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Open Letter to Caitanya Das (BVKS) by Bhaktin Sraddha Posted May 22, 2008 I just found your blog, via Chakra.org. I am not here to chastise you, but I (and I'm sure many, many others) wish to know what purpose you are serving by casting such harsh judgements. All I can see is someone trying to use the words of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada to serve your own agenda. This is not Krishna Consciousness. You should be trying to elevate yourself, and as a student of Vaishnavism, you should understand that we are not our bodies. Due to the nature of the material world, we take on a specific body, but underneath all the various coverings, we are all Spirit Souls. Not male, nor female... I consider myself quite a staunch feminist, standing up for the equal rights of women in this material world, but I would never, ever blaspheme men within ISKCON, any other Gaudiya Matha, or any one, regardless of faith for that matter, without having proper understanding of their individual position. The same goes for those who took birth in a female body. I certainly would NEVER, say anything blasphemous against Srila Prabhupada. Upon coming across certain points in his purports in the Srimad Bhagvatam and the Bhagavad Gita - As It Is which refer to women, I see only his desire to preach the glories of Krishna Consciousness, and know that as a pure devotee his purports are coming from the highest possible position, not to state that women are lesser than men, but to help us who are lowly and fallen, find our way... For these reasons, your blog does not bother me, but you should think about all the women (and men) who could be reached with this amazing, beautiful, powerful philosophy, brought to us by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu through the grace of Krishna's pure devotee, and the spiritual father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Srila Prabhupada. With the mass prevalence of Feminism in today's society though, there are many female, and male feminists, people who could be reached, but will be turned off by what you choose to display to a large percentage of the population. We should be trying to promote Krishna Consiousness favourably. Bhakti Yoga is about LOVE!
I think you need to either reconsider your position, or you cannot consider yourself an aspiring Vaishnava. Please use your intelligence to see that you must preach Prabhupada's movement with love, and not anger. Contain your own issues to a private blog, and use the public domain for spreading what this world needs it so badly, to share with everyone the light of Krishna Consciousness, whether they be female, or male. Sending you good energy & light.
Gender discrimination and hurtful comments have no place in a spiritual movement. Those who view spirit souls as their bodies and encourage mundane perceptions have no place initiating devotees. Bhakti Vikasa Swami has a history of displaying a lack of spiritual understanding and is hurting our movement. While we wish devotees well, his brand of leadership cannot continue.
The GBC is the ultimate ecclesiastical and managerial authority. Why are they not taking action to either help rehabilitate or remove this so-called leader, whose influence results in such events as the recent abusive comments regarding female devotees? Is the GBC waiting for this abomination to hit the national media? Let's see some action!
I want to thank, honor and praise Lalita Madhava devi dasi for taking the time to expose the reprehensible actions and statements of Bhakti Vikasa Swami. Her compelling open letter to him put everything in proper perspective, and all her points and requests were well taken, well stated and well defended. To think or speak those atrocious statements is bad enough, but to use the Internet to publicize such backward and crazy ideas about women is incredibly vile and malicious. Lalita Madhava prabhu is quite correct that it is a great offense to Srila Prabhupada, Lord Caitanya, Sri Sri Radha-Krsna and the entire parampara. We might also note that the honorific term Swami surely cannot be applied or attributed to Bhakti Vikasa, since Swami means someone able to control their tongue and senses (which include the mind) — and his statements give ample evidence to the contrary, indicating that he is fully unable to control either his mind or tongue, which casts further doubt on his having any other areas of sobriety. How sad it is when advanced devotees forget the basic concepts propounded in KC101 — like (1) our philosophy is simple for the simple and crooked for the crooked, (2) we are not these bodies, and (3) attraction and repulsion are flip sides of the same coin. Frankly, apologies would be a good start but might not make adequate compensation for the harm done by this so-called spiritual master and his disciple. Something along the line of doing menial community service and taking a course in diversity might be more sufficient. I'd only add that maybe posing a deadline for their apology might be appropriate in that anyone tactless enough to publicly take these positions might be tactless enough to also duck and disregard his duty to rectify himself before the assembled devotees.
I pray for this "senior" devotee (BV) that he finds the humility to beg the forgiveness of all those he has offended. Thank you, Lalita Madhava devi for bringing this to the fore and having your GBC quotes readily available. Much thanks also to Sudharma and Vraja Lila devi dasis and all the others who sat on that GBC board. Surely they must have been astonished and dismayed that one of Srila Prabhupada's frontline warriors could be so crude and deluded.
