GBC “angry” that they are being exposed

Interviewer, 07 May 2009: The last time we met, you began to address the proliferation of lawsuits that have been brought by one group of devotees against another. What can be done to remedy this?

Locanananda dasa, NEW YORK: Once again, this is all about honest and open communication between the leadership, represented by the GBC and its deputies, and the at-large devotees of the Hare Krishna movement. Because there is very little personal interaction taking place, actual loving exchanges like those mentioned in the Nectar of Instruction are rarely seen. If leaders do not show their concern for the welfare of devotees and cultivate friendship with them, they will not be trusted as the guardians of Srila Prabhupada’s legacy. Actually, that is already the case, so how to reverse this trend?

About five years ago, I was called to testify as a witness in the Long Island court case. The plaintiff was the GBC and the respondent was a group of devotees who were living in the temple, maintaining the worship of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and receiving guests at their regular Sunday program. I was asked in court about the history of ISKCON New York’s corporate activity. One of the attorneys then raised the question whether the GBC had ever followed the Directions of Management (DOM) as given by Srila Prabhupada, and I briefly explained they had never done so. I then spoke about Srila Prabhupada’s instruction that in our culture, the leaders must see to the protection of women, children, the elderly, the brahmanas and the cows. The ISKCON attorney became very agitated when I began to describe how children enrolled in ISKCON’s Gurukulas by their parents were severely scarred by the abuse they suffered — physically, emotionally, sexually and psychologically — at the hands of their teachers and monitors. It was so upsetting to hear that the judge called for a five minute recess. Of course, ISKCON leaders have always claimed they were in no way responsible for this criminal abuse. No member of the GBC resigned when the mistreatment was officially admitted by ISKCON or when it was discovered that child abuse and molestation were rampant in their particular zones.

One thing I learned as Temple President was that if some illegal or illicit activity were to take place within the temple compound, I would know about it within three minutes, and that is no exaggeration. That is how Krishna arranges to protect His devotees. Those who are in charge must act on Krishna’s behalf to guarantee the safety of others, but in the case of our devotee children, that duty was ignored. It was Srila Prabhupada’s standard of management that the local GBC must always be aware of and take responsibility for everything that is taking place within his area of jurisdiction.

All I said in court was entirely true. However, for having spoken in a way that publicly discredited the GBC on whose watch all of the abuse of the most vulnerable members of our society took place, I became the GBC’s mortal enemy. When I walked out of the courtroom, I thought how disappointed Srila Prabhupada would have been to see two factions from among his followers fighting in court, the fate of Krishna’s temple in the hands of a judge who did not have the slightest idea that Krishna was God, what to speak of knowing that the purpose of our existence is to serve Him.

Interviewer: You’d think devotees would try to find a way to get along instead of giving in to the pressure to work things out through the judicial system.

Locanananda dasa: This fighting in court between devotees who have pledged loyalty to the same spiritual master is like the story of the children who were massaging their father’s body. They got into an argument and ended up striking their father until he was black and blue all over. Our movement is similarly black and blue, first, as a result of the mistreatment of those who were denied protection by their caretakers. On top of that great misfortune, our enthusiasm has been dampened by the multitude of court cases in which our movement has been attacked both from within and from without. What is more, the resources provided by Krishna that should have been used for preaching have been channeled away to pay for legal services and settlement costs.

This situation is not at all like the legal battle we waged against Mr. Nair who was cheating us out of the land we purchased from him to erect a temple for the worship of Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari in Bombay. In Srila Prabhupada’s words, Mr. Nair was a demon and he was killed by Lord Nrsimhadeva whose appearance day we are celebrating today. Vaisnavas should deal with each other as gentlemen. When they get entangled in the court system, the tendency is for them to give up their brahminical training and fight dirty to win their case. But that will not please Krishna. I would not have been surprised if the Lord had decided to appear in some form with all of His ferocity when the BBTI argued in court that Srila Prabhupada was a “writer for hire” employed by ISKCON to write his books. Even the non-devotee judge could not tolerate such a preposterous remark. Srila Prabhupada would sometimes mention how his godbrothers were still fighting in court after forty years and how they sold all but one of the printing presses belonging to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati to pay legal fees and court costs. The fabric of our movement is similarly weakening as a result of offenses to our spiritual master, and its destiny appears to be spinning out of control.

