The 2010 Annual General Meeting of the Governing Body Commission of ISKCON commenced Saturday morning in Sri Mayapur Dham with Bhakti Caru Maharaja offering the traditional guru-puja ceremony to ISKCON's Founder-Acarya, Srila Prabhupada, while Ekalavya Prabhu led an enthusiastic and inspirational kirtan. This year's GBC Chairman, Romapada Maharaja, welcomed everyone in attendance and delivered a reading from the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam

From January 14-18 the North American GBCs, Temple Presidents and Leaders met together in Dallas, Texas for the North American Leadership meeting. The following is a short summary and highlights of the meeting: The meeting started on Friday afternoon with a lively kirtan led by Bhaktimarga Swami. Vaisesikha Prabhu inspired everyone by his keynote presentation on the importance and joy of book distribution. Kuladri Prabhu followed with the NA Support Office report, including important legal issues.

Every year, each GBC member's zonal areas of responsibility are reviewed and ratified for the coming year. It is interesting to note a gradual shift over the years with an increasing number of GBC members preferring to share their zonal duties with one or more "co-GBCs". This holds true not just for major projects like Mayapur, which has a six-man GBC committee, but even for smaller yatras like Latvia, Bangladesh, and Honduras. Another recent development is a number of non-GBC members holding zonal responsibilities.

ISKCON devotees shall instruct new members to take shelter of Srila Prabhupada and to receive guidance, training and assistance from those who are practically and directly instructing them in Krishna consciousness. They must focus their attention on Srila Prabhupada as the Founder-Acarya and as their preeminent siksa guru.

Six devotees--Jagat-caksur Das, Yadunandana Das, Sarvaisvarya Das, Brhat Mrdanga Das, Jaya Govinda Das, and Vasudeva Das--are to take sannyasa this year.

We, the members of the Governing Body Commission of ISKCON, wish to express our most heartfelt condolences to you for the passing of Srila Bhaktivaibhava Puri Maharaja. He was a dear friend of our Srila Prabhupada and well-wisher of ISKCON

The Executive Committee (EC) of the GBC has received your recent peace proposal for which we offer you our thanks. The EC has since gone through your peace proposal and we have the following points to make.

So the future of this Krishna Consciousness movement is very bright, so long the managers remain vigilant that 16 rounds are being chanted by everyone without fail, that they are all rising before four in the morning, attending mangal arati-our leaders shall be careful not to kill the spirit of enthusiastic service, which is individual and spontaneous and voluntary. They should try always to generate some atmosphere of fresh challenge to the devotees, so that they will agree enthusiastically to rise and meet it. That is the art of management: to draw out spontaneous loving spirit of sacrificing some energy for Krishna.

For the last several years, strategic planning has been a major theme of the GBC meetings. Several days of the Annual General Meeting, as well as the second GBC meeting later in the year, is exclusively focused on this important theme. This year was no exception. Days four through six saw all regular work shelved and the entire Body, plus many other devotees, come together to proactively discuss the best way for the GBC and ISKCON to prepare for the future.

The second day of the GBC meetings opened with a presentation by the Law Book Committee. Aniruddha Prabhu presented the progress of the committee in revising the current law book which contains constitutional principles, action orders, rules of order, administrative guidelines and governing law.

The 2009 Annual General Meeting of ISKCON's Governing Body Commission commenced with arati and guru-puja kirtana to Srila Prabhupada, who is present in murti form in the meeting hall. Apart from the large murti, this year there is a small murti of Srila Prabhupada fixed on a beautiful altar near the Chairman's seat.

It is with great shock, outrage, and sorrow that members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, (ISKCON), have learned of the horrific terrorists attacks in Mumbai, India, against hundreds of innocent people.

Whatever criticisms an individual or a group may claim to have with ISKCON, to purposefully offend a Vaishnava saint in such a blatant manner is irreconcilable with the principles of Vaishnavism, Hindu culture, morality, and common decency. We condemn any and all such acts.

Someone may wonder how it is that gurus attend training seminars. The question was answered this way: Learning from one another is a strength, not a weakness, and wanting to always learn and improve in devotional service is the sign of Vaishnava humility.

