Your question is very important, but it is very wide. I am guessing that you are asking what is ISKCON's goal. Two exalted devotees, Chirag Prabhu and Dean Prabhu have already replied to your question nicely. I would like to add some comments in addition to those comments:
1. ISKCON has been trying to fulfil the dream of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to spread holy name of Lord Krishna, Hare Krishna, in every village of this planet which was initiated by our Guru Prabhupada!
2. Only ISKCON has been spreading gently and systematically almost every county of this planet and helping liberate many who would otherwise be swimming in the pangs of this material world.
3. ISKCON provides a honourable identity of Hundu religion or Sanatan Dharma to the world population.
4. IKSCON first time opened the door to people from other religious backgrounds and or atheists to come to the path of Dharma and practice religion in order to liberate from the vicious cycle of life and death. Before ISKCON no one could be converted to Hindu religion/Sanatan Dharma.
5. ISKCON is dedicated to spread the message of Krishna 'as it is' without any bias. The heart of IKSCON is the true knowledge delivered by the Supreme Lord Krishna.
6. Every ISKCON temple is independent and run through donations of devotees.
7. With your cooperation ISKCON can spread to every corner of this world and help liberate the human being providing peace and a loving environment.
The list could be very long. In fine, I would like to say that we need to come forward to help ISKCON grow and save the humanity from quarrel, fight and unethical activities.
Hare Krishna! Thank you Scott Prabhu for posting such a question.
The post was intentionally broad as I wanted to see what response I would get. I have to say the amount of response was a little disappointing, but I appreciate the three responses I got. I am responding to yours as it was the most comprehensive.
I appreciate the things you said and they were all positive valid points, but I noticed that you didn't mention any negative points or challenges as I like to call them.
I am logically business minded, so I look at everything from that stand point, and to be honest if ISKCON were a business it would be akin to APPLE three months before Steve Jobs took back over, on the verge of bankruptcy.
I’m sure there are certain areas of ISKCON that are thriving due to individual devotees or groups of devotees who are fired up and in the ideal situation, but overall in my opinion ISKCON is on life support and needs help.
There are many issues that need to be addressed such as:
Proper training for devotees.
Srila Prabhupada wanted devotees to be trained in all aspects of devotional life, including - cooking, preaching / book distribution , deity worship, music, scriptural studies and much more, but I suggest that the majority of devotees, including myself, would not be proficient in many of these subjects.
Proper management of temples.
Most of the many temples I have been to are poorly managed in regards to finances, marketing, allocation of man power, training and education, temple maintenance, and much more.
Proper training of temple presidents.
While I am sure most temple presidents are great devotees, are they great managers? The TP’s I have encountered have had little if any formal training, which is vitally important. Would you hire an electrician who had no training? Of course not. The TP’s need to be held to the same standard as the manager of a company.
Clear, consistent direction from the GBC.
Over the last fifteen years that I have been associated with ISKCON I have not seen this kind of behaviour, in fact in one of my home bases, South America, the GBC is almost non-existent. The implementation of many issues important to Srila Prabhupada, such as varnasrama, have not been implemented in any form, in fact a recent video on IDT from a GBC convention promoted the idea that varnasrama is not very important and should not be implemented in Kali Yuga even though it is what Srila Prabhupada wanted.
A say in the direction of our society.
As members of ISKCON we have absolutely no say in the direction of ISKCON. I know that in a perfect Vedic situation everything would be run by Ksatriyas, after having been perfectly advised by brahmans, unfortunately we are in Kali Yuga where this ideal situation doesn't exist. I fully realise this situation was set up by Srila Prabhupada, and I am not doubting Him in anyway, but it doesn't seem to be working as it should, and might possibly need to be reassessed for this era. (time, place and circumstance) I have spoken with numerous devotees who are extremely unhappy with the current situation, but feel helpless to do anything about it
Thank you for elaborating your response and making your concern clear to all. Now I understand how much you love ISKCON. The criteria you mentioned are very important to gear up the activities of ISKCON. As an insignificant person I don't have anything to say on those points. The exalted devotees like you should take care of those management matters. I just like to add some points along with your concern.
A government body works well if every member of the government performs his/her duties properly. No one is personally liable for praiseworthy for the action of the government, but is collectively. You can't identify a single person as the body of Government. Similarly, the progress of ISKCON depends on the collective activities of all devotees. We can't avoid our responsibilities. As soon as all of us offer our best efforts for the development of ISKCON through implementation of Srila Prabhupada's dream, we will be able to see the continuous progress. We all are sons and daughters of the ISKCON family. We should contribute to our family as per our abilities for the well being of our beloved family.
I hope your underlying message will reach to the desired destination. Also hope to see more involvement from general devotees.
Replies
Jai Jai ! Hariiiibol !
Hare Krishna Scott Prabhu!
