Hello,
I am just writting to warn persons who may be in or may have friends or family members in the present ISKCON cult to be very careful.
I was in various ashrams in ISKCON for a few years and I have found that present day ISKCON is not like the ISKCON Srila Prabhupada left us with and todays ISKCON is dangerous. I was in one particular ashram for two years and they tried to segregate me from seeing any of my family and treated me like a work horse, wouldnt give me enough sleep, would always critisize me and made me feel worthless, hardly ever complimented me in the end or thanked me, then I literally had a metal breakdown and they kicked me out from the ashram pretty much and said I could only visit again if I stayed for a week ( well I was in no mental state to stay for a week). When I first joined they were all really nice and friendly and the perfect people to be around but the end of the second year things changed. When I moved back in with my mother with severe mental health issues in another city hardly anyone ever contacted me to ask how I was and they made out they were my good friends but they didnt seem to care I was very unwell. I got the odd occasional text which was them asking if I could come back to work again as they didnt have many helpers. After I left ISKCON I felt very suicidal and I feel that many of the members were manipulating me and had an unhealthy control over me where I was seen to be insignificant and that I had to be 100% subservient and surrendered to my superiors like a slave and was prefered not to have my own opinion or say but to just do and think as they said and think, if I didnt listen to things they wanted me to do that I did not feel comfortable with they would sometimes say rude things to me in person or gossip behind my back and wreck my reputation and do things to make my life difficult for me, bullying tactics.
Also in ISKCON one is supposed to accept and worship many ISKCON gurus as good as God when many of them have been sleeping with prostitutes and not even following the regulative principles, yet we are supposed to be 100% surrendered to them and do whatever they say, give them our money. If we rebel and use our intelligence and say these people arnt qualified we are ridiculed and labeled deviants, bullying tactics again are used.
When Prabhupada was present on earth ISKCON was fine and safe but since he left there are many unqualified people running ISKCON with too much power which can makes ISKCON dangerous. I love Prabhupada and his books but ISKCON under todays management can be dangerous and many persons/devotees in present day ISKCON under the new leadership have commit suicide. I am glad that I recovered and now see things in a different light and see how I was manipulated, and taken advantage of, it seems that the mind control is wearing off.
My words for persons in present day ISKCON.. please be careful and make sure your mind is you own.
I love Prabhupada and the Bhagavad Gita and Krsna but I think present day ISKCON is dangerous and not healthy.
I agree with Jesus Christs commandments to love God with all your heart and treat your neighbour as yourself and present day ISKCON doesnt follow this second commandent in my opinion. I am sick of being judged by people in ISKCON who feel they own me and that they can control my every action and that they are qualified to judge me when they are also sinners too and are not perfect. I agree with Jesus Christs statement “judge not lest ye be judged”.. and ” before you pull out the beam from others eyes first pull out the beam from your own eye”. I found present ISKCON to be an “elitist” group and im sorry that I have come across many arrogant judgemental people that have put me off wanting to belong to any religious institution.
Thank you for listening to my story and I hope you can get something out of my story.
I am thankful that God is helping me to heal from my time in present day ISKCON. I learnt alot from present ISKCON and for that I am thankful but at the same time it messed me up alot and I cant go back again.
Hare Krishna!
Hare Krsna!
