A Devotee Woman's View 2023

It is becoming a business

A Devotee Woman's View:

I have great respect for the work of the good souls with regard to current child safety, and justice for those who were abused. As for ISKCON itself, personally I think the only solution is to disband or dismantle it; it seems to me that the GBC is beyond reform, and I think it is difficult to argue that ISKCON is not a cult (see the definitions of a cult). 

In any case, my understanding always was that SP’s self-professed mission, as given to him by SBS, was simply to preach and print books. Yet within his lifetime ISKCON had evolved into a quasi-empire, and since his passing it has been governed by a self-elected elite, many of whom, both previous and current GBCs, appear to be chiefly interested in managing finances, power, people, property and reputation to their own advantage. The exploitation and abuse, past and ongoing, is staggering.

The problem as I see it, is that the way ISKCON was structured right from the start, it was never intended to be a democratic society where transparent and accountable leadership would assure members that the society was run competently for the good of all. And surely ‘the good of all’ should be the aim of any society; not the good of the institution, its property portfolio or its management board.

The mood of submission, of being humble, of surrender, of doing the needful, of deferring to a ‘higher authority’, is part and parcel of ISKCON - it is so ingrained within the institution and its teachings, that it makes it daunting or nigh on impossible to challenge someone who is higher up in the hierarchy, and the higher up they are, the more difficult it is. As a woman in ISKCON, I realised very early on that the highest goal to aspire to was ... submissiveness, which, particularly with regard to women and children, was equated with advancement.

In my 20 years-experience as a devotee, the well-being of the individual was never even remotely a priority. And incidentally, I have to say, I found the recently posted video, where Sivarama swami advises parents how to select proper reading material for a child, downright chilling. What kind of a person sees children in this militaristic way? It reminded me more of ancient Sparta rather than a loving, nurturing community.

The problem for those who leave ISKCON is that once they have left, often for reasons of their own self-preservation, they have lost the opportunity to talk about their experiences or to draw attention to harm. Once they have left, they are ‘in maya’, ‘fallen down’, they are persona non grata and not to be listened to. There is absolutely no desire within ISKCON to hear from ex-devotees what drove them away; certainly, there was none when I left. 

And that is because in the eyes of ISKCON teachings, everything that happens to an individual is always their own fault, as a result of something they said or did in this life or a previous one. It is the ultimate and supreme gas-lighting, and I cannot even begin to imagine how the agony of abuse victims is compounded by this. And in the eyes of these teachings, it also must inevitably enforce the thought, at least subconsciously, in the minds of the elite, that they deserve to be top of the hierarchy, because here they are. Thus, we have an elite, at least some of whom feel justified and entitled to behave however they wish.

I joined in 1984, received first and second initiation, and left after 20 years as a devotee. From reading posts and comments here it seems to me that unfortunately, ISKCON and the GBC seem pretty much unchanged since I left almost 20 years ago, and in some respects, things seem to have gotten even worse, despite the best efforts of those pushing to change things for the better.

This is the first time I have publicly spoken these thoughts, other than to my husband, our adult children and a very few close friends. I have spent these past 20 years making peace with my own damaging experiences within ISKCON and getting on with a life which is healthier for me and my loved ones in every possible way. After devoting 20 years of my life to this movement, and raising three children within it, I wish I had something more positive to say, however, leaving was the best thing I ever did.

Thank you for the opportunity to say this.

DL: Thank you for taking the time to write a very thoughtful, honest and respectful musing on your time spent in the ISKCON institution. I could connect to so many of your experiences and realisations. 

AK: Thank you. In one sense, the "disbanding" of the GBC is already on the cards, as the time-factor pushes us all along in this body. Life (and death) is a process of "disbanding" our current life and moving us into the next. It will be telling in what manner the next generation of leaders (particularly those in India) decide to go forth when the current leaders are no longer present or functional. 

It will be very tempting for them to withdraw into local and provincial outlooks, and discard broad cooperation as an obsolete institutional strategy of a bygone era. In other words I think the size and dynamics of the institution are such, that even should Iskcon get "disbanded", there is sufficient inertia (particularly in India) to see a host of fiefdoms emerge from the rubble. 

I don't think "disbanding Iskcon" will simply just "wipe the slate clean." Rather, I think "disbanding Iskcon " would just be a sort of political reorganisation along provincial lines. 

KJ: Excellent. My humble respects for speaking the truth. Thousands of spiritual seekers lives were ruin by this outrageous sinister centralised cult and continuing year after year with the same elite group in charge of the money / properties / changing books etc. Iskcon incorporated, where you’re not allowed to speak the truth only OBEY. It won't work over time and already is not working.

GG: ISKCON is already splitting into mini-fiefdoms. There is already a lot of infighting among the different guru camps. Just like ... Kaunteya is now saying the ICC Bureau are smarta atheists ... for example. They only stay to together in certain areas where it is mutually beneficial. For the most part, even these "pure devotees" hate each other. And some of them are just waiting for Jayapataka to drop ... so they can bite off a piece of his ill-gotten kingdom. 

Meanwhile, most of the temples are really Hindu "show the deity" programs and they don't even know or care why all the Western people left. They just want a weekend cultural hall ... to congregate once in awhile ... same as they do in India. 

The Hindus go to the temple to offer a bag of flour every week as some sort of cultural connection, but they have no real idea what the siddhanta is. And that means, they are largely ignorant. And that is why the GBC loves them and encourages having them. They are a good source of revenue for the elites.

Turning over ISKCON over to the Hindus is already totally against the instructions of Srila Prabhupada. Gradually ... ISKCON is being managed and controlled by these Hindus ... and there will be little to none Srila Prabhupada program left. Already happens in SO many cases.

And that explains why ... people like Bhakti Vikas swami stay always in India. He cannot promote his false acharyas over here. Actually speaking the people over here are totally against their false acharyas. So ISKCON will continue to disintegrate, and I say, that is good. It should either represent Krishna, or die off because false religion is worse than none. "The most dangerous elements in human society." Let them die off ... and Yamaraja will sort them out.

At the same time ... some of us insignificant fringies will have the job of being keepers of the light. Maybe that is best for now, a de-centralized loose knit community ... that at least preaches the right things. And exposes the wrong things.

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PADA: "The best thing I ever did -- was leave." Ummm, yep. ISKCON is already splintered into so many pieces. There was the original split to Sridhara Maharaja, where ISKCON lost a group of sannyasas and Jayatirtha and many thousands of others. Later, there was the Narayan Maharaja split, and they lost many sannyasas and thousands of more people. 

Then there was the Bangalore split where they lost temples and thousands of more people. And meanwhile thousands of people just quit and went away, including thousands of children. So, it is not only bankrupted financially, also bankrupted manpower wise, they just jettisoned too many people. And more are leaving all the time.

Meanwhile, the ever tightening circle of GBC loyal "remainers" are circling their wagons around Jayapataka, just after a series of horrendous reports of child beatings and rapes surfaced about his program in Mayapur. That means, their program also will not last long, it has no moral foundation. So we Prabhupadanugas will be more unified than all of them in the long run because at least we have some solid foundational ideals and ideas. ys pd

pada angel108b@yahoo.com