VOICE Creates The Krishna Conscious Leaders of Tomorrow

by Madhava Smullen

VOICE — the ISKCON Poona-based Vedic Oasis for Culture, Inspiration and Education — is making a big splash.

There are sixty VOICE training centers located next to colleges throughout India. Around 2,000 students are currently living in them and seriously practicing Krishna consciousness. And a further one to two thousand are in the process of being introduced to the path of devotion.

It all started in 1995. Radheshyam Das, then a devotee for just one year, was sent from the ISKCON Chowpatty temple in Mumbai, where he had joined, to Poona — the second largest city in the Western Indian state of Maharashtra — to assist with outreach.

Radheshyam had been a mechanical engineering student at IIT Mumbai, so he knew how to reach the student community. He wrote a series of books — Discover Yourself, Your Best Friend, Your Secret Journey, and Victory Over Death — in which he presented Srila Prabhupada’s teachings with a scientific flair that students could appreciate.

Using these, he began preaching in a handful of colleges. The program took off, and has been growing to this day.

Now VOICE Centers are located at Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology around the country. There are twenty established and ten just launched centers in Poona itself. A further twenty in Kolkata and ten in Kanpur have been established by Poona devotees and then handed over to local devotees.

“Modern day youth are mixing freely between men and women, taking all types of intoxicants, and losing respect for their parents and teachers,” Radheshyam says. “They are becoming characterless. It is happening now in India on a large scale. Parents are worried, colleges are seeking help — asking for educational courses to teach their students character and morality — and companies are concerned that staff joining them will not be of good quality.”

It’s this quality, more than quantity, that VOICE is interested in. To make a difference, VOICE devotee personnel first visit a college in professional attire, and offer programs there on broad topics such as stress management, the art of self management, and the power of habits to five or six hundred students at one time.

They then offer about 150 students who are interested a six-session program called Discover Yourself on the basics of spirituality. Next, they give sixty to seventy who want to go further a five-session course on the essence of Bhagavad-gita.

Eventually, they whittle the group down to just twenty-five sincere, serious students (in some locations, forty or fifty).

These reside at their local VOICE Center, which Radheshyam describes as “like a mini ISKCON temple.”

There the students chant sixteen rounds of the maha-mantra every day, follow the four regulative principles — no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling and no illicit sex — and attend a full traditional temple morning program. During the day, they attend college, and in the evening do their college homework.

Students also put on dramas, have debate competitions, and learn public speaking. They are taught Vaishnava etiquette, how to play mridanga and kartals,  and how to put on dhoti, kurta and tilak.

Students are also trained in leadership. Each VOICE Center has a Project Advisor who is a senior devotee, and a Project Manager — responsible for the daily running of the center. Under them are students who take on a variety of leadership roles including preaching coordinator, internal manager, and kirtan head.

“We call our system a ‘tech age gurukula,” says Radheshyam. “Because the students get the best of both worlds — they get Vedic knowledge and their material degree, so they can go and take up a professional job and earn a living. But with their spiritual training, even after they get married and have children, they will raise their family very nicely in a devotional direction.”

VOICE students are trained so well in character and leadership, and are so often at the top of their class, that college teachers and directors are full of admiration.

“They appreciate our training program very much,” Radheshyam says. “Since we opened our new Vedic Cultural Center in Poona, many principals of colleges and schools are coming and asking us to please start something at their college. The director of NIT Suratkal was so pleased that he requested us, ‘I want this training to be given for the whole college.’”

While Radheshyam explained to the director that not everyone may be ready for training that requires such commitment and such a regulated lifestyle, he does plan to launch a more easily digestible program in the future which will be able to accommodate two to three thousand students per college.

Meanwhile, some students of the current VOICE program have moved to different parts of the world to pursue their professional careers, and  others have even become professors at the same colleges they were educated at. But all are setting excellent examples for their students, employees, or co-workers.

“Good leadership qualities are declining very badly in modern times,” Radhesyam says. “We want to train our students in good character, competency in their field, and devotion to Lord Krishna and the Holy Name. And we want to create a class of leaders in society. Because as we have seen, anybody who becomes a proper devotee of Krishna, and develops character, competence, and devotion, becomes a very valuable element for society, and can bring about genuine happiness for all.”

Source: ISKCON News

National Child Protection Training in India

by Gandhari Dasi

The ICOCP (ISKCON’S Central Office of Child Protection) was established by ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission to create and ensure a safe, healthy and abuse-free environment for ISKCON’s children to thrive in.

