Dear Devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
A few weeks ago, Dhanurdhara Swami approached the GBC Executive Committee with the idea of possibly being reinstated as a member of ISKCON.
The GBC EC sought out the opinions of a number of affected parties such as the leadership in ISKCON North America (Dhanurdhara Swami’s primary preaching field), the Child Protection Office, and devotees representing
ISKCON youth and gurukula graduates.
Considering their feedback and the policies of the CPO, we came to the consensus that pursuing the matter is not appropriate. Dhanurdhara Swami agreed and therefore withdrew his request before it was brought to the GBC
Body.
Thank you very much.
Hare Krsna,
Your servants,
GBC Executive Committee
In this context, we have found one old letter from GBC to Dhanurdhara Swami:
Dear Dhanurdhara Maharaja,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
We hope that this letter finds you in good health.
The GBC Body is aware that in the course of its ecclesiastical dealings concerning past child abuse in the society, sometimes the procedures we followed were awkward and took a long time to complete. This was particularly true in your case, and we unfortunately did not always keep you abreast of the ongoing progress of those procedures.
The GBC Body is sorry for the difficulties you and your disciples, followers, and friends must have experienced because of these long and cumbersome procedures. We could have done much better, and we sincerely apologize.
We support the decision of the Office of Child Protection in your case, but our procedures should not have added to your burden.
Additionally, we remain committed to promoting healing and reconciliation for our youth, parents, and all others affected by abuse. We hope that you will continue to reach out personally to former students. We appreciate the efforts you have made in this regard, and we encourage you to continue. We are willing to work with you where appropriate.
In conclusion, we never wanted you to leave the ISKCON society. We humbly request you again to remain an active member in ISKCON. Not only are we sure that this would be the desire of Srila Prabhupada, but also that it would be the best course of action for you, your disciples, and your followers.Your servants,
GBC
Hare Krishna dear Sankarsana Prabhu,PAMHO,AGTSP. To forgive offender
against onselfe,that is dharma for brahmana.But for sake of maintaining
dharma and justice,as well as peace and order in society,to punish
criminal – that is duty of ksatriya, or state administration .Level of
child abuse in ISKCON is mind blowing. Also it is strange how ISKCON
administartors dealt with it . For such criminal acts toward small
unprotected children,from common sence view of person with enough
knowledge of law of dharma – only conclusion is that more or less no offender, who performed
all that crimes in ISKCON acctually received any appropriate punishment from
administration of ISKCON or anyone. Actually all so called punishments were more
or less abolishments only, Srila Prabhupada said to Mata Kishori
dd,ACBSP,that child abusers who did crimes explained to His Divine Grace
at that day in Bombay,as punishment deserve first to be hanged and then
thrown out. If that instruction from Srila Prabhupada was followed with
first offender- for sure child abuse in ISKCON were ended with that
sole case.But because of neglecting duty to properly protect children
and punish appropriatly first abusers ISKCON ended according CPO with
huge number of sexual,or cruel physicall or mental torture of
Krishnas children.As result, more or less whole Society degraded from
spiritual to material platform ! / Ofchourse aparadhas toward Srila
Prabhupada and different Godbrothers and Godsisters aspetially from side
of leader ranks is also prime reason,but hand in hand with child
neglection wich is great crime ! / For all this actually all
administrators from level of teachers and school administrators,to
regional menagers,all the whay to all GBC Body deserve full life time
suspension from any responsible leadership service and abusers deserve
searious appropriate punishment,ofchourse according crimes they
commited-it s not that everything is one.But cosmic justice
department will take care if no one correct this,which probably will not
since we do not have any trained ksatriya so far. Srila Prabhupada wanted
daivi varnashrama dharma established in ISKCON,40 years ago since HDG
was well aware that we are dealing only with candidates for
Vaishnavas ,who need safe belts of varnashrama to progress well on path
back home back to Godhead.But by neglecting this instruction and vision
from HDG,ISKCON ended in dead end so far.ys
I’ve seen several head hunting comments regarding Dhanurdhara Swami, including the one above, which as expected, had falsities in it. The wrongs he committed occurred over 30 years ago, and haven’t reoccurred since. Eternal damnation is not a truth in our Vedas, but many devotees have such a vindictive spirit that they are sunk in eternal damnation mode, and are unwilling to reevaluate someone based on that person’s current merits. The CPO also has no process of reevaluating a past offender for possibly reinstalling the person in the society. The victims and others affected were certainly unfortunate, but holding life long grudges doesn’t lead to a productive life, nor get someone to spiritual realms.
Next a believer in eternal damnation will accuse me of supporting child abuse which I obviously don’t. I support punishment and chances for rectification. If Krishna didn’t we would all be stuck in material worlds.