TEMPLATE FOR A FRESH SOCIETY - The Following is a thought Process put together by myself and friends and is open to your input.

For those who want to contribute please quote the section so we can update and incorporate your points.

For those who agree or disagree with Srila Prabhupa for those who agree or disagree with me and for those who disagree with each other, here is an opportunity that we may agree on.

Please have the patience to read through, and in the end the field for cooperation and convergence is wide open.

Many years ago, I heard a "Prabhupada said" Some who have been around for a while might have heard it as well. It goes like this, "There may come a time when the temples are no longer here and books may not be so easily accessible. Your association with others of like mind may be limited. Then you will be on your own and your connection with Krsna will be tested" Whether this is the exact quote or not, the reality of a world and life as we have known it might become vastly different considering the spiritual, political, and economic realities that are clashing and heading towards Earth like fiery comets.

Pressures of scarce energy sources, growing environmental stress and disruption; an out of control rising population; vast inequalities of income; and world wide economies that are based on nothing other than imaginary accounting; are stark realities. They are the devolution spawned from Godless leadership and ignorant religions, that have been in control far too long.

Those who presently rule the world engage in a wanton destruction of nature. They propagate the illusion that consuming everything on Earth in the fire of raging greed is what it means to be alive and successful. They are setting fire to their house to stay warm. Pathology reigns. They measure success by GDP, gross domestic product that calculates how fast we consume all of the natural resources of the earth.

Prabhupada showed how to keep one foot in the spiritual world and one foot here. He was very well aware of the abuses of power going on in the world. He expected us to resolve our differences and get on with the real work of relieving the distress of the Earth-as Krsna did when she cried for Him. He wanted his people to be scientists and politicians, philosophers and philanthropists. He cried for the trees, he cried for the cows, he cried for the poor and unfortunate. He cried for us to wake up.

Men slaughter dolphins, thank God for the cow on their plates, mutilate the yonis of women and sell young girls into slavery and loveless marriages. Where ever we are today in this moment, whatever we have been through so far, our dharma now clearly is to cooperate in bringing about an alternative to domination by illusion and ill will.

May every one of us be empowered to bring about the change.

Going kinetic

In physics, potential energy or stored energy is its ability to develop or come into existence. Kinetic energy is released when the object is set in motion. In regards to what we are talking about, the maha mantra is supposed to set things in motion. Chanting, along with philosophical discussions and meditations set internal energies in motion. Being loving, is the pinnacle of expression of these practices. It is the kinetic, visible success of bhakti yoga.

However, too often instead of bhakti being a "full chakra experience" so to speak, information gets stuck in the head without even energizing the heart chakra. Thus whites are not allowed to see the Lord in Jagannath Puri, women are seen as inferior, 'devotees' use shastra to kill each other on the internet, and disciples perform guru bashing. At one temple the disciples of one guru were not even offered prasadam. And by the way, how are those who propagate rittvik philosophy so sure that Prabhupada even wants more disciples? Did you ask him if it was all right to keep piling on karmic responsibility?

The idea we imbibed from Prabhupada was to envision a God centered society that was broad in its scope of all varnas and not limited by monastic blinders or hierarchical complexes. I give again the example of Rupa Ragunnath who has done so much in setting up schools, clinics, food programs, etc in Vrndavana, but was criticized by certain sannyasis, as being outside of 'Prabhupada's vision' by performing mundane humanitarian work. As such he took his success outside of ISKCON but is loved by people all over Vrndavana.

Tonight we are taking the potential/kinetic paradigm to group discussion using a template of a Charter for our present time home planet and all her inhabitants. Yoga practitioners who have linked with Krsna's Heart and Mind, want to design a "world that works for all."

Reorganizing Society

Envision being isolated from all that is considered home, temple or sanctuary. You find yourself with a group of strangers looking to reorganize their lives. You have been practicing bhakti yoga for 40 years. What will you do to play your part in creating a new society? Here is something to organize your spirituality, intelligence, mind and heart.

For those who have been contributing to these dialogues this is a chance to work together for the common good. Your input might even be helpful to the betterment of ISKCON. What follows is a template we can work on together to design a Charter for a world that works for all. Contribute to whatever part you wish to write about:

TEMPLATE FOR A FRESH SOCIETY

PREAMBLE
We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future holds great peril and great promise.

We must recognize that in the midst of a diversity of cultures we are one human family and one Earth community with both a common spiritual and earth bound destiny. We live in a reality of being simultaneously one but different.

We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for our common origin, nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we declare our responsibility to the Creator and the creation, to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.

