On the 5th of January, 2014, twelve families in Santipur received Sradhha-kutir certificates from H.G. Mathuresh prabhu, on behalf of the Mayapur Local Preaching Department.
Please bless these fortunate families to remain fixed in Krishna consciousness and continue with their steady progress in spiritual life.
By His Grace Tirtharaja Dasa
My opinion on congregational preaching in ISKCON is that full-time devotees must facilitate the congregational devotees. The most important thing is to understand the needs, interests and concerns of the people who are interested in Krishna consciousness. I think it is very important that devotees don’t presume to know what it is that people actually want from Krishna consciousness. The needs of the congregation may be different from what we think they really are. We need to sit down with our congregation and hear from them about their vision for the future. We must ask them what role we can play and determine what we can do for them, as far as the Krishna conscious philosophy allows. If Krishna consciousness is nonsectarian and not really a religious process, but a process which helps people establish love of God, then it is very important that we first of all seek to understand where people are at.
I don’t think the contribution of the congregation is any less than what devotees in the temple make. Rather, I think that the two groups complement each other. According to peoples’ past lives and their present situations, we need to learn to integrate with the congregation, and in that way spread Krishna consciousness through all different spheres of our society. Basically, people are conditioned by the culture of their upbringing. When we meet people we need to understand that, for example, in Poland people identify themselves as Catholic. So the two just go together. If you’re Polish, you must be Catholic. You cannot be Polish and not be Catholic. In South America, they have a certain way of looking at things that may be different to the Chinese people. First of all, the devotees need to be aware of that cultural upbringing. I think it is very important so that we don’t disturb people. I think that in the beginning of Krishna consciousness, we probably disturbed a lot of people. For example, many of the Indian congregation may have been disturbed by our strong preaching against demigod worship. We need to be culturally sensitive in our preaching. Then we need to understand what we can add to their lives.
One important thing we have been doing is interviewing everyone who comes into contact with Krishna consciousness and asking them “What have you been doing in the past 10 or 20 years since being a devotee? What experiences would you like to share with us?” We can do the same thing with those people who come to the temple. That is called a skills matrix. When we have a skills matrix of our congregation and of our devotees, then we can do more things that we wouldn’t have been able to do. We need to recognize that we have a wealth of experience and many resources that we can tap into. Also, I find it encourages the devotees a lot, because when somebody takes an interest in the things they are doing, they become more interested to render that service. Sometimes people who haven’t done something for a long time, when they start speaking about things they have done in the past they become enthusiastic to do them again. It brings back good memories.
By His Holiness Bhakti Bhusana Swami
In Central America and parts of South America hardly anybody lives in the temples anymore. It is not like the old days when we were crammed in the temples. In the early days of the movement, Srila Prabhupada us live in the temples to keep nice association, but most devotees get married and are forced to accept a new reality.
This congregational preaching is very important, and I wish it could be developed much more, because without a doubt it is the program of the future. Very few devotees will be able to live in the temples. It seems to me that young people these days don’t have the same strength anymore, or the same idealism, to just move into the temples, like we used to do. We moved into the temples without caring for the future. We were happy to depend on Krishna but nowadays, it seems like a different mood is prominent. People are more eager for their security and for their jobs and whatever facilities they need.
Congregational devotees teach by their example that people don’t have to give up anything when as a Hare Krishna devotee. One can also continue to live a normal life. Just that the center of life has changed, and you do everything for Krishna. Personally, I feel very inspired when I travel and meet people in their homes. I always encourage congregation devotees to not only maintain their own spiritual lives, but to preach. Without preaching, family life becomes dry and problematic. Preaching is actually our life. We are supposed to learn and teach. That’s our main business. So as long as grihasthas can also take part in then they will be inspired and enlivened in their spiritual lives.
So please come, keep it up. Don’t think that because you’ve become married and you are forced to work and maintain your household, that you cannot preach anymore.