I once heard a story about a devotee who asked Srila Prabhupada in his quarters in Vrndavana if he should go into town to mail a letter. Because their plan was to fly out of Delhi later that day, Srila Prabhupada told the devotee to hold the letter until they got to the airport where it could also be mailed. That way, they would save the round trip rickshaw fare from Krishna Balarama Mandir to downtown Vrndavana, which would have amounted to less than a dollar. That is how frugal Srila Prabhupada was with the resources the Lord entrusted to him. Of course, Srila Prabhupada would not spare any expense for the glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but in general he considered going to court throwing good money after bad.

Would Srila Prabhupada have approved of spending millions of dollars on lawsuits where one devotee is attacking another because basically they do not agree on how great Srila Prabhupada is? He would probably compare the epidemic of lawsuits to a fever in the head of our brahminical society. I would expect him to recommend the restoration of standard devotional practices and devotee interaction like sitting and chanting together, going on Sankirtana and working side by side to introduce Krishna consciousness to the innocent public. That would act like medicine to bring this fever down to within a normal temperature range.

I would like to propose to the GBC and all devotees who are litigants against them that a moratorium be declared suspending all legal action that is currently being taken by one party of devotees against another. This enmity between godbrothers is simply a trick of maya to rob the movement of vital funds that are needed to spread Krishna consciousness. It is a symptom of Kali yuga that devotees are quarreling among themselves. This is the material platform. It is like bamboo shoots that rub against each other in the wind and burst into flames from friction. We should be trying to put out the fire instead of pouring gasoline on it. Everyone has to act as the humble servant of the vaisnavas. Those who are in powerful positions should be the most humble of all. No one wants to sue the most humble devotee, but everyone wants to sue the puffed-up leader who thinks he is in control of everything and that everyone should be serving him. These rascals are so proud they cannot even call a godbrother “Prabhu” or value the opinion of a godbrother if it is different from their own.

Interviewer: Is there anything else you would like to suggest to the GBC as far as how they should deal with devotees?

Locanananda dasa: I don’t know if they are interested in anything I have to say, but if I could somehow get their attention, the first thing I would say is that in the future, when they formulate their decisions, they should try to make it evident to everyone that the GBC has re-aligned its agenda to correspond to Srila Prabhupada’s original priorities. Devotees always used to feel joyful when they would hear about Srila Prabhupada’s management decisions. Whether it was a book production marathon he had just initiated, or if he was calling for funds to build temples in India, or if he was announcing a new prasadam distribution program (ISKCON Food Relief), or if he had decided to form the GBC and Book Fund, all of these developments gave devotees reason to rejoice. It has been a long time since the GBC has given us anything to rejoice about, so I am suggesting that every year they include in their resolutions at least one decision that will make devotees happy all over the world and inspire them to become more Krishna conscious. That will help remove the cloud of mistrust that keeps many of us from wanting to become accountable to the GBC.

This year, the GBC made a resolution that the leaders spend 10% of their class time emphasizing varnasrama dharma. That didn’t make devotees happy. What it sounded like was an artificial imposition. Instead, they could have resolved that every GBC zone should have at least one rural project where devotee families can reside if they are not engaged in city preaching. There, they will demonstrate the standard of plain living and high thinking through organic farming and cow protection. They will focus their attention on the worship of the form of Krishna in the temple, the education of children and prasadam distribution to everyone within a ten mile radius. I know that Adiraja Prabhu has something planned along these lines in Michigan, and the Krishna Loka project in Orlando, Florida is incorporating some of these elements, but where is the GBC leadership in these endeavors? It is conspicuous by its absence, and until the GBC can be trusted to represent Srila Prabhupada with transparency, we are all better off if they don’t get in the way.

