Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan. 1999 Prabhupada - his policies and philosophies are the cause of guru-kula'sabuses. At least, I felt this was inferred by some of the recent articlesprinted in ISKCON Communications Journal that also cast the GBC as the leadingforce of change in our childcare reforms. I believe the "professional" view ofthese experts are wrong on both accounts. I relay how these reforms were inspite of the GBC and then detail the extent of Prabhupada's personal concernfor us - children - based upon the sound principles of guru-kula:"apprenticeship" and followed by a solid commitment of his best resources andmen. I conclude with the "recipe for reform" referred to as "Prabhupada'sMagic." I use the success of our guru-kula newsletters and reunions as anexample of this formula and how and why it works - as much for us as guru-kulis as for the movement at large. This should not be confused with Yadubar'sessay called Prabhupada's Magic II "inspired" as he put, by this essay. It waspostponed until its publication in the ISKCON Communications Journal - bytheir request and who has now decided not to use it after all. This essayinaugurates my daily newsletter. You can join by simply contacting me. Read Prabhupada's Magic and feedback. Read newsletters and feedback from Feb. - March, 1999 Read poetryDala-Flode hotel rooms published in the Veteran's Journal Read opinions on whether to sue ISKCON over child abuse charges Raghunatha Anudasa@aol.com PO Box 1476 Culver City CA 90232 (323) 969-4727 Cure for ISKCON Child Abuse I have just read Prof. Burkes report for the ISKCON Communications Journal onthe movements history of child abuse. Here's the response "from the 2ndgeneration" that you requested for your journal. It irks me how the mostsignificant, if not sole reason for reform of ISKCON child-care failed to bementioned - except in passing as an after math of the GBC "leaders" efforts atreform. Such a portrayal almost rings of a white-wash of the movementsleadership and a misrepresentation of the actual facts. I refer to the guru-kula newsletters and reunions that brought this issue to the movements noticeand created the momentum for its reform. This was inspite of the GBC'sofficial and repeated denunciations and efforts against it, many of whom arestill leading members of the GBC today. Prior to these newsletters and reunions, the vast bulk of all 2nd generationyouth were disenfranchised. They were made to feel that the problem was notwith guru-kula, the schools, but with them as children. The official ISKCONline - not for years, but decades - was that the 2nd generation wasrebellious, sex-drug crazed teenagers only interested in "Maya" - hedonism.They were branded as disloyal to Prabhupada, unappreciative of KrishnaConsciousness and spiritually corrupt. Parents who complained were portrayedas the real culprits for spoiling their kids with all this "Maya." In short,the entire 2nd generation - at least among its Western devotees, had eitherleft or as often been "thrown out." They were denounced as exaggerators,whiners and worse, subversive to Srila Prabhupada's movement. The 2ndgeneration as a group was condemned as an outcaste: "don't associate with themif you're serious about spiritual life." (This view had been muted, but stillremains "the unspoken" in many devotee circles - including a number posing asspokesmen for the youth. Many leaders still don't care to have ex-students intheir temples.) This was the true state of GBC policy towards "guru-kulareform" if you go by the youth's own account. This concerted effort by ISKCON's leaders to silence all but the most gentlewhispers about the horrors of guru-kula is the real reason why these abusesflourished for so many decades, in so many schools and to such extremes.Should one care to contest this claim, take a poll of those parents and youthof the 1980's. How else could one explain the extent of child abuse. Here liesthe GBC's direct responsibility for these high crimes. The GBC had beennotified, badgered and even threatened with the repercussions of ignoringthese atrocities and yet maintained a united front of denial. Dozens ofparents tried, management warned and a number of media reports publiclyproclaimed it. All were met with silence, denial or opposition. The leadersfeigned innocence even up 'til today, in knowing of this abuse, leaves meamusingly disgusted as just more of the same old, same old. It was againstthis back-drop that we started our newsletters and reunions and it was againstthis opposition that we made real head way in creating the consensus for truereform. What makes these newsletters and reunions all the more unusual is that the 2ndgeneration participated at all. After first tolerating years of abuse, theywere merrily condemned and ostracized. Not surprisingly, most simply wantednothing to do with the "devotees." By the mid and late 1980's, most Westernyouth who grew up in the Hare Krishna movement had distanced themselves fromISKCON. Frequently they started by trying to forget their dreadful childhooddays. Therefore, most had little contact with each other. Of 400 to 800students, hardly a dozen stayed on as active members. ISKCON had eliminated orat least silenced an entire generation of the movements children. The realchange to this whole trend was the guru-kula newsletters. There were severalnewsletters, but the one with the greatest impact and outreach was ISKCONYouth Veterans -which I started. 