By His Holiness Bhanu Swami
Lord Caitanya’s movement is a movement of purification and transformation of the individual to reach the level of complete love of Godhead by chanting God’s name. This is most powerfully actualized in a group; thus the yuga dharma is sankirtana, congregational chanting. This is enhanced by continuous association of like-minded persons who are dedicated to spiritual advancement. Such persons associate by friendship, mutual encouragement, spiritual discussion, working together on projects, eating together, serving as a living example for others, and performing kirtana together. Those who are more advanced in faith should guide and instruct those who are less advanced in faith. The goal of the group is to attain firm faith in Krishna, get a taste for Krishna’s name, experience love of God, and dedicate themselves to spreading the holy name to other people by bringing them into the group (name ruci jive doya). These goals must be factually attained if the sankirtana movement is to have any credibility.
Thus the group should naturally grow, along with the advancement of the individuals; and the individuals should experience transformation of character, transformation of life, peace, satisfaction, health, compassion for others, commitment to advance further and expand the ocean of love of Godhead by inducting more people.
The group becomes in fact a spiritual community, catering to all the needs of the individuals, with mutual cooperation for spiritual progress. The group provides mutual assistance to overcome individual problems, whatever they may be. All material problems are but aspects of a spiritual problem. Therefore, all problems will be solved by correct and simple applications of chanting and surrender, along with assistance of any sort necessary to support this process. Such support may extend beyond the meeting, and in fact may be needed daily by some persons as psychological support. Some actions may seem like social work, but after all, humans are social beings with social problems. As a community, the members are completely committed to the group welfare, covering all aspects of life, for spiritual practice cannot be separated from everyday life without minimizing its potency.
The community is thus a living example of the effects of devotional service. The first effects of bhakti to manifest in the individuals in the group are klesaghni (destruction of suffering, sinful acts and desire) and subhada (bestowal of all good qualities). These effects are a real impetus for the members to commit themselves further to expanding of Lord Caitanya’s movement.
By His Holiness Kadamba Kanana Swami
Congregational preaching means Krishna consciousness for the grihastha ashram. Because many people who are involved in family life cannot directly live in the temples, we need a program to offer Krishna consciousness to those people. Since householders are the majority of the population, congregational preaching is one of the first priorities of our movement. We should develop different ways to engage people in chanting the holy name, in reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and rendering service to the deities.
Congregation naturally indicates that people must come together in groups, that naturally they come together to chant the holy names and come together to the temples to serve the deities. In this way we can change the world. It must be one of our main strategies to develop more and more groups to facilitate these activities.
One of the areas where I do a lot of preaching is in South Africa. It is a country where there are a lot of congregation members. There is really no difference between a devotee who stays in the temple and one who stays outside the temple. They are running Nama-hattas and are doing so many wonderful things. In Durbin they have their famous Ratha-yatra. Every year 200,000 to 250,000 plates of prasada go out. It is all going on by the efforts of the congregation. The ladies chop vegetables and the men cook all night in big pots.
It doesn't have to be that the temple devotees are on a higher level of Krishna consciousness and the congregation is on a lower level. Of course the temples do offer a lot of special opportunities for Krishna consciousness training. We have to take responsibility and offer training, education and good spiritual standards to the congregation.
One evening, Ramesvara prabhu called us all into the temple room for an emergency istagosthi and told us that Srila Prabhupada was in Hawaii but he was very, very ill and he was coming to Los Angeles that night; but no one should go to the airport and greet him, we should be very quiet around the temple and no one should try to ask for darsanas or anything like that. Prabhupada was ill and he was coming to rest, we wouldn’t see him at all. At the end he asked for questions. My only service to Srila Prabhupada, a direct service, was to make these cookies that he gave out to the children, so I raised my hand and asked, “Should I make the cookies?” And he immediately said, “Cookies! I’ve just been telling everybody that Srila Prabhupada is so ill. You think Prabhupada is going to give cookies to the children?”