I. RESPECT AND CARE FOR THE SANCTITY OF ALL LIFE

Suggestions

• Recognition of our Common Origin
• Respect of Earth and life in all its diversity.
• Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and love.
• Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful.
• Secure Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future generations.
• Follow a timeline to reduce fossil fuel dependency and usage.
• Invest in Solar, Wind, and Bio-fuel technologies instead of War technologies.
• A Declaration of Independence from the mind, false ego, and institutions of all kinds which foster divisiveness and superiority.

II. ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY

Suggestions
• Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life.
• Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection.
• Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, and community well-being.
• Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of this essential knowledge.

III. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Suggestions
• The first principle of artha, economic wellbeing, is that regardless of nation, race, or spiritual inclination, respect and honor for our Mother- the Earth is the first amongst laws.
• Everyone has the right to a healthy, fulfilling life. As such no person or institution shall manipulate or enslave the mind or body of another to gain dominance. Those who create poverty are considered anti-earth.
• As a needed step towards balance, animals must be protected from human insensitivity.
• It is our responsibility, when increasing the size of the human community, to be accurate in understanding the requirements of loving parenthood.
• Gender equality and equity are to be considered prerequisites to sustainable life.
• Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.
• Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.
• Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.
• Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.

IV. DEMOCRACY, NONVIOLENCE, AND PEACE

Suggestions
• Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice.
• Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life, advancement of spiritual harmony.
• Treat all living beings with respect and consideration. Reduce the slaughter of animals to an absolute minimum.
• Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.
• Provide transparency and accountability in government, religious or economic institutions.
• Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life in a God centered society.

V. OVERSIGHT OF GLOBAL HAPPINESS INDICATORS

Suggestions
• Create a global alliance that ensures, through empowerment of resources and technology that each country promotes continuous improvement of human happiness through environmental integrity.
• Create standard indicators for human and global happiness eg.
• Life Expectancy Indicator
• Life Satisfaction Indicator
• Ecological Footprint Indicator
• Ethnic and Religious Harmony Indicator
• Crop, Flock and Herd Wellness Indicators
• Create efficient trading route maps and calendars that insure minimal carbon footprint between production and consumers.
• Manage Human Migration Opportunities to balance local resources with population density.

VI. CORPORATE AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTES, GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY, LEGISLATION AND TAXATION.

Suggestions
• Empower a global body funded by corporations and financial Institutes through centralized global taxation; this body will invest in humanitarian happiness, equilibrium and environmental and ecological stabilization.
• The fostering of Democratic Societies, that promotes the good of all.
• To enter the field of business, an education in the sustainable use of natural resources, will be required.

VII. ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS HARMONY AND CONGRUENCY

Suggestions
• Empower a Global Governing Body funded through Governmental taxation to Regulate Religious bodies, insuring and implementing religious and ethnic harmony and tolerance.
• Eradicate religious fanaticism, hatred and bigotry through a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that allows a onetime Amnesty on conditions of reform.
• Intelligent design should be the basis by which Theism and Atheism can coexist in search of Truth.
• Care for all life by expressing our higher nature thru understanding, acceptance and compassion. Those who foster hate and profess a warring mentality are considered pathological.
• In regards to religious or social practices, any group that fosters the vision of a common cause leading to the good of all and which generates peace, is acceptable.
• The government’s responsibility is to protect against any group that fosters divisiveness and greed.

THE WAY FORWARD

As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning. This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of universal responsibility. We must imaginatively develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life internally, locally, nationally, regionally, and globally.
We have much to learn from the ongoing collaborative search for truth and wisdom where cooperation must keep competition in check.

Life often involves tensions between important values. Even to find a non violent way to feed humanity will meet with great challenges. However, we must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with long-term goals. Every individual, family, organization, and community has a vital role to play.

The arts, sciences, religions, educational institutions, media, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and governments are all called to offer creative leadership. The partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for effective governance.

Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for the Supreme and all forms of life.

Life After ISCKON (part 4)

GG: People have asked about your relationship with Narayana Maharaja. Do you care to comment?

B: Maharaja and I have been friends for years. I feel he genuinely sees himself as Prabhupāda’s siksha disciple and I know how much Prabhupāda considered him to be a confidential associate. That he has been alienated from Prabhupāda’s movement, would be an embarrassment to Śrīla Prabhupāda to say the least. Prabhupāda would be more inclined to chastise his own disciples for such harsh treatment and disrespect of a saintly man, than to chastise and prohibit him from lecturing in his temples because of perceived philosophical differences. It is good that the GBC met with him and apologized for the way they first reacted when they told him he wasn’t welcome in ISCKON temples. Nonetheless, he is still banned. So what is the point of an apology with no change in the status quo? When will a shift occur in which all of Krishna’s devotees can honor Krishna, Prabhupāda and each other under one roof? Spiritual eyes see the common good rather than an opportunity to fight over perceived differences.