9 were completed and averaged a couple dozenphotos and hundreds of pages of typed written text. I spent $15,000 of my ownmoney. Having been such a destitute my entire life, I can only tribute suchresources as the will of the Lord. And thank God, because only two or threeGBC men gave a $10 donation. Several leaders complained bitterly while mostsimply ignored me. All of them received copies of my work. Here was thetypical GBC response to child-abuse reform in 89-92 - the years of mynewsletters. It is reasonable to believe that without these newsletters, thereform measures we see today would have never taken place as I will explainshortly. Calling your attention to the newsletters, reunions and my efforts ismore then some juvenile need for recognition from an irrelevant leadership orfrom a movement that has shown me unimaginable terror, pain, humiliation andloss. Far more important then settling some obscure academic record is my goalfor revealing the "secret of reform" - real reform. I refer to this as"Prabhupada's Magic." To understand the history of our efforts is to recognizethe real instruments of reform or this Prabhupada Magic. Only in understandingthis can we continue to fully protect and nurture its development. The newsletters reprinted highlights from the hundreds of pages ofcorrespondence and essays I received from friends. This proved the magicformula. Our common experience provided a direly needed reference point fordealing with the issues of our childhood's, and the role it played upon us asyoung men and women in the world. It was here that we began to find thepatterns of behavior in both our childhood experiences and as adults. Wefound, for example, our identity to be as different from "ISKCON" as it wasfrom the average "karmi" - those not of our "religion." We were as much of a"devotee" as we were a "karmi" and therefore needed to attend to the interestof one as much as the other. Nether identity can be neglected for us to feel"whole." We also found that the abuses and the condemnations that followedwere universal to us as a group and not an individual stigma of our own making- as so many first felt. Our cultural diversity, global travel, devotionalinsights and childhood hardships became our common language. The newsletterwas appropriately called: ISKCON Youth Veterans. In short, it recast us as ayouth of ISKCON who could take pride - for the first time - in our trials andtribulations for all the experience it offered. This created the need for usto reconnect with our childhood friends. It was only in this regrouping thatwe found the context, will and interest to make issue of things like childabuse, the movements intolerance towards its youth, or the need to accommodateus in the communities, etc. The Alachua meetings, referred to as so central anevent in the Professor's essay, was hardly the beginning or even the rallyingpoint. It was simply the culmination of only one in many meetings the youthbegan having with the devotees by that time. LA, for example, had a number ofmeetings, as did Vrindavan. The Alachua meeting proved the most profitable -at least for those few to run the show. However, prior to the newsletters, theyouth and parents refused to have anything to do with the movement. Nothing.Zippo. This included almost everyone of those to speak at the Alachua meeting.These meetings would never have taken place had the youth not once againrenewed their bond with the devotee community at large. It was here inbringing the youth back, if only in a confrontational manner, that thereunions and newsletters proved to be a vital link. The newsletters also provided the broader community of devotees an insightinto the 2nd generation. The devotees could view the extraordinary hardshipthat these kids tolerated quietly, in good faith and often, in good spirits.More striking still was that the kids did so as much for their survival as fortheir devotional sentiments. Many devotees were humbled how these devotionalsentiments carried through such childhood trauma and into the struggles oftheir adult lives. It was the first time devotees at large reconsidered theyouth as something more then rebel rousers, foolish adolescents or just"karmis - sense enjoyers." Many "average" devotees began extending themselvesto the youth with open arms and deep respect for the first time. Managementoften maintained a "tight upper-lip." Still, good will from the others wasenough to allow guru-kulis some growing sense of community with the devoteesagain. Without this complete change of