The following is an apology letter that Priti Vardhana Swami (PVS) wrote to one of the former Gurukula students who privately reached out to him to seek some clarifications regarding the child abuse that occurred in the Gurukula whilst PVS was in-charge.
PVS replied with this semi public apology letter, where he included the GBC members and the Mayapur management. Adding these leaders to a private conversation, made it look a lot like virtue signalling and a calculated political move.
PVS's apology is very sanitized, it is cleverly worded, and reads like a letter drafted by a shady lawyer, aimed at exonerating himself. It does a great job at that, but as far as apologies go, I would rate it as being rather poor. The trouble with a good apology is -- that it must necessarily be honest, vulnerable and self incriminating. That is why it is so exceedingly rare to come across a good apology with GBC leader ship.
Sadly, this apology is none of those things.
Priti Vardhana Swami starts his letter by talking about his own trauma. While I do not doubt that his choice to have Anirdeshya Vapu (fka Bhaktividyapurna BVP) as his guru and mentor, and his choices to enable and defend him to the bitter end, are deeply traumatic experiences, it is manipulative to start an apology letter, by portraying yourself as the victim! This is neither the time nor the place!
Priti Vardhana Swami did NOT take any responsibility for enabling and protecting BVP, one of the most notorious child abusers in the history of ISKCON, for more than a decade, allowing and facilitating his access to children.
PVS recently gave a class in the Czech Republic, where he was asked what is his stance on the whole BVP saga. PVS replied by describing the 40 years of BVP's extreme abuse of children as 'MISTAKES', he talked about the collective responsibility of ISKCON as a society and the need to forgive.
He told the story of how Lord Nitai was merciful towards Jagai and Madhai and how they were forgiven even though they were the greatest sinners. He said that the concept of eternal damnation is a Christian idea.
The trouble is that he only told half the story of Jagai and Madhai. This suggests one of two things. Either Priti Vardhana Swami is not very familiar with the story itself, or he is dishonest. A half truth is the darkest of lies, because, its disguise makes it that much more believable!
By his example Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught us what is the appropriate mood and response when we are faced with an assault of another Vaishnava. His Mercy was the Sudarshan Chakra! There was no wishy-washy sentimentality!
All too often in ISKCON this pastime is selectively quoted to push for the 'forgiveness' of the most violent and despicable crimes against Vaishnava children! The first part of the story gets skipped over and they jump to the forgiveness part.
All too often in ISKCON this pastime is selectively quoted to push for the 'forgiveness' of the most violent and despicable crimes against Vaishnava children! The first part of the story gets skipped over and they jump to the forgiveness part.
They conveniently 'forget' that it was only AFTER, Lord Nitai, the offended party, accepted their apologies and bestowed His infinite mercy on Jagai and Madhai that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spared their lives. Mahaprabhu did not pressure Nityananda to forgive them, because 'vaishnavas are forgiving'!
Nor did Lord Nityananda offer His mercy without genuine repentance.
Another important point about this story is that Jagai and Madhai spent the rest of their lives cleaning one of the ghats in Navadvipa to serve the Vaishnavas. They were happy to be offered a menial service to atone for their offences. They did not seek be respected Sannyasis, or pursue power, position, guruship or any kind of prestigious position.
Whereas it seems that Anirdhesya Vapu aka BVP and most other child abusers in ISKCON are very much attached to continue holding positions of relevance and respect... I understand that Priti Vardhana Swami has plans to continue serving in the field of education... An apology that is not followed by a drastic change in conduct is empty and of no value.
Priti Vardhana's apology would have been a lot more substantive if he had included a genuine acknowledgment of the catastrophic consequences his leadership failures had on the lives of so many children, accompanied with the promise to resign from any and all positions of power and authority, present and future.
As it is, this apology letter looks like a poorly crafted piece of damage control propaganda, where the real and ultimate objective is to hold onto power and its perks! And the apology is just a necessary evil to achieve that end...
