Article 5 states:
“Throughout the year, each of the commissioners will stay with His Divine Grace for one month at a time and keep the other commissioners informed of His Divine Grace’s instructions.”
This Article is no longer relevant or necessary, simply because of the fact that Srila Prabhupada is no longer physically alive on this planet Earth.
Article 6 states:
“The primary objective of the GBC is to organize the opening of new Temples and to maintain the established Temples.”
No need to amend this Article. This Article is very clear on what the “primary objective” of a GBC is. Moreover, this primary objective makes it clear that this title is not one to be rewarded as a status of “power”. The GBC position is nothing more than a management position, that will manage, “the opening of new Temples, and to maintain the established Temples.”. In a society, the position of GBC is a “ksatriya” position; not a “brahmana”, or “vaisya”, or “sudra”, occupation. As we will see later on, Srila Prabhupada, without a doubt, intended the GBC function to be solely a supervising one.
Article 7 states:
“Advice will be given by the GBC in cases of real property purchases, which will be in the name of ISKCON, INC. (Trucks or other vehicles will be purchased in the name of the local president).”
No need to amend this Article.
Article 8 states:
“Removal of a Temple president by the GBC requires support by the local Temple members.
Here it is clear, that a GBC cannot remove a Temple president, by their own personal decision. The GBC can only remove a Temple president, if it has “support by the local Temple members”. Note, that this infers, that removal of Temple presidents, require a vote by the local Temple members. While Srila Prabhupada did not write an article that specifies how a Temple president is selected, this Article 8, infers (deduce or conclude information, from evidence and reasoning, rather than from explicit statements), that Temple presidents are to be elected, by vote of the Temple members. As you will see later, Srila Prabhupada approved of such a system. Important point to consider, is that there must be a definition, of who is to be considered a voting member, of any community of devotees.
Article 9 states:
“The GBC has no jurisdiction in the publication of manuscripts, which will be handled by a separate committee; profits to be returned to Srila Prabhupada.”
The Article could be reflected in a Constitution as,
“The GBC has no jurisdiction in the publication of manuscripts, which will be handled by a separate committee, the BBT trustees; profits to be retained by the BBT accounts.”
These 9 Articles make clear the jurisdiction of the GBC, and subjects them to election every 3 years by the ISKCON Temple presidents. Making the GBC, during the length of their tenure, a little more than a rotating group, of elected officials, who have no real power, other than to oversee, and supervise, the growth and maintenance of the ISKCON Movement, and to implement Srila Prabhupada’s Will, via His Orders and Instructions,, that are found in his books, lectures, letters, and recorded conversations.
Currently, the group presently known as the “GBC”, is self-appointed, non-elected, and has members who have held their positions for decades. They also award the title of GBC to any member who shows a certain high level of cooperation with the GBC body agenda. Hence, at present, 2022, the GBC body is comprised of thirty-four members, who are individually responsible for overseeing the management, and spiritual standards, of ISKCON centers in assigned geographic regions. Moreover, the very high majorly of the rank-and-file followers of ISKCON, do sincerely, and sentimentally, believe that a GBC in ISKCON, is synonymous with being “spiritually advanced”, an Uttama-adhikari.
The DOM procedure of election by Temple Presidents, for a temporary term, has never been enacted, and the power structure of ISKCON is such that all control is in their hands, rather than the hands of Temple-presidents, whom they themselves, are elected by their respective Temple congregational members.
Srila Prabhupada authorization for the election of Temple presidents is presented in “Segment 36.1: Relationship between the GBC and Temple Management; And the Election of Temple Presidents.”
This current centralized structure is against the wishes of Srila Prabhupada,, who wrote specifically and repeatedly his desire for independent, autonomous, self-governed ISKCON Temples, with only mild oversight by the GBC, to ensure the upholding of the standards, and principles, set by Srila Prabhupada, for devotees worldwide. Srila Prabhupada stresses repeatedly the limitation of jurisdiction of the GBC, that they are simply there to make sure things are going on nicely. However, the position the GBC has assumed, as of today, is far beyond what Srila Prabhupada authorized them to have.
Instead of a loose supervisory board of 12, the GBC has illegally assumed dictatorial powers, consolidating all of ISKCON’s assets, finances and properties, under names separate from Srila Prabhupada’s non-profit incorporation, ISKCON Inc. Temples. Moreover, they rule ISKCON, in the form of a dictatorship, while freely changing Srila Prabhupada’s Books and Vani, via stolen copyrights, and false attribution, the action of regarding something as being caused by a person or thing.
People around the world are beginning to learn more about the existence of the “Direction of Management”, and when enough voices begin to call out for the immediate enactment of this vital Instruction from Srila Prabhupada, the DOM, the sooner we can have ISKCON as it was intended to be by Srila Prabhupada, not what it is today: an unauthorizedly institution, at the service of self-interested “GBC”, gurus, sannaysis, and Temple presidents; who all are controlled by “subtle-sex-life”, as defined by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, as “profit, adoration, and distinction”.