Bhurijana Dasa
Legal name not yet confirmed
Bhurijana PrabhuBhurijan
- Primary education, curriculum development and teacher training (Vrindavan; Gita-nagari)
- Co-founder, Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education (VIHE)
- 1987
- GBC representative for Vrindavan; chairman of the GBC subcommittee on education (in 1995)
- 1995
- GBC member until 2000, then GBC Emeritus
Record summary
1 entry — 1 allegation.
Last reviewedBio
Bhurijana Dasa began chanting Hare Krishna in 1968 as a student at the University of Buffalo and was initiated that year. He helped start ISKCON in Japan in 1969 and opened its first Hong Kong centre after marrying in 1970. From 1976 he worked on ISKCON’s education system: primary education, curriculum development and teacher training in Vrindavan, and school curricula at the Gita-nagari farm community. In 1987 he helped establish the Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education, where he taught scriptural courses (GBC biography). He has written books including Surrender Unto Me and The Art of Teaching.
A GBC directive of about 1995 on corporal punishment at the Vrindavan gurukula, published on this site, describes him as “GBC representative for Vrndavan” and “the chairman of the GBC subcommittee on education”. In 2000 he resigned from the GBC and was made a GBC Emeritus.
His legal name and birth year are not confirmed in the sources reviewed.
Sources (3)
- [1]ISKCON Governing Body Commission, Bhurijana Dasa — GBC biography
- [2]Final Directive Concerning the Vrindavan Corporal Punishment Investigation, joint statement by the GBC Executive Committee and the ISKCON International Office of Education (undated, late 1995 or early 1996), 1995 (document)
- [3]ISKCON GBC, GBC Resolutions 2000 — minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2000: Bhurijana Das resigns from the GBC and is "appointed as GBC Emeritus", 2000 · copy on this site
Record
1 entry · most established firstOpposing child-abuse prevention programmes in the gurukulas (about 1988)
In an email of 25 April 2000 to B.B. Govinda Swami, copied to the director of ISKCON's Child Protection Office and to Ravindra Svarupa dasa, the GBC member Badrinarayan dasa wrote that "The sexual abuse in Mayapur was even worse than Vrindaban", and: "I personally had conversations with him, Bhuri-jan, and Dhanurdhara Maharaja about this (when Sri Rama was first trying to introduce even the mildest forms of child abuse prevention programs) and they fought it every single step of the way. This was over 12 years ago. If they had instituted those programs then, dozens and dozens of boys would have been spared". "Him" is Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami, principal of the Mayapur gurukula; Sri Rama dasa chaired ISKCON's Board of Education.
The email does not say what form the opposition took or which programmes were meant. A 1991 letter from Sri Rama dasa as chairman of the ISKCON Board of Education, also published on this site, refers to the Board’s publication “Preventing Child Abuse in ISKCON”. Badrinarayan dasa’s statement is the only account of these conversations found; no other source names Bhurijana Dasa in connection with them, and no response from him has been found.
Related: the same sentence names Dhanurdhara Swami and Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami.
Sources (2)
- [1]Email from Badrinarayan dasa (GBC) to B.B. Govinda Swami on Bhaktividya Purna Swami, copied to Hari Sauri dasa, Dhira Govinda dasa and Ravindra Svarupa dasa, with Hari Sauri dasa's forwarded message to Prahladananda Swami and the GBC, Apr 25, 2000 (document) original
- [2]Letter from the ISKCON Board of Education to Bhaktividya Purna Swami and Naresvara das on the Mayapur investigation report, Aug 12, 1991 (document) original
Timeline
Each status change in this record, on one axis, with the periods of the cases Bhurijana Dasa is involved in.
- 2000
- Reported allegationApr 25, 2000 Opposing child-abuse prevention programmes in the gurukulas (about 1988) One first-hand account: Badrinarayan dasa, a GBC member, in an April 2000 email to GBC members and the CPO director.