Jaya Gaurasundara dasa: The Temple of the Holy Name is situated in Prabhupada Village, a rural community in the foothills of central North Carolina. From its inception in 1992, when Madhuha prabhu purchased the 350 acre tract of land and subdivided it, Prabhupada Village very quickly became the home of many sincere, senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada. There were enthusiastic morning programs, Sunday feasts and festivals, a day school, a nice cow and oxen program, some agriculture, and a good amount of preaching activity. The Festival of India is based here and the Bhaktivedanta Archives relocated from Los Angeles early on. Plans were drawn for a temple and in 1999 construction started. There were many discussions and differences of opinion about which deities to install, etc. but also concerns about the identity or affiliation and subsequent management policies of the temple began to emerge.
In recent years, the temple acquired the status of being an associate member of ISKCON. Although associate membership required adherence to the same precepts and principles of any ISKCON center, the main difference was in regard to proprietorship and other legalities which made the temple status “changeable” by the board of directors. The board’s ability to “change” the loyalty or affiliation of the temple, understandably, did not sit well with certain devotees.
With a goal of creating temple policy and an atmosphere that would encourage as many devotees as possible to participate, the board worked for almost a year trying to accommodate the various needs, desires, and understandings of the village residents. Frustrated by the reality that no matter how hard we tried, we simply could not satisfy everyone. Enforcing your own created policy with proper discrimination can also be very tricky business.
For that reason, simply adopting ISKCON policy and having the support of higher authority does make local management a lot easier. Admittedly, however, there was some reluctance in the community about being subjected to the ultimate authority of ISKCON’s leaders, given the mistakes that devotees had witnessed in the past. We began to ask ourselves some key questions:
1. Is ISKCON still a viable entity?
2. Would the majority of devotees participate if we elected to remain officially ISKCON?
3. If we disagree with certain policies or practices within ISKCON, are we likely to invoke positive change or make any difference at all by separating ourselves or by joining another mission or group?
4. What would Srila Prabhupada want us to do?
With a little research, the answers to these questions become obvious. ISKCON is a thriving, growing institution and many progressive changes have been made over the years reflecting maturity and sincerity of purpose. We all know that one of Srila Prabhupada’s final requests was that we demonstrate our love for him by cooperating with one another, but he never advocated blind following. The term “checks and balances” as used by Srila Prabhupada indicates the need for internal communication. By maintaining proper forums for respectful discussion, with the aim of preserving the integrity of Srila Prabhupada’s movement as well as enriching our spiritual understanding, ISKCON will remain the most widespread and authoritative presentation of Gaudiya Vaisnavism on the planet.
We are therefore pleased to announce that by unanimous decision of the temple board, along with the encouragement of other members of the community, the TOTHN has officially joined ISKCON by signing the ISKCON bylaws, thus establishing a permanent, non-changeable identity for our temple.
We are hoping to attract like-minded devotees who are willing to cooperate within ISKCON to help establish our community as an example of “simple living and high thinking.” Please visit us at iskconpv.org.
Jaya Gaurasundara dasa
Temple President
ISKCON of Sandy Ridge
Temple of the Holy Name in Prabhupada Village