I felt so bad. I went home and I was crying like anything telling my husband, “But it’s my only service to Srila Prabhupada.” And I guess to pacify me, he said, “Never mind, service is absolute, so you go ahead and make the cookies and bring them over just as you usually do, bring them to guru puja, and later you could offer them to a picture of Srila Prabhupada and distribute them in the playground to the children.” That pacified me and the next morning I got up early and very carefully made the cookies. I set them out on a beautiful silver plate and brought them over and tucked them behind the vyasasana. Nobody expected Srila Prabhupada to show up for guru puja. We knew he had arrived in the night, but we knew he was very ill.
Just before the curtains were to open, suddenly the door to Srila Prabhupada’s quarters opened and there was Srila Prabhupada looking so ill. He was being held by two people. The curtains opened and they laid him down to pay full dandavats in front of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, then they had to pick him up again. He was so weak and they helped him again in front of Rukmini Dwarakadish and laid him down again. Up and again in front of Lord Jagannatha. By that time they were back at the door to go back to his quarters and Srila Prabhupada said, “No, there should be guru puja.”
So they helped him up his vyasasana and we had a very short guru puja.
Then they climbed up to help him down and Srila Prabhupada said, “No, there should be class.”
So then Srila Prabhupada gave class and I remember that even though he was speaking into the microphone you could hardly hear him because he was so weak and he was sitting with his head all fallen forward, he was so weak. After a short class, they went to help him down again and Srila Prabhupada said very audibly into the microphone, “No. Where are the cookies? The children are waiting for their cookies.” I ran and brought the cookies. I was so happy. Srila Prabhupada remembered the children. He was so ill but he had that heart for the children. And ill as he was, he waited till he had personally given every last child a cookie. Then he broke up the rest. By that time there was a huge kirtana and he threw the rest of the cookies out into the crowd of all the dancing brahmacaris and everybody just went wild.
Reminder:
Dear Friends,
The book "Taking Care of Krishna's Devotees" by H.H. Niranjana Swami is available for those of you who wish to uphold Srila Prabhupada's mood of caring for others.
http://www.iskconcongregation.com/node/388
By H.H. Jayapataka Swami
One day it was Govardhana Puja and we built a big mountain of rice and fed many people. The people took their leaf plates after taking prasadam, and threw them behind the building. Prabhupada was living up on the second floor, and we were sitting in the room together. He heard dogs barking and kids shouting so he got up and walked back on the veranda behind his room. Looking over, he saw that there was this big pile of discarded leaf plates and there were little scraps of food on the plates. Some very poor children with sticks in their hands were fighting off hungry dogs, trying to get the scraps of food. When Prabhupada saw how these children were so hungry that they had to eat the things people threw away and how they were fighting with the dogs to get these scraps of food, tears swelled in his eyes and he said, “We have to see that nobody goes hungry within a ten mile radius. The temple is the house of God. God is everyone’s father, Krishna is everyone’s father. So in the presence of the father, the son doesn’t go hungry. So we have to make an arrangement that people get fed.” And so that was the inspiration for regular prasadam distribution. (Following Srila Prabhupada. Transcript.)
By His Grace Kalakantha Dasa
There are twelve petals in Srila Prabhupada’s centennial celebration lotus and one is dedicated to congregational development.
• We must create an atmosphere most conducive to development of congregational community extending from the ISKCON temples, from our preachers.
• The seed of devotion within the hearts of our contacts and friends must be carefully nurtured.
• We must communicate with and fully understand the needs of our congregation.
• We must prioritize and establish programs necessary to congregational development such as service committees, fellowships, child and adult education and so forth.
• We must fully empower the congregation through vehicles such as project development and extended congregational preaching. In other words, we must get the congregation to preach on our behalf.
• We should recognize the achievements of the congregational members.
• We can derive a stable financial and service base through the long term care of our congregation.
