Subject: ISKCON Long Island, NY
Testimonial Ref: Direction Of Management (DOM)
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2005
Dear Mukunda Prabhu,
Please accept my most humble obeisances! All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Prabhu, thank you very much for compiling the Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta As It is. The box of books which we got, we have been distributing to our congregation and many have liked it. I had sent one box to Kapindra Maharaj and 1 box to Nara Narayana Prabhu, as instructed by Jaya Krishna Prabhu. We read from the book every day after Srila Prabhupada's Guru puja.
I have read your postings about the Direction of Management implementation - that now is not the time to implement it, more need is there to concentrate on Hearing from Srila Prabhupada and raising the general standard of the Temples.
I agree with you to a large extent. Your compilation book "All of Us should hear Srila Prabhupada", has been well read and distributed by us for the last 4 years. We hear from Srila Prabhupada extensively in the temple, the ISKCON Long Island, NY. We also all read and distribute His Divine Grace's original books and we go out and chant(singing in the original style of kirtan as taught by Srila Prabhupada), distributing prasadam and books weekly thrice and doing house programs. When the colleges start in September, we will start regular college programs too. I myself read at least one hour daily Srila Prabhupada's books and letters. In the temple we have Srila Prabhupada singing kirtans 24 hours thru speakers in all places in the temple. We even have a 24 hours internet radio station where one can log onto www.iskconny.com and here the temple kirtans and lectures or singing/lectures from Srila Prabhupada or his early disciples all day/night long. All in the temple are being trained to be Srila Prabhupada's disciples. The deities Sri Sri Nimai Nitai, were installed by Srila Prabhupada in 1975 and were worshipped by Visnujan Maharaj. We change their clothes twice daily, daily abhishek and make offerings 4 times a day. We have been gradually trying to implement the original way of deity seva instituted by Srila Prabhupada in his ISKCON temples.
So, at least by some standards, this is a functioning ISKCON temple, as Srila Prabhupada desires it to be. Obviously, we could do much more to purify ourselves and others. And we will continue to increase our endeavor's specially by the blessings and instructions of devotees like your good self.
We came to know of the Direction of Management last year in court (Supreme Court of New York) during a hearing on a lawsuit brought by the so-called "GBCs" who were trying to kick us out of the temple, on the charge that we are "ritviks". It was their argument that they are appointed GBC by Srila Prabhupada according to the document- the DOM. Hence they had the right to demand obedience!
That is the time Sriman Nara Narayana Vishwakarma Prabhu told us the importance of Srila Prabhupada's DOM and the weak points in the presentation of the "GBCs". He even submitted an affidavit to the court to lay the real background of this document. Especially that these are not the real GBCs as they have not been elected.
Partly, due to his brilliant exposition of the document, the judge ordered the so-called "GBC"s to stay away. So now, for the last almost 1 year, we have been free to practice KC, as ordered by Srila Prabhupada to his disciples, in an organized manner.
We do not associate with the so-called ISKCON temples. All "GBCs" or their representatives have to take permission to come in the temple - which they have never asked for. Basically, we are practicing Krishna Consciousness, keeping the Acarya in the center and associating with like-minded devotees around the world.
During the lawsuit, we requested Locanananda Prabhu to come and speak about the Gurukuli abuses to show the corruption in the current ISKCON to the Judge. His 5 minute testimony was powerful and moving, even he choked up! We have also been helping the poison investigation, details of which I am not at a liberty to reveal.
My point is that even though we are an ISKCON temple, we do not associate with the corrupt ISKCON "leadership", rather are trying to educate others(innocents) about it.
Since last year's court battle, we have also been implementing the Direction of Management in the temple - gradually.
We have resisted the "GBC"s pressures to change our name from ISKCON to something else, Direction of Management specifically is made by Srila Prabhupada on the letterhead of INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS, INCORPOATED. This is the legal organization which owns our temple property. So this is the first thing we have done in implementing DOM. Not to change the name to anything else other than ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada moreover says,
"Then in 1966, July, I incorporated the Society under the name and style the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, briefly ISKCON. The lawyer was Mr. J. Goldsmith. Gradually the Society increased, and one after another branches were opened. Now we have got thirty-four (34) branches enlisted herewith".