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Hare Krsna dear Xxxxxx. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I hope that through this letter I can somehow clarify my position and feelings regarding your message. First of all, I appreciate your sincerity and I will try to communicate myself in very open and sincere way as well. I would like to start clarifying that I don’t keep a guru disciple relationship with Anirdesa Vapu Das (former BVPS). I am very aware of his serious mistakes and the necessity to avoid such a misbehavior that can cause tremendous pain among the devotees and especially children.
For me the whole situation was very painful and traumatic and I have been working with the support of senior devotees to recover, studying different aspects that we should get rid of to build a healthy society based on the transcendental teachings of Srila Prabhupada.
I don’t see myself without faults and I am always willing to analyze and learn from others with an open mind how I can improve. My intention was never to show myself as somebody infallible with whom you should not speak openly about your disagreements, concerns and dislikes. I tried to establish relationships based on mutual respect between teacher and student and I am very sad to see that these expectations were not fulfilled and that you have had very painful experiences while I was a dean. I am deeply sorry about this and I understand that it can now be creating difficulties for you, your family and friends. I take this opportunity to ask for your forgiveness.
I want to assure you that I have never had an attachment to any administrative positions, but I took that responsibility as a service. For me it was never a matter of honor or receiving respect, but supporting children in their educational process to reinforce their relationship with Krsna. I have never agreed with correcting children using violent methods such as yelling, beating, using abusive words etc. and always tried to discourage others to do so. I had many talks with other teachers about this topic.
Nevertheless, I agree that more energy should be invested to avoid this kind of interactions. I also would like to mention that I am not supporting any kind of abuse and along with the codirectors we are trying with all our efforts implementing measures to avoid mistreatment, sexual harassment, any kind of abuse towards the students and this culture of blindly following at the cost of emotional, physical and psychological wellbeing learning from past mistakes.
I know that you may be representing many voices who feel the same and therefore I would like to thank you for exposing your concern not only for your wellbeing but also for your classmates and the future generations.
At the same time, I would like to thank you for the selfless service you did not only for me as your teacher, but also to your classmates and juniors. I saw that many of these services came out spontaneously from your kind nature and solidarity towards others.
Regarding the meeting that we had two days ago I want to specifically point out that I had no intention to show myself as indifferent or careless. I didn’t know what you wanted to speak about and I felt little bit overwhelmed, because I have been concerned about the same topic and we have been discussing it with many authorities of our society for the past months. So, I was very introspective about it and I took it very seriously. I was hoping that we could speak personally again, but since I noticed that my messages were not going through your WhatsApp, I didn’t want to keep insisting, giving you some space before contacting you again.
Finally, I would like to tell you that I am available if you or other boys would like to speak with me regarding this or any other issues. I am in the process of contacting the other boys to hear them.
In the service of Srila Prabhupada.
Your servant,
Bhakti Arjava Priti Vardhana Swami
SD: Priti Vardhana Swami - stop defending Anirdesya Vapu and take responsibility for your role in the 40 years of abusing children!
DS: It seems whenever there is a (rare) apology letter, it's never really an apology. There is usually shifting blame, not accepting responsiblity or accountability, and just plain old gaslighting, the tried and true method for dealing with concerned parties. The timeworn formula is:
Guilt + Gaslighting x Playing Victim = Forgiveness by Sentimentalists ÷ Gita 9.30.
ND: From guru fall downs to child abuse the fault is always the victims. They have become masters at putting a spin to it!
DD: Every victim has said the same thing -- they were told "this is your karma, prabhu."
SF: I'm not a victim of that kind (in ISKCON); but comparatevily, being very small colateral damage (pastoral abuse and hazing), if one dares to complain, it was common to hear: "Oh, you are just complaining because and / these things are happening to you because: YOU don't really want to be a devotee"
MD: Quoting Jagai-Madhai example is totally out of place. They were great sinners, but not vaishnava aparadhis. Abuse of Vaishnava kids is aparadha (the worst kind of it), not just a worldly sin.
