Cults & Society
Department: Group Report

Hare Krishna: women

2/11

Fundamental Human Rights in ISKCON

Radha devi dasi

[continued]

Unfortunately, many of us have has an opportunity to observe the "unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power" within our Society. Vulnerable groups, particularly women and children, have been neglected and abused in numerous ways, which allegedly range from dismaying to truly abominable. The purpose of this article is not to catalogue or recount the various injustices that have been perpetrated by individuals acting in the name of ISKCON. Although naming the abuse is a vital step in eliminating the wrongs, that important task has been and continues to be done in other places.  

However, we must go further than simply identifying the behaviours we wish to change. To some extent, we have been naive in believing that sincerity alone could rectify the abuses which we seek to eradicate. We must address the underlying causes of the abuse if we are to arrive at meaningful solutions. 

From a psychological point of view, oppression and other forms of injustice spring from a separateness of vision that is based on material conditioning. A necessary precondition to abusing others is learning to see those others as fundamentally different from oneself. The Srimad Bhagavatam, one of our main scriptures, describes this phenomenon as prthak-drstih, which Srila Prabhupada translates as "the vision of duality."[iv] In the related purport, Srila Prabhupada explains that this dual vision is the result of material conditioning, which causes one to identify with the body, rather than with one's identity as a servant of Krishna. Perceptions based on body, Srila Prabhupada writes, cause one to think in terms of "my body, my wife, my child, my home." Such perceptions permit us to see others as objects of our own enjoyment rather than as servants of the Lord.  

This ability to artificially separate oneself from others is the root of oppression. Scholars have noted that one of the common roots of racial, gender, and animal oppression is the use of linguistic devices that put the oppressed group into a different category from the oppressor.[v] Carol Adams writes that oppression involves a three-part cycle of objectification, fragmentation, and consumption; it is the first stage, objectification, which begins the process of rationalising unjust treatment.[vi]    

> 11/11

Cults & Society
Department: Group Report

Hare Krishna: women

2/11

Fundamental Human Rights in ISKCON

Radha devi dasi

[continued]

Unfortunately, many of us have has an opportunity to observe the "unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power" within our Society. Vulnerable groups, particularly women and children, have been neglected and abused in numerous ways, which allegedly range from dismaying to truly abominable. The purpose of this article is not to catalogue or recount the various injustices that have been perpetrated by individuals acting in the name of ISKCON. Although naming the abuse is a vital step in eliminating the wrongs, that important task has been and continues to be done in other places.  

However, we must go further than simply identifying the behaviours we wish to change. To some extent, we have been naive in believing that sincerity alone could rectify the abuses which we seek to eradicate. We must address the underlying causes of the abuse if we are to arrive at meaningful solutions. 

From a psychological point of view, oppression and other forms of injustice spring from a separateness of vision that is based on material conditioning. A necessary precondition to abusing others is learning to see those others as fundamentally different from oneself. The Srimad Bhagavatam, one of our main scriptures, describes this phenomenon as prthak-drstih, which Srila Prabhupada translates as "the vision of duality."[iv] In the related purport, Srila Prabhupada explains that this dual vision is the result of material conditioning, which causes one to identify with the body, rather than with one's identity as a servant of Krishna. Perceptions based on body, Srila Prabhupada writes, cause one to think in terms of "my body, my wife, my child, my home." Such perceptions permit us to see others as objects of our own enjoyment rather than as servants of the Lord.  

This ability to artificially separate oneself from others is the root of oppression. Scholars have noted that one of the common roots of racial, gender, and animal oppression is the use of linguistic devices that put the oppressed group into a different category from the oppressor.[v] Carol Adams writes that oppression involves a three-part cycle of objectification, fragmentation, and consumption; it is the first stage, objectification, which begins the process of rationalising unjust treatment.[vi]    

> 11/11

Cults & Society
Department: Group Report

Hare Krishna: women

2/11

Fundamental Human Rights in ISKCON

Radha devi dasi

[continued]

Unfortunately, many of us have has an opportunity to observe the "unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power" within our Society. Vulnerable groups, particularly women and children, have been neglected and abused in numerous ways, which allegedly range from dismaying to truly abominable. The purpose of this article is not to catalogue or recount the various injustices that have been perpetrated by individuals acting in the name of ISKCON. Although naming the abuse is a vital step in eliminating the wrongs, that important task has been and continues to be done in other places.  

However, we must go further than simply identifying the behaviours we wish to change. To some extent, we have been naive in believing that sincerity alone could rectify the abuses which we seek to eradicate. We must address the underlying causes of the abuse if we are to arrive at meaningful solutions. 

From a psychological point of view, oppression and other forms of injustice spring from a separateness of vision that is based on material conditioning. A necessary precondition to abusing others is learning to see those others as fundamentally different from oneself. The Srimad Bhagavatam, one of our main scriptures, describes this phenomenon as prthak-drstih, which Srila Prabhupada translates as "the vision of duality."[iv] In the related purport, Srila Prabhupada explains that this dual vision is the result of material conditioning, which causes one to identify with the body, rather than with one's identity as a servant of Krishna. Perceptions based on body, Srila Prabhupada writes, cause one to think in terms of "my body, my wife, my child, my home." Such perceptions permit us to see others as objects of our own enjoyment rather than as servants of the Lord.  

This ability to artificially separate oneself from others is the root of oppression. Scholars have noted that one of the common roots of racial, gender, and animal oppression is the use of linguistic devices that put the oppressed group into a different category from the oppressor.[v] Carol Adams writes that oppression involves a three-part cycle of objectification, fragmentation, and consumption; it is the first stage, objectification, which begins the process of rationalising unjust treatment.[vi]    

> 11/11

Cults & Society
Department: Group Report

Hare Krishna: women

2/11

Fundamental Human Rights in ISKCON

Radha devi dasi

[continued]

Unfortunately, many of us have has an opportunity to observe the "unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power" within our Society. Vulnerable groups, particularly women and children, have been neglected and abused in numerous ways, which allegedly range from dismaying to truly abominable. The purpose of this article is not to catalogue or recount the various injustices that have been perpetrated by individuals acting in the name of ISKCON. Although naming the abuse is a vital step in eliminating the wrongs, that important task has been and continues to be done in other places.  

However, we must go further than simply identifying the behaviours we wish to change. To some extent, we have been naive in believing that sincerity alone could rectify the abuses which we seek to eradicate. We must address the underlying causes of the abuse if we are to arrive at meaningful solutions. 

From a psychological point of view, oppression and other forms of injustice spring from a separateness of vision that is based on material conditioning. A necessary precondition to abusing others is learning to see those others as fundamentally different from oneself. The Srimad Bhagavatam, one of our main scriptures, describes this phenomenon as prthak-drstih, which Srila Prabhupada translates as "the vision of duality."[iv] In the related purport, Srila Prabhupada explains that this dual vision is the result of material conditioning, which causes one to identify with the body, rather than with one's identity as a servant of Krishna. Perceptions based on body, Srila Prabhupada writes, cause one to think in terms of "my body, my wife, my child, my home." Such perceptions permit us to see others as objects of our own enjoyment rather than as servants of the Lord.  

This ability to artificially separate oneself from others is the root of oppression. Scholars have noted that one of the common roots of racial, gender, and animal oppression is the use of linguistic devices that put the oppressed group into a different category from the oppressor.[v] Carol Adams writes that oppression involves a three-part cycle of objectification, fragmentation, and consumption; it is the first stage, objectification, which begins the process of rationalising unjust treatment.[vi]    

> 11/11