attitude in the movement, how couldthere be any call for reform? Prior to this, the problem was a debauchedyouth, not a corrupt movement. No call to arms on behalf of a youth could workuntil this attitude changed. Yes, there were some parents, teachers and evensome leaders who made that call for reform, but it was made upon deaf ears.The newsletter changed this paradigm by showing the severity, extent and ongoing abuses that was only matched by the efforts to cover it up. Prior tothe newsletter, such abuse was cast as unfortunate, isolated incidents. Thenewsletters brought the devotees to finally begin joining the voice of theguru-kulis. This created the urgency necessary to move the GBC to respond withsomething more than long winded proclamations. The Alachua meeting was one,but only one, of the more resounding examples of this. The Professor quotes the GBC's verbiage from their 1990 meetings in which theyonce again talked of child abuse, but this time with a decent list ofrecommendations. Such posturing however, impressed few parents or youth of thetime. For one, it was simply an up-dated version of their long stated concernsfrom nearly a decade of routine discussions on guru-kula's troubles. Itrepresented very little action like its preceding proclamations and was donein the face of resounding new scandal right there in Mayapur, the place of themeetings. This scandal was of course promptly swept under the carpet like allthe others. The GBC's new "by-laws" were a disservice in that it gave severalunfortunate devotees the mistaken impression that now was the time for them tostep forward with their cases of child abuse. More often than not, they werenot the better for it. All of the particulars that I refer are high dramacases. They would humiliate a number of leaders. I can quote the instances anddevotees should there be an interest for me to do so. For now, I'm keeping inline with this publications academic over view versus a more dramatic exposeof our movements history. Such a history would also prove more time consumingthen my present time constraints - a few days. In short, like most societies,real change is had from a grass roots effort before it reaches someone at thetop who only jumps aboard to avoid getting run over by its progress. Thisproves as true of ISKCON's child abuse reform as it does with most all itsother reform movements. Though I give a general sketch to the most significant events and evolutionbehind our child care reform, it does not explain the cause of the abuse andwhy our efforts with the newsletters proved so effective. They remain to bethe same answer and the real purpose for writing this piece. Let me begin witha headmasters meeting I attended in the early 80's at the Long Island temple.They were there to discuss how to save our crumbling guru-kula's - one of thefirst such meetings wherein the failure of guru-kula was recognized as thepremise of discussion. They offered me a cordial "10 minutes" out of their 2days of meetings. I remember thinking, "that's one minute per year I was inguru-kula. They must be impressed with what guru-kula has to offer." I guess Idid a great job because it was the first and last ISKCON meeting I have everbeen asked to speak at. I kept it short and sweet. "Guru-kula was a grandsuccess." I kept my comment to that as I watched at the devotees disbelief.They wanted me to explain. "The foremost motive of our leaders for guru-kula was to have a place to keepthe kids - out of the way - so parents could be put to work on sankirtancollections without distraction. On this front, guru-kula was a grand success.Its 2nd objective was to have another show piece for their public display.Again, our guru-kula's delivered. They made beautiful show-bottles for themovements "preaching." Though these were not part of the public missionstatements, these goals represented the leaders real motives for a guru-kula.All the posturing about creating "men of character" and "tomorrows leaders"was more propaganda and justification for hiding the kids away then an actual"personal" goal of the leaders." I had the room's attention. Sovata uebernachtungGuru-kula did succeed on a number of its claimed mission statements. Guru-kulawas to teach kids to become versatile in the Vedic philosophy, arts andculture. The students meanwhile were to imbibe the devotional sentiments anddevelop a sense of austerity, simplicity and detachment in an environment"safe" from material degradation. Again, the guru-kula's proved a resoundingsuccess. This explains why everyone was so oblivious to guru-kula's obvioushorrors. By everyone of their "measures of success," guru-kula was doinggreat. They did not have the tools to see the abuses. Never were the kids,their well being, their potentials, their ambitions a real concern to anyonebut the parents. Those things were as trivial as were the blaring problemsthat fostered in these areas of child-care. All too often, the parents didn'tor could not care either. The cultural trappings - rhetoric - and economics ofthe time would not allow it. To do so was "maya - nonsense" - or a "deviation"from their "devotional service." The kids - like everyone else - was a propfor the leaders goals, projects and ambitions which was more about numbers &size then quality to individual care: how big the schools, how many teachers,students and programs. In return, the leaders got exactly what they wantedfrom both the guru-kula's as well as the kids - lots of both. Only in the endcould they finally realize that numbers and size proved useless. Here lies theroot cause of all other problems: they "wanted" the wrong thing. They workedfor the institution, not the individual. They worked for the "status quo," notthe individual. Therefore, the institution benefited at the expense of theindividual in the short term, but collapsed in the long term. The 2ndgeneration was gone along with most of the schools and their parents. I find this to be somewhat as true of today's "projects" as then. Today'sapproach does not so much bully the individual into some agenda slots, as itdoes misrepresent or work with only those that do. All the grand standingabout the youth and child protection, is again more about another agenda thenthe well being of the youth it claims to represent. I was invited to speak ata "ritvik" meeting several years ago. I told the meeting about my point madein Long Island and concluded that all the child abuse cases they throw aroundis nothing more than a weapon against the management they don't like. Grandstanding on our history of abuse has nothing to do with our well being.Therefore, it is not much different than the movements misuse of us - otherthan in degree. Once again, we are simply a pawn for someone's agenda otherthen our own. If they were concerned for our well being, I concluded, therewere many things more useful then having our sordid past waved as weaponsagainst ISKCON. Resources, housing, transportation, jobs; these would dowonders for us. Even just a kind word would be great. No volunteers steppedforward that day. Yet, most had used our stories as a punch line in theircomplaints against ISKCON. To conclude, I asked the spokes person if he wouldtalk so freely about these incidents had his own child been the victim. Heoffered to reconsider how he used our stories in the future. I have not beeninvited to speak at a ritvik meeting again either. Most of the reform measures and groups we see in ISKCON are similarly moreabout the institutions needs then that of the youth for which they stand. Themovements Minister of Education, Sri Rama, during the late 1980's hadcollected an impressive portfolio of case studies documenting abuse afterabuse by "teachers" he personally did not like. He hoped to throw theseindividuals out of their positions with these testimonials. He could neverunderstand why so few kids had any interest in getting involved with his"reform." "It has nothing to do with them." I told him. "It has to do withyour own political agenda, not theirs." He was as bewildered by thisexplanation as by the explosive success of my own clumsy efforts with thenewsletter and reunions. Sri Rama's efforts also remains one of the manyexamples to the vast information collected and communicated to the top GBCbrass about guru-kula's on-going abuse with little more then a filed awayfolder. Children of Krishna has a similar history. It came to be hatched under thethreat that non compensation for their stated abuses in the Alachua meetingwould result in "something" - meaning law suit. Such hard-nosed threats wereonly possible because Alachua is not an ISKCON temple under GBC supervision.Its an independent community with GBC affiliations. Similar instancesthroughout the movement where met with fierce opposition from the GBC.Annutama, who had been talking about putting together a youth organization forseveral months, took the opportunity of Alachua's "crying" devotees to getpledges. He is a parent to a "victim," as well as the director for the PRdepartment. 80% of the $50,000 collected through Children Of Krishna went forjust one of their self appointed "directors" and other "office expenses." Mostof the youth was disgusted. However, the immediate threat of a law suit haddissipated. Coincidentally, the GBC found the Children of Krishna a greatsuccess. Today's Youth Minister was similarly viewed by most as an appointed"Representative of the GBC" for their business with the youth. The YouthMinister is NOT the "Representative of the Youth" to the GBC. Never has the2nd generation been asked who they would like to represent them and its clearthat they never will be asked. Nor should they ask to say. This Youth Ministerappointment was also done under a similar cloud of potential law suites. So isthe movements latest grand reform measure, the Child Protection Agency. All ofthese efforts are more about the movements legal, if not moral, self interestthen the well being of the 2nd generation. The youth and children banner onwhich they stand is