the community we had served all our lives. We were homeless. No prasadam was brought to us. No one from the temple checked if we were safe. Not one devotee reached out. No one asked if we needed help, food, or shelter.
Srila Prabhupada, this is what I cannot understand. You gave the world the holy name and taught that love for Krishna means love for every living being. Yet within your movement, I have seen women and children neglected, silenced, and abused.
So how can I stay in ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada?
My own parents to this day truly believe that if they were to leave the temple that their spiritual life would be over. Just like that, in a second gone. Thus is the brainwashing.
This letter to Srila Prabhupada is my way of giving voice to that pain and asking for change. It speaks for my mother, my sister, and for friends who were also hurt in gurukulas and devotee homes. We are still living with the effects — illness, trauma, fear. I share this because I believe that truth is part of healing.
____________________________________________
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON.
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON.
I was born into your movement. My parents served with their hearts — they were married in a temple room, chanted sincerely, and built their lives around devotion to Krishna. My mother was joyful, creative, and full of love. She taught me to offer every drawing, every meal, every moment to the Lord. We made backdrops for the Deities, cooked for Krishna, and went on long walks singing kirtan. I fell asleep to her chanting every night.
My father worked hard and served the temple, but he was distant from us. His spirituality often felt like rules without love, service without tenderness. Over time I watched him grow angry, and my mother grow smaller. I saw him belittle her, insult her, and call her names no wife — no devotee — should ever hear. I saw her do everything for the family, for the temple, and for him, and still be told she was not enough.
When the abuse became unbearable, we left — my mother, my sister, and me. We had no safety net, no protection from the community we had served all our lives. We were homeless. No prasadam was brought to us. No one from the temple checked if we were safe. Not one devotee reached out. No one asked if we needed help, food, or shelter.
Srila Prabhupada, this is what I cannot understand. You gave the world the holy name and taught that love for Krishna means love for every living being. Yet within your movement, I have seen women and children neglected, silenced, and abused.
I am not the only one who has suffered. I know friends in Mayapur who were hurt too. I know a young boy who was suicidal because of what happened to him in the gurukula. I know families where mothers were abused, and children watched in silence. I know fathers at temples — even at the Manor — who hurt their own families, using Krishna consciousness as a weapon.
My close freind now in South America went through a similar experience, her parents abandoned her, her mother stayed with her father even through he abused her emotionally. If there is domestic abuse, there is child abuse.
And there are far too many children in your family who have suffered in silence.
I’ve heard of mothers abandoned by their husbands, of devotees forced into isolation, of respected men who have abused and still lead kirtan, still give lectures, still sit on vyasasanas. I’ve heard of Lokanath Swami, who harmed a girl and yet continues to sing in temples. I’ve heard of others — leaders and gurus — who have done terrible things but are still protected. My own father was protected too.
I’ve heard of mothers abandoned by their husbands, of devotees forced into isolation, of respected men who have abused and still lead kirtan, still give lectures, still sit on vyasasanas. I’ve heard of Lokanath Swami, who harmed a girl and yet continues to sing in temples. I’ve heard of others — leaders and gurus — who have done terrible things but are still protected. My own father was protected too.
So how can I stay in ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada?
How can I walk into a temple room with this pain in my heart? How can I bow before the Deities knowing that so many abusers are honored, and so many victims forgotten? I feel betrayed. I feel angry. I’ve lost trust.
I don’t believe in the leadership anymore. They protect each other. They protect abusers. They call it humility or forgiveness, but it’s silence — and that silence destroys lives.
You taught that Krishna consciousness is compassion, not control. Love, not fear. Yet what I have seen is pride, denial, and cruelty in the name of service.
This year, Srila Prabhupada, I left ISKCON. I had to. I could no longer stay in a society that speaks of purity but hides so much pain. I still love Krishna — the Krishna of my childhood, the one who smiled through my paintings, who I offered flowers to, who I spoke to when I was scared. That love remains. But the institution that carries your name has broken my heart.
This year, Srila Prabhupada, I left ISKCON. I had to. I could no longer stay in a society that speaks of purity but hides so much pain. I still love Krishna — the Krishna of my childhood, the one who smiled through my paintings, who I offered flowers to, who I spoke to when I was scared. That love remains. But the institution that carries your name has broken my heart.
I want your movement to reflect your compassion
I want no child, no mother, no devotee to ever feel the pain we felt. ISKCON should be a home we all feel safe in, but we don't, so much abuse in your movement.
Please, Srila Prabhupada, if your spirit guides ISKCON, then let there be truth. Let there be safety. Let there be real love.
Your granddaughter
(with deep wounds) still prayering that my own father's eyes open, and he heals)
MB: Congrats to you. You don't need them to have a relationship with god, or to assist your spiritual progress. You never did. Its a control system they created by brainwashing us to think that our individual spiritual life depends on being part of the group. "Devotee association".
My own parents to this day truly believe that if they were to leave the temple that their spiritual life would be over. Just like that, in a second gone. Thus is the brainwashing.
It was never normal from the beginning. Why should children have to live in a fanatic setting where the basic tendencies of a child are frowned upon, waking up at 3 am and spending their days doing "service". Not allowed to have fun, and brainwashed to think desires are maya.
They were training the next generation of non remunerated workers. From day one its been wrong. What kind of future awaits children that grow up in the "ashram"? Because they are not going to pay your bills, or look after your toddler. Like you said its a sad story, marking 2 generations. The first generation literally spent their whole lives blindly serving the institution, missing out on having a normal family experience. And in the process, destroyed their family.
BR: Gosh thanks for sharing! So true and so unfortunate💔 For a movement that's supposed to be about love, acceptance compassion and mercy - we see fear, abuse, guilt, shame and repression. Somehow there's love and acceptance for abusers ironically. So messed up. Thanks for opening up and sharing. I feel your pain and I want you to know you're not alone. You haven't left Iskcon. Iskcon left you. Iskcon failed you. Krishna is always going to be there ❤️❤️❤️
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