Srila Prabhupada is specifically saying he incorporated a society name(d) .."briefly ISKCON".
All real property should be in the name of ISKCON. This is his order.
"7. Advice will be given by the GBC in cases of real property purchases, which will be in the name of ISKCON, INC. (Trucks or other vehicles will be purchased in the name of the local president)."
Hence these are the first instructions of DOM that we have already implemented here. We considered that these instructions we heard from Srila Prabhupada via his DOM are as important as his instructions we heard from in his lectures. I am sure you will agree and see the practicality of the situation. I have found here that devotees are more agreeable to help and cooperate if they can work under the name of ISKCON. You can understand that fighting a lawsuit to defend ourselves, keeping the temple program going daily, keeping regular preaching programs in NYC and taking care of the medium size congregation, for the last more than 1 year, takes some amount of resources, organization and cooperation among a good many like-minded devotees.
Another instruction of Srila Prabhupada from the Direction of Management which we have implemented is the next one:
"8. Removal of a Temple president by the GBC requires support by the local Temple members."
All devotees in the temple(currently 5 brahmacaris, 2 grahastha couple) know it and have seen this in writing and have been told by me several times, that if the devotees feel that the current Temple President, myself, is not doing his duty properly and is not qualified to do the service, then he can be removed by the Temple Members and a new one can be elected by the Temple Members. This instruction became paramount to implement now as devotees are all serving here, voluntarily, and giving up all their material possessions, and they wanted to know who is my authority. As I am definitely not a pure devotee, I found it a very good question to think of an answer of. Who is there to correct me? Srila Prabhupada. But what if I refuse or am unable to take the chastisement or correction from Srila Prabhupada. Is there another method Srila Prabhupada has set up in his organization for the managers to be accountable? According to the DOM, GBCs supervise Temple Presidents. But what if there are no real GBCs supervising me, as is the case now? At least the temple members have a say in keeping me in check if I become autocratic. Without that safety check, which intelligent, Brahman like devotee would like to surrender fully in such a temple environment for a long time? Otherwise, generally we have seen, and I know you have also experienced in "your" temple, the devotees in the temple start feeling that the TP thinks it is "his" temple.
I see that this DOM instruction of Srila Prabhupada would work the other way round too, when there are elected GBCs, they wouldn't be able to remove a TP whimsically, and hence a householder would feel much more secure in making his house into a preaching center in the name of ISKCON, legally, and put his hard-earned earnings in ISKCON's bank a/c to be used according to the instructions of Srila Prabhupada for preaching. This is how the new centres were opened in the early days. To insure that kind of trust again, without the DOM as a safety check, how will the householder's make their home's into ISKCON temples?
The other DOM instructions we have implemented are based upon this instruction of Srila Prabhupada
"They are already managing individual centers represented by one president, one secretary and one treasurer, and in my opinion they are doing nice."
At that time, according to my research, and I may be wrong, there were regular istagosthis of the devotees. In the temple the men and women were living separately in the respective ashrams, even if they were married. All devotees would attend the whole morning program, especially the TP, and they would go out on sankirtan, which meant, distributing Kirtan, books and Prasadam. So we are gradually implementing these instructions. You are welcome to come, stay with us in the Men's ashram and check and give suggestions on what more can we do.
Another statement of Srila Prabhupada is "Gradually the Society increased, and one after another branches were opened. Now we have got thirty-four (34) branches enlisted herewith." So we are trying to see which other temples/preaching centres around the world, whether called ISKCON or not, are willing to form the real ISKCON organization, under the banner of INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS. Maybe in a year's time, things will get cleared up, on who are real ISKCON temples and who are not, so that new contacts can be told the references of the temples.
We are trying to make new ISKCON centers, based upon Srila Prabhupada's formula of householder's opening preaching centers, men work initially, and in spare time, they go out on sankirtan. NY has many householder's who are Srila Prabhupada's disciples, and we are working with them, having regular Istagosthis in their homes, and generally helping them start their own centers in their homes -gradually. Of course, as you say, the first thing is to infuse in everyone the strong desire and importance of hearing from Srila Prabhupada. And to understand that Srila Prabhupada is a nitya-siddha associate of Lord Caitanya, Personality of Servitor Godhead and that all his activities are executed from a platform of ecstatic love of Lord Krishna. Krishnalingita Vigraha. I am not under illusion that it will take some years before these places would become ISKCON centres. But this is where we have started, and simultaneously these are the principles of DOM which all of us are familiar with while preaching. They know that the temple is governed by Srila Prabhupada's Direction of Management and in some years when there are enough temples, and most of those temple presidents feel that "we have increased our volume of activities, now I think a Governing Body Commission (hereinafter referred to as the GBC) should be established. " Then we would be in a position to implement even this instruction of Srila Prabhupada in his expanding real ISKCON.