The ISKCON Governing Body Commission (GBC), which is currently meeting for five days at ISKCON's Juhu Beach Temple in Mumbai, was shocked this morning at the news that His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, our dear god-brother and GBC colleague, was rushed to the hospital at approximately 4 AM Mumbai time.

Please find attached a statement from the GBC Executive Committee on respect for women. While there are different opinions on the best roles for women in society and how the Vedic culture is to be applied today, I think we all agree that we must be careful to be respectful to all Vaishnavas in both our deeds and words. Your servant, Ramai Swami GBC Chairman

Iskcon Governing Body Commission Society. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting in Sri Mayapur Dham, February 24 - March 4, 2008

Note: In the interest of enhancing the readability of this document, we have simplified the entries by omitting the country names "India", "USA", "UK", and "Canada".

[Guideline] Whereas Srila Prabhupada should be worshiped in ISKCON in a manner befitting his status as the founder Acarya of ISKCON. Our worship of His Divine Grace is an expression of our love and respect for him;

On March 1st, the seventh day of the meetings, the morning presentations focused on the Youth Fund and Mayapur Temple of Vedic Planetarium, while the afternoon session consisted of a presentation by Bhaktivedanta Institute (Kolkata) and straw voting on proposals. The meetings ended with Chairman Bhanu Swami thanking all the attendees, staff, and helpers for their participation in making the meetings a success. He particularly thanked the Deputies for doing lot of background work which facilitated the meetings to end early. In turn, there was sustained applause from the Body for the hard work of all the members of the Executive Committee.

Lokanath Swami introduced the day’s theme, “Unity in Diversity,” as stipulated in a letter by Srila Prabhupada: “I am therefore suggesting that all our men meet in Mayapur every year during the birth anniversary of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. With all GBC and senior men present we should discuss how to make unity in diversity. But, if we fight on account of diversity, then it is simply the material platform. Please try to maintain the philosophy of unity in diversity. That will make our movement successful.”

Tension was in the air as GBC member Praghosa Das traded insults and criticisms with ISKCONResolve Director and meeting facilitator Braja Bihari Das during a presentation by Praghosa. As the debate got uglier and began to resemble a “Daksa-yajna”, worried attendees looked to the Chairman to pacify the situation.

Sesa Prabhu presented the ongoing work of the Constitution Committee, one of six Strategic Planning groups. This presentation was the major focus of this morning’s session. At the New Vrindaban meeting last June, the GBC members recommended names of devotees qualified to assist in the work of the Constitution Committee.

Bhakti Marg Swami began today's meeting with a vigorous kirtan following which Bhakti Vaibhava Swami read from Srimad - Bhagavatam. Anuttama Das, a member of the Guru Services Committee, reported that the committee had been studying how to help prepare devotees to serve Srila Prabhupada as initiating and instructing spiritual masters.

Mayapura, West Bengal - Trustees of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT), the publishing arm of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, reported today at ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission Annual General Meeting in Mayapura, West Bengal, that its international sales for the year 2007 had increased by 28% over the previous year.

The following points formulated by a committee of ISKCON devotees who were delegated by the GBC Executive Committee to liaise with Satsvarupa Maharaja regarding his service in ISKCON. The following conclusions have been approved by the GBC EC

The GBC Executive Committee, after much deliberation and consultation, has no alternative but to sadly report the deviations of and the abuses to devotees carried out by Balabhadra dasa (ACBSP), previously known as Bhakti Balabh Puri Goswami. This report was compiled for the GBC by the committee dealing with this case, Sivarama Swami, BB Govinda Swami and Praghosa dasa and has been approved by the GBC Executive Committee.

Our constitution committee wish to involve experienced and thoughtful devotees from around the world. Not just GBC members and deputies. We need broader input as we devise a constitution relevant to everyone connected to ISKCON. We hope such a constitution will be pertinent to all, and perhaps especially to the ISKCON leadership who are more accustomed to making laws for others than for having a constitution that holds all members equally accountable.

