PART THIRTY-THREE: When Saints are Punished

Labangalatika DD 

[PADA: Yes, what has been happening to all of the original servants of ISKCON? We know one big book UK distributor who ended up singing in a country and Western band in the central valley of California, barely making enough money to live on. His poor wife had a back breaking job as a nurse assistant and she was literally in a lot of pain, and both of them had little to no money. 

Another book distributor from Sweden is now in bad health and he is afraid of being evicted from his home, and ending up on the street. He says he just wants to die now. And so on and so forth. 

So this guru property grabbing process was in largely an economic war against the God brothers. They wanted to usurp the assets, and they did. Anyway, the karma for mistreating all these devotees will be heavy and long, that's about all we can say here. Notice that the "gurukuli abuse" issue is mentioned herein. 

Yep, but before the lawsuit was filed, almost no one was even mentioning this issue publicly anywhere -- except for me and Sulochana primarily. Someone had to shine a spot light on the issue, and its sad that it had to come in the form of a $400,000,000 lawsuit, but sometimes that is what it takes to wake certain people up. ys pd] 

PART THIRTY-THREE: When Saints are Punished While the GBC promotes the Mayavadi-saturated The Journey Home by seeing that it has become translated into over a dozen languages, the genuine devotees of ISKCON who hit the streets for Srila Prabhupada have long since been swept out the door. They naturally feel alienated from a Society that decades back, changed the original premise of Krishna consciousness into a new form of impersonal mental speculation. 

Changes and concoctions are shown by many of the GBC's new and bizarre "laws", which only create more institutionalization of ISKCON and less Krishna consciousness. Add to that the pretended warmth and compassion that is spread throughout ISKCON in Nectar Drop sayings and motivational videos—all of which have been spearheaded by GBC members. 

Consider, for example, that in ISKCON the only devotees who have seen the inside of jail cells are the book distributors. Is this not an outrage — considering that criminals in high places have gone scot free? There are instances wherein child molesters are actually being protected by the GBC, while stories abound of embezzlers, rapists and usurers in high places who have never been punished. Although the GBC has their "Law Book," when it comes to crimes in high places—such as a GBC member who was allegedly involved in an illegal sale of the Brooklyn ISKCON Center—no action was ever taken. 

During the eighties and nineties when the molestation of hundreds of children in ISKCON gurukulas came to light, not one perpetrator—and these perps included so-called good-as-God "gurus"—ever saw the inside of a jail cell. ISKCON's leadership, despite their fancy law book, just paid out millions in compensations and legal fees to put to rest a huge court case. Gurukula victims were silenced with funds that had been donated by ISKCON members in good faith for the service of Shrila Prabhupada's mission. Are these not travesties of justice? 

Here, succinctly written by her son, are a few words about a genuine devotee, a humble book distributor and servant of Shrila Prabhupada who saw the inside of a jail so many times that she became known as "Jail Rosie." From Darwin Bothwik aka Dwarkadish das: 

"My mom Labangalatika … is very sick and won't recover. I went to see her this year in April. Everyone please pray that Prabhupada and Krsna gives her safe passage to the next life. She was a fearless soldier in Prabhupada's army for distributing Prabhupda's book for many years all around the world. She even went to Moscow back 1984 and smuggled in Russian Bhagavad-gitas. 

She placed them on window sills in Moscow and witnessed with great surprise as people picked them up. Luckily she wasn't arrested by the KGB. Here Shrila Prabhupada is teaching the Sanskirt alphabet to Dwarkadish das, whom he famously called "Mr. DDD." Early 1970's Bhaktivedanta Book Trust "She was known as Jail Rosie in LAX for being arrested so many times for distributing books at the airport. Also she has created a 35-acre goshala in India to care for neglected cows. 

All the cows are being well cared for. Stay tuned for her book titled, Mothers of the Past and the Future which will be coming out later this year (2019) on Amazon. It is about her story of getting involved with go seva." 

GBC members who slyly check out the Sampradaya Sun each day will say that we are using the sad farewell of a genuine Vaishnava disciple of Shrila Prabhupada to make our own political statement. But, truth be told, when it comes to the actual servants of Prabhupada's mission, the fearless leaders only descend their ladder from the Ivory Tower when their Godbrothers and Godsisters are departing. 

They come down briefly to publicly utter a few pious phrases in their honor, even as they are more likely secretly pleased that another outspoken voice has been silenced by the wheel of time. The sad fact is that the GBC is more absorbed in their Mayavadi pseudo-bhakti like The Journey Home than devotees' real journey home, the journey back to Godhead. Have a safe journey home, dear Vaishnavi Labangalatika devi. You never asked for anything in return, nothing but the privilege of more service. Prabhupada is with you and soon you will be with your Lord Shri Krishna in His domain.

[PADA: Yep, a devotee told me, after PADA editor is dead and gone some of the GBC's gurus will start saying, oh yes, we always loved that guy! Hee hee! ys pd]