Many, many moons ago, way back in the last century, when the ISKCON movement was just becoming established as ‘a confederation of centres, farms, schools and restaurants’ and anybody who was anybody lived in a temple, the temple president was the natural person to care for the spiritual lives of the devotees.
The president was the appointed head of the community, the spiritual supervisor of standards of worship and practise, and often the chief inspiration behind the preaching too. It was a very responsible position – and it still is. Along with the ‘temple commander’ the president engaged the members of local ISKCON in all the activities necessary to support a spiritual community and to prosper in their own spiritual lives.
Of course, it wasn’t just the temple president who cared for the devotees, but it was he who bore the responsibility to ensure it was done. And you could always get to talk to him if you needed to.
Back then – if my memory of the 1970s serves me correctly – the average size of an ISKCON community was around 15. Older devotees sometimes refer to those days as when ‘the movement had a real family atmosphere.’ The 1-15 ratio – spiritual head to resident members – was actually a very powerful factor in the ‘family atmosphere’ that devotees still talk about.
Those who study group dynamics and the way people behave in groups – and organisations – often talk about the optimum number of members necessary for a group to preserve good communications and balanced and productive relationships. Turns out that 15 is pretty good if you don’t want things to start coming unstuck. (And 8 or 10 is even better)
At Bhaktivedanta Manor we have around 300 initiated and ashram residents, then another 250 seriously committed devotees. The ratio of 1-550 makes it impossible for the temple president to function as the prime spiritual carer for the community members – much as he’d like to.
One natural response to this is for initiated devotees to assume that their own diksha guru will provide – from wherever he happens to be located – all the necessary spiritual care, and at just the right time, for them to prosper in all ways. The result of this high expectation is often disappointment.
Srila Prabhupada did expect the local spiritual leader to provide supervision, guidance, education and practical engagement in devotional service. He said it in many initiation letters. Yet when an ever-decreasing percentage of ISKCON members actually lives in small communities, on whom does that responsibility fall? How do the leaders of ISKCON ensure that initiated devotees maintain their faith and practice throughout a long life?
One solution is to recreate the ‘base community’ of 10-15 devotees who meet regularly under the guidance of an experienced spiritual guide. By forming an appropriate number of these groups within any growing community, a favourable circumstance for the promotion of good relationships can be achieved. What we call ISKCON can thus be the aggregate of such small groups, rather than a ‘confederation’ of temples.
Already this system is working well in various parts of the world, notably South Africa, Malaysia, parts of Eastern Europe and of course in India. The Bhakti-Vriksha group system, or the essentially similar Counsellor Groups system organised from the Chowpatty temple in Mumbai, are fundamentally identical to the pyramid of devotee care established for a short time until his passing by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. His thousands of disciples were each spiritually cared for by the Upadeshaka, who looked after several disciples each. He in his turn was cared for by his Maha-Upadeshaka, who was cared for by a sannyasi. And the sannyasis were directly cared for by the Acharya.
Having the idea to do this in 2008 is one thing, rolling it out and seeing to its implementation is quite another.
Here in England the term mentor seems to be the favoured non-Sanskrit nomenclature for the disciples guide and helper. Our ‘Care’ team members have already seen this system working for two years with some of our youth; and the temple has already requested newly initiated members to have regular meetings with one named member who is senior to them. We’ve also asked all the candidates for initiation to first of all become a member of a local group and to work with such an experienced devotee prior to diksha.
This year will see more devotees trained to take up the responsibility of caring for others, and the creation of a network of small groups based on the ensuing relationships. Please wish us luck!
Comments