To achieve all of these objectives, three initial steps are involved: we should organize and educate ourselves for preaching to the congregation; we should provide training tools for such preaching; third, we must learn how to recognize our congregation. We should also provide the congregation with training materials and manuals.
Recognition is actually the most powerful asset at the disposal of the average devotee. It is free, it doesn’t cost anything, and the more you give, the more the supply increases. People love to be appreciated and recognized and acknowledged for their service and their contributions. So if we are promoting our temple, we are sending a newsletter, people are not so interested to hear, “We did this and we did that.” They are interested in hearing, “You did this and you did that and we appreciate it.” This is a bit of a shift in our focus, but the fact is that people will give their whole life to service, to financial support, and to preaching if we just recognize the contribution that they are making. After all in the material world, as people grow up their parents never appreciated them, their teachers never appreciated them, their neighbors never appreciated them, their friends never appreciated them, and certainly their boss never appreciated them. If the devotees appreciate them, they become very indebted. This is the principal factor of education and training in congregational building.
We would like to share with you a seminar H.G. Kaunteya Prabhu gave in Juhu, Mumbai, on Sunday, 20th of October.
The following is a list of topics he covered along with the times at which they were presented:
Unity in Diversity – in which we analyzed the many instructions of Srila Prabhupada on the idea of empowering people to preach from their homes and even install Deities. (0:00- 1:13)
The 50 percent principle (proportional giving for grihasthas):* – Srila Prabhupada spoke and wrote about this in various circumstances, but sometimes there is still confusion on what “income” means; and certainly the application of giving 50 percent is far from widely implemented. (1:13- 1:40)
Women in KC – ladies are an essential part of our communities and therefore we need a “philosophy of women’s engagement,” a policy. The lesson explores various quotes from Srila Prabhupada and encourages devotees to take these directions in their totality and carefully implement them according to the candidate. (1:42-2:46)
Seeing the Temple through the Eyes of the Guests:* – which includes a discussion on what guests look for when they visit – especially for the first time – an analysis of our experiences on *our* first visit, and a tour of the temple to identify how new persons will see and relate with the various aspects of his visit. The goal is improving the quality of their experience and their chance to integrate in the Vaisnava community. (2:46- 3:06)
Tools for Congregational Development (Damodara Program, Sraddha-kutir, Sadhana Charts & Siksha Program): *– Regardless of the style of the community, these tools can help getting people closer and closer. (3:06-4:32)
Link for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV9JI9uUTq0
By Advaita Chandra Das & Kalasudha Devi Dasi
This year we had very nice response for the Damodara month program. By the mercy of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga, we have conducted 60 programs in different homes all over the city for the pleasure of Lord Damodara and His devotees. This resulted in a total of 6560 lamps being offered.
It has been the desire of HG Vedasara Das, President, Atlanta Hare Krishna temple, for quite some time to adopt the Bhakti-vriksha program in this temple. We have seen so many visitors aspiring for some spiritual mentoring, association with people who they could trust and a long lasting loving relationship. Due to the lack of any such program which would cultivate these visitors, the temple was unable to fulfill their needs, and this was always a void that our President wanted to fill.
We were fortunate to meet HG Advaita Chandra Prabhu and HG Kalasudha mataji at the temple presidents meeting in Houston. It was the opportunity we were looking for, and we discussed our needs with Advaita Prabhu. He advised us on the advantages of having a Bhakti-vriksha program, with the temple as our base, and this would provide us the means to serve our community and nurture our visitors to our content.
As a result of this meeting, we scheduled a seminar for our congregation in April 2013, and were fortunate to have both Advaita Prabhu and Kalasudha mataji provide much needed guidance on this program.
The seminar was held over two days, for a period of 8 hours on each day, and covered the various aspects of the Bhakti-vriksha program. It provided us the three Cs of Bhakti-vriksha, which was what we were looking for. We learnt how we could make contacts, cultivate them and provide long term care as well. The seminar provided us ideas on how to effectively manage our Sunday feasts, through welcome booths and affectionate exchanges with our newcomers. It taught us how to encourage our current congregation members, in their Krishna conscious development, through Sraddha-kutir programs, and through recognition of advancement in chanting, through appreciation certificates.
