|
Media Release by Anuttama das, ISKCON Communications Posted July 16, 2008 Yesterday, July 13, 2008 the Child Protection Office released its official decision in a case regarding allegations against Gauri das of the UK yatra, for events occuring during his tenure as a teacher at the ISKCON-affiliated school in Vrindavana, India, during the 1990's. Today, the Manor's managing council adopted an official statement presented below.
Anuttama dasa
14th July 2008 Yesterday, on 13th July 2008, Gauri Das stepped down from his position as Temple President of Bhaktivedanta Manor after a decision by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness Central Office of Child Protection. The decision found Gauri Das responsible for "inappropriate and excessive corporal punishment" whilst a teacher at an ISKCON affiliated school in India during the 1990's. The decision means that Gauri Das will not be able to take any position of management in ISKCON for three years, although, he can continue to serve at the Temple. While the decision finds Gauri Das responsible for excessive corporal punishment, it also goes on to give him credit for "many positive accomplishments" while he was at the school. The Bhaktivedanta Manor Temple also recognises and appreciates the dedicated service given by Gauri Das during his six- year tenure as Bhaktivedanta Manor Temple President from 2002 to 2008. We regret that Gauri Das will not be able to continue as an officer of our temple, but we also recognize the important need of the CPO to acknowledge problems in the care of children in the past, and to address those issues. We are pleased that Gauri Das has indicated that he would like to meet with the former students in the hope of further reconciliation.
Board of Council Members
As most do, Luiza came for a weekend visit to beautiful Saranagati and left her heart there as she embarked on her trip back to "the big city". Bhaktin Luiza hails from the hearty land of Mazury, Poland where she grew up in the small village of Miodowko. At age 8, she moved to Germany with her family and then to various Canadian cities, settling in Vancouver at age 14. This is where she eventually received a BA majoring in English literature and Hispanic studies as well as a Bachelors of Education. As a very young girl, her father would gather with the other people in the villages and have very sincere and innocent Namahattas where they would discuss the Gita and chant by the fire. It was at this time she was given a copy of a copy of a copy of the 'Radha Krishna Temple' bhajan tape. She would listen to it every night as she would fall asleep. After a time, her family strayed away from this sadhu-sangha, but she never forgot the tape or the wonderful voice of the woman singing. Her first visit to the temple in Vancouver, Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohan at New Gokula was in April 2006. This had a profound impact on her as she was finally finding a physical manifestation of something that had been only verbal and in the heart. That very night, she became a vegetarian and began chanting one round a day. After a short time of that, the realization of "if you're going to do it, do it right" struck her and thus her commitment to 16 rounds began. She found the time in her engaging studies to do this while on the 3 hour bus ride to and from school. During her stay in Vancouver, she met and requested the shelter of the lotus feet of her Spiritual Master, HH Radhanath Swami. In Vancouver, Luiza was an enthusiastic member of the Harinam Sankirtan team, active servant of Vancouver's majestic Tulasi Maharani and regular participant in all of the temple programs serving Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohan. Her first tiny glimpse of the serene Saranagati valley was during Rathayatra 2006 in June. She was very eager to see more of the valley, but was constrained by the travel accomodations of the bus service. During the summer, my family invited Luiza and her daughter Lila up for the long weekend. It was there and then that she fell in love and realized, as far as the material world goes, she was home. It was also there that she met the "voice" on the tape which had lulled her to sleep every night when she was a girl in Poland, Yamuna Devi. Thoughts of living in Saranagati began dancing in her head in a serious way. To cement this desire, Luiza and Lila became regular participants in most of Saranagati's festivals, such as the Harvest and Winterfests, driving up as often as they could. She was then invited to do a 2 week working vacation at Bhumi farm in 2007. Stepping off from those visits, the began seriously planning her move to Saranagati for the Summer of '08. By Lord Krishna's merciful arrangement, and a dash of help from Sarasvati Devi, Bhaktin Luiza was requested to apply for the teaching position in early 2008 at Venables Valley school, right in the heart of Saranagati Valley. Her students are all Vaisnavas and she feels truly blessed to be their teacher with the desire and hope to see the school's continued growth. As we feel the loss of such an enthusiastic devotee in our midst, it is the good fortune of the residents of Saranagati Valley to call her theirs.