more a platform to launch their varied objectives. Some feel that this ISKCON Communication Journal for which I write this essayis as much about public posturing for the media as it is for developing aprofessional review of the movement. The professors articles delivered on thisvery goal by creating a sense of legitimacy for the GBC's efforts at child-care reform vs. their terrible guilt in its perpetration. The 2nd essay, forexample, compared ISKCON's child abuse against that of other American schoolsand churches as if it there was something common about it all. The nature ofthe cases may seem similar, but I doubt they are similar by degree of severityor in the number of different kinds of abuses that ISKCON fell prey to. Mostevery form of child abuse imaginable took place in ISKCON and more often thennot, did so to its greatest expression. Few if any other cited "karmi schools"could make such a claim. Nor was the percentage of students affected in theseother school systems comparable to that of ISKCONs. Yes, 1 million or sostudents are abused in America's school, but compared to 30 million studentsor what ever it maybe. Compare percentage of students abused in "karmi"schools to that of guru-kula, and guru-kula will "take the cake." I believe itfair to estimate that as much as 90% of all ISKCON youth - by the late 80's -had been subjected to some kind of abuse whether in the form of SEVERE NEGLECT(starvation, terrible living, academic and medical care conditions etc.),harsh punishment (of every kind - physical or otherwise) or sexualmolestation. Although ISKCON's "schools in LA, Europe and Australia" provedbetter then the others, most of the students from them had been subjected toan abusive guru-kula prior to - or after their stay in - those "good" schools.A 90% abuse ratio maybe high. A more careful poll may reveal otherwise, butthe point still stands - it is far higher then all other schools that ISKCONwas compared against by the professor. Yet such unfavorable comparisons wereoverlooked - for what ever reason. The media responded in kind by presentingall the movements abuse as a step taken towards reform by the leadershiprather then an indictment of their massive crimes. The Professors and ISKCON"COMMUNICATIONS" Journal had delivered a media coop. A job well done. Are these efforts a bad thing? Well, it may give ISKCON what they "want" justas the guru-kula schools did, but it may not really be the best of what'sneeded for those in whose name its done. It will still miss the mark - theindividual, just as all the other programs and guru-kulas did in the past. Itis only a question of how much that target is missed. To the degree it isabout an agenda other then the youth, to that degree they will miss the mark.There is a direct correlation. Today's programs are far closer then guru-kula's past, yes, but not entirely on the "bulls eye." One demonstration ofthis would be the GBC's satisfaction with the Children of Krsna and YouthMinistry in the face of the youths initial dissatisfaction with them. Even more telling is the blindness to all efforts outside that of theinstitution. Parents and friends, for example, are hardly noticed though theyhelped guru-kulis through their most dreadful times. When the institutionitself is the first priority, then only those efforts done through theinstitution are recognized - exclusively. Such recognition has to do withglorifying the institution, not the cause of the youth. Being personallyoverlooked is a symptom of this. Recognizing such non-institutional heroes asparents is an important litmus test. Svavasa, for example, has provided about$30,000 over 2 years in free or reduced room and board to over 100 guru-kulis.Again, all of these contributions have never been officially noted becausethey were made outside of the designated "youth" institutions. To recognizesuch efforts provides "the means of discovery." For example, the role andvalue of the broader community of devotees in all of this or the mosteffective tools for reaching out to guru-kulis will become more apparent byrecognizing the contributions of the different devotees. It is in recognitionthat we find the sign post to our journey. Over looking the newsletter is especially unfortunate. The newsletteraccomplished each and every goal the GBC had ever hoped for and failed toachieve in spite of all their other programs, hundreds of costly meetings, andpersonal qualifications. Guru-kulis began to heal for the first time. Theybegan to come to terms with their past, their parents and the movement. Theystarted the reform of our child-care, re-ignited their spiritual lives alongwith their relationships with devotees and even ISKCON - to the point ofmoving back into communities and taking on active service and preaching. Thiswas all had in one fell swoop by nothing more then a simple newsletter andreunions. To over look the role the newsletter played in all of this means tooverlooked the secret of its success. The secret of success to the ISKCONYouth