oldchakra.com

Response to "RVC Ad:
Critical Consumers Needed"
By Danavir Goswami

I sincerely apologize for any shortcomings in the RVC website which Madhusudani Radha devi dasi pointed out. I am sorry that she and perhaps others were frustrated with it. To be honest, that website has been frustrating for me also. We humbly request patience as we work hard to update it and improve its format.

Several questions raised by Madhusudani Radha devi dasi are, however, answered in the ad which she responded to, entitled: "Give Your Son the Highest Education."

Namely: the type of degrees offered, the present list of faculty members and statements from non-devotee university academicians.

In reply to other questions Madhusudani Radha devi dasi asks from the website:

She asks, "Does ‘registration’ imply anything regarding the quality of education provided? Or perhaps ‘registration’ is no more than the filling out of a form and paying a fee?"

Reply: "Registration" refers to filling out a form or applying to become a student at RVC but there are no fees.

She says, "Dhira Govinda has a full-time job, service, and family in Alachua, making me wonder how much time he is actually able to spend at the college."

Reply: In the 1990s Dhira Govinda dasa dedicated 100 percent of his time as one of the original professors and administrators of the Tampa branch campus of the Florida Vedic College, which served as a forerunner to the RVC. Although he still lives in Florida and spends no time at the RVC campus, he is listed on the website as an RVC Associate Professor of Vedic Psychology since he has written books and papers on the subject and has offered his services to the RVC.

She says, "Although it states that Markandeya Rsi prabhu is a former instructor at Ohio University, there is no mention of his educational achievements, what he taught, or his teaching qualifications."

Reply: Markandeya Rsi Prabhu taught music at Ohio University. I do not have his qualifications at hand. He is no longer an assistant-teacher at RVC.

She says, "Vijnana Prabhu [an RVC faculty member] is listed as ‘initiated brahmana’ and ‘world lecturer.’ At this point I’m starting to wonder if that means that he has given Bhagavatam classes in ISKCON temples in different countries."

Reply: Vijnana Prabhu is a devout scholar of Srila Prabhupada’s books and a gifted lecturer on the subject matter therein. He has traveled widely and given Srimad Bhagavatam classes, Bhagavad-gita classes, etc. in ISKCON temples and many other venues over the past eighteen years.

To be a faculty member, i.e. professor, teacher, or what have you at a divinity college such as RVC, secular academic qualifications are not required. Rather the state defers judgment of one’s ability to teach upon the religious organization to which the educational institution belongs. In this case Vijnana Prabhu is an initiated and qualified brahmana, and I have heard him give dozens of tremendous lectures. I and other RVC board members judged him to be eminently qualified to teach fortunate RVC students.

She says, "Maharaja himself is listed as having Doctor of Divinity in Vaisnava Philosophy and Vaisnava Administration, Florida Vedic College (1995); Masters of Vaisnava Philosophy, FVC (1993); Economics and Sociology, UCLA (1970). Florida Vedic College is another devotee institution, not accredited by any governmental board. Maharaja doesn’t mention what degree he holds in Economics and Sociology, but from the timing, I guess it’s a Bachelor’s."

Reply: I did not receive a Bachelors degree at UCLA. I completed my junior year (3rd year) there studying economics and sociology before joining ISKCON. My Bachelors degree came from Florida Vedic College in Vaisnava Philosophy. Florida Vedic College is also a divinity or theological college authorized to grant degrees upon its students in the state of Florida.

She asks, "They’re [some of the academicians whose statements were included in the RVC website’s section ‘Comments from the Academic Community’], listed by their non-devotee names and their ISKCON service isn’t even mentioned. How come they are not listed in the next category ‘Comments from the Vaisnava devotional community’ instead?"

Reply: Of the three academicians to which she refers, one holds a PhD from Harvard, one holds a PhD from Florida State University and one has literally rocked the entire worldwide scientific academic community by his book Hidden History of the Human Race and his subsequent traveling lectures, debates, and further writings. We at RVC felt these three devotees had earned their academic titles fairly and thus deserved to be called bona-fide members of the "academic community." The reason we chose to use their legal names rather than their devotional names is because in the community of academics where they have excelled and where they are known, they are known by their legal names, not the devotional ones.

Furthermore, there were enough other qualified members of the Vaisnava Devotional Community who had submitted comments to fill the section entitled "Comments from the Vaisnava devotional community."

She says, "Again, even though he [Drutakarma Prabhu] is certainly scholarly, it may be a stretch to include him as a member of the ‘academic community.’"

Reply: I think this statement betrays an unfair bias against devotee academicians and gross ignorance of reality. Without saying more, I simply request the interested reader to judge for him or herself whether including Drutakarma Prabhu (aka Michael Cremo) as a member of the academic community is a stretch or not by taking a look at Drutakarma Prabhu’s website: http://www.mcremo.com.

She says, "This strategy [of the departments, the faculty, and the endorsements] only detracts from the impression that Maharaja would most likely want to make, i.e. that this is a real college, with meaningful degrees."

Reply: Madhusudani Radha devi dasi should not look so disparagingly upon such theological/divinity degrees.

Professor G. O’Connor, a most highly respected authority in the field of Social Work from Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, recognized the doctorate degree in Vaisnava Philosophy received by Dhira Govinda dasa from Florida Vedic College. Professor G. O’Connor wrote:

"After he [David Wolf, aka Dhira Govinda dasa] earned his doctorate in theology, he traveled through the Mid-East and published his observations."

Also, Srila Prabhupada encouraged the offering of Doctor of Divinity degrees from ISKCON-run colleges to devotee-students who became proficient in understanding his books. He wrote:

"We have enough matter to qualify a person in academic career. At least we can offer the degree of DD— Doctor of Divinity by affiliating ourselves with some neighboring recognized university." (Letter to: Tusta Krsna — Bombay 9 November, 1975)

Note: Although Srila Prabhupada mentions affiliating with neighboring recognized universities, both Rupanuga Vedic College and Florida Vedic College have achieved the right to offer Doctor of Divinity degrees without having to be affiliated with other institutions. This special achievement allows the RVC to teach its courses without secular interference.

She says, "Their [RVC’s] ISKCON affiliation is strangely absent from the text [the RVC website.]"

Reply: Well, this one gives me a laugh. Perhaps Madhusudani Radha devi dasi overlooked the home page of the RVC website where the ISKCON logo is proudly displayed along with the capitalized words:

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS (ISKCON)

FOUNDER-ACARYA HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA

© CHAKRA 14 May 2002