There is no other shelter than Radha and Krishna.
When will I finally realize that?
SRD: ONE BIG OVERSIGHT!!!
Long after we announced it here, ISKCON News has finally confirmed our worst fears about these changes to the CPO.
https://iskconnews.org/iskcons-child-protection.../
This is what I think, the whole thing is a sham! These are significant changes that will have a major impact on the entire society. The devotees who have worked in Child Protection for 30 years weren't consulted, the SABHA will not get a vote.
A bunch of shady lawyers got together and dismantled what little system of child protection was in place.
This was a tyrannical political maneuver, pushed by these lawyers and imposed by the GBCs. I can confirm that they did NOT consult with the devotees that currently serve with the CPO.
That's a flat out lie! They reached out to them ONCE! They were supposed to meet again to actually discuss the matter further, but it never happened. This fact alone is evidence that the primary motive for this overhaul was NOT increasing the protection of children.
Champakalata's track record when she served as the Director of CPO is appalling!
We have no reason to hope that she'll fare any better this time around. This Oversight Committee (OC) has a disproportionate degree of influence on which cases make it to the investigators.
I am really curious to see who will pay for professional investigators and where we'll find professional investigators specialized in historical child abuse cases in India, Africa and South America...
Despite all the word jugglers, only one of the 3 lawyers that make up the OC has any notable Child Protection experience. I'm told that Govinda Lilamrita, one of the lawyers defended someone accused of child abuse. Apparently, that's her Child Protection experience!
The OC will be made up of 5 people, 3 lawyers, one child protection professional expert, that hasn't been found yet, and one mystery surprise member... WHAT????? If child protection was the priority driving these changes, I would expect to see a team made up of 4 child protection experts and maybe one lawyer to ensure legal compliance...
I would have expected to have seen a high degree of consultation with the devotees who have dedicated decades of their lives to protecting our children!
The fact that the majority of the OC members are lawyers (plus Champakalata) and that they already have the 3 lawyers, but still haven't found the Child Protection expert, spells out what is the purpose behind these changes.
The protection of children clearly isn't it. Make no mistake, all this is to ensure that protecting children does not interfere with corporate interests. I dread to think how this model will work in poor and developing countries that have no regional CPO directors. These shady lawyers will re-train the CPO panelists and explain what they view as acceptable evidence.
The only good news is that at least for now they're saying that this circus will not be applied retroactively. But the GBCs have wantonly changed their mind so frequently that it's hard to believe anything they say.
It is evident to anyone who is paying attention that these changes aren't aimed at improving child protection... "We acknowledge more consultations could have been done during this process.... In hindsight, it would have been prudent to consult more extensively with the regional CPO Directors, and we take full responsibility for that".
Excuse my French, but what the hell does it mean, "We take full responsibility for that"... What a load of manure!!! You clearly don't even know the first thing about what it actually means to take full responsibility!!!
How many lawyers have resigned as a tangible gesture of responsibility for the 'OVERSIGHT'???? How about you actually go back and do the consultation you should have done in the first place?!?!? Taking full responsibility requires fixing the problem you acknowledge you are responsible for!!!
In short and for what it's worth, my opinion is that these changes only serve to introduce more bureaucracy and red tape that will make it easier for the GBCs to control high profile CPO cases. They will NOT help children, but rather they will make the life of the perpetrators easier.
In other words, the inception of all these changes is very inauspicious for the protection of children. They started a very difficult task by undermining their credibility, before they even got out of the door!
Do who's going to keep an eye on the OVERSIGHTS of the oversight committee???
ISKCON News and the GBCs have failed to explain to the devotee community how exactly these changes constitute a tangible improvement for Child Protection.
What's perhaps the worst part about this most recent debacle is the fact that ISKCON News and the GBCs continue to treat the devotee community as if they believe them to be stupid! The contempt and utter disrespect over an issue as important as the protection of our children is appalling and unfit for Vaishnavas!!!
