5^TH MAY 2000

1. Indian Leaders Endorse IRM Position That GBC Confused
2. Bogus 'Living Guru' Project Continues To Sink
3. Alleged Child Abuser Continues to Act as 'Sum Total of Demi-Gods'

You may remember that in our newsletter no.16, sent out on the 16th April, we reported how our earlier newsletters had forced GBC climbdowns on issues regarding the showing of their 'Disciple of My Disciple' video and also regarding Srila Prabhupada's Samadhi Fund. In the same newsletter we also highlighted how the GBC's position on the Guru issue is hopelessly confused and contradictory. By co-incidence 2 days later the ICC (Indian Continental Committee) held a meeting at ISKCON Ahmdehabad on April 18-19th. The ICC is the most powerful body on the Indian continent, composed of all the Temple Presidents, GBC, Gurus and Regional Secretaries, who between them run the Indian Yatra. As a sign of the changing times in ISKCON, for the first time in ISKCON's history, the majority of the attendees where either formal IRM members or very closely allied to the IRM. This fact was reflected in the resolutions that were passed at the meeting. Having read in our newsletter that how the GBC actually have no position, and therefore they are already defeated since there is nothing to defeat, in a lightning response to our newsletter, the ICC passed the following resolution:

"Resolved that, whereas there are four official papers endorsed by the GBC on issues of Gurus and Initiations, the ICC requests the GBC body to publish a single position paper on the issues of gurus and initiations in Iskcon which will eliminate any confusion which may exist in the current understanding and practices in Iskcon. "

This resolution was passed no objections and only 1 abstention.

Please note how they have borrowed the whole point from our newsletter even mentioning the 'four official papers' that we referred to.

This again is the amazing influence of our newsletter that ISKCON leaders in India immediately took note and acted. Added together with the two climbdowns forced by our newsletter already referred to at the beginning, this is further proof, if any was needed, on the growing influence of the most widely circulated electronic newsletter in ISKCON.

Another resolution passed concerned the famous Kumbha Mela festival. 
This is the largest festival in the world attracting over 20 million pilgrims, and the full festival is held every 12 years. Srila Prabhupada attended in 1977, the next one is due to take place early next year. Consequently our preaching at this festival will be by far the biggest preaching project in the history of ISKCON. A committee was set up to run this project, but 3 of the most important posts are those of the Chairman, Head of Planning - who plans the whole festival from start to finish and his plans are then simply executed by the rest of the committee - and the Head of Finance . 

Many GBC members had expressed grave doubts about allowing the participation of 'ritviks' in this project, being as it is the most important in ISKCON's history. You can judge for yourself whether or not the ICC followed the advice of the GBC by the noting the names of the following temple presidents who were elected unanimously by the ICC to the 3 most important positions as mentioned above:

Khumba Mela Festival Committee:

Co-Chairman - Mahaman Das (Temple President Vrindavan)
Head of Planning - Adridharana Das (Temple President Calcutta)
Head of Finance - Madhu Pandit Das (Temple President Bangalore)

(In case you have not got the connection, all 3 are members of the IRM!)

The final slap in the face for the GBC came from the following resolution that was passed regarding life membership. India as you may know has over 
100,000 life members and contains most of the ISKCON life members in the world. Dealing and caring for them correctly is an extremely important function considering the amount of money that they have donated to our society, over and above their membership fees. And who did the Indian Yatra choose to oversee such an important task? The following resolution which was passed unanimously tells us:

"Life Patronship :

A commission was formed for the purpose of doing all that is necessary to study as thoroughly as possible the problems of Life Membership and to come up with recommendations to solve the problems. The commission will be headed by Madhu Pandit Das and will include Devakinandan Das and Jasomatinandan Das. "

Far from being the outcasts that the GBC would like everyone to believe, we can see that the IRM are playing extremely vital and key roles in the Indian Yatra, and this is recognised by the WHOLE yatra.

Having had the bogus 'living guru' project foisted onto us for the last 23 years, having assured us that Srila Prabhupada was 'dead', it seems that even the disciples of these 'living gurus' no longer seem to be that eager to get the association of the ''dynamic' instruction that only these 'physically' present gurus can give us:

(The above refers to the Bhakti Caru Swami Tape Ministry)

It seems that demand for these 'living' lectures is so poor that they have literally had to resort to giving the stuff away for free! This embarrassment follows fast on the heels of the ongoing fiasco of the 'Jayapataka Swami Electronic Ministry', where orders are so low that it is on the verge of bankruptcy. Demand is so low that disciples have been sending in the 'reasons for not subscribing' on COM!

As we say at the end of our newsletter:

'Srila Prabhupada - Accept No Substitutes'.

