Silence is Complicity / Shyamsundar Speerstra / Earning Credibility 05 12 26

Where did all My lost sheep go?

Association Vaishnavas de Espana

Silence in the face of abuse: what the Gita says about complicity.

Child abuse is one of the most painful issues within any spiritual community. When it happens systematically within an institution claiming to represent God, silence becomes complicity. The Bhagavad-gita, central text of ISKCON, contains clear condemnation against those who harm innocents.

Krishna describes divine qualities such as ahimsa (non violence), compassion, and equanimity. A child should grow up in such an environment, but the abuse in Gurukulas between 1970 and 1990 totally contradicts these principles. What divine qualities can a child subjected to violence, sexual abuse and neglect develop?

In contrast, Krishna defines demonic qualities such as arrogance, anger, harshness, and ignorance (BG 16.4). Those who abused or tolerated abuse acted under these qualities, not the divine. Saying to follow the scriptures while violating the protection of the innocent shows a real lack of faith in them.

Krishna states that demonic people do not distinguish between right and wrong (BG 16.9). Child abuse, clearly prohibited, was documented in reports like 1998 on ISKCON. Perpetrators and cover-up alike fall into this category.

The Gita regulates even sensory enjoyment (BG 2.59), so sexual abuse of minors is absolutely unjustifiable. Even more serious is the cover-up: those who protected the aggressors actively participated in sin. Krishna warns that such people face severe consequences (BG 16.19-20), falling into degraded states. Lust, anger and greed — “doors of hell” (BG 16.21) — are present in these acts.

The Gita does not allow for passivity. Krishna scolds Arjuna for avoiding his duty to protect (BG 2.34). Not acting in the face of abuse is a grave offense. Protecting an abuser for their position reflects a demonic mentality, not spiritual.

Institutional position does not grant karmic immunity. Documented cases show how the culture of silence allowed abuse for decades. Keeping in touch with abusers is not loyalty, it's complicity. The Bhagavad-gita, read unfiltered, strongly condemns child abuse. This is not an attack on philosophy, but a call for the institution to live by the principles of compassion, truth, and protection it proclaims.

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SHYAMSUNDAR SPEERSTRA

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-shyamasundar-prabhus-audiobook-service?

PADA: Shyamsundar prabhu is now 84 and is struggling to meet his rent and etc. He did a lot of service in the early days but gradually he deteriorated and started to argue with Srila Prabhupada over the temple finances. And he borrowed 5,000 pounds from Srila Prabhupada and evidently did not ever pay it back. 

Srila Prabhupada told him, you can avoid paying everyone else, but you have to pay me back. So Syamsundar started giving Srila Prabhupada bouncing checks. I think that was the beginning of his end.

I forgot to mention, he tried to pawn off one of his bouncing checks on me, but it had a car's tire track clearly on it, obviously he found it on the road somewhere. Another devotee with half good and half bad character, typical of a lot of them from the 1970s. 

Anyway, he seems to be suffering currently and we wish him well. 

I really thought his little daughter Sarawswati was adorable in India, but I am told she is now calling herself "Sara" and is alienated from the religion and is living like a modern American housewife. Another Krishna kid who is not participating in ISKCON, I think for obvious reasons. 

I wish her well too, but she clearly did not get a proper support system to bring her into devotional life. But she did have some association with Srila Prabhupada and that will stay with her. Unfortunately, this seems to show she has little to no part in caring for Shyamsundar. And we do not blame her for that either. She had to take care of herself by herself. And she carved out her own life out of necessity, that is what it looks like to me. 

ys pd angel108b@yahoo.com   

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CREDIBILITY MUST BE EARNED

Dear Vaishnavas,

Please accept my respectful obeisances. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.

These letters about the Nepal CPO mess bring me great sadness, not only because of what they reveal, but because what they reveal is so utterly unnecessary and preventable.

"These children are given to us by Krishna, they are Vaisnavas and we must be very careful to protect them. These are not ordinary children, they are Vaikuntha children, and we are very fortunate we can give them chance to advance further in Krishna Consciousness. That is very great responsibility, do not neglect it or be confused." (Letter to Arundhati dasa, July 30, 1972)

"These children are the future hope of our Society, so it is a very important matter how we are training them in Krishna consciousness from the very childhood." (Letter to Satsvarupa Maharaja, April 11, 1973)

While I am not familiar with the broader case, the contents of this letter alone are sufficient to draw the conclusion that this situation is a direct consequence of ISKCON's leadership disregarding the clear and simple instructions of Srila Prabhupada reported above.

Sadly the incidents described in this letter are not isolated and out of character, rather they constitute a continuum of a well established pattern of how the institution of ISKCON has handled child protection matters for the last 50 years.

Mark my words: the cumulative effect of the grievous Vaishnava aparadha committed and enabled by ISKCON's leadership through their continued and intentional disregard for Srila Prabhupada's instructions to protect and cherish devotee children, spanning generations, over the last fifty years, will cause incalculable damage to his legacy.

For as long as I can remember, the GBC's stance has been one in which the protection and best interests of children are treated as separate from, and less important than, the political interests of the institution. This vision lacks basic human decency, but it is also callous and shortsighted.

Setting aside spiritual considerations entirely for a moment, even if ISKCON's leadership had no interest whatsoever in spiritual life. Even if it were made up of hardened materialists whose sole interests were money, power, prestige, and followers; it would still make sound practical sense to ensure that the care and protection of children was a foremost priority.

If for no other reason, simply because neglecting their protection has the potential to destroy the entire institution. And yet, somehow, ISKCON's leaders have demonstrated that they lack even the foresight and basic prudence I would expect from such a heartless materialist.

Is it any wonder that ISKCON is struggling all over the world? And behind every institutional failure stands a child whose trust was broken, whose voice went unheard, and whose wound may last a lifetime.

What this letter makes painfully clear is twofold: first, that political motives have come to override the stated purpose of CPO Bharat and CPOC, making the protection of our Vaishnava children anything but their priority; and second, that neither body followed their own guidelines, which require them to employ qualified child protection professionals to carry out investigations. This oversight further damages their already compromised standing.

In this letter Kanai Sundar prabhu makes a very serious and concerning allegation; that CPO Bharat has used child protection to serve a political agenda. Not only are the investigators unqualified, but they brought a predetermined agenda and bias that can only cause further harm to the children.

There is something especially diabolical about the weaponization of child protection! To corrupt the one sanctuary that exists for the most vulnerable among us, to turn it into a political weapon, is a betrayal of the most sacred order. It is a desecration of the very principle of protection itself.

In short, this letter further confirms what has been evident to many for some time. Neither CPO Bharat nor CPOC possesses the professionalism or credibility required to adequately carry out the vital service of protecting children.

Credibility is a priceless currency, it cannot be demanded; it is earned through the integrity of one's conduct.

To date, neither body has demonstrated the necessary standard.

It is naive and reckless to hope or expect that a service as delicate as the protection of children can be carried out without the necessary credibility and good will of the Vaishnava community.

While a part of me feels a deep sense of hopelessness, I continue to believe that accountability must go hand in hand with a cry for Grace!

I pray that Krsna and Srila Prabhupada inspire the leadership of ISKCON to change their view of child protection, before another generation of Vaikuntha children pays the price of their indifference.

Aspiring to serve the Vaishnavas,

SR das