There are so few people propagating Krishna Bhakti in this world, yet how is it that so many talented people cannot work together? In the room conversation of May 28th, Prabhupāda advises to “do things cool headed” and “take advice from Krsna”. After all, Narayana Maharaja is not an impersonalist. He is not a proponent of ritvik philosophy. He is a genuine Vedic scholar, a rasika vaisnava and a lifetime, heartfelt devotee of Gauranga and Prabhupāda. If he wasn’t rejected for statements taken out of context and wrongly insulted by the GBC, he would have been a valuable asset to Prabhupāda’s ISCKON mission. Despite all of this, he still serves his siksha guru, Śrīla Prabhupāda with palpable devotion. Despite the endless health challenges he continually faces at his advanced age, he is following the ways of Prabhupāda- translating books, traveling, preaching and inspiring many to take up spiritual life with a new hope and enthusiasm.

At first, when so many leaders were approaching him for continued education in Vedic literature, it was a simple exchange. When he made the fatal statement in Vrndavana that Prabhupāda didn’t give us everything, it was taken as an insult although Prabhupāda said, “even understanding one syllable, can enlighten you”. If knowledge of Krishna is unlimited, how can any one give everything? ISKCON leadership reacted harshly and he felt offended and reacted by not caring for their authority. He was obviously hurt because he felt his service to Prabhupāda and his intent was attacked and unappreciated. Prabhupāda told us that Indians are very delicate and sensitive and once the plate is cracked it is hard to repair. Maharaja, saw so many former ISKCON devotees alienated from the ISCKON movement and he tried to maintain their health and well being. Of course when disciples of other gurus were given new names, it became inflammatory.

I don’t say that I agree with everything he or his following did or said in those highly charged times, but that is where everyone’s spiritual maturity and chanting is tested after 40 years. I believe if Prabhupāda read some of the vociferous letters written about him, he would be very, very sad and angry. He never allowed us to openly put down his godbrothers.

How can a devotee practicing for a year be allowed to give a lecture in Prabhupāda’s temple, but Narayana Maharaja, one of Prabhupāda’s dear friends, cannot? Who do you think knows more? Who do you think Prabhupāda would want to sit and hear from more? How can someone who allowed boys to be violently beaten in the Vrndavan School in India and who allowed his twisted assistant to do the same, be allowed to be a guru and lecture in ISCKON temples, but not Narayana Maharaja? It seems somewhat hypocritical doesn’t it? So much for Prabhupāda building a house that everyone can live in. So much for fear and judgment dominating devotion. Rejecting him is rejecting Prabhupāda’s personal concern for his disciples. The details of resolving philosophical points and his working with ISKCON are issues that could have found a much better solution. For one thing, Prabhupāda wanted a GBC and the maths favor acaryas. So for certain, that needed to be addressed to form a satisfying alliance.



GG: There is an opportunity in the West Virginia community of New Vrndavana to lease their land out to the natural gas companies. What do you think about that?

B: This is temptation in its most vicious form. For money they are selling their Mother into slavery and going to the temple to worship Radharani. How do they think anything good or auspicious can come from being in bed with the earth plundering, petrochemical industry who are among the biggest polluters on Earth? They should be protectors of the Earth and represent Krishna. The people of New York resisted these rakshasas. When the gas corporations wanted to drill and fracture the earth in the Catskills where the source of water for New York City came from, the people of New York took them to court and demanded to know what chemicals were going to be used. The companies refused to reveal the dangerous compounds and moved out of N.Y. into the poor redneck areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

All the years of sacrifice to build that community are now going for pollution royalties. Natural gas drilling is going on all over the world and creating wastelands. Where drilling is taking place, people can hold a match to their faucets and ignite the water. Any religion or person who claims to be spiritual, but has no connection to the environment is atheistic.



GG: What would you like to say to those who saw you as their leader or guru?

B: Thank you for all your effort, for all your talent, for your support and your devotion. I know I disappointed you from my sudden and shocking departure. I know you felt betrayed and abandoned. I can tell you that these past years have put me through the fire of ordeal, but have brought many insights that I could not have gotten otherwise. I am open to hearing from you and to working on what remains to be healed. In this regard I want to thank you (GG), Vaishnav and Ishana for setting up the webpage, blog and Facebook.



GG: Wherever I travel your old friends and students ask if you are open to communicate and give some counseling?

B: My Saturn period, which began shortly after I left and is ending this March, marked a great change in my direction. It caused me to take things apart and look at everything much deeper - to evaluate and re-evaluate - to redefine my beliefs and myself. I don’t expect everyone to understand my process, but I own it. If anyone wants to genuinely communicate, I am open to that now.

