Establishing Checks & Balances<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\nSrila Prabhupada wrote: \u201cA GBC member cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of his power. We are in the experimental stage but in the next meeting of the GBC members they should form a constitution how the GBC members manage the whole affair.\u201d (Letter to Giriraja, August 12, 1971)<\/p>\n
The constitution will enshrine the underlying fundamental principles on which all ISKCON laws should be based. Srila Prabhupada established the GBC as the \u201cultimate managing authority\u201d for ISKCON. A structure that gives final, ultimate, and supreme authority to the GBC may raise concerns about the possibility of a dictatorial or oppressive governance. But \u201cultimate\u201d does not mean the GBC has \u201cabsolute\u201d authority. In fact, an essential element of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s teachings is that ISKCON leaders, including the GBC and its members, must recognize and respect the dignity and rights of the individuals and communities. Srila Prabhupada wrote: \u201cI have chosen my best men to be GBC and I do not want that the GBC should be disrespectful to the temple presidents.\u201d (Letter to All Governing Board Commissioners, May 19, 1976)<\/p>\n
Whoever wishes to peacefully serve within ISKCON according to ISKCON law should be able to freely perform his or her duties without inappropriate, oppressive, or arbitrary interference. Srila Prabhupada wrote to a GBC member: \u201cRegarding your trip to U.S.A. you say that you will be tactful and respectful in your dealings. That should be the motto of all GBC. Be tolerant, and if there is any deficiency, rectify it. All our men have volunteered good service, so the background is good will. So everything should be done on the basis of good will.\u201d (Letter to Hamsaduta, September 7, 1974)<\/p>\n
There are various bases for legitimate authority. In our movement the FounderAcarya\u2019s instructions provide fundamental parameters. Naturally, in an institution, questions will arise: Who may lead and how is leadership obtained? What powers are granted to leaders? What kind of decisions can leaders make? What sanctions may leaders impose? The leaders\u2019 decisions need clear doctrinal support and be convincingly rational. An additional source of legitimacy is the extent to which all devotees feel enfranchised \u2013 that is, they believe they have some impact on their leaders\u2019 decisions.<\/p>\n
The GBC is studying practical ways for ensuring that decisions be made in consideration of the rightful concerns of its constituencies after comprehensive dialogue. A proper system of checks and balances would provide some measure of influence over the deliberations of the GBC and will prevent unwarranted arbitrariness. For instance, the GBC stipulated that it will no override the case decisions of the Child Protection Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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By the GBC<\/strong><\/p>\n Srila Prabhupada wrote: \u201cA GBC member cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of his power. We are in the experimental stage but in the next meeting of the GBC members they should form a constitution how the GBC members manage the whole affair.\u201d (Letter to Giriraja, August 12, 1971) The constitution will enshrine the underlying fundamental principles on which all ISKCON laws should be based. Srila Prabhupada established the GBC as the \u201cultimate managing authority\u201d for ISKCON. A structure that gives final, ultimate, and supreme authority to the GBC may raise concerns about the possibility of a dictatorial or oppressive governance. But \u201cultimate\u201d does not mean the GBC has \u201cabsolute\u201d authority. In fact, an essential element of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s teachings is that ISKCON leaders, including the GBC and its members, must recognize and respect the dignity and rights of the individuals and communities. Srila Prabhupada wrote: \u201cI have chosen my best men to be GBC and I do not want that the GBC should be disrespectful to the temple presidents.\u201d (Letter to All Governing Board Commissioners, May 19, 1976)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gbc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44749,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44747\/revisions\/44749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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