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| BigMo Unregistered User (9/29/01 10:22:38 pm) Reply |
If I were President
for a Day
I am suggesting the following as the new rules and regulations for the SRF Church. I would be willing to take this on myself, and make these changes. Those within SRF please feel free to print and use these ideas. I don’t sue to protect my writings. The new rules would include: Changes to monastic lifestyle 2A) A single spiritual life committee will be formed to explore issues related to the quality of spiritual life in the ashram. They will recommend rule changes to the Directors. Their recommendations will be made public to the membership and feedback requested before a decision is made. Decisions only related to the private life of the monastics need only be reviewed by the monastics. ALL the monastics. 2B) The monks themselves will elect, by popular vote, the monks to hold a seat on this committee, same for the nuns. They know the people who should be there. There will be one committee. They will be elected to the committee for 1 year and may serve up to 3 years. It should be 4 monks and 4 nuns and at least one of these is a novice monk, one a novice nun. 2C) There will be two lay members on the committee, one man and one women. These will be determined by the Board. They will hold a maximum term of one year. This is an unpaid position. 2D) Monastic compensation would be changed. $40/month is a disgrace. I trust the SLC to come up with a proposal based on other life style changes I would suggest. 2E) Monastic dress would be changed. A formal dress style would be required when representing SRF at a public function, but rules for rules sake (or control) would be abolished. The silly dress rules would be one of them. 2F) I would expect rules related to freedom of movement would be relaxed, with recommendations from the SLC. SRF is a cloistered environment for the encouragement of spiritual progress, not for reasons of control. 2G) Some basic rule changes are needed. But some bad habits are deep in the organization and need to be violently rooted out for progress to take hold. For example, if a monastic goes to someone and tells of the misdeeds of another person I would kill the “squealer”. There might be some simple trial to make sure it really happened. The death would be slow and public. After a few deaths this destructive practice would stop. 2H) It would no longer be assumed that a monastic will run each department. Business managers would be selected based on real business skills. 2I) Monastic leadership positions would always be elected. The SLC would decide the length of term for each position. Term limits would ensure fresh blood and fresh ideas and help avoid the power hungry situation currently in place. Approval by the Board. 2J) Monastic separation is today used as a means of maintaining control by some nuns. While separation would exist, it should be reasonable and not based on control issues. Issues of communication and cooperation would be taken into consideration. We would also assume we are dealing with adults and not 16 year old kids waiting to peek at each other. 2K) The members of the SLC would be expected to spend one day a month on clean up duty, cleaning the offices, bathrooms, kitchen, or grounds, depending on what is needed. This includes the non-monastics on the SLC. If a member of the SLC’s normal duties are clean up or maintenance, they will spend one day in some other capacity. 2L) Monastics would be allowed to serve the public in other ways. If they want to join the Red Cross, or some volunteer community efforts, they would be allowed to do so. They are not prisoners. We will become a giving, unselfish, loving, concerned organization and out people will want to reach out and help others. 2M) The monastic “counselor” system is a mess. Anyone who wants to keep it will be shot and the SLC will come up with something to take its place so people can get help and discuss issues. The use of outside councilors might be considered. At the minimum people will be allowed to choose their own counselors. 2N) Any monastic deciding to leave the ashram would be provided any lead time they needed, lodging at an SRF apartment or home, a short term lease on a car to help them get adjusted, and some training if they needed it to get a job. I would also expect the board to discuss the board’s failure in creating an environment which did not meet this person’s expectations and report to the president on what they are going to do about it. Problems in the environment which caused monastics to leave would be dealt with aggressively and with a high priority. Changes to employee treatment 3A) Employees would be fairly compensated for their jobs. 3B) Employees would be given a retirement plan. 3C) A grievance committee would be elected by the employees. This committee would have a two year term and someone could only serve two years. They would elect their own chairman and half the people would be elected each year. Employees could take issues to this committee who could take them to the Board. These people would be paid overtime for any additional time spent on this assignment. Changes to rules of SRF 4A) First of all, write the rules down and publish them! (Once they are agreed upon) Management by rumor and power play is a mess. 4B) SRF finances should be made public. SRF has a lot of money and it might be that some people should not be giving to SRF if they actually need the money more than we do! Giving is always appreciated by God, but we don’t need to deceive our membership into giving. 4C) A summary of the finances would be published, possibly quarterly or yearly. In the SRM? The new Board will decide how often. We will set a new standard for integrity and openness. 4D) The number of members would be published. Who is on the Board would be published. All this goofy secret stuff would be published. 4E) All use of lawsuits as offensive weapons would be stopped. All use of lawsuits would be stopped for that matter. We have nothing to hide, nothing to fear, nothing to protect. 4F) A priority would be set to get Master’s writings, pictures, videos, and talks out to the world. This is one of the greatest services we can provide humanity. The Board would be accountable for this as the lead SRF managers. Go ahead and finish this critical task. SRF Leadership 5A) The president would serve a single three year term. They would basically be the chairman of the Board. 5B) The president would be selected by the Board and could be a member or monastic. It would be an unpaid position, probably part time. An outside person could hold another job and still be president. 