It seems the writing is on the wall for the bogus Guru project, as more and more devotees refuse to accept any substitute for Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada ki jai!

Last week-end Dhanudhara Swami, the ISKCON Guru and Sannyasi, who has had extremely serious allegation of Child Abuse levelled against him, initiated 17 disciples in New York State. According to Dhira Govinda, the head of the ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection, the allegations would appear to be very detailed and many in number:

"The file on this case is very large (The three small notebook files I delivered to Dhanurdhara Maharaja in Mayapur are not even five percent of the entire file)."
(Dhira Govinda)

Yet Dhanudara seems to be carrying on with business as usual. It maybe pointed out that the investigation against him has not been completed, and that he is 'innocent until proven guilty'. However please note the action that the Child Protection Office took recently against one Maha Mantra dasa (Matthew Zacharais) from Canada. Here without any investigation, simply on the basis of the testimony of his wife, immediate sanctions were placed on him:

"Based on reports the Child Protection Office (CPO) has received concerning Maha Mantra dasa (Matthew Zacharais), a white-bodied person who has recently been in Canada and who took initiation from Satsvarupa Maharaja, the CPO recommends that Maha Mantra does not have any contact with an ISKCON temple, ISKCON school, ISKCON project, or any ISKCON-affiliated organization."

Also considering the sensitivity of the situation, with Gurukulis having been attacked or been prevented from attacking Dhanudara Swami in the past, as well as the impending gurukuli lawsuit, you would have thought having a high-profile alleged child abuser prancing around as if nothing has happened would not be the best course of action. It certainly will not help ISKCON's position in any future child abuse court case.

It will be interesting to find out if Dhanudara's actions have GBC approval.
We have asked the GBC to comment but have yet to receive a reply. If he is acting with the GBC approval, then it is clear that there is much more leniency applied when it is a Guru who is accused of child abuse. As far as the GBC would be concerned he is still fully qualified to be treated as the 'sum total of all the demi-gods' and to take any disciples back home to godhead. It also makes a mockery of their recent pious pronouncements regarding how ISKCON is taking child abuse seriously. This would follow on from the last fiasco where the GBC had chosen the convicted child abuser Satyadhanya Das, to represent them in the High Court in Calcutta, in probably the most important court case the GBC will ever face. It seems nothing has changed, and our assessment that any recent steps taken by the GBC in regard to child abuse are merely cosmetic to try and appease gurukulis from taking them to the cleaners in any impending law-suit is correct. There is no real sincerity or compassion here .

And even if Dhanudara is acting against some official GBC policy - where is the worldwide statement from them telling us how he is behaving in a deviant fashion? They weren't slow in making pronouncements in the case of Maha Mantra dasa. It would also confirm that the GBC is totally impotent in policing its gurus. And if they cannot even get someone like Dhanudara to behave - what value do they add to the society?

Either way the whole affair looks bad for the GBC. How long can anyone continue to support such a corrupt body, for whom the enormous damage done to all the children in our society really doesn't seem to mean anything to them other than another pain in the neck lawsuit they will have to deal with?

THE GBC CAN NEVER WIN ANY DEBATE ON THE 'GURU ISSUE' BECAUSE THEY DO NOT EVEN HAVE A POSITION TO DEBATE. IF THEY EVER WERE TO PUT FORWARD A POSITION THEY COULD BE DEFEATED SIMPLY BY QUOTING A CURRENT AND OFFICIAL GBC PAPER BACK TO THEM.

SRILA PRABHUPADA - ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES 

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please keep your letters, and e-mail addresses of other devotees who should be added to our list, flowing in. A hard copy of our main position paper 'The Final Order' is available on request. 

If you would like to receive any of the back issues of the Newsletter please let me know.

No 1. Invitation to Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja
No 2. GBC Lose First Round of Court Case 
No 3. The Story VNN Refused to Publish 
No 4. Poison Theorists Accuse Adri of Complicity 
No 5. Iskcon Continues to Promote Child Abusers 
No 6. Invitation to Malaysia 
No 7. United World Body Formed 
No 8. Does Srila Prabhupada Support Poisoning Theory?
No 9. PADA Attacks IRM Position 
No 10. PADA Continues to Present False Evidence 
No 11. GBC Funded Video says Ritvik Spiritual 
No 12. Child Rapist Selected by Gurus to Defend their Legitimacy 
No 13. GBC Facing Perjury Charge in Calcutta High Court 
No 14. Sahajiyaism Makes a Comeback in Iskcon.
No 15. Govt. Minister Inaugurates Bangalore Rathayatra 
No 16. Iskcon Calcutta Triumphs Following Arson Attack 
No 17. Fighting Lies with Truth Not More Lies
No 18. GBC Resolutions Continue to Provide Laughter