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EDITORIAL March 26, 2000 VNN5751 Related VNN Stories Human Compassion BY MAHAVEGAVATI DASI EDITORIAL, Mar 26 (VNN) — Dear LalaGopal prabhu, Hare Krsna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. PAMFO I hope you are well. (Your name is so familiar. Have we actually met each other?) With regard to your letter, and previous posts on VNN, I was so sickened to hear of the abuse by Mahamantra on his wife Mother Shanta prabhu. It is also so sickening the fact that as a devotee community we do not address such issues UNTIL they get so out of hand, either due to our being such cowards, or due to our being so dull in consciousness, that Krsna conscious compassion, (or even human compassion), has not sunk into us yet, UNTIL things reach such a level of abomination. I think it is terrible that the devotees in Saranagati did not do something earlier about this situation.
I even wonder if your submitting your post, "Killed By Friendly Fire" will wake devotees up in terms of possible future abuses in the devotee community as a whole. (After all, we have such a BAD record already in ITS GON, and sadly, in cases like this, many devotees have such an OPPOSITE reaction that one would expect a normal person to have.) But maybe, hopefully, your post will wake at least some devotees up. I certainly HOPE so.) I am hoping that, as you said, at least "a few" devotees ARE taking this battering seriously. Amazingly enough, our ITS GON leaders certainly DON'T take these things seriously unless it has a direct affect on their OWN concerns, (name, fame, money; ultimately, sense gratification, be it subtle and/or gross). They have already PROVED themselves to be SO INcompetent in this regard, or worse, in that they just do NOT care about the devotees. To be honest, I am convinced that it is because of their offenses to devotee that they have become THAT covered over that they do not care about the devotees because that ability to be empathetic has been taken away from their consciousness, (if it was there in some of them in the first place). You say, "I admit that our response may be a little late. I have been pondering the question as to, why we as a devotee community haven't taken this issue seriously before this?" Yes, it is a very difficult thing to understand, especially if devotees actually knew about the abuse. (What is even worse, is when they know about the abuse, do nothing about it, do nothing about helping the victim, and speak out in defense of the abuser. It is almost as if it is insane.) And from what I understand, at least some, if not many, devotees were aware of the abuse, including Mother Padyavali and Vipramukhya Swami. But even though this issue was not addressed responsibly earlier, as the old saying goes, "Better late than never." You said, "I have received various responses from devotees concerning the issue. Here's a few examples 2) It's not our business to find fault. 4) A devotee should not be angry. 5) Defending the victims is contaminated with our own frustration so in fact how much of that is for real. 6) Mahamantra needs to be sheltered 11) We need to get down to the root cause of the Iskcon problem before we deal with this problem." 2) "It's not our business to find fault." This goes to show that we as practicing devotees do NOT know HOW to apply the philosophy correctly. Srila Prabhupada did NOT tolerate abuse of devotees, and when abuse of devotees was brought to Srila Prabhupada's attention in several cases, (Taittreya's abuses of devotees in NYC, a devotee husband beating his wife - just to name a few instances), Srila Prabhupada dealt with it. He did NOT say, "Don't find fault." 4) "A devotee should not be angry." Oh really? Didn't Krsna Himself tell Arjuna to fight? And Srila Prabhupada explained that in order to fight, one MUST become angry. It is NOT that a devotee doesn't become angry; rather, a devotee becomes PROPERLY angry. One SHOULD become angry when devotees are being abused. Lord Caitanya became angry when Lord Nityananda was hit by Madhai. And Hanuman was angry to see Mother Sita held by Ravana in the Asoka garden. It was in this anger that Hanuman set fire to Lanka. So YES, a devotee DOES become angry, PROPERLY angry. Angry for Krsna, and angry for the protection of Krsna's devotees. (Real devotees.) 5) "Defending the victims is contaminated with our own frustration so in fact how much of that is for real." Why don't we stop "worrying" about the possible "contamination" that might enter into our addressing these very REAL abuses, and instead worry about the reality that so many devotees are suffering such abuses due to the atrocitites of ONE particular person, (at least in this particular case). These suffering devotees include Mahamantra's wife, children and other devotees. Have we become THAT CRAZY that we can no longer give proper discrimination to things? 6) "Mahamantra needs to be sheltered" Yes, he certainly does. And what is that shelter? He needs to be sheltered so that he will NOT commit any more offenses like this towards his wife, children, and other devotees. And that shelter is that he should NOT be allowed to be placed into a situation where he will be facilitated to commit such offenses. Shelter may also mean that he should be allowed to go through the necessary reactions in this lifetime for his sinful acts so that he will not have to suffer greater, worse reactions in future lives for his atrocities, not knowing the exact reason(s) why he is suffering those reactions. Helping to place him into an environment where he will NOT be able to commit any more atrocities of this nature, THAT is mercy, not our sentimental whimsy. If he is that offensive, then it is best that he NOT be in the direct association of other devotees. ANYONE ANYWHERE can chant Hare Krsna and can make advancement if they are sincere. 