I can definitely say that I would not be today talking to you as President of a functioning growing ISKCON temple(albiet small), if I had not started studying the DOM with the understanding that this is a practical instruction manual kept by Srila Prabhupada to manage his institution. And I can also safely say that this understanding has been progressively made possible by the assistance of our senior Godbrother Sriman Nara Narayana Vishwakarma Prabhu. I am grateful that he preached the importance of DOM in ISKCON to us, we won the lawsuit partly due to this angle. I see that he is preaching to ISKCON temples with a view to enlightening some other ISKCON temples like us with the hope that some of them will overthrow the corrupt leadership so that they can implement the hearing process of Srila Prabhupada in the right environment. Otherwise, maybe some intelligent devotees may come out of the temples on coming to know of the reality.
The hearing process of Srila Prabhupada, as emphasized by you is of paramount importance and should be really propagated. This is the most effective method to change our base qualities of nature to goodness and then to suddha goodness, from which platform we can preach. I do not see from his postings or in his temple that Nara Narayana Vishwakarma Prabhu is not agreeable to this fact. But I can also maybe bring to your kind attention that to maintain the hearing environment in an organized temple setup, which can provide a powerful tool to hear and discuss in an association, progressive implementation of Srila Prabhupada's Direction of Management is essential. I can testify to it.
Thank you for your great contributions to the resuscitation of ISKCON, and look forward to hearing from you.
Your humble servant,
Nimai Pandit das
Temple President
ISKCON Freeport
Long Island, NY
Comments by PADA
Subject: Re: ISKCON Long Island, NY - Testimonial Ref: DOM
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2005
Thanks Nimai Pandit. Yes, we not only need to hear about Prabhupada sentimentally, we need to make a movement based on his management framework as he stated, practically, or else we are not really hearing what he ordered.
Thanks for advising us that NNV saved your temple legally and thus practically, since no doubt his focus on DOM will save many more temples and devotees as time goes on. Had DOM been in place in 1978, we could have had some voice with the GBC, and we could have prevented the molesting 25 years ago.
They cut our voices off and made tyranny by tossing out his orders.
The molesting is a by-product of removing the DOM model. Credit must be given
to NNV and yourself for doing such a great job, thanks pd
Did
Srila Prabhupada want temple presidents to be elected?
By Chaitanya Chandra das
According to many letters of Srila Prabhupada, it appears that he wished the Temple President to be elected by the temple devotees.
This is contrary to the current practice in ISKCON, and ISKCON law. Both in practice and in ISKCON law, the GBC man selects the Temple President. So, that's interesting, isn't it?
There are a number of letters that I have included here that seem to indicate that it was a general principle that Srila Prabhupada was citing to have the temple president elected rather than selected by the GBC man. (You will find most of these letters very easily if you have Vedabase, Folio. Do a search in Prabhupada's letters, for the word "election")
70-03-02 Los Angeles 2nd March, 1970
London
My Dear Gurudasa,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge reciept of your two letters dated 20 and 26 February, 1970, respectively, and I am so glad to learn that you have been elected president for this year. In India, when there was congress election among the executive members, each year a person was elected president. I think this system may be followed in our institutions also. Of course it will depend on the local situation, but in a round if each person is given the chance of managing the whole affairs, that means everyone becomes responsible officer.
74-09-12 Vrindaban 12th September, 1974
Los Angeles
My Dear Hamsaduta das:
Please accept my blessings. I have just now received some letters from London from Madhavananda and others brought by Paramahamsa Swami who was there. Regarding Madhavananda being the president, if he received the vote, why you have opposed? You must be impartial. My recommendation is that he must be the president. He has been chosen by the vote, and I am giving the casting vote for him. He is doing things very nicely there, so he must be the president. Prabha Visnu should go on Sankirtana, and Madhavananda should be president. Everything must go on. The women are doing nicely, so why are they being changed from the pujari to the Sankirtana? These things should be done by the President. These are internal things, and you should not interfere. I do not approve of your changing the women. It should be the choice of Madhavananda who should be the pujari.