Over the years the ICOCP has been conducting awareness and training programs for devotees to be proactive within their School / Congregation / Temple / Community in the prevention of abuse of any kind.

A National Child Protection Training Seminar was held in Mumbai from August 23rd to 26th 2012. The 90 attendees were from various ISKCON centers, schools and congregation of India. It was ably presented by Champakalata dasi, International Director of the ICOCP.

The term ‘abuse’ is enough to make one want to cringe. To attend 3 days of constant talks on abuse, studying cases, watching videos, all with the aim of preventing it from happening in ISKCON society was a huge austerity, but the sense of commitment of all attending devotees to make the community a safe one for the children gave them forbearance to deal with it.

Champakalata Dasi’s presentation covered a wide range of topics, including the definition of abuse, ICOCP’s area of jurisdiction, the role and responsibilities of Child Protection Team (CPT) members, interviewing skills, the internal disciplinary steps that must be implemented as well as the need to report to secular legal authorities, networking with relevant service providers and how to educate the various audiences within the community (children, parents, teachers, et al). Her presentations were interspersed with relevant videos, role play exercises, group work and worksheets.

She made a clear point that abuse is a rampant disease not limited to a region, country or race but widely prevalent as a social illness.

Various prominent guest speakers also presented striking power point presentations on the various facets of dealing with abuse and its glaring reality. On the first day, Ms. Svati Chakravarty Bhatkal, Co-director of a trail blazing social awareness program on TV, ‘Satyamev Jayate’ (Watch Episode 2 on http://www.satyamevjayate.in)

Ms Chakravaty Bhaktal drove home the reality of the statistics of abuse cases when she recollected her various encounters during her research for the TV show, emphasizing how abuse is shrouded in secrecy and the bitter reality that most of the victims’ abusers were known to the victim as trusted family or friends. She further described how, after the show which was presented by well-known actor, Aamir Khan was flighted on TV, thousands of victims wrote in, many stating that they were disclosing their abuse for the first time. This show created a revolution in India, empowering victims of abuse and created an impetus for parents to educate their children to prevent abuse.

The next day Mrs. Samindara Sawant, a Clinical Psychologist, who runs a Counselling and Testing Centre, DISHA, spoke about the deceptive faces of an offender and the need to train our children to guard themselves against them. She also gave an insight on counselling and how to support abused children; how to break the cycle of abuse and the risk of recidivism as well as managing the abuser.

Dr. Asha Bajpai, Professor of Law and Dean of the School of Law, Rights and Constitutional Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, another of our eminent guest speakers, gave a legal perspective of laws dealing with offenders and rehabilitation of children in Indian Society. She further discussed the legal recourses available to victims and the proposed changes in legislation, of which she is a member of Parliament’s drafting committee. Dr Bajpai, is also currently assisting the Mumbai High Court in the matter of sexual abuse of children in the Thane and Panvel Orphanages. Her first hand description of how she used the simple strategy of giving the victims crayons and paper to draw what happened to them (as opposed to the over questioning that they had already been exposed to) was very insightful.

The final speaker was Ms Sneha Kupekar, Assistant Program co-ordinator from Childline Services in India who have tied up with the Ministry of Welfare for Women and Children to provide a free 24 hour helpline for reporting of abuse. She explained the process that takes place from the moment that a disclosure is made and also informed attendees that her organisations undertakes training of teachers, parents and children in various schools across India. She provided useful training skills for the participants.

While every attending ISKCON devotee returned to their temple with a firm commitment of forming a Child Protection Team in their vicinity, twenty devotees remained behind for the fourth day of the seminar which involved training them to serve as Child Protection Review Panel members. Apart from traversing the relevant parts of the ICOCP’s Policy and Procedure manual, they engaged in a case study, practical exercises and discussions.

Source: ISKCON News

US Child Protection Office Launches New Website and Educational Events

by Madhava Smullen

On Saturday May 5th, the appearance day of Lord Nrsimhadeva—Lord Krishna’s half-man half-lion form known for protecting His devotees—ISKCON North America’s Child Protection Office launches its official website.

The site, http://www.safetemple.org, helps both adults and children understand what abuse is, and tells them what steps to take if they’re concerned about child abuse or neglect. It gives contact details for both ISKCON and local State child protection authorities, and describes services the North American CPO offers.

