Dear Arvinda Krishna and Yamuneshwari Devi Dasi
Firstly I want to acknowledge all the good work East London Bhakti Vrisksha (ELBV) has done over the years and how many devotees have found shelter under your stewardship.
Secondly I would like to make it clear that this letter is only discussing your leadership in my case. I am not talkng about any other BV group or members.
History has a way of predticting the future, and, from my experience, ELBV has followed in the footsteps of many other organisations by failing me and failing to address any of the issues at hand.
When Usha, one of the senior leaders in ELBV, befriended me, her intentions may have been well placed. At some point they wavered and unfortunately the oppurtunity to carry out questionable courses of action began to appear.
I am writing to you as you both have been expert politically throughout the entire process. You’ve chosen expertly when to distance yourself. You have chosen expertly when to hide behind your temple leader. You have chosen expertly when to put the blame squarely onto Usha.
The reason this letter is open is because the community may read this and say that neither of you is responsible for any of what has been done to me, directly or indirectly. I have ended up in the care of the council, in a home that is not aligned with my spiritual values or practices, when things should have been very different.
I wanted to make something clear to everyone who either defends the ELBV leadership or is undecided. ELBV has a very clear line of authority, the leaders report directly to you both, each sector has a leader and those sectors have a number of BV groups.
Let’s address the case, there are two scenario’s that could be factual in my case
- Usha was working alone and without any approval or direction from you, her authority
- Usha was working under your guidance and all decisions she made were either directly or indirectly sanctioned by you as her authority
If the first is true, Usha was working alone, then there is a simple question. Once you found out that this had happened, why weren’t there any consequence for her actions? After all, your response has been its nothing to do with you, its a personal matter. In that case would you not want to show that ELBV will not allow such behaviour from anyone who is associated with it, either personally or not, let alone one of the founding leaders? Every organisation, sponsor or employer distances itself from people who it believes have done wrong, it sends a clear message about the values of that entity. But you have chosen not to do that, Usha continues to be a leader, is promoted actively and has not shown any remorse. So it implies the message ELBV is sending is “It’s ok to behave in this way, there will be no consequences for anyone else who does this. It doesn’t have any effect on ELBVs values or impact the message it is distributing in anyway”
The problem you have created for yourself is if you publicy say you have nothing to do with the actions of your senior leaders, and at the same time they are not corrected or disciplined in anyway, to set the standard, then the logical conclusion is ELBV cannot believe anything morally questionable was done because it was done under direct authority. A further natural conclusion is you were both directly involved in all the decision making, as Usha’s authority. Therefore your hands are tied, you cannot set a standard with people that you directed or advised as this would be hyprocritical, and a clear admission of guilt. It is only logical to conclude ELBV has painted itself into a corner, just as ISKCON London has.
Surely if ISKCON London feel one of its departments is not representing its values then it should make this clear? Everyone is simply saying its not their problem, they know nothing, have no control. At the same time, they will not carry out any recourse for the actions on my case, even though there is a clear line of authority between ISKCON London, ELBV and Usha.
Even though I am unable to carry out my spiritual practices, to be helped to worship my dieties, to join artis, I still hope and pray that ELBV leadership admits its mistakes, that it sets a benchmark for all, of the standard that must be adhered to in order to represent ELBV and ISKCON London.
The dilemna for you is there is a logical implication that the process of admitting mistakes includes you both, Arvinda Krishna and Yamuneshwari Devi Dasi, release yourself from the shackles of karmic debt and share the truth with those that need to know. When the lights are off, the doors are closed and you think you are alone, remember you are not and never will be, as the eternal witness witnesses everything.
Help my well wishers, share the truth, help them to help me.