Timeline DocumentationChildren of the Ashram:
Breaking the Silence in ISKCON
Raghunatha's shocking essay, "Children of the Ashram," broke the silence
on gurukula abuse, bringing out information that had been kept well-hidden
for years. Raghunatha wrote it in response to a letter he received
from a friend. He explains, 'What started out to be a couple paragraphs
ended up growing into almost a hundred handwritten pages. However, in doing
this write-up, I have put together the greatest first-hand insight to some--only
some--of the poor treatment many of the students have had to undergo in
many of the gurukulas. There are a couple places where I get a little dramatic,
but for the most part, I simply state everything in the third person and
in passing. Yet, this has proven to be a horrifying narration.'
After publishing this story in his ISKCON Youth Veterans newsletter (Vol IV, Aug. 1990, supplement, pp. 28-49), Raghunatha commented in his newsletter: "Virabahu prabhu [a GBC representative] has circulated this [essay] around to the GBC, which produced a muted response from most and grumblings about the essay and me from the rest. Hardly but a couple showed any personal concern which personified to me why all this happened in the first place. Hopefully, this will produce a sense of urgency in some of our readers for more such concern."
Introduction
Dallas gurukula
Dallas Punishments
Dallas teachers:
Hiranyagarbha
Krsnakumari
Dinadiadri
Mandelesvara
Jitaparan
Vrindavana Gurukula
Vrindavana teachers and administrators:
Jitaparan
Manihara
Yasodanandana
Niragadev
Danudhara / Dhanurdhara
The Teacher, Big Raghunatha
Monitors:
Monitors
Katyanyaa
Govindananda
Ekendra
Raghunatha
Raghu's oddysey through gurukula:
how Raghu came to gurukula
first hair cutting
14th Birthday
punched with a "Nrsimadev" ring
sexual abuse
sickness in India
Click here for the Timeline.
Click here for more ISKCON gurukula information.
Click here for an index of all child abuse information available through this site.