24th August, 1971
Calcutta
My Dear Jayapataka Maharaja,
{snip}
And who has been appointed treasurer and secretary? The president, secretary and treasurer elected by the members of the center cannot be changed at least for one year; better to continue it for three years. All combined together should be responsible for keeping correct accounts. Giriraja is responsible and he should be made the treasurer. You should remain as president and Acyutananda Swami as secretary. So make arrangements in that way.
{snip}
Hoping this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Mayapur 29th September, 1974
Bhaktivedanta Manor
My Dear Mukunda das:
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated September 22, 1974 and have noted the contents. Regarding the election of President, a president can only be changed by vote. If no vote was taken, then the president cannot be changed. Neither Hamsaduta can change the president whimsically or can anybody else change the president. According the ``Direction of Management'' the GBC cannot change the President but only by vote can it be done. The GBC's business is to see that the President and the members are doing nicely, following the regulative principles, and chanting 16 rounds and that other things are going on nicely.
If it was decided by vote that Hamsaduta would select the president then Hamsaduta is right. Without authority Hamsaduta cannot change the election. If the vote was in favor of Madhavananda, then Hamsaduta cannot whimsically change the vote. But, if by vote he was authorized to select the president, then whomever he selects is right. I was not informed by my secretary that Hamsaduta was authorized by vote to make the selection. But, why was Hamsaduta authorized if the vote was already taken? This I do not know.
On the whole I understand there are so many contradictions, so in the presence of all members you may take the vote again and decide finally.
You may inform Prabhavisnu that I have received his letter dated 22/9/74.
I hope this meets you in good health.
Your ever well wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS/bs
(c) 1991 by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
74-11-08 Bombay 8th November, 1974
Washington, DC
My Dear Rupanuga das:
{snip}
.. Anyway I have already written you that the local members must agree for him to be removed by you, according to the ``Direction of Management.'' Regarding his divorce enclosed is one letter dated 1/10/74 regarding this.
I hope this meets you in good health.
Your ever well wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
(c) 1991 by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
Please note the reference by Srila Prabhupada to the "Direction of Management". It would appear that this is some kind of guide authorised by Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada says that "the GBC cannot change the management, only by vote can it be done".
So that begs the question ....Did something happen between 1974 and 1977 that caused Srila Prabhupada to change his mind and reverse his position on this matter? If so, we would need documentary evidence of that. As we have clearly evidence here that Srila Prabhupada wanted the election of the TP as a general principle.
If there is no such evidence, then there is a direct conflict between ISKCON law as it stands, and Srila Prabhupadas expressed wishes on the matter.
ISKCON law states that "The GBC zonal secretary shall be the authority to appoint or approve a new Temple President...." (5.6.2.1) ISKCON law book 1997. (That is the latest issue available to me.)
And Srila Prabhupada has stated in his letters above that the TP shall be elected.
So, as far as I can see from the evidence available to me, there are two possibilities here.
1. Srila Prabhupada made the election of TP a general principle, through the letters quoted above, and through a document known as "Direction of Management". BUT he later changed his mind, and made it the system that the GBC man should select the TP. In which case the ISKCON law is in harmony with Srila Prabhupada's wishes.
However, if this is the case, it must be shown to be so. ie, where is the evidence that Srila Prabhupada changed his mind on this?
2. Srila Prabhupada made the election of TP a general principle, through the letters and "Direction of Management". And he did not later change his mind.
In this case, the ISKCON law as it stands is against the wishes of Srila Prabhupada, and should be changed.
That is the result of my research so far. I'd love to hear from any and all devotees on this matter.
I think this is a most important matter and we need to consider it carefully.
Also, does anyone know anything about the "Direction of Management"? Do you know where I can get a copy? Please contact me at cspelman@hotmail.com
Thank you for your attention to this interesting issue.
Your servant
Chaitanya Chandra das.
© CHAKRA 23-Mar-2000