By making decisions that will enhance the image of our movement and fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s dream to deliver human society from its miserable existence in forgetfulness of Krishna, the GBC could make devotees feel proud again to represent their eternal spiritual master in the execution of his mission. That is the duty of the GBC, not to be spending their valuable time fighting in court with other devotees. I would want them to take whatever money they have set aside for legal fees and use it to create a preaching project where all devotees could work together cooperatively as godbrothers instead of becoming each other’s mortal enemy, stuck in the quagmire of a secular judicial system.

Interviewer: We have to end the fast soon, so what would you like to say to bring today’s interview to a close? We’ll have to save the subject of initiation protocols for another day.

Locanananda dasa: I’ve been looking forward to that one since we started. I know that on the GBC there are a few “heavy-hitters” who pretty much set the tone at the meetings. They like to think of themselves as either successful managers or as ksatriyas protecting Srila Prabhupada’s movement , but actually they are just bullies who enjoy being feared and who demand, rather than command, respect. They want to have every major decision go their way. Somehow, by Krishna’s arrangement, they are the ones in charge of managing the society, but Krishna does not like to see pride in His devotee. He favors the great souls whose only purpose is to chant His glories. He is most pleased with those who surrender their ambitions to become His most humble servant. Truth will always prevail, so we have to always be positioned on the side of truth. That is my advice to members of the GBC who are not “heavy-hitters,” as well as to any devotee who feels it is his duty to point out the deviations and discrepancies in our otherwise perfect leaders. Don’t forget to take a clump of straw between your teeth.

Finally, I want to mention something I heard a few years ago from the Chairman of the GBC (at the time). I was putting forward the point that we should make the order of the spiritual master our life and soul, whether that order is given in a book, a letter or a conversation. I will never forget his response. He said, “You might think this is sacrilegious, but I don’t accept everything Srila Prabhupada said as sacrosanct.” This same mindset was similarly revealed in a statement I heard that attempted to evaluate different levels of Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual authority. First, there are Srila Prabhupada’s books, then his classes, then legal documents signed by Srila Prabhupada, then his letters and, finally, his conversations, or something along those lines.

This debilitated way of seeing the pure devotee is a telltale sign that one is possessed of a hellish intelligence. Every word emanating from the lotus mouth of the spiritual master is a drop of nectar from the spiritual world. Srila Prabhupada is master and we are servant. If you think the words of the spiritual master are not always transcendental vibration, you have become like a fly sitting on the lap of the king. Recently one GBC member wrote that Srila Prabhupada told him to be like the bee, not like the fly. That’s because he had been acting like a fly in his dealings with guests at the temple, and the guests complained about his fly-like behavior to Srila Prabhupada! Srila Prabhupada’s real purpose was to teach his disciple a lesson in humility. Whether or nor he learned that lesson, you be the judge.

The contamination of seeing the spiritual master in an ordinary way is so widespread in our movement that devotees have even voiced their criticism of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, especially his social commentaries, saying they are incorrect, anachronistic and old-fashioned. The same mentality was exposed when the GBC attempted to add endnotes to Srila Prabhupada’s books. It will likely take years of vigorous preaching to remove this poison from our society. We will see whether Krishna empowers His devotees to inject the antidote to this deadly concoction. In any event, rest assured that this dilemma will be resolved by Krishna’s arrangement.

My final thought: Srila Prabhupada said the material world is so contaminated that demons can even enter Vrndavana and harass Krishna’s eternal associates. On the other hand, our movement is supposed to hold back the tide of Kali yuga, just as the moon controls the ocean’s tide. The Hare Krishna movement, if its purity is maintained, will carry throughout the world the tidal wave of love of God. Let us all become carriers of that message, and let those who lead us do so with all of the humility at their command.