It always amused me how after someone left ISKCON, the entire legacy of their service was rejected and by that I don’t mean just gurus. I know in my former zone, pictures were destroyed, tapes confiscated and in an attempt to keep order, I was zeroed out. However what goes around comes around. If someone is unforgiving, they may find themselves needing forgiveness and being denied. I may not sound or look the same as 25 years ago, but I have gained more balance.



GG: How do you see your relationship with Prabhupāda now?

B:

He is my gift that keeps on giving.
He opened my eyes to see how all things are connected to a common Origin.
He opened my ears to hear Krishna.
He has shown me how God is Two and also One.
He brought out my creativity.
His determination is my inspiration.
He brought me around the world and gave me awesome friends and students.
He made me a speaker.
He made me a leader.
He taught me how to build.
He taught me how to print.
He taught me how to write.
He taught me how to sing.
He taught me how to pray.
He taught me how to eat.
He taught me how to sleep.
He taught me how to manage.
He taught me compassion.
He taught me gratitude.
He gave me a vision of a better world. He taught me how to leave this world.

Life After ISCKON, Interview part 3

GG: How do you look at the sannyas ashrama now?

B: Let me preface some things first before answering that question. I firmly believe that the healing process, call it self-realization, must be centered around reconnecting with God the Father and Goddess the Mother. Prabhupāda introduced us to Mahaprabhu’s teaching that God is Two. We have original cause separation issues not only with God as Father but God as Mother. We have separated from the Two for reasons we must find within ourselves, through the self-realization process. The enlightened souls help us know the transcendent Male and Female nature of the Source that we are part and parcel of and of our patterns that deepen the separation.

With that being said, through self-realization, our eyes open to reintegrate our own male and female, (yin and yang polarities), being part and parcel of Them. The male (yang) polarity is our ability to understand truth thru the vision of spirit, while our female (yin) polarity feels truth thru the emotional will and body. Feelings, emotions, desires and free will, are the feminine side that is often mistrusted and made out to be the lower or inferior aspect of the self. It is not so. This apprehension is reflected outwardly by the inability of men to balance or compliment women and is further expressed as male dominated, patriarchal governments, societies and religions that in one way or another suppresses and try to diminish the female energy.

With that in mind, I feel that sannyas if taken, should be at the end of life, after learning how to truly balance with the feminine energy. Often times the preaching by sannyasis about women is based on a broad stroke of fear and judgment. For the most part, I don’t feel sannyas is a helpful, healthy or safe choice for most young men.



GG: What are your thoughts about the grhastha ashrama?

B: There are probably as many separations and divorces within ISKCON as outside. You cannot put two people together in marriage just because they are practicing bhakti yoga anymore than marrying two people who are practicing any other type of yoga. There is a learning curve to understanding your partner that cannot be experienced by pushing a fast forward button with a fire yajna and instruction by the priest saying no divorce. Such expectations for success can be a serious gamble.

Individuals hardly understand their own personal issues before they get married. If marriage is the only option for people to be intimate without extended time together, it is a high-risk investment of your life. The children that come from unprepared relationships are at risk because of divorce. Often, a child comes when all a couple really wanted was to experience each other sexually. Yet, they couldn’t do that without guilt, because sex was considered “only for having children”. Relationships can become a pitri dish for growing neurosis when there is guilt intertwined with sex.

The way of sexuality is described in depth in the Kama Sutras. At its height, sexuality is meant to be a meditation in pleasing and understanding your partner and simultaneously opening a channel to God and the creative and healing force within each person. All are meant to be satisfied. After all, sex is part of the creation and the Creators cannot be separated from Their Creation. Spiritual sex opens the heart and mind to receiving information and communication. It is not simply an itch that needs to be scratched. As we invite God into our food, our thoughts, our meditation, our work, sex is no exception. If however, you judge all sex other than for procreation as a weakness or as being illicit, you deny you are part and parcel of the sexual energy of God. Anything can be misused and abused. Spirituality means not denying God’s presence and involvement in anything we do.

When partners have an accurate awareness of each other and have experienced freeing one another from blockages, they have a good foundation for bringing children into the world. Birthing each other comes before birthing a child. Then there is greater likelihood both parents will stay together and the child can experience what being balanced looks and feels like.



GG: Some time ago you got involved in the BBT legal case. What prompted you to participate?

B: I was approached initially by Gupta to become involved, because of my being an original BBT trustee. Hansadutta, who was also a BBT trustee; was using his position to print books in Malayasia, independent of the present BBT directors. A lawsuit resulted. It got so insane that ‘devotees’ from one camp literally burned thousands of Bhagavad Gitas from the other camp.