The Atlanta temple is working earnestly to implement this program, both in the temple and at devotee homes, and we are receiving very good support from Advaita Prabhu and Kalasudha mataji.
We feel very good about this program, and are confident we will be providing success stories one year down the road.
Our heartfelt gratitude to the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry, and to HG Advaita Prabhu and HG Kalasudha Mataji.
Shyam Bihari Das
Program Coordinator, ISKCON Atlanta.
by H.H. Kavichandra Swami
For one who explains this supreme secret to the devotees, pure devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me.
There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.
And I declare that he who studies this sacred conversation of ours worships Me by his intelligence.
And one who listens with faith and without envy becomes free from sinful reactions and attains to the auspicious planets where the pious dwell.
-Bg 18.68-71
So let us make this GITA JAYANTI a "GIANT" distribution festival, and become very dear to Lord Krsna.
By Her Grace Prema Padmini Devi Dasi
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s method of preaching is simple and yet the most sublime. Love is the weapon He used to conquer everyone. If every devotee is taught and trained that love is the highest principle, then his mind will not be deviated by the mental wrangling. The mind will not be tinged by philosophical speculation, dry renunciation or the desire for fruitive results.
In ISKCON, there is a great need for congregational preaching to take deep roots and flourish. This is because the fruit of all the devotional activities are to feel love for Lord Krishna. That is only possible when we fully imbibe this preaching mood of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He empowered all people to flood this world with selfless love. Love can only be fully experienced when it is unconditional.
Devotees have to realize that ISKCON includes all the people of this whole world; that any devotee who is rendering service is a valuable part of ISKCON with as much rights to do devotional service and be cherished and appreciated. We must understand that Krishna consciousness extends beyond mere rituals. Standard worship of the deities and big festivals are not enough to extend the personal association to everyone in order to inspire, educate and train all the members. That is the real mood of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He inspired everyone with His association; He educated them with the help of his followers, and instructed them to become preachers.
Amazingly, if we can let the new devotees taste this selfless love, they will also very quickly develop this great spiritual quality and get the taste for rendering selfless service of preaching to everyone with great compassion and love. This is the quickest way to empower people and to spread this Krishna consciousness movement by leaps and bounds.
Every devotee needs to be systematically trained on how to love and share this gift with everyone. Example is better than precept, and if one level of devotees are trained in this wonderful mood of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, then it will have a cascading effect on all the future generations of devotees. The nectar of Krishna consciousness love can be experienced by everyone. All material problems can easily be solved if we depend on Krishna. All lower modes can easily be elevated to a higher taste with the addition of love and compassion, tolerance, forgiveness and a selfless mood of service to Krishna and His devotees. These wonderful traits can easily be developed through congregational preaching that is organized in a systematic and expansive way. In fact, all devotional endeavors are incomplete if they do not culminate in congregational preaching. As Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructed everyone to preach.
In the future, congregational preaching is certainly going to expand in a very big way all over the world. Many devotees feel the urge to cultivate potential devotees in their local places, for the simple reason that there are not many people ready to join full-time in the temples. If this personal and loving mood of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is nourished, then even with an ever-expanding congregation, there will be harmony and cooperation in the whole community of devotees. I speak by my personal experience of assisting my husband, Vijaya Venugopala Dasa. Together we run a yatra in Mathuradesh (a country in the Middle East) that developed by using the Bhakti-vriksha model.
The Bhakti-vriksha program inspires, educates and trains all congregational members in devotional service and preaching. It is a program incorporating the mood and method of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Of course, there are other congregational preaching programs like the Nama-hatta, counselor groups, house programs, etc. and all of them aim at fulfilling the aims of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The Bhakti-vriksha program has an intense, elaborate and very effective method to cultivate newcomers by planting bhakti in their hearts through love, trust, care and devotional association. The program gives systematic knowledge in philosophy and takes them through graded levels of spiritual advancement. Devotees are given practical training in preaching and very soon conduct groups themselves.
