ISKCON INTERNAL AFFAIRS
REGION INTERNATIONAL
Our respects to all the devotees, and senior leaders of ISKCON.
All glories to ISKCON's Founder-Acarya,
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
After serious deliberation, some going on for decades, it has been decided upon unanimously, that in order to keep ISKCON's "ultimate" managers, namely the GBC, free from any suspicion or tinges of abuse and corruption, a body of Prabhupada disciples has come together, outside of the GBC tabernacle, to investigate any and all claims and allegations of unfairness, politics, foul-play, or corruption, by any and all members of the GBC, present and future.
The newly formed ISKCON Internal Affairs has not been suggested nor constructed by the present GBC body, as unfortunately there it is business as usual, with no system of accountability in place to help insure that other members of ISKCON get fair exchanges of hearing and resolution, to claims of impropriety on behalf of any single GBC member or group of GBC members. This present condition of no GBC accountability has been going on, we believe - far, far too long.
It is not the mission of the newly formed ISKCON INTERNAL AFFAIRS (IIA) to cause any kind of rift within ISKCON, or to bring disrespect upon the GBC. Rather it is in answer to a longtime unheard call, for better checks and balances within ISKCON's highest leadership.
Why? For example: Members of the North American GBC executive committee, without any mandate or resolution from the international GBC office, have gone ahead and written their own bylaws for the North American temples, and ordered that each temple incorporate them. These bylaws in effect, have "centralized the management and ownership" of all the North American temples, an action ISKCON's Founder-Acarya Srila Prabhupada, in his presence, SPECIFICALLY INSTRUCTED THE GBC NOT TO DO! Srila Prabhupada said by centralizing the management of his temples, "everything would be ruined." (SP letter to Karandhar das)
It is safe to say, that any conditioned soul can make mistakes. It is also safe to say, according to our Founder-Acarya's words, that any conditioned soul has a tendency to cheat others. As it is vital for the mission of ISKCON in becoming and staying what Srila Prabhupada had envisioned, a beacon light offering proper spiritual direction for the misguided civilizations of the world, ISKCON's highest leadership must remain pure and accountable at all times, and remain free from any tinges of corruption.
The creation of the ISKCON INTERNAL AFFAIRS is done out of love, duty, and respect for ISKCON, and especially out of respect of the very important role of the GBC in ISKCON. The IIA hopes to assist in safeguarding the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and ensuring that the hard work of Srila Prabhupada never becomes a target of being hi-jacked by some foolish person(s) in high positions, who may have succumbed to the illusory energy of maya and ulterior motives.
No government board can credibly monitor itself. That is a given and historically proven, even within ISKCON. It is therefore our purpose and desire, that this humble attempt may be instrumental in bringing more harmony to the many sincere followers of Srila Prabhupada, some of whose voices seem to be ignored or even in some cases trampled upon, by the GBC body or some of its members.
It should be noted, that the GBC of today, in their own present day management structure, in our humble opinion, has up until now refused on its own to become as accountable as expected of any other leadership of an any institution, who is responsible to its followers and outlined purposes. That autocratic mood of no accountability, has distanced many intelligent and previous supporters of ISKCON, has destroyed the faith of many in ISKCON's ability of leadership, and has in some instances contributed to destroying or taking away of an individual devotee's rights to serving Srila Prabhupada in ISKCON, being ostracized by the GBC for not conforming to their absolute, independent, and unmonitored authority.
*Anyone who believes that they presently have a legitimate complaint concerning any GBC member(s) for us to examine, you may write us at this email address for review and to initiate your case:
iskconinternalaffairs@gmail.com.
* SEE ATTACHED PDF FILES BELOW
REGION INTERNATIONAL
______________________________
Our respects to all the devotees, and senior leaders of ISKCON.
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
After serious deliberation, some going on for decades, it has been decided upon unanimously, that in order to keep ISKCON's "ultimate" managers, namely the GBC, free from any suspicion or tinges of abuse and corruption, a body of Prabhupada disciples has come together, outside of the GBC tabernacle, to investigate any and all claims and allegations of unfairness, politics, foul-play, or corruption, by any and all members of the GBC, present and future.
The newly formed ISKCON Internal Affairs has not been suggested nor constructed by the present GBC body, as unfortunately there it is business as usual, with no system of accountability in place to help insure that other members of ISKCON get fair exchanges of hearing and resolution, to claims of impropriety on behalf of any single GBC member or group of GBC members. This present condition of no GBC accountability has been going on, we believe - far, far too long.
