Centralization what?

Recently, the leadership in ISKCON -- GBC members and temple presidents -- have been discussing ways of modifying the bylaws to ensure greater protection to ISKCON communities, and align ISKCON's structure more closely with Srila Prabhupada's will.

Perhaps not surprisingly, this has sparked off a slew of conspiracy theories and animated accusations from some who insist that the proposed modifications are part of a sinister GBC plot to take over the world (cue James Bond villain music). The evil secret weapon that these despots plan to use (if you believe the conspiracy theorists) has a name: centralization.

Srila Prabhupada famously disapproved of a centralization scheme envisioned by some of his disciples in the 1970s. "They tried then," the critics whisper over the internet, "and they're trying again..."

So what is the real deal?

GBC member, Temple President, and really, really smart devotee Ravindra-svarupa Prabhu presented a paper on the subject recently, and ISKCON News has it online.

I have been asked by the Executive Committee of the North American GBC and Temple Presidents to write you concerning issues raised by various web posting in response to a draft of proposed new bylaws for North American ISKCON temples. This draft had been circulated and discussed among us during our last meeting, held in January in Dallas. Soon after, the text somehow passed into general circulation, and a number of web posting sprang up to raise a general alarm.

“Our Whole Movement Could Be Killed,” warned Vyapaka Prabhu, in the title of a posting on the ritvik website Sampradaya Sun. He alleges that the bylaws disclose a sinister effort by the GBC “wherein every temple is effectively taken over by the GBC or their proxy.” Other writers join in with him to inveigh against what they say is an attempt of the GBC to establish total centralized control of all temples—precisely the kind that Srila Prabhupada himself explicitly forbade.

Now, say these outraged critics, the GBC, in flagrant violation of all the instructions Prabhupada has given, are reviving the errors of the past with an illicit gambit to disempower local devotees and seize total control.

I can state without equivocation that none of these charges is true. That the claims made in these postings could be accepted as true is, to me, heartbreaking testimony to the state of fragmentation and isolation among devotees who ought to be unified in Srila Prabhupada’s service. The postings also attest to the distressing degree to which ISKCON’s own history has become hazy, distorted or lost in memory.

I shall try to clear up various areas of misunderstanding and forgetfulness, and by doing so, show why the current effort to revise the North American bylaws follows Srila Prabhupada’s will...

read Ravindra-svarupa Prabhu's whole paper here, at ISKCON News.