Blog

By His Holiness Bhaktimarga Swami. 

I get invited to work with the youth and put together dramas. I fly in usually on Thursday or Friday afternoon. I meet the kids (mostly teenagers) who have been asked to participate in a weekend drama for the Sunday Feast program. Depending on the play and how many actors I need, we meet on Friday night to talk about the script, go over the play, and start rehearsing. We meet for most of Saturday and Sunday morning for practicing. Then, whenever the Sunday program is, we have a drama presentation. I get so many calls that I can’t handle them all.

The reason why dramas are so successful is because everyone is looking for something to do with the kids. “What do I do with my teenage son or daughter? They are already past Sunday School age,” many parents ask. They are at a crossroads in their life. They are not even sure of their own religion or whether they should even come to the temple. The parents hear about the dramas, and think that their kids would enjoy acting or even just watching.

Something quite magical happens over the weekend. For the feature on Sunday, we can stage a half-hour production (sometimes mimed with narration), and the kids have a blast. They have fun and learn discipline and teamwork. They laugh and encourage each other. They build friendships and learn philosophical points. They have time to sit down and have refreshments together (pizza or whatever the prasada may be). They enliven the audience because the whole world loves to see young people do things, especially on stage. Here you have the perfect ingredients to make a community happy. The happiness lingers for some time, and everyone greatly anticipates the return of the Swami.

Performing and directing dramas is what I have been involved in for the last three or four years in North America, South Africa and India. Wherever I go, I work with the local people. This is a very important aspect to congregational development. When you’re dealing with the congregation, you’re not just dealing with the contributors, or the people who may have taken the extra step to get initiated. You are also dealing with their kids. Many times, they will be the ones that disappear behind the computer and hide, and not be a part of your Bhakti-vriksha program. Once you do a play or something like that, that is a special program exclusive for them. In other words, “Step out of the way, Mom! Step out of the way, Dad! We’re gonna do something here!”

Succession—preparing for the next generation to step up and take their place in the leadership—should be a top priority in our movement. The young people are going to have to take over because the leaders of our society are ageing and dying.

I have had the chance to travel with the North American youth bus tour for the last two summers, and it was very enriching for me and them. We did some cultural presentations for the public, and, afterwards the parents were so proud. It helps young people be strong and step over certain hurdles. They have their complexes. They have their shyness. On one hand they want to show off, but then they are shy about showing off. So, why not let them show off. In Krishna’s name! In Rama’s name! Flaunt! But do it properly.

You don’t keep your congregation happy just so you can keep your electricity going and to see that the deities are served. Rather, you see that the whole mission will carry on, and step into the next generation. It’s good to have them involved in different departments, and have the ones with good ideas involved in decision making. If you talk about congregation, you must include the youth factor. You can’t leave them out. Many of our congregation members have well grounded family backgrounds, and that is something that new devotees are attracted to. Younger people must also see stability in the grihastha ashram, to know that it works.

Children realize that there’s a home across the street that’s safer than theirs. Well, what’s different about it? Their clothes and they have God in their life. They light incense and ring bells, and they sometimes play a different kind of music. They have this special vegetarian food. This is what’s going to interest these people who are growing up in North American, Western European, or whatever society. They are going to be looking because they’re lost. They have stability and have spirituality. I don’t have that. They have kids my age, so maybe there is something going on over there. We must see that all of these homes that carry on with Krishna consciousness are temples unto themselves.

These grihastha devotees are really the foundation of our society. In many ways, the thrust is towards the grihastha ashram. We started out with a
very hardline, by the book approach, but it didn’t work out because some devotees wanted to get married. Now, we see we have to make a different presentation and give some glory to that particular ashram. In some religious traditions, it is the householders that carry on those religions. It is not always the renounced monks that do that. To make ISKCON really beautiful, we should have a nice balance. Glory and dignity given to the renounced people and to the grihastha ashram. They are people in different phases of life, but their direction is the same. All success will come when we find this balance.

I like working with the youth, in particular, because they are very optimistic and energetic. They make me feel young. They know how the world is. They have a lot of good ideas on how to get things done fast, whereas a good number of us are lagging behind. We must use this resource of youthfulness. The part of Krishna that we adore the most is His youthfulness. I believe more emphasis should be on the youth. These are people that can do some marvelous things for our future society, and we have to start right now.