Dear Devotees, Godbrothers, Godsisters, and Hawaii community of Vaishnavas, Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! I have just read this petition, and contemplated this issue very deeply. We all know that Hawaii temple has had a very rocky history, fraught with deception, theft, and abusive leaders. And also quite a number of GBCs who were either too busy to notice, or to care, or to do anything about what happens out here “in the middle of the ocean.” This, coupled with the very unique modes of nature that exist in these Islands, has made Honolulu temple a very difficult place to manage and maintain. Yet, somehow or other, since 1969, when my former husband and I first came here, there has always been a temple in Hawaii, in Honolulu, even in the darkest times. Pancha Tattva Ki Jaya! They are so very merciful. Several senior devotees here have always said, “The Hawaii temple will never be successful until there is a leader who is local, who has lived here long enough to understand the ways and moods of the Island peoples, and who is comfortable with the modes of nature here.” I am one of those devotees who believe this. I have seen real life atrocities performed by some of the temple presidents sent over from the mainland, who in spite of being nice devotees, simply had no idea how to relate to the congregation here. As such, I fully support Madana Sundari in her efforts. She has lived here nearly 40 years, and has run a successful catering business, and truly knows how to relate to guests and devotees alike. She is a great PR person, and runs the kitchen and restaurant like a professional. She has worked very hard in the past year in order to secure a new lunch wagon, without which we would have lost our valuable site at the University of Hawaii. That alone is a great accomplishment. The fact is that she is gravely overworked and understaffed, and if even her health suffers, then it is because she is running a 6 ring circus and trying to balance on the tightrope too. Rather than criticize her, I think we should all pitch in and try to help as much as possible. She definitely needs help in almost every arena, and if we can serve in some way, we should do so. Our lives are short, (and Fukushima radiation coming our way is probably going to make them shorter.) We should try to help her, form committees to do the needful, and try to be a support rather than a menace. Lest we forget our not so long ago “Reign of Terror” by Teja Prakash, the temple president, flown in from the mainland, who banned almost everyone (myself included) so he could count the money without being watched by the devotees. And whenever anyone would ask where the money was going, he would ban that devotee, and call the cops if they tried to visit the temple! Even our dear Daiva Prabhu was banned for nearly two years, and even Sundara Prabhu, who now is Vice-president and pujari, was banned for two years. Our memories should not be short that we forget how horrible those days were. And if it were not for our forensic accountant, Dirk Von Guenthner, close friends with the Hawaii Attorney General, these criminals, Teja Prakash and cohorts, would still be here, milking the assets of our temple, and banning all our Hawaii congregation members. Do we really want to gamble on this? I think we are better off with Madana Sundari. She has been here nearly 40 years, she is a senior Prabhupada disciple, she has genuine love for Srila Prabhupada and is working day and night to try to improve things at this temple. We know she is doing this to serve Srila Prabhupada, and not for a quick buck like so many who have come before her. I admire her efforts; it’s not an easy job. Also, because she has had her catering business here in the Islands for so many years, she has numerous contacts, CEO/VIP types, that are very helpful in our preaching work. She is very well-liked by the karmi population here, and this is a real advantage. So far as Harivilas is concerned, our GBC, I have always had favorable dealings with him. He is busy “putting out fires” at other locations right now, and may not have time to come visit, but he stays in touch with the devotees here and is very approachable by phone or email. Not like some of the GBC’s we have had in past, who have been too aloof to care about our little Island temple, and too busy with their work elsewhere--or worse--even tried to get our temple sold or converted to an elite “club.” Prabhus, in my humble opinion, we need to try a little harder to help Madana Sundari, to pitch in and clean a few pots (she was up till 1:30 am cleaning pots all alone one night not so long ago.) Managing a temple, especially this one, is a hard job; let’s not make it any harder, please. Thank you for your time and understanding, Your servant and sister, Govinda dasi
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 02:00:01 +0000
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