These include a screening service temples can use to verify volunteers and employees, both through ISKCON itself and through a criminal background check service. The CPO also offers education and training for both adults and children. Temples can invite North American Child Protection Officer Lilasuka Dasi to work with their management in establishing risk prevention steps, as well as to speak to their congregation about community awareness, and give age appropriate Safe Touch presentations to their children.

Lilasuka also assists temples in organizing and maintaining their own child protection teams—small group of devotees that are prepared to respond to local concerns of child abuse or neglect.

The website’s launch date is not only significant because it is on Lord Nrsimhadeva’s appearance day, but also because it comes at the conclusion of the US national Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Seeing the alarming rate at which children were being abused and neglected, the US Senate and House of Representatives first proclaimed April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in 1983. And ever since, initiatives and events have been coordinated during this month by The Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, and encouraged by State governors across the country.

They’re fighting nothing short of an epidemic. According to childhelp.org, 3.3 million reports of child abuse, involving six million children, are made in the United States every year.

People tend to be most shocked by sexual abuse, and the statistics are stark: one in three girls, and one in six boys, will be violated before eighteen. But it’s only 7.6 per cent of all abuse, with neglect the most widespread type at 78.3 per cent.

“That is something I’m concerned that ISKCON as a community becomes more aware of,” says North American Child Protection Officer Lilasuka Dasi, citing the common practice of children running around at ISKCON temples unsupervised.

And ISKCON North America certainly is putting a lot of effort into more awareness these days. Previously there were no official regional Child Protection Offices in ISKCON, only one international Central Office, run by Champakalata Dasi in Durban, South Africa. But in January this year, North American ISKCON leaders created the first regional office in Alachua, Florida to locally carry out the Central Office’s mission of increasing child protection, communication and legal compliance.

“Out of many important projects and aspects of our Society, the leaders have recognized and committed to increasing child protection with action by investing in this initiative,” Lilasuka enthuses.

The North American CPO, while still in the process of establishing itself, participated in Child Abuse Prevention Month this year by holding two special educational events at the Alachua Learning center—a local charter school with mostly ISKCON devotee students and teachers.

The first, held on April 14th, was a three-hour program in English, while the second, held on April 21st, was in Spanish.

“Two very kind and generous devotees from Gainesville’s Krishna House, Bhaktin Estefania and Ananda-Seva Prabhu, translated the entire Power Point presentation and brochure into Spanish,” says Lilasuka Dasi. “Then Gopi-Prema Dasi of the Dominican Republic, who is the local child protection team representative for ISKCON Alachua and works at the community’s Bhaktivedanta Academy primary school, did the Spanish language presentation. It was so wonderful to be able to reach out to a segment of our Society that may not otherwise come to such an event.”

After the safetemple.org website launch on May 5th, Lilasuka will take her presentations around North America for a month. Her tour, running from May 9th to June 10th, will take her to ISKCON communities in Prabhupada Villagae, North Carolina; New Vrindaban, West Viginia (for the Festival of Inspiration); Columbus, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Houston, Texas; New Talavan, Mississippi; and New Orleans, Louisiana. The full schedule is listed at http://www.safetemple.org/2012/01/08/events.

Types of presentations Lilasuka offers that temples can choose from include child protection team training; a safe touch presentation for the children; a parent teacher discussion; a meeting with management; and a community awareness presentation.

In the latter, Lilasuka lists and defines the different kinds of abuse and neglect, and discusses the effects of child abuse; characteristics of an abuser; the role that temples, devotees and communities play in child protection; how to report a case; the value of doing screening and background checks; education and training; and contact information for organizations both inside and outside of ISKCON.

She also explains what ISKCON’s Central Child Protection Office does and offers, what the North American CPO does and offers, and what exactly a child protection team is.

Finally, she gives statistics and facts to show why child abuse is such a major concern, and how community awareness and educational efforts decrease child abuse and neglect.

“I hope these educational events will create a general shift in attitude, where each person in our community feels more empowered to make a difference,” says Lilasuka. “I hope they will open more eyes and ears to the reality of the abuse going on around us, and that when there is a concern of abuse or neglect, devotees will feel more comfortable to reach out to someone who can help.”

North American CPO is just getting started: Lilasuka will do a second tour, of the East Coast of the United States, in September 2012, and a third, of the West Coast, in early 2013. She’ll also continue building resources and materials for child protection, showing devotees how they can tap into their county’s family services as well as creating ISKCON’s own materials, including a coloring book for ages Kindergarten through fifth grade, and a brochure for parents on how to talk with their children or teenagers.

Lilasuka says that being aware about child protection is important for every member of a community, no matter who they are.