Originally I declined to be involved, because of past conflicts with Hansadutta. One day when I was at the Los Angeles temple, I met Swavasa, the temple president. He looked especially glum and I asked him what was happening. He told me he had come from a 10 hour deposition in the case that had cost thousands of dollars. When I learned from Gupta that hundreds of thousands of dollars were actually being spent by ISKCON from BBT funds, I was incredulous. I thought about how Prabhupāda had told us in his room that “every paisa should be spent cautiously”. So I felt impelled to help him end the squandering, which was being done in his name, by people who could never have collected such sums themselves, nor have the courage to ask Prabhupāda directly for such sums. Lacking the ability to find enlightened spiritual solutions, people resort to guns or legal guns to procure limited success.



GG: You may be aware that there has been a ten year court battle between ISKCON authorities and the management of the Bangelore Temple and millions have been spent.

B: Prabhupāda wrote in his diary when he first came to New York, that he received a few dollars donation from one of his guests so he was able to go out and buy chapati flour to offer to Krishna. When I was GBC in India, he chastised us for being a few paisas off in the bank reconciliation. Prabhupāda hated waste and squandering. Evidently those signing the checks are convinced that he approves going to court is the only way to resolve this conflict

Going to court is gambling, regardless of how airtight you think your case is. Gambling is something to be avoided when dispensing laxmi, especially laxmi that belongs to your guru. The courts are often no better than gambling casinos. Not being KC enough to call forth the Deity or guru’s presence into the quandary necessitates this wasteful misuse of laxmi to the lawyers. This is the state of affairs today. The leadership does not see how they are causal in bringing any of this about.

The challenge here is that there are two opposing forces to everything. Two opposing ISKCONS, two opposing sets of GBC, two philosophies of initiations, two sets of Prabhupāda’s giving each party the go ahead to do battle - and two Krishnas that everyone is depending on to defeat the other party.

I do not believe that Prabhupāda would want his funds to be spent fighting for years in courts, regardless of where the funds came from. I do believe that he would want all money to be used for nonviolent goals and not be put into the pockets of lawyers. I do believe that he would not tolerate the viciousness of attacks by either party.

There is no certainty that all parties involved have made no errors or done everything with true righteousness without a pinch of self-righteousness. As such, Krishna can appear to either party as an unexpected turn of events that can foil even those who are convinced they have the best intentions. Why is it said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions? It is because good intentions can have denial intertwined with truth and that can lead one to unfortunate places. One need only look at the gurukula history or the guru history to see this twist.

Life After ISCON, Interview continued, part 2

GG: What else was happening that effected your leaving?

B: At that time, because of so many abuses by those who were gurus/GBC’s, there was a natural reaction to challenging their authenticity. From this arose the ritvik movement that wanted everyone who is initiated to be the direct disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda, although he clearly stated that new initiates would be his grand disciples. Unfortunately, amongst god-brothers, it also became an issue of the haves and the have nots and what qualified some to hold the position over those who didn’t. Close relationships began to deteriorate.

The infighting between godbrothers which started seeping into our zone, the feelings of attraction that developed towards the woman I left with, the recognition of how extreme the child abuse was, the strange behaviors of many of my contemporaries in their august positions, and I suppose the sheer weight of the zonal responsibilities, created the vortex for my leaving. Although many people naturally blamed her, I do not see it that way and so I am taking this opportunity to try and explain a very sensitive and complex set of events. Blame often comes before understandings and sometimes gets frozen in place. I hope this helps to clarify the situation.



GG: You are aware how within ISKCON, there has been fracturing about gurus and the initiation process. Being one of the first generation of those giving initiation, do you want to comment on the process? I’m sure people ask you what you would have done differently knowing what you know now.

B: Although people say that everything is there in Prabhupāda’s writings, the room conversation of May 28th was like an astrological moment that set a new house in motion. In a matter of minutes or 2 inches on the scroll bar, questions and answers took place, that to this day are being debated and which have changed the face of the movement he began. To be sure, in his ailing condition, we all had great fears and reservations about bringing up the issue of his passing away and the initiation process. As such, the questioning that came about was very uneasy and cursory.

But to answer your question, I would have been more detailed in my questioning. After all, Prabhupāda was very detailed in organizing - from construction, to finance, to book printing, to traveling. He was the spiritual CEO, the founder-acarya, of an international corporation. The details of how to pass on the reins of management and authority were no small matter that a few sentences would clarify. He expected us to cooperate together out of love for him, but in the minds of many, the initiation issue was never settled clearly in that conversation.

