Spiritual leaders sometimes fall, and some abuse their positions. It happened in the past, happens in the present and will probably continue into the future. What to do about it?
Thanks for your posts which I find to be very good and helpful. Regarding the falldowns of revered spiritual leaders, I cannot stress the damage this causes to their followers or disciples. They may be forgiven for their irresponsible behaviour but they should never under any circumstances be given any position of spiritual authority within ISKCON.
They may be a humble practitioner of bhakti yoga only. It is very disturbing to hear that abusers of children, adults and ISKCON in general are giving classes and receiving respect as some kind of leader. They had their chance and blew it! The society we inhabit should understand that the victims of these abusive people have rights and shouldn't have to suffer more than they already have at the hands of cheating abusive individuals.
All forgiveness is there for such false leaders but zero tolerance is there for the abuse they have perpetrated, especially on minors.
Yes, I agree. Sometimes a leader just falls into the sense of breaking the principles, which is a different thing, but in the case of serious crimes, like child abuse, one should be permanently banned from positions of leadership, or even excommunicated from society, depending on the severity.
Ideally, such cases should be just handed to the police, who can take charge of conducting the investigation and punishing the culprit according to the law. Then, after serving his sentence, we may talk about forgiveness.
Unfortunately, there is a weakness within our society when it comes to justice and punishment. In my own case, I immediately called the criminal authorities and had the culprit arrested, then I had the Temple authorities deal with him as they felt appropriate. Also, if a sannyasi falls down to xxx with prostitutes and the like, I don't think he should be given sannyasa again. It makes the whole thing a farce when such things take place and they do.
Sannyasa is a venerable ashram where great respect is offered to an individual. To make this ashram a farce is most offensive and is dangerous for the rest of society. Let the fallen, (with all respect) get on with their spiritual lives, but not anywhere near the same status as before their deviation from dharma. I am a wretched and fallen soul but have never claimed to be a sannyasi, guru or leader at any stage of my life
Yes, the consequences of child sexual abuse to the victim and subsequently the society seem uniquely devastating, and the predatory nature of the offence make it difficult to reconcile with Vaishnava behaviour or with the chance of rehabilitation.
Additionally, destroying someone's spiritual refuge by allowing the perpetrators to remain in the society also seems uniquely devastating as it takes away the ability to turn to religion for solace, leaving people spiritually bereft.
It hasn't been described that any historical saintly Vaishnava committed child sexual abuse in their past, so we don't have a precedent for forgiving such a heinous action.
The challenge is hate the sin, not the sinner and as a society how do we adequately punish such criminal offences and protect and demonstrate justice for the society's most vulnerable while honouring the Vaishnava seed in the perpetrator.
One dificulty in these cases is that often devotees dealing with the problem see the need to also apply the principle of compassion to the offender, which often prevents one from being completely banned, creating the problem you mention. But this seems to be changing. Last year there was a case of a sannyasi in Mayapur, who was banned from all iskcon temples and communities, except for a single place where he could reside to practice solitary sadhana, without however permission to preach or being involved in any posiition of leadership. I taught it was a step in the right direction.
Thanks for your posts which I find to be very good and helpful. Regarding the falldowns of revered spiritual leaders, I cannot stress the damage this causes to their followers or disciples. They may be forgiven for their irresponsible behaviour but they should never under any circumstances be given any position of spiritual authority within ISKCON.
They may be a humble practitioner of bhakti yoga only. It is very disturbing to hear that abusers of children, adults and ISKCON in general are giving classes and receiving respect as some kind of leader. They had their chance and blew it! The society we inhabit should understand that the victims of these abusive people have rights and shouldn't have to suffer more than they already have at the hands of cheating abusive individuals.
All forgiveness is there for such false leaders but zero tolerance is there for the abuse they have perpetrated, especially on minors.
Yes, I agree. Sometimes a leader just falls into the sense of breaking the principles, which is a different thing, but in the case of serious crimes, like child abuse, one should be permanently banned from positions of leadership, or even excommunicated from society, depending on the severity.
Ideally, such cases should be just handed to the police, who can take charge of conducting the investigation and punishing the culprit according to the law. Then, after serving his sentence, we may talk about forgiveness.
Unfortunately, there is a weakness within our society when it comes to justice and punishment. In my own case, I immediately called the criminal authorities and had the culprit arrested, then I had the Temple authorities deal with him as they felt appropriate. Also, if a sannyasi falls down to xxx with prostitutes and the like, I don't think he should be given sannyasa again. It makes the whole thing a farce when such things take place and they do.
Sannyasa is a venerable ashram where great respect is offered to an individual. To make this ashram a farce is most offensive and is dangerous for the rest of society. Let the fallen, (with all respect) get on with their spiritual lives, but not anywhere near the same status as before their deviation from dharma. I am a wretched and fallen soul but have never claimed to be a sannyasi, guru or leader at any stage of my life
Yes, the consequences of child sexual abuse to the victim and subsequently the society seem uniquely devastating, and the predatory nature of the offence make it difficult to reconcile with Vaishnava behaviour or with the chance of rehabilitation.
Additionally, destroying someone's spiritual refuge by allowing the perpetrators to remain in the society also seems uniquely devastating as it takes away the ability to turn to religion for solace, leaving people spiritually bereft.
It hasn't been described that any historical saintly Vaishnava committed child sexual abuse in their past, so we don't have a precedent for forgiving such a heinous action.
The challenge is hate the sin, not the sinner and as a society how do we adequately punish such criminal offences and protect and demonstrate justice for the society's most vulnerable while honouring the Vaishnava seed in the perpetrator.
One dificulty in these cases is that often devotees dealing with the problem see the need to also apply the principle of compassion to the offender, which often prevents one from being completely banned, creating the problem you mention. But this seems to be changing. Last year there was a case of a sannyasi in Mayapur, who was banned from all iskcon temples and communities, except for a single place where he could reside to practice solitary sadhana, without however permission to preach or being involved in any posiition of leadership. I taught it was a step in the right direction.