“The only answer we could conjure was that the videos of Srila Prabhupada preaching pure Krishna conscious philosophy made us culpable for how other people misued that pristine knowledge.”

Dear Gurukula veterans and all other devotees,

ITV was named as a defendent in the Turley case. In light of the dismissal, now we have an opportunity to request your help in trying to understand how we might have aided and abetted any child abuse. We have not been able to get any answers in this regard, and we want to understand why we were included in this case as a defendant.

ITV was the first ISKCON organization to hire gurukulis as a matter of policy. Purnima dd, Manu, Nitai, Radha dd, Jalandhar, Vikrama, etc. have all worked with ITV at one time or another in responsible capacities. None of the people who worked with us were party to the suit. My ex-wife, Mohana dd, was the headmaster of the day school in Los Angeles during the 80s. No students from that school were ever abused, and there were no complainants in the suit from that gurukula.

The only answer we could conjure was that the videos of Srila Prabhupada preaching pure Krishna conscious philosophy made us culpable for how other people misued that pristine knowledge. Or maybe some people thought we had a lot of laksmi (wish it were true), or that it was because the name ISKCON appeared in our name. But we can't see how those reasons would make us responsible for the abuse performed by individuals who we didn't know and weren't even present in our local area.

So please let us know your thoughts in this regard because we, and many of the gurukuli graduates that have worked, and continue to work with us, are curious to understand

YS,
Nrsimhananda dasa

PS I can be contacted privately at nrsimhananda.acbsp@pamho.net 

© CHAKRA 8 October 2001

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