Back To Prabhupada, Issue 57, Vol. 1 2018, Editorial
cademic Prof. Dr. Ulrich Dehn had noted in ISKCON's official academic journal, ISKCON Communications Journal ("ICJ"), that:
"Still there are sceptical voices claiming that ISKCON, like the famous Janus, has two faces – the smiling face in dialogues with their external partners, and the strange, repressive face towards its own members – preaching wine to the dialoguing world and water to their devotees."
(Prof. Dr. Ulrich Dehn, ICJ, Vol 8, No. 1)
A classic example of this two-faced ISKCON can be seen by comparing how the GBC fawns over another religious faith, shedding tears for its persecuted members, while engaging in the same persecution itself! The GBC issued the following statement:
"The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) commends the Baha'i Faith on the special occasion of the 200 anniversary of the birth of Baha'u'llah [...] We also recognize that in some parts of the world the Baha'i community suffers great persecution, and we call upon religious and political leaders to recognize and protect their human rights and their religious liberty as established by the 1981 United Nations "Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.""
(Anuttama Dasa, ISKCON Minister of Communications, Governing Body Commissioner, 18/10/17)
1) However, while calling for "religious liberty" and "Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief" for Baha'i members, the GBC engages in "intolerance and discrimination based on religion and belief" towards those closer to home. Anyone who simply believes that Srila Prabhupada is still the diksa guru of ISKCON will be banned from temples and hounded out of the movement. For example, the then Temple President of ISKCON UK headquarters issued a banning notice to all those who simply: "agree with the views and publications" of the IRM (Banning letter from Gauri Dasa, 17/2/05).
Thus, those with a different belief to the GBC are denied their "religious liberty" to simply see the Deities, and are not tolerated but discriminated against by ISKCON because of their religious belief.
2) Such draconian measures are justified by the claim that accepting that Srila Prabhupada is still the diksa guru is a "dangerous philosophical deviation" (GBC Resolution 303, 1999). However, many philosophies, including that of the Baha'i faith, differ radically from the philosophy accepted by the GBC, and would thus be considered by them also to be philosophically deviant. But followers of such philosophies are not banned from the temples. Only the IRM is targeted, because this is not about philosophical principle, but holding on to power. And only the IRM is seen as being a threat to the GBC's gurus.
3) What makes this hypocrisy even more ridiculous is that, as we prove in our ISKCON Leaders Special Issue (see above), ISKCON's leadership can be shown to agree with the IRM, and thus there is no need for this religious persecution by them anyway!
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