Dear Devotees of ISKCON,
Jaya Prabhupada! I signed the petition, made a donation, and I urge all reasonable devotees to sign the petition and get others to sign it.
Bellow is an excerpt from the petition started by Kalakatha das ACBSP:
– For decades women have peacefully served as pujaris, temple presidents and GBCs in the West and not in India;
– Nonetheless, some leaders in ISKCON India, against the guidance of seniors such as Jayapataka Swami and Gopal Krishna Goswami, recently declared that if women are allowed to give initiation anywhere in ISKCON they will stop cooperating with the GBC;
– On Nov. 2, 2022, the GBC acquiesced to this pressure and proposed an additional three-year moratorium on women initiating anywhere in the world;
– SABHA, the GBC advisory body comprised of ISKCON sannyasis, gurus, youth and representatives from every continent, opposed the GBC’s proposed moratorium by a vote of 28 to 4. The GBC then narrowly overruled this rare SABHA refutation of a GBC proposal.
Considering all this, I oppose any further delay and urge the GBC to stand by their wise policy of allowing women, especially Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, to initiate in ISKCON in areas of the world where their service is needed and supported.
