“Due to the limitations of the newspaper, my comments were then edited to fit into the limited space available to the editor.”

Gopal Krishna Goswami is a senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada and a GBC for India. Here he is responding to comments made by Raghunnatha Stocker in a previous CHAKRA article.

I’m writing in response to a letter from Raghunnath that was published on Chakra on September 24th. In part of that letter he criticizes my comments, which were printed recently in an Indian Newspaper:

“Maybe someone can speak up for Gopala-Krsna Maharaja, and explain why he took the liberty to lie to a Times of India reporter on Sri-Krsna Janmastami on September 2nd of this year. When the reporter asked him about child abuse in ISKCON, he said that there had been some problem in (an)? American Gurukula(s), but that it had been long corrected. It would interest me to know if he was sitting in the Bombay temple room in front Sri-Sri Radha-Rasabhihariji and Srila Prabhupada when he told this obvious lie.”

Although just recently printed, this interview was taken last spring. Due to the limitations of the newspaper, my comments were then edited to fit into the limited space available to the editor. Of the 16 or so questions that I was asked, only one related to the Gurukula.

However, as Raghunnath points out, it was an error on my behalf to only mention the gurukula problems in America, for as we have come to know in recent years, there were serious problems in other gurukulas as well. I apologize for my mistake. The reporter only asked one question about the gurukulas and I used the opportunity to emphasize the proactive efforts now in place, such as the Office of Child Protection, and I did not discuss the details of past abuse. Nor did he inquire about such details.

Had this been a newspaper for the devotee community or had the interviewer asked for more specific information, I would have replied accordingly. Although I did not discuss details of the past abuse in Gurukula with this reporter, this does not mean that I am not aware of problems that existed.

In fact, as you may know, this past year in Mayapur, former gurukula students were invited to meet with the international GBC members to help us better understand the problems that they had undergone, and to discuss efforts to help the youth today.

Your servant, Gopal Krishna Goswami

© CHAKRA 16-Oct-1999

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