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Peers Remember Life of Gurukula Alumnus by Madhava Smullen Posted July 14, 2008 On June 20, 2008, Gokulananda das, a second generation ISKCON member — or gurukuli — died by suicide in Marina Del Rey, California. His death was reported by his girlfriend of five years, Michelle Lemay. On June 29, about ten of Gokulananda's gurukuli peers gathered with other friends to honor his bright spirit and to pray for peace and happiness on his journey. The memorial at Lemay's residence featured a communal drum ceremony led by a Native American shaman, kirtan, prasadam and exchanging of memories. Thirty-six years old, Gokulananda had been living in Los Angeles for the past five and a half years. His mother is Mahidhara dasi, his sister Jayanti dasi and his brother Nanda Kishore das. During the 1970s and '80s, Gokulananda attended ISKCON's gurukula boarding schools in New Vrindaban, West Virginia and Mayapura, India. "As a child he was bright, smart and daring," says fellow gurukuli Chaitanya Mangala das, who attended the New Vrindaban gurukula with Gokulananda. "He was always pushing the boundaries. He could be a lot of fun, adventurous and exhausting. He was a good and loyal friend to those close to him." After gurukula Gokulananda went to college, where he worked towards a degree in business administration. But there was a darker side to Gokulananda's life. As a child, he had an exceptionally hard time in gurukula. Because of his outspoken and boisterous nature he was often singled out by school authorities and became a lightning rod for corporal punishment. Afterwards, Gokulananda chose drugs as one of his coping mechanisms. Over the years he struggled with addiction, going in and out of rehabilitation and back and forth on drug use. When he first arrived in Los Angeles, he had cleaned himself up and was sober for an extended period. But according to LeMay, Gokulananda again began using drugs and alcohol after filling out the questionnaire for ISKCON's settlement to abused gurukulis. This was the beginning of a slow and steady decline that ended with his suicide. His childhood friend Chaitanya Mangala says, "It is a sad time when one of our peers chooses to end their life in such a drastic fashion. Gokulananda's passing is another reminder that there is still so much unresolved in regards to the gurukuli generation and that dealing with the after-effects of the 'gurukula experiment' will be a lifelong effort for everyone involved. I am hopeful that some positive dialogue and action will come in the wake of his death." Some already has, with Chaitanya Mangala helping to plan the 2009 Los Angeles Kuli Mela, a festival intended to inspire and offer practical help to the gurukuli community. Attendees also plan to hold a Gurukuli Memorial Ceremony to honor peers who are no longer with them.
Editor's Note: Chakra joins with Gokulananda's friends and family to express our dismay and regret at Gokulananda prabhu's suicide. To anyone who may be feeling deeply depressed or suicidal, we would like also to recommend the efforts of local suicide prevention hotlines, mental health clinics and support groups, which can be found in many major cities. See, for example, the article Suicide Prevention & Support by Bhaktin Sara.
Upon reading the Open Letter to Bhakti Vikasa Swami, I first wrote three letters to Caitanya dasa voicing my concern about his cyber-bullying of women. I received no reply. I then wrote to his Guru Maharaja, Bhakti Vikasa Swami, again voicing my concern. Once again I received no reply. Therefore, I am now voicing my concern to the society of devotees and to those who directly or indirectly support this behavior. Do you think it is okay to abuse women with your cyber-words? Are you aware that cyber-bullying is a crime? Are you aware of the woman who was just indicted in California because of her cyber-bullying, which led a young girl to hang herself? Are you, Bhakti Vikasa Swami, encouraging your disciple to write this blog? Are you prepared to go to prison, along with your disciple, because of the next young girl who takes her life? Are you prepared to answer to Srila Prabhupada and the parampara for driving people away from Lord Caitanya's sankirtana movement? I have been chanting the Holy Names of the Lord for 28 years, and during that time I have seen many devotees step out of line. Just know that the world is watching. Srila Prabhupada is watching. Radha and Krishna are watching. And the courts are watching. Lalita Madhava prabhu has had the courage to stand up to the pretenders in ISKCON. There are many great souls throughout history who have had this ability to stand up and fight. Srila Prabhupada himself had this type of courage. For those of you who like to pick on women, I ask that you pick on me instead. Please direct your hateful words toward me, and leave the matajis alone. I am trained to handle guys like you and do it for a living. [note from Chakra: we will forward letters to Bhakta James]
Srila Rupa Gosvami recommends:
anasaktasya visayan yatharham upayunjatah (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.255)
Man and woman should live together as householders in relationship with Krsna, only for the purpose of discharging duties in the service of Krsna. Engage the children, the wife and the husband all in Krsna-conscious duties, and then all these bodily or material attachments will disappear. Since the via medium is Krsna, the consciousness is pure, and there is no possibility of degradation at any time.
On behalf of all Vaisnava missions here in North America, I would like to pray for a speedy recovery of Rohini Devi Dasi after this terrible accident. Unfortunately this is not an isolated occurrence as it has happened on a number of occasions, and in once case a female disciple of Srila Prabhupada did in fact leave her body from such an accident. In fact this happens with such frequency that the Vaisnavi.org (formerly vaisnavi.com) website has published a article warning of this danger since 2003. I would strongly recommend that all devotees heed the warning of the above said article, and to wear cotton or silk saris only (especially when cooking or on the altar ) as they are safer than the synthetic kind which simply turns into a ball of flaming liquid once it is ignited. As devotees, we are all in contact with fire so many times in one day, whether it is in this kitchen to cook or even just standing inside the temple when the ghee lamp comes around. Many times I have seen a wall-to-wall packed temple room, when the ghee lamp comes around it gets precariously close to devotees, especially if they are dancing or jumping about. Unfortunately, due to our many contacts with fire, we may tend to become very casual about it. We all need to exercise the utmost caution, and it would be in the interest of all devotees, for temples to review the number and accessibility of fire-extinguishers located in the temple room.
Aspiring servant to all the vaisnavas, |
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