By Niranjana Swami
I wanted to express my convictions today, not based upon my position as an "authority", but from a personal and open-hearted viewpoint of someone who has had 27 years of experience in ISKCON. If you see any validity to these years of experience, then maybe when I open my heart to you, it may influence you, in some small way, to understand why I feel that this counselor system is important. I am not here in the capacity of the GBC for Moscow. I've come to realize that hammering from the GBC doesn't open anyone's heart. Frankly, I'm tired of hammering, and therefore I put away my hammer many years ago. If I ever use a hammer again, it will be only to hit a nail. I am not going to hammer on your heads to accept this system, although I may try to open up a few minds, and hopefully some hearts as well. Just before I came here, I was thinking that if I opened my heart first, it might have some influence. I'm therefore just going to express to you why I personally feel it's important to have this counselor system.