Although he said in his presence, his disciples should not take disciples but act only as officiating acaryas, he does say in that conversation that he will appoint some to carry out this function and after his departure the students they initiate will be his grand disciples. The opposition to this is that some say he never appointed anyone to do more than act as ritvik. So I would have asked if he wanted future disciples to be his direct disciples. I would have asked how we should see ourselves as gurus, so the issue of pure devotee, uttama adhikary, etc. would be clear in the minds of initiating gurus and students. How the next generation of gurus actually see themselves and want their disciple to see them should have been and still should be part of the vetting process for both. Then there are the questions about ritualistic performances - gurupuja, vyasa pujua, guru daksina, householder gurus, sanyasa gurus, etc. Should we do just as he did or modify things to the new times?

It is a complex issue because so much in ISKCON is based around initiations. For the initiate it means turning a corner in life by wanting to experience a spiritual rebirth. For one who initiates, it is an opportunity to help someone break away from a superficial, mechanistic view of life. The problem arises when the two personalities don’t see deeply enough into the internal changes that must take place to pursue these choices. Movement forward and upward needs to grow out of inward movement. Otherwise it is like climbing up the material ladder of perceived success - brahmana, president, GBC, sannyas, guru, BBT …... Once teachers start calculating their projected annual income from their appearance day ceremonies, they begin their disappearance day funerals.



GG: So as a former leader how do you see this quandary being resolved?

B: In the name of initiating someone into bhakti, a process that begins with peace and ends with the highest love of God, so much un-lovingness and hatred has erupted - each side publishing vile literature about the other and taking each other to court. How publishers could think Prabhupāda would take pleasure in reading this diarrhea that is so often spewed forth in hateful internet posts and fault finding contests is beyond comprehension. These faultfinders talk about people in such a way that negates any good they have ever done and actually believe their spiritual master would enjoy reading their internet diatribes.

So I think the initiation process should slow down and go in careful, thoughtful steps that can reunite Prabhupāda’s vision. The temple president usually knows the new devotee the best. When Prabhupāda was present, we used to chant on beads, give names, perform yajnas, etc. The president or whichever brahmana knows the individual could be the first initiating guru and give hari nama initiation. It should be clearly discussed between the two, how they see each other and what is expected. Presently, when one takes hari nama, that guru is his guru for life and all eternity. In many cases, this can be quite an immature and uneducated leap of faith.

Prabhupāda wanted second initiation to take place after one became philosophically and scholastically competent as a bhaktishastri, bhaktivibhava, etc. Obviously, this should be given by one who has these brahminical qualities themselves - man or woman. These initiations are done on behalf of the guru parampara of which Prabhupāda is the representative, founder acarya of ISKCON. As such, the initiate has respect for his teachers, the guru parampara, and of course sees Prabhupāda as his siksha guru. At this level there can be unity between presently opposing opinions. Even if the person giving initiation leaves, it is not so traumatic to the initiate. There is nothing objectionable about multiple personalities helping in the rebirthing process - the first being the parents, then teachers, etc.

After some years of practicing, learning, teaching and hearing from many practitioners, one might come in touch with an individual who opens them up in ways no one has yet done. Such a person enables a qualified initiate to see where resistance to Radha Krishna hides internally in ways they could not see before. She or he reveals what loving God looks like and feels like in ways they have never seen or felt before, answer questions in ways you have never heard before and gives a taste like you never had before. At this point a student finds a living master who completes his or her connection to God. So here is yet another and perhaps final initiation.

It is important to learn from history. Someone who is accepting to be a guru should first study themselves and be clear how they want to be seen and accepted by an initiate. They should look within to see if and where there is any resistance to God. Clear, honest communication between the two is far more relevant than ritualistic worship or blind surrender.



GG: Have your understandings of gurus and GBC changed over all these years?

B: Guru/GBC/ sanyasa are positions that can devolve into designations that imprison and confine, rather than liberate. The test of whether something has become an addiction or pattern, is to see if you can do without it and still be secure and effective. Position needs to be flexible like Lord Ramachandra showed. Without attachment to the designation of king, He never diminished His potency and ability to establish dharma. Patterns, positions, rituals and relationships need to be tested and modified to keep them from becoming materialistic or inflexible behavior. A child can teach his parents, a teacher can learn from the student, a woman can humble a sadhu by her wisdom. Remember it was an old derelect that suggested to Prabhupāda to exercise and walk more.

At this point, it might be worth considering the worldwide association of temple presidents deciding how many GBC’s are actually needed to be effective and vote to reorganize the map. This was his idea in the direction of management,



GG: How would you apply that thinking to the present leadership in ISKCON?

B: At some point, for their own good, GBC’s can voluntarily allow others to take their place and evaluate who they have become. In Prabhupāda’s direction of management, he suggested elections. Then, in his room in Vrndavan, he decided there should be no change. I’m sure he wanted to maintain some level of stability, knowing he was about to leave.