Veterans newsletters was that it provided a friendly refuge to the guru-kulis for the first time with no other "agenda" but appreciation and fairreview of them. The reunions provided the same, but in a personal face to faceforum. In short, we provided something akin to a community for ourselves. Formany, this was the first time in a long time. Community means a resourcecenter for the individuals' social, economic, emotional, intellectual andspiritual development and detailed in scripture more broadly as Varna-AsramaDharma. We created the beginnings of this sense of community missing from ourlives from both the world and the movement. This new found community offriends was the newsletters "secret of success." Calls for this kind of priority to the individual - the real meaning ofcommunity spirit - is dismissed as too vague a policy, too sentimental for ourstandards or unpractical for implementation. I have therefore made such a caseout of the success of the newsletters and reunions simply to demonstrate theimpact of this approach. I similarly point to guru-kula's abuses as atestament of the worse to happen when the individual is forsaken in the nameof a cause or institution. Many devotees seemed stumped by this idea. Theyassume the movements success was had because the individuals sacrificedthemselves for its greater good. Though true, this remains only part of thestory. The real story is that we loved Prabhupada because the devotees felt heloved them. The devotees felt that he would do for them what ever they neededmost and so did for him what ever he needed most. I realized how strong thissentiment was only after transcribing Sidhanta's "Prabhupada Memory VideoSeries." Devotees from that era relay story after story how Prabhupadacontinuously made accommodation for each of their individual needs. Prabhupadamade them feel loved and though their lives where austere, they felt bettercared for than they had at any other time in their life. It can be hard tounderstand at times, but it was the magic that made this movement run. It wasPrabhupada's magic. My own experience as a small, 11 year old child in guru-kula duringPrabhupada's final days in Vrindavan, India, is a telling example to thissense of Prabhupada's loving care. There were the many incidents of personalattention I received from Prabhupada and there was his management that alsomeant as much. His decision often favored the individual situation of myschool friends or parents over that of set policy. For me, it first started in LA '73, where Prabhupada wrote my mother about my"beautiful features" before singling me out 3 days later by handing me cookiesfrom his vyasa-sana throne to pass on to smaller kids that hovered aroundafter his morning class. About a week later, he stopped his Rolls Royce andhad me climb in to join him on his daily morning walks which I did every daythere after for a week or more. There are many instances where I received thiskind of attention from Prabhupada though I was only one small child out of acommunity of 400 devotees. One day while sitting in his room, "spacing out" ashe talked with others, he turned to me and asked, "Are you cold?" The windowwas open during a December evening. I was shirtless. "No Srila Prabhupada?""How come?" he asked. "Because I chant Hare Krishna." Prabhupada was verypleased and gave me the name Raghunatha after the saintly Goswami known forhis austerity. He took note of my potential discomfort and when I showed mywillingness to accept it, he honored my sacrifice. He did not take it lightly- though only a boy of eight. More telling is the fact that he alone noticed Imay be cold. This was Srila Prabhupada. And this has been the missingingredient from much of the movement's operation - especially afterPrabhupada's departure in 77. LA - 73, Dallas-75 and then Vrindavan 76-77, all had similar small incidentsthat left me feeling a personal sense of attention and concern from SrilaPrabhupada. I even felt protected and loved at times - odd given the hardshipsof guru-kula. "Are they getting enough to eat?" he would ask on occasion inVrindavan. A couple times he asked teasingly because we sang so softly whilehe rested - as the devotees did for him during his last days. Another time, heasked why we were so skinny. He responded in kind by arranging for betterprasadam - meals. He instructed the Krishna Balarama Temple management to giveus the remnants of the deities 4:30 am mangala arotic offering of sweets. Itwas an assortment of 5 different kinds of heavenly milk sweets - some of thebest I have ever had. The sweets were previously going to the sanyasis -leaders. Later, Prabhupada found out we were getting significantly less in thename of "Prabhupada's breakfast." He promptly began sending us his breakfast"remnants" - a veritable feast. He even allowed us our own cook, budget andkitchen - a rare luxury of the day. There were other seemingly mundaneconcerns he made personal issue of; from getting enough play time - 2 hours(against teacher