It is not the mission of the newly formed ISKCON INTERNAL AFFAIRS (IIA) to cause any kind of rift within ISKCON, or to bring disrespect upon the GBC. Rather it is in answer to a longtime unheard call, for better checks and balances within ISKCON's highest leadership.
Why? For example: Members of the North American GBC executive committee, without any mandate or resolution from the international GBC office, have gone ahead and written their own bylaws for the North American temples, and ordered that each temple incorporate them. These bylaws in effect, have "centralized the management and ownership" of all the North American temples, an action ISKCON's Founder-Acarya Srila Prabhupada, in his presence, SPECIFICALLY INSTRUCTED THE GBC NOT TO DO! Srila Prabhupada said by centralizing the management of his temples, "everything would be ruined." (SP letter to Karandhar das)
Also it has been brought to our attention, that recently a well known and respected mataji temple president, from Tucson Arizona, has requested of the international GBC chair-persons, to begin an in depth investigation on the ongoing problems regarding the Phoenix Arizona temple, and the NA GBC EC and temple president banning of 25 members there. So far, no response and commitment of investigation has been heard. So at best, there does seem to be a communication problem, on the side of the GBC. One has to compute and analyze what this lack of communication possibly does to the faith of the inquiring member or temple leader.
As the old saying goes, "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Therefore, we believe there needs to be a checks and balances system for the GBC itself. Even after decades of examples of some of our gurus and GBCs "going off", there still remains a void of proper accountability, i.e., an outside monitoring and watchful body of senior devotees, to help safeguard the GBC from corruption, and in avoiding the casualties of such autocratic negligence of governance. It is safe to say, that any conditioned soul can make mistakes. It is also safe to say, according to our Founder-Acarya's words, that any conditioned soul has a tendency to cheat others. As it is vital for the mission of ISKCON in becoming and staying what Srila Prabhupada had envisioned, a beacon light offering proper spiritual direction for the misguided civilizations of the world, ISKCON's highest leadership must remain pure and accountable at all times, and remain free from any tinges of corruption.
The creation of the ISKCON INTERNAL AFFAIRS is done out of love, duty, and respect for ISKCON, and especially out of respect of the very important role of the GBC in ISKCON. The IIA hopes to assist in safeguarding the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and ensuring that the hard work of Srila Prabhupada never becomes a target of being hi-jacked by some foolish person(s) in high positions, who may have succumbed to the illusory energy of maya and ulterior motives.
No government board can credibly monitor itself. That is a given and historically proven, even within ISKCON. It is therefore our purpose and desire, that this humble attempt may be instrumental in bringing more harmony to the many sincere followers of Srila Prabhupada, some of whose voices seem to be ignored or even in some cases trampled upon, by the GBC body or some of its members.
It should be noted, that the GBC of today, in their own present day management structure, in our humble opinion, has up until now refused on its own to become as accountable as expected of any other leadership of an any institution, who is responsible to its followers and outlined purposes. That autocratic mood of no accountability, has distanced many intelligent and previous supporters of ISKCON, has destroyed the faith of many in ISKCON's ability of leadership, and has in some instances contributed to destroying or taking away of an individual devotee's rights to serving Srila Prabhupada in ISKCON, being ostracized by the GBC for not conforming to their absolute, independent, and unmonitored authority.
The ongoing and unresolved complaints regarding the ISKCON Phoenix temple (poster attached), is just one of many world-wide complaints that have been brought to our attention, and we have attached it below as an example of unresolved and questionable GBC methodology. All or any of such legitimate complaints against the GBC, are an embarrassment to Srila Prabhupada's good name, and we believe that each of them should be a major concern and embarrassment to the present individual members of the GBC.
We pray at the lotus feet of the previous Acaryas, at the feet of the GBC members and devotee members of ISKCON, for their blessings in this mission. We especially pray to Srila Prabhupada, that by our rallying to the cause of fairness to all, and maintaining the "purity is the force" principle in ISKCON leadership, that the IIA may make a significant contribution and be instrumental to resurrect some of the trust lost by many distanced members of ISKCON.
We hope that the world-wide body of temple presidents, will support this attempt for more honesty and accountability in GBC leadership. It will perhaps make us more stronger against maya, and more united in our cause, for the pleasure of our eternal master, Srila Prabhupada, and the complete success of the sankirtan mission.
It is our expectation that the GBC, especially those GBC members who object to complete transparency and accountability in GBC management, may try to stigmatize, demonize, or block the efforts of the IIA. However, we believe that after some time they will appreciate this honest attempt to help stabilize and harmonize the leadership and membership of ISKCON, for the greater good of the Lord Caitanya's international sankirtan movement. We look forward to their leadership in the principle that Srila Prabhupada put forward, of "cooperating together" for the good of ISKCON. It is our opinion that autocracy and unaccountably, are neither signs of cooperation nor unification.