11) "We need to get down to the root cause of the Iskcon problem before we deal with this problem." Yes, we SURE do need to get down to the root cause of the ISKCON problem, but why not deal with those problems that we ARE able to deal with immediately. Part of the ISKCON problem is that 1) enough of the devotees in this movement NOT having a proper understanding of even the BASICS of the Krsna conscious philosophy, thus we do not even deal with such immediate problems concerning such human abuses, 2) our being so STUPIDLY apathetic, 3) the leaders being so MATERIALLY motivated and contaminated, and... But let's not worry about all of these things. Let's work on that which we CAN work on and that which we CAN address. There are NO excuses. We talk about women being submissive, surrendered faithful, etc. We also speak about protection of women. Well, the practical FACT in this movement, is that when so many women are submissive, surrendered faithful, etc. they end up ABUSED. Abused by either IMproper, abusive (and often insane), husbands, or ITS GON authorities, who fall into the same catagory. Sad, but TRUE. WHEN oh WHEN oh WHEN are the ITS GON leaders going to get things together as Srila Prabhupada WANTED them to? Or are they too busy in their being overly concerned about their own selfish desires to do this? You say, "Why shouldn't a devotee show anger? If we see another devotee being hurt shouldn't we show own "Lion" side? What to speak of vulnerable woman and defenceless children?" YES, a devotee WILL address such issues, and WILL show anger. (We see this in the scriptures. Even Prthu Maharaj became angry at Mother Bhumi when she was witholding her grains, and there are so many other examples.) And you go on to say, "As Krsna Devata so aptly put it, 'Didn't Lord Nrsingadeva appear to kill the child abuser, Hiranyakashipu?'" Yes, Lord Nrsimhadev certainly did. Well, maybe it seems that our devotees are "waiting" for Krsna to come and address these issues as not too many devotees, (at least those in positions of authority), are doing too much, (if anything), to address them, and often enough, they themselves are the abusers in some cases. We also know that Krsna on the battlefield at Kuruksetra TOLD Arjuna to take on the duty of fighting. What are we expecting? That Krsna should be OUR servant and clean up OUR messes? LalaGopal prabhu goes on to say, "Yes! I am guilty of not being pure in my motivations to help Shanta. Yes I publicly make the claim that I am frustrated and maybe just a tad jealous that I didn't get the help or sympathy that I so desperately needed, when I asked for it years back. Does that mean because my motivations are not abolutely pure that I should not help other woman in similar situations. In my books it makes me even more responsible to help and more determined because I have first hand experience. I know how much the abuse hurts not only physically but how the emotional scars take a life time to heal. What to speak of how it affects our spiritual lives!" Definitely agreed upon in ALL respects. Are we THAT dense that we STILL, after SO MANY abuse cases in ITS GON of which we ARE aware, turn a deaf ear, a blind eye, a closed mouth? How long are we going to IGNORE these things? IT IS DISGUSTING. IT IS INSANE. It is NOT Vaisnava. And Srila Prabhupada himself would be DISGUSTED to hear of such lunacy on the part of ITS GON's devotees. "Here is what really ticks me off. Why do our leaders feel it their DUTY to be leanient with the criminals? Why do they hate us women so much that they will side with a man who jumps with both feet on a eight and a half pregnant woman's belly? Up to this point the leaders have barely given MAHAMANTRA A SLAP ON THE WRIST!" Well Mataji, I would have to answer with either of these answers: 1) They themselves are criminals. 2) They have become that much covered over by their impure desires and/or offenses to devotees that they have become that sick themselves that they have lost even their HUMAN sense of compassion, (what to speak of Vaisnava sense of compassion), and 3) that they themselves are afflicted with the sickness of abusiveness towards others, that they will NOT address abuse of devotees. Or, they are so sickened with their position, power, money, etc. that these things just don't fit into their schema of things. "And Hari Vilasa appears to think that he is making a big stand by stating on Chakra, that Mahamantra is not allowed to represent Iskcon in any way at the Vancouver temple, but he can still come to the temple but not be in the limelight! What about the other temples in his jurisdiction?" Oh Krsna! Need anything more be said? Hari Vilas is just another one of those GBC whatevers. Duryodhana chose and got Krsna's army but the Pandavas chose and got Krsna. Chakra is the representation of Duryodhana and the GBC are representations of the evils of Kali Yuga with regard to false spiritual leaders. So naturally this would be "fitting," Hari Vilas speaking on Chakra in such a matter, and Chakra putting it up. (Hey, after all the big boss of Chakra criticizes Krsna's pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada, so WHAT can you expect? It ALL fits in "perfectly". And so many of the GBC leaders sat by and let the bad-mouthing of Srila Prabhupada go on, some of them even defending the person's right to speak out in such a way, and chastizing devotees who called her out.) Well, I think we can be sure of one thing: If we as devotees do not address such issues, Lord Nrsimhadev in SOME Form will come and address these issues, and we may NOT be happy when He does, depending on which side we are of these issues. I remain your servant, Mahavegavati Dasi Hare Krsna About the Author  Other Stories by this AuthorRelated VNN Stories Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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