namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

by Vijay Venugopal dasa and Prema Padmini dd

Monday, 17 September 2007

A sunny day at last! For people who live in the tropics, this is nothing special. But in the temperate regions, when the weather turns cloudy and rainy, the sun is something to long for. We had breakfast of bread and cheese, and went for the seminars at eight o’clock.

Carudesna Prabhu recapped that the evolution of the mind takes place in four stages:

by Sita-pati das

I'd always chalked up the success of Bhakti-vriksha among ex-pat. Indian populations to "cultural predisposition" to Krishna consciousness. Now, this is true. However, it's a special case of a general principle that can also be applied to Western populations. That is, that Bhakti-vriksha groups fulfill a social and psychological need of the participants, and they do so in a Krishna conscious way.

The homesick and newly nationally chauvinistic young student in a foreign land (I'm sorry, but New Zealand is the best damned country in the world) has psychological needs that participating in a Bhakti-vriksha group fulfils. The role of temple as a hub of social life is also fulfilled, especially in Muslim countries where temple worship and congregation is forbidden, and where Bhakti-vriksha preaching had its earliest successes.

So what this means is that Bhakti-vriksha is not impossible among populations who are not "culturally predisposed" to Krishna consciousness, it's just a question of understanding what their psychological and social needs are, and meeting those in the context of the small group program, in a Krishna conscious way.

This article from Kaunteya Prabhu has originally been published on 1 June, 2007. Finding that the contents is relevant to his present work, he's re-published it on his blog now. Since some interesting comments have been made to the original article, I'm pulling that one up again.

This is something I wrote a couple of years ago. I re-read it today and I found it still relevant; perhaps more relevant today (we are closer to the future today than two years ago, right?). As I keep working on the curriculum for "Building Vibrant Vaisnava Communities," these issues keep coming up and force themselves as fundamental for the consideration of our next generation of leaders.

by Kaunteya das

Following from the end of the previous entry, where I was talking about the phenomenon of not always focusing on developing the human and devotional potential we already have, I want to discuss one possible cause: the fear of being surpassed by these people.

Yes, many members of our congregation—although they might not have experienced the strict life of asceticism afforded to asram residents—are actually extremely brilliant and resourceful people; often more experienced, prepared and functional than many of our temple residents.

Even if they are not "better" than the temple devotees, just the fact that they may be on the same level (in terms of faith, intelligence, age, communication skills, earning power, dedication to spiritual advancement, etc.) constitutes an unspoken threat to some of the asram residents.

by Kaunteya das

I am in ISKCON Radhadesh, Belgium, www.radhadesh.com / www.bhaktivedantacollege.com, putting together the course called (working title) "Building Vibrant Vaisnava Communities."

The course will be part of the two year leadership course the GBC Succession Committee is preparing and planning to launch on three continents within 2009. The idea is that people would attend six terms of two weeks each (a total of twelve weeks), and will practice what they learn in the intervals (approximately of three and half months after every term).

Tithing—donating a tenth of one’s income to the Church (or any spiritual organization)—enjoys long tradition and wide acceptance in Christianity; but it’s less famous and less practiced in ISKCON. Among Christians there are proponents as well as opponents to tithing, but I am not going to delve into their hair-splitting argumentations or their Bible-quoting and counter-quoting. After all, this article is not about what good Christians should or shouldn’t do, but what practices Srila Prabhupada’s followers should adopt.

Rock! It's a winning formula. Two or three even otherwise mediocre speakers can hold attention and engage an audience with the material when they are speaking to each other.

It introduces elements of relationship (rasa), and unpredictibility, both powerful stimuli for engagement.

Not that either Arjuna or Krishna are mediocre, but you'll notice that this is the format of Bhagavad-gita and much of Srimad Bhagavatam.

by Vijay Venugopal dasa and Prema Padmini dd

We felt so much at home with the Russian devotees that we consider Russia our second homeland now! This festival was especially for grihastas, who are the base asrama on which the other three, brahmacari, vanaprastha, and sannyasa, depend. Therefore grihastas must be solid devotees, motivated to build a strong Vaisnava community in each village, town, and city, to help the Golden Age of Lord Caitanya to blossom.

It appears that India and Russia might occupy leading positions in this revolution, considering the number of serious devotees in these two countries, and their book distribution scores. I said we would describe how grihastas could lead their lives in such a way that they were strong and happy while preaching. We have counseled hundreds of devotees in leading a happy married life.

Yoga is becoming a controversial topic these days. Devotees practice it for health reasons and as a means to reach out to an audience increasingly aware of and open to health and new age trends.

Now the Malaysian National Fatwa Council has banned Muslims in that country from practicing yoga, according to this BBC News article:

Millions of people in Malaysia have been banned from doing yoga because of fears it could corrupt Muslims.

The Islamic authorities have issued a ruling, known as a fatwa, instructing the country's Muslims to avoid yoga because of its Hindu roots.

by Jeyanthy Pillai

After a steady progress since the the launch of the Damodara Program,the momentum from the devotees took a dive when news about the health toll that had fallen on HH Jayapataka Swami swept across the world. Devotees were crying, feeling down and could hardly carry on with their regular chores. As days went by, they all realized the one thing they could do for HH Jayapataka that he would definitely be proud of was to carry on preaching and saving every soul on earth.

by Kripamoya das

When, for the first time, you've brought together your new people for a dinner party or small kirtan, discussion and prasadam, they'll probably want more. You can have a few regular meetings and give everyone time to settle down into being a member of something new. After some time there will be an important shift in the consciousness of the members. They will think more of themselves as a 'group of friends' and feel easy in each others company. The nervousness and over-politeness which governed proceedings earlier on will evaporate and the group will feel more comfortable in their new identity.