“The old adage—‘It takes a village to raise a child’—is appropriate in regard to child protection,” she explains. “Whether one has children, grandchildren or no children, we all affect each other and invariably we are affected by those we care about. Participating in creating safe and healthy communities benefits everyone.”

She concludes: “Safe communities afford the opportunity for growing healthier and stronger families, and are very important for us to open our hearts to Krishna—we need to feel safe to do that.”

Source: ISKCON News

ISKCON CPO ‘Empowers’ Devotee Communities’ Fight Against Child Sex Abuse and Violence

by Mantrini Devi Dasi

The ISKCON Child Protection Office held a three-day child abuse safety training program the first week in May in New Vrindavana. Seven devotees, including teachers, Sunday School teachers and social workers  attended the training.

The training program, called Good Touch Bad Touch©, (GTBT) is an age-appropriate, child abuse safety program used in more than 5,000 schools for more than 23 years throughout America. Tamohara das, Director of the ISKCON Child Protection Office (CPO), and his wife, Mantrini devi dasi, certified GTBT trainers, conducted the program.

The Good Touch Bad Touch© curriculum goodtouchbadtouch.com was developed in 1983 and is currently used in American public schools from pre-school to sixth grade. The GTBT concepts are introduced to children in the first grade and every year thereafter, in an age-appropriate manner, so children have a thorough body safety education by the time they reach junior high.

Through this curriculum, children learn skills to help protect themselves from sexual, physical, or emotional abuse; either from those people they know or from strangers. They learn how to deal with abusers, as well as school bullies. They learn strategies to handle abusive situations, how to tell and keep telling trusted adults, and that abuse is never their fault. Older children learn Internet safety.

The following devotees attended the training: Kamalavati devi dasi, Carolyn Brose, Parijata devi dasi, Mohini devi dasi, Hari Nam devi dasi, Govinda Priya devi dasi, and Sri Radhika devi dasi. The attendees made the following comments regarding how they will use this child abuse prevention body safety program in their schools and communities.

“I earned my masters in social work, so I do elementary classroom presentations for a living,” said Mohini dasi of Detroit, Michigan. “This was a great program! I learned how to present information on sexual abuse, bullying, racism, and self-esteem. The wonderful part about this program is that the same information was presented in various ways to meet the developmental levels of children from kindergarten to 6th grade.”

Carolyn Brose of New Vrindavana, West Virginia judged the training she received “. . . excellent information and a specific curriculum to use to teach children from pre-K to middle school age on how to deal with sexual abuse.” She plans to use the learning system to offer a comprehensive training program to families at New Vrindaban.

Sri Radhika devi dasi of St. Louis, Missouri stated, “GTBT is an excellent program based on thorough child psychology and sexual abuse research, which really hits at the heart of child abuse issues. It is especially helpful to get the training within the devotee community, so that we can understand the program within the context of Krishna Consciousness and get the guidance on challenges and opportunities within our movement. In this day and age, child abuse is such a rampant problem that it is a disservice to leave children untrained. GTBT is a gift I’d like to give to every child I know.”

Govinda Priya devi dasi of New Vrindavana felt that the program training catered very effectively to all ages, keeping in mind their developmental stages . . . so that they know what to do if something happens to them. I strongly feel that we have a right to be safe, and it is our responsibility as an adult to provide a safe environment for our children.”

Kamalavati devi dasi, also of New Vrindavana, called the program “empowering.”

“I now have a much deeper understanding of all types of abuse, particularly sexual abuse,” she added. “I look forward to teaching this within my community to share this with families to create an atmosphere of openness and awareness for everyone to be safe.

The ISKCON Child Protection Office received a grant from Children of Krishna, Inc. in 2006, to implement the Good Touch Bad Touch© program within ISKCON schools and Sunday Schools. So far, the Alachua Learning Center and the New Raman Reti School in Alachua, Florida, as well as the Bhaktivedanta Gurukula and Sandipani Muni School in Vrindavana, India, have adopted this body safety education program to train their teachers.

Devotees and administrators in both academic and Sunday schools in Australia, Bhaktivedanta Manor (UK), Hungary, Mayapur, and Chowpatti have expressed interest in introducing Good Touch Bad Touch© into their curricula.

If you would like to find out more about how you can bring GTBT to your community, school, or Sunday School, please contact Tamohara das, Director of the ISKCON Child Protection Office at tamohara@yahoo.com or learn more about the program at ChildProtectionOffice.org.

Source: ISKCON News