By Tirtha Pavana das
Sochi, Moscow, summer 2017. GBC College steps out of India. It is the first time ever when GBC College was held outside of India, this time in Sochi, in the south of Russia. The Regional secretaries and the next generation of future leaders came together from all over Russia as well as some neighbouring countries such as Kazakhstan, Belorussia and Turkmenistan to get inspiration and experience from the current GBC members and other senior devotees.
The residential involved 12 days of training in the area of the leadership development. The GBC College is focused on providing training to the leaders in order to introduce Zonal Supervisors across the globe. More than 40 participants attended the residential program. It was a unique opportunity to embrace the atmosphere of learning from the senior vaisnavas and to share extensive experience with the others, who came there from the various regions.
The main guest-speakers of the college were GBC members Bhakti Caru Maharaj and Anuttama Prabhu. The residential started with a three day course on Leadership and Management conducted by Anuttama prabhu. He covered a lot of topics, which included qualities of a true leader, styles of management, strategic planning, team-building, delegation and many others. Afterwards he also taught a full day communication course, helping the devotees to apply the knowledge to their current situations.
Bhakti Caru Maharaj spoke on various topics such as importance of an institution, need for the Governing Body Commission and historical background of Gaudiya-vaisnavism. Most of his lectures would turn into “question and answer” sessions as he touched upon the topics that were very relevant for the participants of the college.
There were three other speakers. Visnu-tattva prabhu, the vice-president of the National Council of Russia, spoke about public relations. Gaura Krishna prabhu, the Russian BBT director and a member of the organizational development committee, which works under GBC, gave a very enlightening course about difficulties that all religious movements face in the first century of their existence. And Dayavan prabhu, the regional secretary for several cities in Russia, spoke about various conflicting views in ISKCON and proved that they actually do not contradict each other, but create a full picture that helps the devotees to manage in a more balanced way.
At the time of the training the devotees expressed a lot of enthusiasm to go back to their respective zones and to start applying the knowledge they received and to share it with others. All sessions were infused with profound statements made by Srila Prabhupada, constantly reminding the participants about the importance of leadership and management. All classes were highly interactive, with plenty of opportunities for participants to interact and work collaboratively in a variety of practical exercises. In the evening the participants could spend some time together, creating stronger friendship with each other. The educational program was very intense, but the participants shared later that they didn’t feel tired at the end of the day. Their desire to continue studying was growing from day to day due to the importance of the topics, qualification of teachers and the great atmosphere that was created by everyone, who happened to be there.
All participants were leaving the residential with great inspiration to continue their learning experience through online-courses that are organized weekly for all the participants. Online courses comprise recordings of different classes that are offered in GBC College in India. So far there have been already online lectures on leadership by Bhakti Caru Maharaj, Bhadrinarayan Maharaj, Giriraj Maharaj, Radhantah Maharaj and some other senior devotees!
All the participant expressed a very warm and positive opinion about the college. Here is what Acyutatma prabhu, the chairman of Russian National Council, said: “I’m very grateful to the organizers of GBC College, who gave us an opportunity to have a session in Russia. Unified standard of education for the leaders is a very good way to help ISKCON to develop and prosper. We had a wonderful opportunity not only to go through educational courses, but to associate with the current GBC members, Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, who shared their wisdom with us. For the new generation of leaders it is very important to feel Srila Prabhupada’s mood, which they can absorb associating with his disciples. It was also a great opportunity for all leaders to meet and spend time together; it helps to create a team spirit.”
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