DN: Wow, really a good point: Jagai and Madai offered an apology cause they were afraid of Sudarshana Chakra. Nityananda did not forgive them without a cause. He saw their sincerity and change. Without that, who knows, Sudarshan might do the rest.
DS: All the child abuse "apologies" I have seen remind me of when John Lennon upset the Christians in the 1960's when he told the press, "The Beatles are now more popular than Jesus Christ." When forced to make a public apology, he then told the press, "Well I'm sorry you took it the way that you did."
See? That's NOT an apology. These kinds of gaslighting techniques are commonly perpetrated amongst our predators and their popular enablers.
TK: Bla Bla Bla.... This soul is just another juicy steak ananda. Ex cow flesh eater, who thinks he IS what ever he is. Another mlech to be devoured for the next 108 billion life's his soul will live.
5th canto.
One who sins in ignorance pays 1 karma. One who sins or helps sins in Prabhupada's knowledge pays with all the hairs of the cows he ate before he became vaisnav. All the mlech converts who abuse or cover up abuse of children of the hare krsna mantra are in big shit.
SF: Regarding"mlecha" born converts who are pedos, and especially those operating in India. Just little note that they didn't choose India accidentally. One of the worst countries with child abuse are not "mlecha" countries.They are in South and East Asia. You can try reading on Indian tradition of "devadasis" watch documentaries about their human traffickers and pimps kidnapping young girls in neigbouring countries like Nepal.
The movies like 'Salaam.Bombay" and documentary "Born into Brothels" show glimpse of that.
SF: A technical question: why is he all the way from Chezch Republic?
DD: Satya Fra he's originally from that part of the world.
SF: Such nice country and people in general not just devotees. Imo best of Slavs; mellow, benevolent type of collective mentality. (And not into wars much, either) Normal decent people residing there.
In the era when the types of Godsiblings were recognisable and Gurus often easily identified by disciples; one of them who preached the most there; and now resident (IIRC) that Maharaja had such balanced, well rounded - disciple cadre overall. And most underapreciated spiritual sense of humour and bhajaniya on top of that too.
How does one even manage to be from there, nice cultured part of central Europe, and yet find pervert - of - all perverts in Vaisnava garb, ISKCON's Epstein like ex - BVPS as Guru, out of all people?
JJ: Because ISKCON told him BVP is a guru.
MB: I just realized " guruship" is now a word.
DL Well said.
HB: Boo!
AP: Power, position, politics, hypocrisy fake humility, manipulation.. and so on.... these are the special qualities of this guy and so many other leaders in Iskcon
FR: Why does a low life crook like him take sannyasa? Who is expecting respect from? Punish him!
MJ: In slavic countries people are still naive and believe in iskcon & guru fairy tales. Easy to preach there, people bow down, pays respect believing in sanyas dreams of pure devotees. They avoid other places as they would be unwelcome or kicked out on the street.
EB: Priti Vandava apologies is a joke. Along with all other child milestones and abusers they have to serve jail time for long long to actively pau for their crimes.
Why no one reported to the police so far why? Everybody afraid of an aparadh?
I think that once I heard from A senior vaisnavi ACBSP Urmika that Srila Prabhupada was saying that one who commited crimes like that has to go to prison to pay for their crime and is a short of purification. Otherwise we commit offense by not reporting those horrible abusers.
MA: The Gaslighting is so prevelant no wonder the institution is blowing up. Like Hitler subverting the Aryan ideal into death and destruction.
SD: Priti Vardhana Swami - stop defending Anirdesya Vapu and take responsibility for your role in the 40 years of abusing children!
DS: It seems whenever there is a (rare) apology letter, it's never really an apology. There is usually shifting blame, not accepting responsiblity or accountability, and just plain old gaslighting, the tried and true method for dealing with concerned parties. The timeworn formula is:
Guilt + Gaslighting x Playing Victim = Forgiveness by Sentimentalists ÷ Gita 9.30.
ND: From guru fall downs to child abuse the fault is always the victims. They have become masters at putting a spin to it!
