The Whirlwind Wrote:
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> The "leadership" of the Dallas Hare Krsna
> community is abusive, and they are presently in
> the process of purging their "community" of any
> and all devotees whose loyalty to their temple
> council regime is in question. I know of two
> devotees who have been banned from the Dallas
> temple in the last couple of weeks, one of whom
> was even forced to move. If the Hare Krsnas in
> Dallas want the rest of the world to believe that
> they're not a destructive cult, then they're going
> to need to try harder than they do, and if they
> want to be taken seriously as a mainstream
> religion then they're going to need to be able to
> stand up to some scrutiny.
>
> As things are now, ISKCON of Dallas does not stand
> up to scrutiny at all. The main problem, as I see
> it, is a general lack of accountability on the
> part of the temple management council and temple
> president, to the general congregation. The
> temple president and the local GBC (Governing Body
> Commission) representative are the same person; as
> a consequence, there is (chain of command wise)
> nobody to whom devotees can go, if a problem with
> the management arises. It's a closed, and
> self-sealed system they have in place, in Dallas.
> For another thing, the temple president is temple
> president in name only: the REAL temple president
> is the older Chinese lady who runs the restaurant.
> She's the one who's holding all the strings, on a
> day to day basis.
>
> The management of ISKCON Dallas seem to not want
> nobody around who might have a mind of his or her
> own, and who does not depend on them like children
> depend on their parents. A lot of devotees stay
> silent, out of fear. Not me; these people do not
> scare me. They've been to used to getting away
> with too much, for too long. Devotees are tired
> of the abuse and total lack of accountability, and
> are beginning to organize against them a little
> bit. Presently, the Dallas temple president is
> sick with Covid-19. I hope he takes this time to
> re-assess whether it may be an appropriate time to
> resign his position as temple president, to retire
> or something like that. It might be a good time
> to step down, prabhu.

Wow, it turns out that the Dallas temple president is not really on the GBC after all. I have this information on very good authority. This appears to be a falsehood that was being propagated (for whatever reason). Why would prabhu tell everybody that he's on the GBC, though? Why would he let everybody around here believe that?

Nityananda dasa is NOT an official GBC member, although he may perform some of the duties of a GBC. He does serve on the North American Council, so he is respected in North America. But he's not GBC.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2021 01:40AM by The Whirlwind.

To whom it may concern: I do not personally believe that ISKCON is Prabhupada's body (in a manner similar to the relationship Lord Jesus shares with His Church). The reason for this is that there is no recorded instance of Prabhupada having expressed that idea, and it's not written in any of his books. I reckon that if Prabhupada wanted devotees to believe that ISKCON is his mystical body, then he would have at least written it down. I believe that this idea (of ISKCON being Prabhupada's body) was a concoction, an invention designed to make criticism of the institutional organization impossible, or even sinful. If it's critical to believe that, then why did Prabhupada not put it in writing, or at least say it when he knew he was being recorded?

Look: I'm a devotee too, and an initiated one. But I am a devotee who is not afraid to think for himself, and to question and challenge temple management. Criticism of the organization (at least as it operates on the local level) IS NOT the same as criticism of Prabhupada and his mission.

Anybody who says that I am here to act as a troll can kiss my ass, corboy. I do not defend these people or their abuses for a moment.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2021 09:03AM by The Whirlwind.

Anybody who says that I am here to act as a troll can kiss my ass, corboy. I do not defend these people or their abuses for a moment.

They've curtailed some of their grosser criminal activities and they've become much more adroit with their PR, but ISKCON has not essentially changed. At least in Dallas, the management is pretty much a bunch of gangsters in dhotis, minus the guns and overt violence. They wield control over the "community", but without any meaningful accountability to anybosy outside of their circle. They compile files, dossiers on devotees whom they wish to harass and intimidate.

The temple council believes that Lord Brahma administers the affairs of this material world, through the disciples of Tamal Krishna Goswami. That's a recipe for all manner of abuse, and that's what cults are made of.

To whom it may concern: the ISKCON Child Protection Office (CPO) case was resolved in the favor of the family who initiated it. This is a big deal, corboy.

The abusive teacher has been relieved of her service in the school, and is now restricted from participating in most temple activities. That's a good thing.

There were kids who were doing their best to refuse to go to school, owing to their fear of this abusive teacher.

It's good to see that child abuse in the Dallas gurukula is not tolerated by the ISKCON CPO. Child abuse still happens in the Dallas gurukula, but it's mostly handled internally.

I do not know what the Dallas CPS, the local legal authorities, have done about this.

Nityananda dasa (temple president in Dallas) did his best to cover the matter up and make it go away, to squash the whole matter, but he failed.

It's still my intention to see to it that we get a new temple president in Dallas. I want to see some real accountability, from the local temple leadership. And I am by far not the only one.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2021 06:00AM by The Whirlwind.