Snippet: The GBC has shown over the years that their decisions are unfortunately very often not based on Srila Prabhupada’s books and teachings and not based on Guru, Sadhu and Sastra (see list given below this article).
In December 2013 the GBC EC released a document on Dandavats (a GBC owned website) which they termed; ‘A GBC Foundational Document’, authored by Ravindra Svarupa Dasa, a member of the GBC (but retired since 2014). The GBC said that they fully endorsed the document. In the beginning of this document is a note from the GBC EC which elaborates on the position of Srila Prabhupada as the founder acharya and in a central role in the movement and stated that keeping Srila Prabhupada in that position in our movement is the main purpose of this document.
However, we also find that the document contains statements to the effect that the GBC is not just the highest managerial authority in ISKCON but also the spiritual successor to Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada is the founder acarya of ISKCON and thus his teachings are (or should be) the main instruction for guiding the movement.
So the GBC saying that it is the spiritual successor to Srila Prabhupada means that it should be following Srila Prabhupada on all philosophical points and spiritual decisions. We have seen though that this is not the case. Also, consider the following points:
· The GBC has shown over the years that their decisions are unfortunately very often not based on Srila Prabhupada’s books and teachings and not based on Guru, Sadhu and Sastra (see list given below this article).
· Srila Prabhupada disbanded the GBC at least once for their incompetence. After Srila Prabhupada’s time all the GBC members were reviewed for qualifications of their roles in 1987, after some of them had difficulties in their spiritual practice.
· The GBC has made serious errors and thus caused serious problems within ISKCON, many of them still plaguing our society.
· Srila Prabhupada formed the GBC for managing ISKCON and overseeing spiritual standards he set and never said that their say in spiritual issues should be followed. It makes sense that for spiritual matters guidance should be taken from spiritually elevated and sastrically inclined devotees who may or may not be on the GBC.
We are not saying that we are perfect and never make mistakes. Everyone except perfectly liberated souls makes mistakes from time to time (Bg 15.16). However we have to realize our position and not try and place ourselves on a higher position than we are thus causing confusion and difficulties in the society of devotees. We should especially not try and usurp the place of Srila Prabhupada. It is also imperative that a body with as much responsibility as the GBC with an important function in ISKCON and the global Vaisnava society, constantly observe their actions and decisions and assess whether they are indeed traveling on the course that they set out to.
Srila Prabhupada setup the GBC for governing ISKCON, but considering the first three points above, how can we accept any guidance from the current GBC anymore? It should be noted that we are not opposed to the institution of the GBC per say but rather we are opposed to its improper functioning. In 1986 after three members of the GBC fell down from spiritual practice a fifty man committee was convened in the next meeting in 1987 to assess the remaining members and their capacity for carrying out their duty as GBC members. Therefore we see that the idea of holding the GBC accountable is not unprecedented. Even before that Srila Prabhupada disbanded the GBC at least once, no doubt due to its improper functioning.
For the attention of the devotees, and to elaborate on my points above we have included a list below which chronicles the numerous deviations, misconceptions and blunders that the GBC has been promoting, carrying out or neglecting to correct. Research into this area uncovered an alarming amount of deviations, personal agendas, neglect and incompetence that resulted in serious problems in ISKCON today, most of which are still plaguing our society. Even the main task of the GBC which was to oversee and maintain spiritual standards has largely been abandoned with many GBC members themselves displaying gross violations of conduct such as sannyasis closely associating with women, maintaining luxurious apartments in the Vrindavan and Mayapura dhams, introducing mundane welfare work etc.
Has the time now come to disband the GBC, assess the qualification of its members and its mission as given by Srila Prabhupada? I would think so, and judging from the increasing volume of articles published on online websites and social networks wherein devotees are now expressing their dissatisfaction en mass with the GBC as well as the growing list of their deviations, it seems like a lot of devotees in ISKCON also think the same way. I let the reader judge for himself though after studying the list below and seeing the seriousness of the situation.
There is an English saying that ‘a problem realized is half the problem solved’. We appeal to concerned devotees to forward any entries that they feel are not on this list including the dates and relevant details so that we can cover everything and begin collectively seeing the next course of action towards getting back our purity by returning to an ISKCON with a leadership based strictly on Srila Prabhupada’s books (as he desired). We urge everyone to participate. This is for the future of our movement. Please send your entries to; Nadiya sasadhara Das [magicblue27@yandex.com].
