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By Parijata devi dasi

Devotee Care in ISKCON: Building a Culture of Care

Devotee Care (DC) is an important and growing initiative within ISKCON aimed at nurturing the well-being of devotees and fostering a culture of care and support within the ISKCON community. Rooted in the instructions of Srila Prabhupada, Devotee Care seeks to ensure that devotees feel valued, supported, and connected.

Devotee Care broadly addresses 12 Areas of Care, which together cover the holistic needs of a devotee:

Spiritual Life & Care

Healthcare (Physical, Mental & Emotional)

Marriage, Sex & Relationships

Child-rearing & Childcare

Education & Training

Career & Employment

Financial Care

Housing

Travel & Immigration

Consumer & Lifestyle

Legal & Civic Care

Mediation Advice

At the heart of this initiative is the vision of building a caring and spiritually nourishing community for all devotees. According to Gauranga Das, DC Global Director, “Devotee Care is an expression of Vaishnava culture, where devotees support one another with sincerity, compassion, and practical care, helping create an environment in which devotees can remain inspired and steady in their Krishna consciousness.”

Devotee Care Training & Expansion
To support the growth of Devotee Care initiatives worldwide, Devotee Care courses and workshops are being conducted across the world by Damodar Das, Jai Nitai Das and their team.

These training programs aim to educate, equip and empower devotees with tools and sensitivity required to care for each other.

Damodar Das, Global DC Course Facilitator and Coordinator, shares “Devotee Care initiative is not to create departments of care but a culture of care. Devotee Care is a way of living in the spiritual world. Thus Devotee Care initiative aims at creating communities of care or in other words, Vaikuntha Communities. For the Devotee Care initiative to be successful, each devotee needs to look after his/her diverse needs (self care), seek qualified help within the community (seek care) and then wholeheartedly Extend Care to others.”

He further states,”At the completion of DC training, temple leadership is encouraged to identify at least one devotee or a small team to take responsibility for encouraging and involving the community devotees to share their love and care with each other. This alone can help establish a sustainable ecosystem of Care within the community.”

A Global Network of Devotee Care Resources
Across the world, many devotees are already offering valuable seva, expertise, and resources in the 12 Areas of Care. To make such support more accessible to the wider devotee community, the Global Devotee Care Committee is developing a Global Devotee Care Resource Directory.

Devotees who wish to contribute can:

Identify their Area of Care from the 12 areas listed above.

Refer to the “ISKCON Devotee Care Resource Areas Overview” document to determine the specific type of support they can offer:
ISKCON Devotee Care Resource Areas Overview

Submit their details through the “Call for Devotee Care Resource Contributors” form:
Call for Devotee Care Resource Contributors Form

Speaking about the importance of this initiative, Gauranga Das shared, “Many devotees across ISKCON are already offering valuable services and support in different areas of life. This initiative is an effort to bring these offerings together in a more organized way, so that devotees can easily access help when needed. All devotees are invited to participate, contribute, and support this initiative according to their capacity and inspiration.”

For more information on Devotee Care, devotees can visit:
devoteecare.org