AKD: A change on this large of a scale and with such large implications would take years of education and development. The fact that it was done so quickly and without input from the current ICPO gives a clear indication this is not being done to "enhance child protection". In summary, there is a new panel (child protection oversight committee or CPOC). What do they do? They receive complaints, keep a file and issue a reference number.
Why do we need lawyers for this task? Obviously, the CPOC will have a larger role to play than simply assigning reference numbers. From this point, the CPOC assigns the case to the local RGB CPO director. We are to assume at this point that there is a qualified CPO director on every Regional Governing Body and that they have been trained how to handle cases for the newly implemented policies. At this point, the actual victim (or complainant) is 2 steps removed from the person handling the case.
Now, the RGB CPO director (even though we don't have a CPO anymore) assigns the case to an independent third party investigator. At this point, the victim is 3 steps removed from the investigator. We are to assume at this point that 1) there are qualified child protection personnel for every RGB 2) the child protection personnel are trained on the new policies 3) the child protection personnel have resources for qualified 3rd party investigators 4) the RGB has the financial ability to pay for a third party investigator - this is a very critical but painfully ambiguous piece of the puzzle.
How can we wait for the local leaders to find ways to pay for an independent investigator? How are we to assume the CPOC has no other role than filing a ticket #? As PK stated, it seems they are privately tasked with being some sort of gatekeeper. This convoluted process being filtered through the newly formed CPOC does not seem to have the best interest of child protection in mind as Sanaka Rsi Prabhu has emphasized. The fact that the overhaul happened so quickly and without consultation with the current CPO should be a huge red flag for the intentions of the GBC resolution.
PADA: Whatever happened to the GBC team headed by Guru Prasad swami that was going to "investigate and rectify" the Giriraj swami problem, of the swami chasing a female follower? Yep, sound of crickets. We don't hear anything of substance subsequentially. Radio silence.
This seems to be a pattern, the people who are supposed to investigate and rectify things, are the same people that need to be investigated and rectified. And since the people who need correcting are the same people doing the oversight of the correcting, where does that lead? The idea that new committees will be formed to improve oversight, only to reduce oversight, is because they knew their program is being exposed all over the place (thank you internet) and therefore the best option is to make a panel of lawyers to field complaints and questions, because their lawyers know best how to LEGALLY shield the perps and the society of leaders that have enabled and empowered these perps.
I believe the whole plan right now is to circle the wagons into even more fortified LEGAL positions to protect the leaders from scrutiny, and potentially legal entanglements, by their enabling, allowing, covering up for -- perps. Giriraj is also one of the people giving me vulture glares when we were having them sued, and he would not speak one word to me about these issues. He is a member of and -- an enabler of -- the child mistreatment cabal. Talk to my lawyers. Well ok, and your LA headquarters area and San Fernando Valley lawyers area of the people opposing me and the children on the lawsuit -- is totally on fire at the moment. Maybe that is not a coincidence? ys pd
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RUPA GOSWAMI
(1)
hari he dayala mora jaya radha-natha
bara bara e-i bara laha nija satha
(2)
bahu yoni bhrami natha la-inu sarana
nija gune kripa kara adhama-tarana
(3)
jagata-tarana tumi jagata-jibana
toma chada kara nahi he radha-ramana
(4)
bhubana-mangala tumi bhubanera pati
tumi upekshile natha ki ha-ibe gati
(5)
bhabiya dekhinu e-i jagata majhare
toma bina keha na-i e rame uddhare
1) O master of Radha! All glory to You! O Lord Hari! Please be merciful to me! Again and again and again I beg: Please accept me as one of Your associates!
2) O Lord, wandering in this world, I took shelter of many different wombs. O deliverer of the fallen, please be merciful to me.
3) You are the savior of the worlds. You are the life of the worlds. O Lord Radha-ramana, please do not turn away from me.
4) You are the auspiciousness of the worlds. You are the master of the worlds. What will happen to persons who turn from You?
5) I have carefully observed this world. O Lord, none but You can deliver this Rama dasa.
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