Whatever method of congregational program one chooses to implement in one’s yatra, it is important that one realizes the great urgency and need for some form of systematic care and cultivation of the congregation. Just by giving top priority to congregational preaching, all management of temple affairs becomes automatically easy. On the one hand, you have the congregational members reciprocating with the temple for all the love and spiritual guidance they have received by assisting in the maintenance and services of the temple. On the other hand, Lord Krishna Himself reciprocates very favorably by providing all help.
Srila Prabhupada: "Preaching is our real business, preaching and distributing books. If your preaching work is strong, then your management of temple affairs will also become automatically very strong." — letter to Patita Uddharana, 8 December 1971
In this way all the opulences of Advaita Acarya, His faith, devotion, home, riches and everything else were successfully utilized in the worship of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
PURPORT:
Advaita Acarya set an ideal example for all householder devotees in His reception of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His devotees and in His execution of a daily festival at His home. If one has the proper means and wealth, he should occasionally invite the devotees of Lord Caitanya who are engaged in preaching all over the world and hold a festival at home simply by distributing prasada and talking about Krishna during the day and holding congregational chanting for at least three hours in the evening. This procedure must be adopted in all centers of the Krishna consciousness movement. Thus they will daily perform sankirtana-yajna. In Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.5.32) the daily performance of sankirtana-yajna is recommended for this age. One should worship Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His four associates, the Panca-tattva, by distributing prasada and holding congregational chanting. Indeed, that, yajna or sacrifice, is most recommended in this Age of Kali. In this age, other yajnas are not possible to perform, but this yajna can be performed everywhere and anywhere without difficulty.
— Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 3.203
By Visnujana prabhu
(Visnujana prabhu is from Slovakia and is travelling the world with a group of devotees performing sankirtana from country to country, town to town, wherever they are invited. They literally live from day to day and depend on the holy names for their maintenance.)
We spent two weeks in Peru and during that time we distributed 2,000 books alongside the Harinama. The devotees and the public really appreciated the Harinama.
Every day, 20-30 devotees are joining the Harinama party on the streets. We are going out for 5-6 hours daily and
10-15 devotees are distributing books. In 20 days they have distributed more then 10, 000 Books, 5,000 cookies and around 25,000 temple invitations. Almost every day the Harinama Party is bringing new people from the streets to the temple.
At the moment we are in Mexico and our travelling sankirtan party has expanded a little - now we are 8 (4 doing Harinama and 4 distributing Books). Yamunacarya prabhu and his wife have joined us in Peru and they are distributing Books. Gaura Kesava Das, from Slovakia, also joined us in New York and is distributing books.
Next June is the Football world Cup in Brazil and massive plans are underway to cover the whole event with Harinama sankirtana.
Harinama sankirtan ki jaya
By His Holiness Devamrita Swami
As our ISKCON mission approaches the 21st century, fundamental questions about book distribution arise. The real issue is not, of course, whether or not books should be distributed, but who are the book distributors?
Is book distribution an elitist activity, or a natural part of the life of every spiritually aspiring man and woman? Is book distribution the exclusive nectar of a few fortunate souls, those specialized commandos whose gallant deeds we rely upon for surcharging the whole international organization? Should the full-time sankirtana mahatmas continue to “get all the mercy” as they selflessly struggle to engage the entire non-devotee world, in spite of the lethargy of some in the devotee world? Should the book-conscience of the non-sankirtana temple devotees and congregation rest assured, knowing that the noblest ones are out doing the yajna? Put another way, do the sankirtana devotees indeed discharge the book responsibility for the entire ISKCON mission? Or should all of us feel the impetus and burden to cast in our mite, to directly participate, no matter what way, no matter how small? Wouldn’t it be sublime if everyone felt “Nothing comes between me and my individual responsibility to circulate Prabhupada’s books! No one can discharge this burden for me, though others are certainly more expert and empowered!”