1. The Robin George lawsuit. (1976)
2. The GBC is unbalanced in that it gives too much weight to the unproductive and regressive zones like North America (GBC NA) so that their failed policies are pushed on India and rest of the world, like Russia, which is now having the same problems. (1977 to the present)
3. Supporting so many fallen GBCs, Gurus, Sannyasis, even with evidence in hand that should have spurred action; (Kirtanananda Swami, Jayatirtha Swami, Hansadutta Swami, Bhavananda Swami, Hridayananda Swami, Radhanath Swami, Sacinandana Swami… The list is very large and across 40 years); (1977
4. Not giving proper importance to the gurukula system thus allowing rampant child abuse to take place and killing the soul of ISKCON children. (1977)
5. The ongoing deplorable child abuse situation; (1977 to date)
6. Mismanaging the Hyderabad farm such that by not following Srila Prabhupada’s specific instruction (he really knew trust law) we ended up losing 525 acres of land which is now prime land worth several crores/acre. (1977 to the present)
7. Pradyumna Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit editor, wrote a letter to the GBC warning them not to imitate Srila Prabhupada and do what turned out to be the Zonal Acarya fiasco. Not only was he ignored but the GBC sent a group of “Storm Troops” headed by Hrdayanand das Goswami to verbally and politically attack him and succeeded in driving him out of Vrndavana and ISKCON. The predictions in his letter came out to be true to the letter and in 1998, 20 years after the fact and after all the damage was done they the sent him a letter of apology. (1977 – 78)
8. Politicking to bring B.V. Narayan in as Acarya; (ended in 1995)
9. The Zonal Acarya System and their reliance on the July 9th Letter to support it; (1978 -1986)
10. The Eleven Acarya selection or “Guru Board” constitution/creation in 1978.
11. The Acarya Committee ; constant changes in definitions, including; definitions of ‘ultimate managing authority’; (1977 to present).
12. Going to Sridhar Swami of the Gaudiya Math for advice; ( 1978-1982)
13. Not dealing strongly or in a timely manner with Hrdayananda Das Goswami which has led to a litany of problems. (1980’s to present)
14. The GBC resolution that Bhavananda could resume initiating if for six months he wasn’t caught having homosex.( Mid 1980’s)
15. The sale of the Manhattan Temple, New York, ISKCON’s Flagship temple with 12 storeys (1983)
16. The Bhavananda scam and vote to retain him as Guru/GBC in (1985)
17. Totally mismanaging their zones so that in the vast majority of temples in North and South America (other places too) there are more Deities than devotees at mangala arotika when previously the temples were full, and yet wanting to tell other successful zones like ISKCON India how to manage their zones by implementing their same failed policies. (1986 to the present)
18. Compromising with secular and degenerative modernisitic values. (Mid 1990’s to the present)
19. Creating the GBC deputies, several of whom are women, and who as gate keepers of the GBC strongly determine what the GBC votes on. (mid 1990’s)
20. Formally using the term “Prabhu” for women in all their work and thus creating unnecessary conflict in ISKCON. (1990’s to date)
21. Creating the incompetent CPO. (1990’s to date)
22. Allowing Bhakti Tirtha Swami to publish his UFO Mothership/Atlantis/MU books. (Mid to late 1990s to 2005).
23. Bringing the corrupt New Vrindaban crowd back into ISKCON; (1993 (NV came back)), (1994-95).
24. Allow Vaisnava Advanced Studies (VAST) a private forum on COM/PAMHO organized and led by Hrdayanada Das Goswami, a breeding ground for blasphemy of Srila Prabhupada to exist. (1995 onward).
25. Creating the Women’s Ministry, an obvious feminist agency in ISKCON. Now tactfully named Vaisnavi Ministry.( 1996)
26. Not allowing the Bureau to take pre-emptive action against Madhu Pandit Das. (1998)
27. Allowing a Hospital to be opened in what clearly seems like an ISKCON project and even promoting it. (1998)
29. Creating female GBCs, which Srila Prabhupada never did and even indirectly spoke against. Even though GBC’s are supposed to be exemplary in sadhana and practice of Krsna consciousness, the following shows how this is not the case for one of the female GBC’s. See links one, two and three. (1999 and again in 2010)
30. No action taken against Bir Krishna Goswami for allowing all the cows at Murari Sevak to be sold for slaughter while he was GBC for the place. (1999)
31. The Turley lawsuit. (1999)
32. The official GBC websites like Dandavats, www.krishna.com and especially iskconnews.org are all run by Westerners and promote a Euro-USA centric vision of ISKCON and actively suppress anything promoting traditional Vedic values by not publishing them, mocking them or putting them in a dusty corner where they are simultaneously published and not published. (2006 to present)