We would appreciate to hear your opinion on the need of this outreach facility of the IIA, for improved accountability of the GBC. Your opinion will be absolutely confidential if requested.
Your servants,
Members of the IIA Board
We pray at the lotus feet of the previous Acaryas, at the feet of the GBC members and devotee members of ISKCON, for their blessings in this mission. We especially pray to Srila Prabhupada, that by our rallying to the cause of fairness to all, and maintaining the "purity is the force" principle in ISKCON leadership, that the IIA may make a significant contribution and be instrumental to resurrect some of the trust lost by many distanced members of ISKCON.
We hope that the world-wide body of temple presidents, will support this attempt for more honesty and accountability in GBC leadership. It will perhaps make us more stronger against maya, and more united in our cause, for the pleasure of our eternal master, Srila Prabhupada, and the complete success of the sankirtan mission.
It is our expectation that the GBC, especially those GBC members who object to complete transparency and accountability in GBC management, may try to stigmatize, demonize, or block the efforts of the IIA. However, we believe that after some time they will appreciate this honest attempt to help stabilize and harmonize the leadership and membership of ISKCON, for the greater good of the Lord Caitanya's international sankirtan movement. We look forward to their leadership in the principle that Srila Prabhupada put forward, of "cooperating together" for the good of ISKCON. It is our opinion that autocracy and unaccountably, are neither signs of cooperation nor unification.
We would appreciate to hear your opinion on the need of this outreach facility of the IIA, for improved accountability of the GBC. Your opinion will be absolutely confidential if requested.
Your servants,
Members of the IIA Board
NOTE: If you have the time and also wish to become a research member of the IIA, we still have a few openings for this service. Interested parties may respond by writing the IIA secretary at iskconinternalaffairs@gmail.com. Every board member's name will be totally confidential.
Qualifications: must be an actual disciple of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada and initiated by him before his passing in 1977; cannot be a present member of the GBC, nor have any working relationship with same; must agree that there should be a mechanism over the decisions of the GBC to insure accountability, transparency, honesty, and fairness to all; must have rendered favorable service in ISKCON at least until the passing of His Divine Grace (in this regards, it is understood that many devotees have left ISKCON after the physical departure of Srila Prabhupada, out of managerial disappointments, or in the aftermath of many of the 11 "chosen" guru's fall-downs); must participate in a short interview and questionnaire by telephone.
P.S. 1) More information will be shared shortly, regarding how the IIA will function as an independent overseeing operative, and how it will make any conclusive reports of investigation to the ISKCON GBC for their deliberation. 2) As in some instances in the past, the GBC itself has singled out protesting members of ISKCON with differing views, branding them as upstarts and even severing some from participation in ISKCON, the board members of the IIA shall for the present time remain anonymous. 3) All reports and investigations of the IIA, from both the GBC's side and complainant's position, shall be submitted to the GBC for its fair, honest review and action, and later shall be made public, as is necessary for transparency and keeping the trust of ISKCON members and supporters.
Qualifications: must be an actual disciple of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada and initiated by him before his passing in 1977; cannot be a present member of the GBC, nor have any working relationship with same; must agree that there should be a mechanism over the decisions of the GBC to insure accountability, transparency, honesty, and fairness to all; must have rendered favorable service in ISKCON at least until the passing of His Divine Grace (in this regards, it is understood that many devotees have left ISKCON after the physical departure of Srila Prabhupada, out of managerial disappointments, or in the aftermath of many of the 11 "chosen" guru's fall-downs); must participate in a short interview and questionnaire by telephone.
P.S. 1) More information will be shared shortly, regarding how the IIA will function as an independent overseeing operative, and how it will make any conclusive reports of investigation to the ISKCON GBC for their deliberation. 2) As in some instances in the past, the GBC itself has singled out protesting members of ISKCON with differing views, branding them as upstarts and even severing some from participation in ISKCON, the board members of the IIA shall for the present time remain anonymous. 3) All reports and investigations of the IIA, from both the GBC's side and complainant's position, shall be submitted to the GBC for its fair, honest review and action, and later shall be made public, as is necessary for transparency and keeping the trust of ISKCON members and supporters.
*Anyone who believes that they presently have a legitimate complaint concerning any GBC member(s) for us to examine, you may write us at this email address for review and to initiate your case:
iskconinternalaffairs@gmail.com.
* SEE ATTACHED PDF FILES BELOW
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