I was mystified to read the following paragraph in the minutes to Day Ten of the 2007 GBC meetings:
"The GBC body spent the rest of the morning discussing and voting on a
resolution concerning the situation of Dhanudhara Swami. This discussion
began yesterday in a closed plenary session, but today the GBC deputies
were invited to take part. Ravindra Swarupa Prabhu chaired this session,
because he was on the subcommittee working on this resolution, as were
Hridayananda Maharaja, Sivarama Swami, Radhanatha Swami, Badrinarayana
Prabhu, Anuttama Prabhu, and Tamohara Prabhu. The discussion continued a
long time, and the GBC dealt decisively with this issue." In this era of extreme spin and deception (also called Kali Yuga), I'm surprised that such a vague statement would be issued. Obviously, to those who are worried about the fact that such a blatent child abuser, offender of the Vaisnavas and destroyer of Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON so long maintained a position of honor in ISKCON, what matters is not that the "GBC dealt decisively with the issue," but rather exactly what kind of decisive action did they take? Did their action deal with Dhanurdara only, or did it deal with other prominent child abusers, such as Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami. Did it deal only with the past, or did it put in place specific policies to counteract the perception that many call the "Saffron Wall," in other words: once you put on saffron, all your saffron brothers will defend your position to the end, as long as you don't sleep with a woman. Did the GBC determine that in spite of all that Dhanurdara has done to ruin ISKCON -- monetarily, socially and spiritually -- that he and devotees like Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami should still be entitled to have samadhi's built in Mayapura when they eventually pass away? Or did the GBC determine to make a clean break with the past and put in place special measures to thoroughly investigate and quickly and effectively deal with misdeeds by sanyasis and other prominent members of ISCKON? And what might these measures have been? Did they adopt a policy of Zero Tolerance for Child Abuse in ISKCON? Is the GBC thinking about the future? Does the GBC realize that many second generation devotees will never take initiation because they have seen how when one sannyasi severely abuses the Vaisnavas, that all the other sannyasis will cover up for him and never take away his honored badge of sannyasa. (Just consider the convicted criminal Kirtananda Swami.)
Exactly how did the GBC "deal decisively" with the issues of the
Dhanurdara case? Are they willing to articulate their decisive actions
to the broken hearted parents of gurukulis who will never take
initiation in ISKCON until their confidence in the honesty of the GBC
can be restored?
|
Krishna Conscious Educational Opportunity by Visvambhara das Posted July 5, 2008
Tuition assistance is available for qualified families. Space is limited. For more information call 386-462-2886.
The ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection is very pleased to announce the appointment of Mahavishnupriya devi dasi as Assistant Director. Her main services to the CPO will be investigating cases of child abuse, and managing the adjudication process of CPO cases. Mahavishnupriya prabhu brings years of valuable experience to this service. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and therapist with more than 20 years experience dealing with child abuse and domestic violence. She worked many years for the U.S. Navy as a case manager working with difficult cases of abuse. She is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, a member of the SSPT Counseling Initiative, head of the Alachua Temple Child Protection Team, a member of the Alachua SREYAS program, and offers private counseling. Mahavishnupriya prabhu has been working directly with the CPO since July and has taken on several cases and investigations. Her experience and dedication to child protection is greatly valued, and her contributions have increased the service of the Office to the devotees. If you need to report a case of child abuse, please contact Mahavishnupriya Prabhu at e-mail address cpohelp@windstream.net, or phone number 386-462-0076. I will continue as Executive Director of CPO Operations, specifically working with child protection training and temple services such as developing child protection teams, screening programs, and community education. See our website: www.childprotectionoffice.org for a complete list of services and staff responsibilities. Thank you.
Tamohara das |
|