Whenever there is control over people and money, patterns of self-interest and manipulation can take root. Unconditional acceptance of who one actually is, in present time, is necessary to be real. To whatever degree we are real, we are potent. If one is not true to himself, he can not be true to others. That is why so much destruction takes place in the name of religion. Sabbaticals are a healthy break in routine to regenerate. In a spiritual society, letting go should come naturally and voluntarily as welcomed steps towards freedom, especially for those who are sannyasis. No doubt, one can get stuck in the quicksand of titles, positions and designations.

What starts out spiritual can become dense or material. Being attached to title, power, position and control, is often born out of an insecurity of “what will become of me if I don’t hold onto this position?” One’s whole life can become defined by titles. The measure of how real someone is, should never be calculated in terms of money, fame, disciples or buildings, but rather in how one can keep letting go of external identities and still keep higher understandings flowing – unmotivated by and immune to material ego. Bharata couldn’t wait to give the kingdom back to Rama and considered himself to be nothing more than the caretaker.

Life After ISKCON an interview between William Ehrlichman and Guru Gauranga das

an interview between William Ehrlichman and Guru Gauranga das


Giving up a medical career in 1969 to establish K.C. in America, nine years later, renouncing family life to enter the sannyas order, were sacrifices he felt at the time were necessary to move forward in spiritual life. He would later come to re-examine these choices and with new insights, redefine himself.

One of the principle waves that began to dislodge the way he saw himself and the society he was an integral part in directing, was the unfolding of perverse physical and mental child abuse, that in time began to surface everywhere. As the years passed, it became more and more flagrant, to the point where it had taken root amongst his peers at the highest levels of authority. His departure was a rejection of the current denials of the status quo way of thinking about the pervasive child abuses within ISCKON… and it was indeed a blow to the functionality of the institution as a whole. However, after he left, instead of the focus being on the real issues of child abuse, which many in ISCKON were trying to brush under the rug and even defend against, the focus and mis-information perpetrated, became about his “fall down with a woman” and his failure as a guru and the failure of all the gurus…

For him, these abuses began from the very inception of the gurukula system in Dallas in 1973 and ended with his leaving the movement in 1986, after finding out that even his own children were being abused. He left with a mother who was coping with the fact that her children had also suffered abuse. To this day, he considers these children to be his immediate family.

His son Vaisnava entered the Dallas ‘gurukula’ at the age of three and a half. He returned to France, 3 years later with unsettling stories of children regularly being beaten and made to eat spilled food off the floor; violently awoken early in the morning to attend spiritual programs and forced to fast, to the point that spiritual life was becoming tasteless. Upon returning to New Mayapura, in France he found little relief in the new ashrams, where unqualified ashram teachers perpetrated terrible abuses.

Vaisnava recalled: “When I told my father what Sudarsana was doing - locking us up for days in closets as punishment for minor disobediences, hitting some boys so hard he would break broomsticks over their backs and then later, turn around and perversely try to touch them… he was in shock. He called Sudarsana into his room with us present. After it was apparent that what we were saying was true, in a rage he pushed him against the wall, grabbed his throat, lifted him off the ground and kicked him out of New Mayapura for good.” Unfortunately that was too mild a punishment.


GG: What other incidents came to your attention?

B: After Prabhupada’s departure I was traveling in America with Ramesvara Swami. We met at the Denver temple and it so happened that when we arrived, it came to the surface that the ashrama teacher Chakradara, was abusing the boys terribly. The fathers approached us angered and confused. I asked myself how had this cannibalistic behavior taken root within our ashrams? I was shocked and disturbed, overall troubled by this level of darkness. I told the fathers to take him into the woods and beat him.

GG: What went through your mind when you began to hear these stories?

B: For me, shock and disbelief how anyone could get twisted pleasure from the sexual abuse of children - especially from people for whom self-control was supposed to be a way of life. In the beginning it wasn’t something we were on the lookout for. The first knee jerk reaction was to get rid of the symptom by expelling the perpetrators and making them feel some level of pain. Unfortunately, in other places, the incidents along with the perpetrators were minimized or ignored to avoid embarrassing public attention.

In the name of being spiritually advanced and determined, detachment from family life - from affection for wife and children, was a spartan regime that crippled relationships. Few recognized the denials and dangers in that thinking, which weakened the firewall of a parent’s natural protective powers and left children vulnerable, exposed and subjected to demented caretakers. We were up in our ideological heads with no feeling or intuition that our own children were in danger. Fear of physical and emotional intimacy provided an opening for un-lovingness to enter. Far from being a gurukula, it was in many cases becoming a cesspool of perversion, spawned by deep-rooted sexual misunderstandings.