protest), to enough rest time - "eight hours" including 1hour naps. And it didn't end there: "Why are your cloths so dirty?" he askedme on one occasion from his return palanquin visit to the temple. He hadbecome so weak by then, he could not even walk the 20 feet to see the Deities.But he stopped his palanquin to ask me about my filthy cloths as boys are aptto be. This was the eye of Prabhupada. He noticed a passing detail out ofhundreds of devotees - a small boy. I promptly answered before Prabhupada'sfull entourage of ISKCON leaders. "Because the teachers won't give me powderedsoap Srila Prabhupada." My teachers were horrified. I felt as proud about thisas I was embarrassed. I felt that Prabhupada found my condition noteworthyenough to make issue though I was just a kid. This kind of personal attentionfrom Prabhupada was the "universal" experience with everyone who ever metPrabhupada. It created a sense that Prabhupada was watching over us as muchfor me as kid in Vrindavan as for the thousands of devotees throughout theworld. It was magic. Prabhupada's magic. Prabhupada intervened a number of times over official set policy whether onguru-kula discipline or over temple devotees sending their kids to guru-kula.Srila Prabhupada for example, rebuffed Jagadish's plea for the need ofcorporal punishment for such "incorrigible" kids like Jagaman - a 13 year oldand one of the first teenagers of the movement. Jagadish was the Minister ofEducation at the time and was trying to defend the right of teachers to"chastise" the kids with physical punishment after complaints were brought toPrabhupada's attention. Prabhupada said no - repeatedly. Prabhupada saw suchon going "misbehavior" as a symptom that the child was "not properly engaged."Prabhupada had Jagaman transferred to a farm in Hydrabad in which he did muchbetter. Another time, Prabhupada intervened on Kirtan's behalf - his motherwas Prabhupada's cook. Kirtan was an 8 year old considered to be "a disciplineproblem." There were other instances as well. In one letter, Prabhupada writesthat a teacher "should be beat" if he "slaps" a student. Other times, heinstructed parents to personally attend to their child. Anirudha dasa, forexample, was living with, being taken care of, and tutored by his mom thoughliving in Vrindavan where our guru-kula was in full swing. This was true ofothers. He told Arandati devi dasi that tending to her child was her "deityworship" when she wrote him about her personal priority to "deity service"while someone else babysat. Such seemingly "contradictory" instructions arerarely repeated but were common to the devotees of the day when faced with a"unique" situation. Prabhupada often advised and arranged things to meet theirindividual needs. Perhaps more striking was Prabhupada's managerial involvement with guru-kulathough officially "resigned" from all day to day ISKCON management - doctorsorders. He formalized Bhagajis involvement with us. Bhagaji was one ofPrabhupada's closest, personal friends in Vrindavan. Bhagaji is a great manremembered with the heavy heart of deep affection. Prabhupada also hand pickedYasodanandan to teach us though Yasoda was heading up the biggest fund raising"Sankirtan Party" in the world. He also appointed Dr. Sharma though unnoticedfor such a post by everyone else associated with guru-kula - for he did notfollow most of the basic requirements from chanting "sixteen rounds" of HareKrishna to reading Prabhupada's books, or attending most temple functions andclasses. Still, Prabhupada appointed him. Dr. Sharma is - in my 30 years ofexperience - the best principle of any guru-kula, if not gentlemen, I haveever come to know. Someday, we can hopefully give a more detailed list of Prabhupada's personalinvolvement in "hand-picking" from his best resources - not his worse. His"vision" versus what took place with guru-kula should also be more thoroughlyexamined. This is important. It will define Prabhupada's responsibility forthe "shortcomings" of guru-kula vs the "Western devotees" translations of"Prabhupada's instructions." Example: Prabhupada: "show them the stick" - a finger thick, 2 foot longruler. Teacher translation: breaking a 1 * inch thick, by 3 feet long, "Smaranam(remember) Board" on a 10 year olds back side. Like so many other instances inthe movement, this was immediately stopped once brought to Prabhupada'sattention. Prabhupada: send a misbehaved child to the "corner." Translation: locked in small, dark, wet bathrooms for hours - sometimes days. Prabhupada: older boys can serve as "monitors" and the peer pressure willinfluence the younger to behave. Translation: encouraging bully's to beat kids up younger kids out of favorwith teachers. And the list of such things goes on, and on, and . . . This kind of review of Prabhupada vs. guru-kula will also demonstrate thefeasibility of guru-kula. Guru-kula literally means: Master's-Home. In short,guru-kula is the system common to every culture of the world as apprenticeship- the student lives