Your question is very important, but it is very wide. I am guessing that you are asking what is ISKCON's goal. Two exalted devotees, Chirag Prabhu and Dean Prabhu have already replied to your question nicely. I would like to add some comments in addition to those comments:
1. ISKCON has been trying to fulfil the dream of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to spread holy name of Lord Krishna, Hare Krishna, in every village of this planet which was initiated by our Guru Prabhupada!
2. Only ISKCON has been spreading gently and systematically almost every county of this planet and helping liberate many who would otherwise be swimming in the pangs of this material world.
3. ISKCON provides a honourable identity of Hundu religion or Sanatan Dharma to the world population.
4. IKSCON first time opened the door to people from other religious backgrounds and or atheists to come to the path of Dharma and practice religion in order to liberate from the vicious cycle of life and death. Before ISKCON no one could be converted to Hindu religion/Sanatan Dharma.
5. ISKCON is dedicated to spread the message of Krishna 'as it is' without any bias. The heart of IKSCON is the true knowledge delivered by the Supreme Lord Krishna.
6. Every ISKCON temple is independent and run through donations of devotees.
7. With your cooperation ISKCON can spread to every corner of this world and help liberate the human being providing peace and a loving environment.
The list could be very long. In fine, I would like to say that we need to come forward to help ISKCON grow and save the humanity from quarrel, fight and unethical activities.
Hare Krishna! Thank you Scott Prabhu for posting such a question.
Amal
Hare Krishna Amal prabhu
PAMHO AGTSP
The post was intentionally broad as I wanted to see what response I would get. I have to say the amount of response was a little disappointing, but I appreciate the three responses I got. I am responding to yours as it was the most comprehensive.
I appreciate the things you said and they were all positive valid points, but I noticed that you didn't mention any negative points or challenges as I like to call them.
I am logically business minded, so I look at everything from that stand point, and to be honest if ISKCON were a business it would be akin to APPLE three months before Steve Jobs took back over, on the verge of bankruptcy.
I’m sure there are certain areas of ISKCON that are thriving due to individual devotees or groups of devotees who are fired up and in the ideal situation, but overall in my opinion ISKCON is on life support and needs help.
There are many issues that need to be addressed such as:
Proper training for devotees.
Srila Prabhupada wanted devotees to be trained in all aspects of devotional life, including - cooking, preaching / book distribution , deity worship, music, scriptural studies and much more, but I suggest that the majority of devotees, including myself, would not be proficient in many of these subjects.
Proper management of temples.
Most of the many temples I have been to are poorly managed in regards to finances, marketing, allocation of man power, training and education, temple maintenance, and much more.
Proper training of temple presidents.
While I am sure most temple presidents are great devotees, are they great managers? The TP’s I have encountered have had little if any formal training, which is vitally important. Would you hire an electrician who had no training? Of course not. The TP’s need to be held to the same standard as the manager of a company.
Clear, consistent direction from the GBC.
Over the last fifteen years that I have been associated with ISKCON I have not seen this kind of behaviour, in fact in one of my home bases, South America, the GBC is almost non-existent. The implementation of many issues important to Srila Prabhupada, such as varnasrama, have not been implemented in any form, in fact a recent video on IDT from a GBC convention promoted the idea that varnasrama is not very important and should not be implemented in Kali Yuga even though it is what Srila Prabhupada wanted.
A say in the direction of our society.
As members of ISKCON we have absolutely no say in the direction of ISKCON. I know that in a perfect Vedic situation everything would be run by Ksatriyas, after having been perfectly advised by brahmans, unfortunately we are in Kali Yuga where this ideal situation doesn't exist. I fully realise this situation was set up by Srila Prabhupada, and I am not doubting Him in anyway, but it doesn't seem to be working as it should, and might possibly need to be reassessed for this era. (time, place and circumstance) I have spoken with numerous devotees who are extremely unhappy with the current situation, but feel helpless to do anything about it
yhs
Hare Krishna Scott Prabhu!
Thank you for elaborating your response and making your concern clear to all. Now I understand how much you love ISKCON. The criteria you mentioned are very important to gear up the activities of ISKCON. As an insignificant person I don't have anything to say on those points. The exalted devotees like you should take care of those management matters. I just like to add some points along with your concern.
A government body works well if every member of the government performs his/her duties properly. No one is personally liable for praiseworthy for the action of the government, but is collectively. You can't identify a single person as the body of Government. Similarly, the progress of ISKCON depends on the collective activities of all devotees. We can't avoid our responsibilities. As soon as all of us offer our best efforts for the development of ISKCON through implementation of Srila Prabhupada's dream, we will be able to see the continuous progress. We all are sons and daughters of the ISKCON family. We should contribute to our family as per our abilities for the well being of our beloved family.
I hope your underlying message will reach to the desired destination. Also hope to see more involvement from general devotees.
Hare Krishna Scott Prabhu!
Please accept my dandvad pranam.
Amal