DD: Every victim has said the same thing -- they were told "this is your karma, prabhu."
SF: I'm not a victim of that kind (in ISKCON); but comparatevily, being very small colateral damage (pastoral abuse and hazing), if one dares to complain, it was common to hear: "Oh, you are just complaining because and / these things are happening to you because: YOU don't really want to be a devotee"
MD: Quoting Jagai-Madhai example is totally out of place. They were great sinners, but not vaishnava aparadhis. Abuse of Vaishnava kids is aparadha (the worst kind of it), not just a worldly sin.
DN: Wow, really a good point: Jagai and Madai offered an apology cause they were afraid of Sudarshana Chakra. Nityananda did not forgive them without a cause. He saw their sincerity and change. Without that, who knows, Sudarshan might do the rest.
DS: All the child abuse "apologies" I have seen remind me of when John Lennon upset the Christians in the 1960's when he told the press, "The Beatles are now more popular than Jesus Christ." When forced to make a public apology, he then told the press, "Well I'm sorry you took it the way that you did."
See? That's NOT an apology. These kinds of gaslighting techniques are commonly perpetrated amongst our predators and their popular enablers.
TK: Bla Bla Bla.... This soul is just another juicy steak ananda. Ex cow flesh eater, who thinks he IS what ever he is. Another mlech to be devoured for the next 108 billion life's his soul will live.
5th canto.
One who sins in ignorance pays 1 karma. One who sins or helps sins in Prabhupada's knowledge pays with all the hairs of the cows he ate before he became vaisnav. All the mlech converts who abuse or cover up abuse of children of the hare krsna mantra are in big shit.
SF: Regarding"mlecha" born converts who are pedos, and especially those operating in India. Just little note that they didn't choose India accidentally. One of the worst countries with child abuse are not "mlecha" countries.They are in South and East Asia. You can try reading on Indian tradition of "devadasis" watch documentaries about their human traffickers and pimps kidnapping young girls in neigbouring countries like Nepal.
The movies like 'Salaam.Bombay" and documentary "Born into Brothels" show glimpse of that.
SF: A technical question: why is he all the way from Chezch Republic?
DD: Satya Fra he's originally from that part of the world.
SF: Such nice country and people in general not just devotees. Imo best of Slavs; mellow, benevolent type of collective mentality. (And not into wars much, either) Normal decent people residing there.
In the era when the types of Godsiblings were recognisable and Gurus often easily identified by disciples; one of them who preached the most there; and now resident (IIRC) that Maharaja had such balanced, well rounded - disciple cadre overall. And most underapreciated spiritual sense of humour and bhajaniya on top of that too.
How does one even manage to be from there, nice cultured part of central Europe, and yet find pervert - of - all perverts in Vaisnava garb, ISKCON's Epstein like ex - BVPS as Guru, out of all people?
JJ: Because ISKCON told him BVP is a guru.
MB: I just realized " guruship" is now a word.
DL Well said.
HB: Boo!
AP: Power, position, politics, hypocrisy fake humility, manipulation.. and so on.... these are the special qualities of this guy and so many other leaders in Iskcon
FR: Why does a low life crook like him take sannyasa? Who is expecting respect from? Punish him!
MJ: In slavic countries people are still naive and believe in iskcon & guru fairy tales. Easy to preach there, people bow down, pays respect believing in sanyas dreams of pure devotees. They avoid other places as they would be unwelcome or kicked out on the street.
EB: Priti Vandava apologies is a joke. Along with all other child milestones and abusers they have to serve jail time for long long to actively pau for their crimes.
Why no one reported to the police so far why? Everybody afraid of an aparadh?
I think that once I heard from A senior vaisnavi ACBSP Urmika that Srila Prabhupada was saying that one who commited crimes like that has to go to prison to pay for their crime and is a short of purification. Otherwise we commit offense by not reporting those horrible abusers.
MA: The Gaslighting is so prevelant no wonder the institution is blowing up. Like Hitler subverting the Aryan ideal into death and destruction.
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