The image of what a gurukula was supposed to be often references the well-known photo of Prabhupada holding Dwarkadisa’s hand as he helps him write a Sanskrit letter. It is one thing to call a school a gurukula because an enlightened master or teacher is present, awakening children to their highest potential. It is quite another to put children in the care of those who are mentally, emotionally or spiritually undeveloped, or in the extreme case, downright twisted. It would have been better to put the children in regular schools or have a day school and have them live with their parents. Except in cases where the parent is mentally or physically violent, it is not natural for parents to be separated from their children.


GG: How have you come to see this abuse taking root and playing out?

It begins with misunderstanding about the male and female dynamic. This misunderstanding is based on a judgment that sex outside of procreation cannot be connected to God. We hardly respected sex as a meditation that could connect us to our higher nature and open us to communication with our Creator. Of course anything can be abused, but the misuse of something doesn’t negate its brilliance. It is sex without love that makes it illicit. When this constitutional part of the self is judged against and held in denial, it opens the door to guilt. Having children when the heart is not in loving balance, means having children prematurely. If children are judged as the product of sense gratification, such judgment leaves them unprotected.

These misunderstandings and judgments caused men to be afraid and resentful towards women. It further led to abuse of wives and an unnatural detachment towards children. Mistrust of the feminine can be found in every patriarchal religion. Men are as much like fire as women and women are as much like butter as men. Philosophically, bringing everything down to “we are not this body” often brought denial or rejection of emotions and put heavy judgment on the physical - in this case sexuality, marriage and children. Feelings were considered sentimental, emotional baggage.

However, if we accept that we are part and parcel of a transcendent source of life - Radha-Krsna, Goddess and God, we must inherit our androgynous male and female natures from Them. Feeling, which is our feminine aspect and understanding, which is our male aspect, are the heat and light of what the self emanates. These yin and yang polarities are meant to balance each other in the heart chakra. That God is in the heart, means God’s presence can be experienced as Perfect Balance of the two polarities - the feminine (yin) charkas and the masculine (yang) chakras. When the heart is balanced in love, there is no fear of sex, sensuality, shame or guilt.

Children are the physical reflection of how well these polarities are balanced in the heart of each partner. If sex is considered a compromise to spirituality, children will manifest as guilt reflections. To “ detach” from the weakness of sense gratification, children were put in a school that taught austerity and detachment from family to come c loser to God. Children’s hearts are naturally open to receiving love. When these predators emerged, they filled the openness of our children’s hearts with fear and disgrace.

In our individual lives, it is this internal balance between our thoughts and emotions that gives us our ability to navigate life - to be Godlike in our feelings and understandings, or to be disconnected and toxic. Caution is required when something sounds good but feels wrong. Neither philosophy nor emotions are meant to dictate to one another. It is the imbalance of our male and female polarities that has caused the war against the goddess in her form of the environment and women in general. Men tend to see the female as something to be dominated, consumed and exploited. Both religion and consumerism have fostered this disrespect, which has led to the murder of so many women and children and the near extinction of the environment.



GG: What did you think about the gurukula legal case?

It shows how denial of these wounds was never given enough priority, openness and freedom to express, until it exploded. The perpetrators should have been pursued and still should be. Few ever went to jail. As you know, my leaving was in part prompted by the abuses of children in the L.A. temple school. After realizing the depth of the abuses and the reticence of the leadership to confront the issues in a meaningful way and legally, I encouraged the mother’s prosecution of the perpetrators. With the relentless and painful efforts of several determined mothers, fathers and others, including the L.A. Police Department, L.A. District Attorney, staff at St John's Children's Center and the children themselves, these criminals were finally convicted.

From what I understand, the “headmaster” in New Vrindavan was acquitted and Manohara went on to open an orphanage in India. Recently, Tattva Darshana from South India, was arrested in Thailand for being caught in the act of child sexual abuse. I understand that one of the former heads of the Vrndavana school, who used to violently beat the boys, has been a guru for some time. How did that happen? First he beats boys and now he takes money and worship from them.

I have always felt the perpetrators have to face their victims for healing and justice to take place. Money certainly won’t balance out the violence. It is only a token. The perpetrators are the reflections of the denied sexual guilt of both the parents and authorities and the terror and rage of the victims. Money won’t release such emotional charge, unless victims go through counseling. The molesters should be hunted as war criminals and made to face their victims. Also, the wife and sister of one of my close friends was molested by her father for years, when they were growing up. Years later, when he still refused to acknowledge his demented behavior, they printed posters of him as a pedophile and put them up around his neighborhood. There is always a way to find justice.