Our committee is trying to respond to the need to have a more formalized method of operation of ISKCON and more formalized relationship between ISKCON and the members of ISKCON. There is a feeling among many devotees that they want a solid and clear understanding of what it means to be an ISKCON member. A well conceived of Constitution can provide that. We are endeavoring to craft an inspiring document that will make sure that the principles, vision, and mood that Srila Prabhupada established will be preserved for centuries to come.

In response to some devotees' concerns regarding his book "Sanatorium", Satsvarupa Maharaja has given the following comment and has also decided to withdraw from circulation any remaining copies of the book.

Our committee deals with the situation we often find in ISKCON where there are two lines of authority in ISKCON: the initiating spiritual masters and GBC body/GBC member/Temple President system created by Srila Prabhupada. Our goal is help craft a shared, supportive, and shastrically sound system for guiding devotees in ISKCON. Rather than sometimes working at cross purposes, the aim is to have a system that respects, guides, and nutures the devotees in general, as well as all those senior devotees who give siksha and diksa in ISKCON.

We recognize the need for consistent succession policies in the society. The first generation of Srila Prabhupada's disciples are aging. We now read regularly of a senior devotee’s passing away. We need to ensure that the mood, teachings, energy, and ideas of Srila Prabhupada are properly preserved and transmitted. Generation after generation. We wish to identify and empower devotees with leadership potential to ensure the proper succession. This is our long term need.

There were varying degrees of progress achieved since the last GBC meeting in Mayapur, this progress was reported by the different groups to the plenary body. Probably the most comprehensive progress achieved to date was from the committee dealing with the constitution. That said, significant work has been done by all the groups and the overall mood was that a lot has been done but there's a lot more to do.

You will find there are much fewer resolutions this year than in the past. There are only fourteen, and even some of those are routine decisions, such as when the next meeting will be in Mayapura. Devotees (including GBC members) have been telling us for years that rather than coming out with numerous resolutions that many don't even read, better to concentrate on key areas to best serve Srila Prabhupada's society.

In the archive section of the website you can find the GBC Zonal Assignments for 2007

Various GBC members then expressed thanks to the out-going chairman. Sivarma Swami said that Bhaktivaibhava Swami did an outstanding job by giving the GBC body the opportunity to work together to formulate a vision. Maharaja was impressive that Bhaktivaibhava Swami agreed to serve on the Executive Committee one more year, to solidify the GBC's work on strategic planning.

The GBC voted that a World Holy Name Day be annually celebrated at temples worldwide, to coincide with and commemorate Srila Prabhupada's arrival in the USA. Lokanath Swami, Janananda Prabhu, and Ekalavya Prabhu will be the coordinators. The GBC body spent the rest of the morning discussing and voting on a resolution concerning the situation of Dhanudhara Swami.

On behalf of our beloved Founder-Acarya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the GBC Executive Committee, extends its grateful appreciation to His Holiness Bhakti Bhringa Govinda Swami for his outstanding service in dealing with the difficulties facing the Kazakhstan yatra during the year 2006.

Bhanu Swami chaired the Open Forum and began with a letter from Jiva Tattva Prabhu (Spain), who asked why ISKCON does not have a varnasrama social system and whether the GBC's role is spiritual or managerial.

Sesa Prabhu cried when Bhakti Swarupa Damodara Maharaja departed. He pointed out that Maharaja was so fixed on Srila Prabhupada's instructions that his departure from the world was glorious. Krsna, in this way, prepared him to go back to Godhead. Sesa Prabhu asked the senior disciples to be forgiving, as there is a lesson to be learned from all this.

The secret destination turned out to be Jagannath’s Mandir and I personally could not have been more pleased since I had not been able to visit Them last year. These Deities of Jagannath, Subhadra and Baladev are very powerful and are known for Their benevolence in granting boons. There are many authentic experiences supporting this claim, many of them recent. We performed a bhajan and kirtan lead by H H Lokanath accompanied by Madhava das (world reknown mrdanga player).

Next there was a debate about the best way to serve and honor prasadam. Hridayananda Maharaja's team defended eating on the floor and using one's fingers. Devamrta Swami's team argued that a Western style of eating (at a table, with silverware) is essential for effective preaching. The argument that a pizza is a self-realized capati got a lot of laughs.