A letter to Sanjay / Suggestion for action

[Guest guest]

Dear List Members

I have read Gauranga's post and the replies and I have a suggestion which I

believe should be acted upon .

A lot of Gauranga's points are a question of style and taste , the replies

also show a dislike for the tone of Gauranga's post .

However amidst this there is a serious accusation that Sanjay Rath

misappropriated $ 60,000 US of his student's money .

Now these accusations could certainly be caused by some misunderstanding ,

exaggerated or utterly false . The heads of organisations are often subject

to wild and untrue accusations . However these accusations that have been

made by several persons ,some with considerable seniority in SJC over

several months do require proper investigation .

 

If these accusations are in some way true it would be totally inappropriate

for Sanjay Rath to remain as head of the SJC . Therefore my suggestion is

that the SJC create an independent comittee to investigate these allegations

and to cite their findings . I think what I am calling for here is due

procedure . Sanjay Rath is entitled to a fair hearing and there should be a

stop to debate while he gets such .

 

Best Wishes

Nicholas

[Guest guest]

I've been a silent member of this group for a while, primarily

interested in learning. Normally I avoid getting into these kind of

debates, but sometimes I simply can't help responding. I ask that the

list members forgive me in advance for flooding their mailboxes with

yet another mail unrelated to Jyotish.

 

My intention is to be as objective as possible. I have neither met nor

do I know any of the people involved besides seeing their names in

various mailing lists. I owe no allegiance to anyone involved.

 

Firstly, there is a presumption of innoncence - that is, a person is

presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. It is not the

accused who has to prove his/her innocence, it is the accuser who has

to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

 

Secondly, SJC is an organization started by Pt. Sanjay Rath.

Irrespective of the administrative structure, who the office bearers

are, etc. he is still the founder and as far as I am concerned, and

I'm sure most would agree with me, he is the head of the organization.

Even if the allegations made by Gauranga Das are proven to be true, it

is ridiculous to ask Pt. Sanjay Rath to "step down" as the head of SJC

- without Pt. Rath there is no SJC! If people feel that Pt. Rath is

"guilty" in some sense, they are free to dissociate themselves from

SJC.

 

Beyond that, questions of misappropriation of funds, etc. are personal

issues which people can pursue independently. If Gauranga Das and

other persons (whatever be their "seniority" in SJC) think that Pt.

Rath has cheated them, they should pursue this in a court of law.

Bringing in issues of whether Pt.Rath's wife is a vegetarian, whether

he practices vedic rituals, whether he smokes or drinks, are

irrelevant in this context. The very fact that these were brought in

and the issue was brought up in a public forum (ignorance of Pt.

Rath's email address is a ridiculous and laughable excuse) indicates

that there is something amiss in the allegations and there seems to be

malicious intent on the part of those making the allegations. Gauranga

Das merely appears to be taking his personal grudge against Pt.Rath

and/or SJC out on a public forum.

 

Saying "Sanjay Rath is entitled to a fair hearing and there should be

a stop to debate while he gets such." is arrogant in the least and

whoever thinks that way is implicitly assuming the role of the judge

in this debate. (Though, I'm tempted to believe that was not the

intention of Nicholas) If SJC starts setting up "independent"

committees to look into each and every allegation, it wont have much

time or resources to spend on its primary purpose, which is to spread

the knowledge of Jyotish. Even if SJC were to setup a committee, how

would one ensure that it was "independent", when the person being

accused of wrongdoing is the person at the head of SJC? The

allegations made are personal in nature and have to be dealt with

without bringing in the organization which the parties to the dispute

happen to be members of.

 

Lastly it was poor etiquette on the part of Anne Rutherford to forward

Gauranga Das's email to this list, when it was sent on a different

list presumably consisting of Gurus of SJC. If Gauranga Das wanted to

send the mail on this list, I see no reason why he could not have.

 

I sincerely hope everyone can put this episode behind and start the

new year afresh with happiness, peace and good intentions.

 

Om Shaantih, Shaantih, Shaantihi!

 

Vinod Srinivasan