33. Doing nothing to stop growth of sahajiyaism and mayavada in ISKCON (early 2000’s to the present).
34. Not dealing strongly or in a timely manner with Sacinandana Swami and thus undermining the Sannyasa asrama of ISKCON. ( 2000’s to the present )
35. Supporting veganism and other anti-milk policies. (2000)
36. Women’s resolution of 2000
37. Allowing the OXFORD Project to be created. It promotes a secular, feminist viewpoint. (Late 90s early 2000s).
38. Not promoting book distribution and in fact trying to stop it (NAGBC). (2002)
39. Creating Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesha which is affiliated with karmi schools in direct violation of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions to not get accreditation from government bodies. (2002)
41. Allowing the promotion of Female Diksha Gurus and creating serious fractures in ISKCON to the point that we are almost at the gates of schism. This is particularly an unwarranted action of the NA GBC. (2003 to the present).
42. Long Island lawsuit; (2006) (?)
43. Mayapur GBC com creation and mismanagement. (2008 - 2016)
44. Annotations and footnote resolution of 2009 – rescinded but only because the BBT didn’t allow it.
45. GBC trying to take over the Bureau which is a separate autonomous trust created by Prabhupada to be the legal authority for ISKCON India. It is an autonomous trust like the BBT. It is not under GBC control. (2011 to the present).
46. GBC banning the word “Varnashrama” and instead people like Annuttama Das pushing for US style egalitarianism - he publicly said it at a NA GBC meeting. (Around 2015)
47. Allowing non-Gaudiya sampradayic influences in, particularly the Sri vaisnavas in N.A.; (2015) (?)
48. Current New York temple problems with impending temple sale; (2016)
49. Passing a resolution stating that the the book Women: Masters or Mothers? misrepresents the teachings of Srila Prabhupada and then mistakenly banning it then unbanning it then not issuing an apology to the author or clearly defining why they consider it a misrepresentation of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. (2016).
50. Shifting the Deities from Belfast to Leicester. (2016) (its not an international GBC move/action - but did involve the GBC global minister for Deity worship - who approved).
51. Ravindra's recent paper and the flagrant mis-characterization of His Divine Grace. (2016)
52. Allowing Mundane Welfare work to be done by ISKCON centres and even GBC members.
53. Special treatment of Satsvarupa Das Goswami
54. The Gopi Bhava Club;
55. Not implementing Varnasrama (1977 to the present)
56. Their current support of GBC’s who associate with mayavadis, perform demigod worship and write questionable books.
57. Allowing the mayavada influence to not only creep, but now flow unimpeded into ISKCON;
58. Developing Mayapur in a way different from Srila Prabhupada desired.
59. Seeing ISKCON gradually coming to be identified as a Hindu organization in western countries (and even India) which only preaches to Indians and Hindus.
60. ISKCON Gurukulas metamorphosis into mundane schools, e.g. Vrindavana Gurukula turned into ICSE board school, going specifically against Srila Prabhupada’s instruction to not do so and yet claiming that Srila Prabhupada founded this mundane school.
61. Years of strategic planning by the GBC and thousands of hours and dollars spent with nothing to show for it.
62. Female Diksha Guru resolution on 15th October 2019
This list of deviations can be used for future articles analyzing the malaise of ISKCON. We hope to write systematically on each one of them and catalog all these deviations with the aim of drawing attention to them and correcting them.
This article was born out of the alarm the author felt after hearing of the GBCs approval of FDG as shown in point 62 above, and out of concern for ISKCON and the increasingly deviated path of the GBC away from Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. It should be emphasized that the author fully supports the GBC institution as introduced and instituted by Srila Prabhupada, but is against their current mode of operation, which is divorced from Srila Prabhupada’s books and guru, sadhu and sastra.
For submitting more entries to this list of GBC blunders, please contact Nadiya Sasadhara Das.[magicblue27@yandex.com].
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