These management questions offer a future bonanza for the enterprising leader who wrestles with them. I do believe that this vision is not a dream. With determination and ingenuity it can be achieved. Everyone can be inspired to feel “Prabhupada’s mercy is for us all. By distributing his books anyone can taste the nectar. Even I, a congregational member, can drink the very sankirtana mercy that the full-timers sing about!” What would happen if every soul wanting to be considered part of Prabhupada’s mission would jealously guard—as his or her sacred inheritance—the right to participate in the mass circulation of books?
To pull off such a metamorphosis, we may have to look at “the same old things” in new ways. We may have to rethink some of our underlying or hidden assumptions. We may have to change or evolve the psychological dynamics of our mini-society.
A major revolution swept the Christian world when the Bible was no longer the monopoly of the priesthood. Before the printing press and the rise of Protestantism, reading the Bible was a luxury only the clergy could relish. On behalf of the masses, the priests studied the Latin and propounded the scriptural lessons. But then the Bible was translated into native European tongues. As the Protestant movement and the printing press simultaneously spread, any layman could have his own Bible. Nowadays, any fired-up Protestant loves to distribute Bibles to others, one way or another. (In my twenty five years as a devotee, my Protestant mother has sent me at least ten, in various sizes and styles.)
Marxist-Leninism used to be a major player for three-fourths of this century by appealing to the everyday man’s desire to run the economy: “Let the people control the means of production!” The other gospel, democracy, still in vogue, offers citizens the belief that we all run the government through the electoral process: “Anyone can become President; your vote will make a difference!”
None of the above religious or mundane stratagems can compare with Lord Caitanya’s spiritual perfection of mass participation and egalitarianism. In the Caitanya-caritamrta Lord Caitanya declares, “Therefore I order every man within this universe to accept this Krishna consciousness movement and distribute it everywhere.”
In the context of Prabhupada’s mission, this order from Lord Caitanya would seem to mean that every one, at least on this planet, has to feel the necessity to directly participate in distributing Prabhupada’s books. We offer all obeisances to the fortunate souls who for some years absorb themselves fully in sankirtana, but we cannot allow their glorious sacrifice to let the rest of us off the hook.
By H.G. GANESAN.T.K
We have been celebrating the Damodara Program in our area (Jaganathan nagar, Coimbatore) during the auspicious Kartika month.
With the blessings and guidance of H.H. Bhakti Vinoda Swami, we (Ganesan, Bkn.Thirupura Sundari, Bkn.Subasri, Bkn.Selvam mataji, H.G. Anupama Madhavi devi dasi and Bkn.Gandhimathi mataji) have been arranging kirtan, lamps and prasadam in 73 different homes.
We request your blessings to improve further in our spiritual lives and so the entire area can be converted into a spiritual area.
All Glories to Guru and Gauranga!
H.G. Advaita Chandra Prabhu and his wife, H.G Kalasudha Mataji, organized a 2 day workshop in Boston. They covered various topics such as:
· Vision & history of Bhakti-vriksha
· Vamanadeva approach
· Ways of Generating contacts
· Path to Perfection Siksha Program
· Bhakti-vriksha Training
· Bhakti-vriksha Roles assignment
· Dealing with the conflicting demands of the group consisting of existing and new members.
· Children program
· Standard Namahatta & Bhakti-vriksha
· Bhakti-vriksha Group Multiplication
· Duties of a Bhakti-vriksha servant leader
· Implementation Planning
And much more.
Please bless these devotees so they may continue to remain engaged in such wonderful service.
As of today, Russia and the Former Soviet Union Countries just sent us a report to announce that they have 550 Bhakti-vriksha groups with more than 6600 devotees.
Please give them your blessings so they may continue with their amazing preaching.