5C) No articles would be published with talks by the president. They would not be treated as an alter-Guru and we would make special efforts to make sure our membership didn’t fall into this trap. No closing talk at Convo, no security escorts, no pictures sold, no special cars, etc… 5D) The SRF Board would be responsible for the operation of the business. All functions normally associated with a board of a corporation, even a non-profit, would be associated with this board. While managers would be allowed to manage, the Board would have final say on budgets and high level hiring. They would also set the high level priorities for the organization, year by year. 5E) The Board’s decisions on priorities every year would be published for the membership. At the end of the year the results would be published. The goal being accountability to the membership, who are the real owners of SRF. If we are not serving there needs then changes should be made. Why else is SRF there? To protect something? 5F) The Board and president would also take a day a month to work in the kitchen, clean bathrooms, clean offices, etc… This would be written into the rules. If you can’t see the reason for this you should not be on the Board. 5H) The President will not have their own separate membership department, not have an army of assistants. Their role is simplified and this is not needed. 5I) The President will have an open forum discussion period with any and all monastics who wish to attend once a month. They will not be filmed or recorded. They would allow all questions on any topic and the questions are NOT submitted ahead of time.. The first one might last 24 hours but thereafter they might be 2 hours. 5J) The President will have an open forum discussion period with any and all employees who wish to attend once a quarter. They will not be filmed or recorded. They would allow all questions on any topic. There would be no secrets within SRF. 5K) Classic business problems like the abuse of power in Public Affairs, the laughable print REQ procedure, and the mis-management in editorial would be solved by the managers involved. The Board would be expected to make the decisions to get these problems solved. As they would end up on public goal statements (I would insist on that) then we would be accountable for fixing them. Procedures would be reviewed and business logic applied with a firm hand. 5L) The Board would act on suggestions from the SLC for changes to the rules of SRF. The Board approves changes and may suggest them themselves. 5M) People on the Board may not be on the SLC. |
| Disappointed Unregistered User (9/29/01 11:23:29 pm) Reply |
Why
Big Mo, why do you undercut your good ideas with the "kill them" and "shoot them" stuff? I am sure you realize that this will frighten some people or turn them off. We don't necessarily know that you are being facetious. |
| BigMo Unregistered User (9/30/01 7:15:44 am) Reply |
Facetious?
Dear Disappointed, Facetious? It is not important for them to know if I am being facetious. It is only important that I know. The roots of these problems go deep deep deep and drastic action will need to be taken. The "evil doers" being scared for a while is a good thing. If someone is not going to take these suggestions serously because of that phrase they would not have taken them seriously anyway. |
| Raja
Begum Unregistered User (9/30/01 12:05:32 pm) Reply |
Accountability and a
Sense of Humor
C'MMon Disappointed Don't be so literal in your thinking BigMo, I had a good laugh on your killing the finks. Maybe we should have the present Board of Directors killed and do a hostile takeover. Sincerely, I think your ideas deserve serious consideration. That SRF org is neither fish nor fowl. neither an orthodox monastic order or a progressive corporation makes us all very confused. But confused is what they want us to be. Confusion is the opiate of the masses. Clarity and openness lead to accountability. What then...??? |
| KS Unregistered User (9/30/01 2:10:12 pm) Reply |
Writing
I think the biggest step would just be to write down the rules. How many times did we see this as a problem! The nebulous "management" decided this or that 15 years ago. Or Ma once said this or that. I like the idea of written rules. Being held accountable would scare the hell out of them, as would publishing the finances. Let's do it! |
| Raja
Begum Unregistered User (9/30/01 3:30:53 pm) Reply |
Accountability
It must be done. The perpetuity of problems in SRF seem to stem from one cause: their evading scrutiny at every level of the organization and a shifting of blame on the individual. A lot of confusion out there about SRF's non-disclosure policy, about its mysterious board of directors, about its style of managment, etc. For information on nonprofits go to... www.nonprofit-info.org/ SRF probably files a report to the government. This is what the above-cited website says... "The federal report is called Form 990. It is due each year on the 15th day of the fifth month after the end of the organization's fiscal year (extensions are allowed). Effective June 8, 1999, new regulations govern public access to copies of this form. A full copy of these regulations, and much other helpful information, is at http://www.990online.com./ "Organizations are now required to provide a copy "immediately" to anyone who comes to the administrative office and asks for it. A copying fee of $1 for the first page and $.15 for each subsequent page may be charged. The forms for the last three years are covered by this rule, as is the original application for recognition as an exempt organizations (though there are certain exceptions which apply to long-established organizations)." Those who want to get the ball rolling on making SRF accountable might want to start here. Onward Kriya Soldiers!! Founder's Syndrome www.mapnp.org/library/misc/founders.htm |
| Reporter Unregistered User (10/12/01 6:51:41 am) Reply |
Leaving - Rule
I really like the rule where we treat monastics better when they leave the ashram. Wouldn't that be a really spiritual thing to do? Show high character and indicate that we had their best interests in mind? Indicate that they WERE really friends and fellow devotees of Master? Why would that be so dangerous to the work? |
| XInsider Unregistered User (10/12/01 9:04:23 am) Reply |
Sane attitude to
monastic departure
That depends on what you mean by "the work." If the work is the top secret ,world changing project it is currently viewed to be by the leadership, then treating ex-monastics as friends is tantamount to giving approval to treachery. As many commnent in this site have explained, SRF is a culture of secrecy at present and there are delusions of grandeur involved -- no doubt these sprang from the Matas' deep feelings of responsibility to Master. But it has taken an unfortunate turn and monastics can be viewed as expendable, dissappointing weaklings until they can prove themselves. During a nuns' Sunday service, one of Ma's close attendants quoted Ma as recently saying: "When will Divine Mother send the ones who can take it?!" This didn't cheer people up too much, as you can imagine. Sort of like the feeling people had after Mrinalini Ma's Xmas eve talk, when she made such a distinction between the "veterans" and the rest of the nuns. |
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