with a teacher who is "master(ed)" in the art of onesinterest. This is in contrast to the Western-Catholic style boarding-schoolsthat guru-kula came to resemble for there was really no other master then, butPrabhupada. Boarding schools are often more a cattle ranch for housingdisadvantaged kids as was the case of many guru-kulas. Reviewing these kindsof considerations will better define the movements single most sensitive areaof controversy - Prabhupada's role in the past "mistakes" with, and visionfor, women and children. That "vision" may be nicely summarized in this closing story about VrindavanGuru-kula itself. Prabhupada's original request was for us to go to Mayapurlike the Western "older boys" who arrived the year before us - 1975. Ourfriends told of the hardships they lived in Mayapur. We found Vrindavan farmore welcoming. There was just five of us in this 2nd batch of Western kids toIndia; Deva Deva, Lila Smarana, Dwarkadish, Vrindavan and myself. We were 8through 10 years of age at the time. We simply decided we wanted to stay inVrindavan. We loved Vrindavan. Here is the amazing part. Prabhupada said fineand then built this huge school there in Vrindavan for us. There stands today,Vrindavan Guru-kula, 5 stories high and a football field big. Vrindavan Guru-kula is a testament to Prabhupada's commitment of resources to us - oureducation, our well being - our happiness. It exemplifies his sense ofaccommodation - a whole school to meet the personal preference of 5 youngboys. The fact that Vrindavan Guru-kula became the most abusive of all theschools, personifies the contrast of Prabhupada's sincerest intent and mostvaliant efforts against the "devotees" translation of that kindness. This isseen all too often throughout the movement - especially in regard to women andchildren. A whole school for our personal accommodation - this was SrilaPrabhupada. This was the Prabhupada I came to love as a child, the PrabhupadaI came to know as a devotee and the Prabhupada I came to honor as a man.Prabhupada went the extra mile for us and so we did for him. Here is theformula of Prabhupada's Magic and the recipe for creating true reform whetherit be our schools or childcare, the temples, leadership and society, or in ourown personal relationships and endeavors. The real break through in all these youth and child protection programs is notso much the institutions themselves as created by the GBC leadership, but thecaliber of men that have finally been attracted to run them. Here is the truehope for effective, long term reform and the basis for the movements change.My faith in the Child Protection Agency is only to the extent that DiraGovinda and Yasoda remain to run it. Their commitment to our well being seemssolid if not greater then their loyalties to the movements political concerns.It was Dira Govinda who requested my response to Professor Burke's essayknowing full well the cutting voice with which I speak. This is an importanttestament that Dira Govinda will present even the most discomforting facts tothe GBC. He is the first ISKCON representative to request me to make such apublic address as well as the first to recognize my contributions to the 2ndgeneration. The Children of Krishna is similarly only as good as Anutama'sinvolvement and those like him. Anutama is personally committed to making adifference to the youth - both as a father and as a friend. His duties as PRDirector are only secondary to his commitment as a family man and so I trustthis carries over to his kid as well - a gurukuli. The stands especially truefor the Youth Minister, Manu. Manu is himself a veteran of guru-kula. He isoverly protective of his "territory" at times and somewhat soft spoken aboutthe concerns of the "older youth," but his passion and commitment to usremains unquestioned. It is also in honoring the parents that have done such afine job by their own children that we may find the answers and resources todevelop the same. Again, it comes down to individuals. The good news is thatISKCON finally has a crew with the competence and passion to affect realchange - so long as they are not compromised in their concern for the youth.Their appointment remains to be the most significant act by the GBC toreforming our movements torrid past - as long as these people stay on tofinish the job unhindered by the movements politics. Keep in focus theindividuals' well being and all other intended goals will automatically behad. This is as true for our schools and child care reform as for the movementat large. I watch with cautious hope, but hope all the same, that we mayfinally once again see more of this loving care of Prabhupada's Magic. Nara Narayan Puranjana (PADA) Jhanavi Dasi Raghunatha's reply to Jahnavi Bahudak Kavicandra Swami Madhava Asraya Madhuha Vipramukhya Swami Hrdaya Caitanya das Papahrini Devi Ijya dasa Prtha Devi Bhakti-tirtha Swami Hansarupa dasa Jagaddhatri Devi Sanatana Radha Devi Locanananda Das Gauridas Pandita Dasa Email Raghunatha back to index |