https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/22/nyregion/in-brooklyn-a-hare-krishna-reckoning.html
[PADA: Yep, what we said all along was -- its all about making false gurus; which disgusts the congregation; and thus makes a huge exodus which depletes the congregations down to a minimal staff. Some temples were later on apparently getting a bunch of SSI people and relying on their "crazy pay" to help fund their program. And that made some temples even less attractive. Sulochana called their program "scortched earth." We either had to surrender to their false gurus, or leave, and most would choose to leave -- as happened, and is still happening.
That the temples were gradually being purged of manpower by whacked out gurus was well known all along to almost everyone, including the GBC's leaders. Its what Lokanath swami also said in 1988, the ISKCON temples are becoming ghost towns. He asked, where did all the devotees go? Then the GBC switched gears to making the temples into "Hindu Community Halls." OK, which is what Srila Prabhupada warned them NOT to do.
And then, after the GBC thins down the congregations, it might come to the point that the temple is barely viable financially. After removing the congregations, sometimes moving out the deities, then their next process is closing temples and selling the buildings. Then ... there was also the Windle Turley abuse lawsuit, where ISKCON assets were being siphoned off to other charities to avoid having ISKCON pay for that Dallas court case.
Meanwhile, the GBC still says they are "the ultimate managers of ISKCON." Really? You call this managing? You "managed" to drive the Titanic into the iceberg, and destroy the nice wonderful ISKCON ship and essentially kill off most of its passengers. Anyway, the fact that the GBC guru process is failing is public news for decades already, and now its being made even more publicly known, that's all. Their program of making bogus messiahs has failed, lets face it. And its just another case in point of this process being exposed, once again, in public. ys pd]
angel108b@yahoo.com
[PADA: Yep, what we said all along was -- its all about making false gurus; which disgusts the congregation; and thus makes a huge exodus which depletes the congregations down to a minimal staff. Some temples were later on apparently getting a bunch of SSI people and relying on their "crazy pay" to help fund their program. And that made some temples even less attractive. Sulochana called their program "scortched earth." We either had to surrender to their false gurus, or leave, and most would choose to leave -- as happened, and is still happening.
That the temples were gradually being purged of manpower by whacked out gurus was well known all along to almost everyone, including the GBC's leaders. Its what Lokanath swami also said in 1988, the ISKCON temples are becoming ghost towns. He asked, where did all the devotees go? Then the GBC switched gears to making the temples into "Hindu Community Halls." OK, which is what Srila Prabhupada warned them NOT to do.
And then, after the GBC thins down the congregations, it might come to the point that the temple is barely viable financially. After removing the congregations, sometimes moving out the deities, then their next process is closing temples and selling the buildings. Then ... there was also the Windle Turley abuse lawsuit, where ISKCON assets were being siphoned off to other charities to avoid having ISKCON pay for that Dallas court case.
Meanwhile, the GBC still says they are "the ultimate managers of ISKCON." Really? You call this managing? You "managed" to drive the Titanic into the iceberg, and destroy the nice wonderful ISKCON ship and essentially kill off most of its passengers. Anyway, the fact that the GBC guru process is failing is public news for decades already, and now its being made even more publicly known, that's all. Their program of making bogus messiahs has failed, lets face it. And its just another case in point of this process being exposed, once again, in public. ys pd]
angel108b@yahoo.com
I agree, it is amazing that so many devotees from first, second and maybe even some third generation, are having such a hard time finding a place of residence, keeping a roof over their heads, paying huge rents and so on. A number of devotees now have to live hundreds of miles from a temple, some in squalid neighborhoods, some with dangerous gangs as neighbors and such, and there are some devotees who are simply homeless, some live in vehicles, and some are barely making it and are almost homeless and etc. Yet the GBC's big leaders are thinking they have to sell their BIG temple because, because there is no one living in all the BIG empty rooms. Self-evidently, the leaders have excluded all these devotees from residing in ISKCON. Yes, we have kicked almost everyone else out, now we have an empty place, hey I got an idea, lets sell the BIG empty building, pocket a bunch of money and buy a TEENY building. Of course! Does that sound like the plan? Or what! Good question. Srila Prabhupada said if they sold the 55th street temple it would scatter the devotees and destroy the community, and that seems to be the same plan now going on there --- again. ys pd
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