...This short film, made by a Christian group, illustrates some of the different unhelpful modes of behaviour that are prominent in small groups. Watch and try to translate it into small devotee group situations you may have been in yourself.—Watch Video

by Kripamoya das

Previously, I wrote about my experiences on the twelve week Alpha Course offered by the Christian Church. I explained what parts of my experience were helpful and which parts were disappointing. I wrote that as a short piece for some of my readers who are actively trying to bring spiritual seekers to Krishna, and who are therefore interested in hearing about any ideas that may make their task easier.

The Krishna consciousness movement is engaged in reaching out to others with its message. Part of the movement is engaged in "broadcasting," the wide dissemination of information; and part of the movement is engaged in "cultivation," when the seeds planted previously have sprouted and require further attention. The business of "preaching" must include both of these essential actions. Just as any intelligent farmer can"t reap a crop if he hasn"t both sown seed and cultivated, so there must be a series of stages in the matter of the cultivation of the soul.

Whether you like it or not, Jehovah's Witnesses are always ready to do two things (1) Distribute books (2) Sit down and talk with you, and help you to understand. ISKCON has many book distributors, but we need more gurus.

After people have read one of Srila Prabhupada's books, and if they want to know more, their first question is often something like this: "How can I find out more about all this? Do you have any meetings in my town?" or "Are there any other Krishna people living near me?" That was my first eager question at the age of sixteen when I received a Back to Godhead magazine in the streets of Nottingham, England.

by Vijay Venugopal das and Prema Padmini dd

With Sasthivara and Gandhari

Sasthivara makes a living by selling paintings. He told us a bit about Russian history. Russian people, by nature, prefer a strong leader and are not interested in conquering other countries. In fact, the various nationalities in the Russian federation are from small countries which joined Russia to get the protection of a strong king.

Russians are so simple and obedient that, when Harikesa Swami, the previous GBC, told them to rise in the morning, shower, and chant for two hours, some of them misunderstood and actually stood in a cold shower for two hours while chanting japa!

by Gauragopala das

Indian Hindus are populating ISKCON Temples in the West in a way never seen before over the last forty-two years. This is happening all over the world at a massive rate and is not a phenomenon, as some suggest. The fact is, as India becomes a wealthier nation, we can only expect more and more students to leave India and attend Western educational institutions as well as many more arriving from India to become citizens of other countries.

by Devaki dd

Chowpatty is becoming more and more an example for ideal community development within ISKCON. However, sometimes it is not easy to convince senior devotees of the value of the much discussed and glorified Counselor System. And without full and active support from senior devotees it is rather difficult to put into practise. Often we hear the opinion, "the Bhakti-vriksha Program does the same thing." Some devotees conclude, therefore: "No need for any new systems!"

There are basic differences between these two programs; it is not that one is better than the other. If we analyze them more deeply we discover that they have fundamentally different goals, and that there is plenty of room for both programs to run side by side in a yatra.

Kripamoya Prabhu explains history and development of book distribution follow-up strategies in the UK. This online-book contains the following articles:

• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: The Mail Order Miracle
• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: Meet the Monks!
• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: Market Place Festivals

The articles have been posted originally on his blog, The Vaishnava Voice. If and when Kripamoya Prabhu writes more on this subject, I'll include it here.

You can download the whole series as a pdf-file, too.

Such lack of integration between preaching styles inevitably leads to organisational snobbishness, the consequent erosion of team spirit, and can lead to the complete disintegration of a temple or centre. At the very least, it means that the right hand of the movement doesn't know what the left hand is doing—and any interested people lose their way in the confusion.

So the idea was quite simply to bring the different types of preaching together into a seamless programme that more or less resembled Srila Prabhupada's idea of 1973. We wanted to keep the cost down, so we made sure that we paid for everything we did with the proceeds of book distribution. We also wanted the programme to be reproducible for any sankirtan team.

Tribhuvanatha Das, who preached to me in a muddy field in the rain—he was completely dedicated to the spirit of adventure in taking Srila Prabhupada's message to the world

I've been writing something recently about book distribution follow-up strategies. As readers may have gathered, such things are important to me. Firstly, on a logical, strategic level, and on a much more personal level. I came to Krishna myself through a varied campaign.

I'm very grateful to the devotees who spared the time to first speak with me many years ago. My existence as a devotee and as a preacher within the Krishna consciousness movement is the result of their combination of techniques. I had already received Back to Godhead magazines, seen devotees off in the distance at pop festivals, but never had that magic conversation that would bring me to any kind of conviction. The conversation where someone actually cared that I took up the practice of Krishna consciousness.

Energetic book distribution, Back to Godhead subscription, a good mail-order and personal correspondence service were, at one time, a very important part of ISKCON's outreach.

There's been a lot of Srila Prabhupada's books sold in our little country over the years - perhaps some 100 million pieces of literature over almost 40 years. No exagerration. During that time we've come up with various methods of staging our follow-up to book distribution so that people who wanted to know more could gradually get to know the devotees, learn more of our philosophy and life, and find a place for themselves in the wonderful Hare Krishna movement.

IPM Freedom Newsletter
July–September 2008

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
founder-acarya of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness

Under the guidance of His Holiness Candramauli Swami

bhakti te mukti: Devotion is real freedom!