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(The below text is the automatic transcription generated for the above video)

Dear devotees welcome back to the GBC SPT page, my name is Deva Madhava Das and I’m very happy to have with us today His Grace Kripamoya Prabhu. Welcome Prabhu, thank you so much. He is a disciple of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada and he joined very early, on which I’m going to, I’m excited to ask from you about in a moment, and he was resolute in his determination from a very young age and a steady servant of the movement, he’s an and initiating spiritual master… my own appreciation for you is in your children. I have the privilege of knowing all of them to some degree or another and as many parents in Krishna consciousness know it’s difficult to have even one kind of stick and follow through with the practice and you have three for three, all of your children are serious devotees in their own right and so that’s a great accomplishment in and of itself, so thank you so much for being here today to discuss with us Krishna consciousness as the greatest welfare work, and it’s something that you’ve really dedicated yourself to, the sharing of Krishna consciousness with others. But as I mentioned first, I just kind of like to get into how you met the devotees how you yourself became attracted to Krishna consciousness.

Thank you very much prabhuji. I’m delighted to be here. My beginnings of Krishna consciousness were the single handed efforts of one man. Who was a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, his name is Tribuvanath Das. I didn’t know his name until the third meeting, with each of these three meetings, I got a little bit closer until I actually talked to him.

They all involved pop festivals and they all involved crowds of people and the rain, and on the last occasion I met him it was it was raining and I was seventeen and what hippies we had in England had overtaken the queen’s back garden. Was Windsor Castle, so we can see Windsor Castle in the back and there was tension growing between the local authorities and the hippies. I just happen to be sort of a passenger with this cultural attention and Tribuvanath said why don’t you come out of the rain? We’ve got a place for you to stay and they fed me, invited me to join the town and I never look back but it was kindness that. Me and I think and they’re determination to be reaching out to people in the rain, which I thought was pretty dedicated.

Yeah. So you saw an exceptional example of determination early on.

I did saw people who were… I didn’t know whether I believed in anything they told me, I thought they look pretty cool. I thought they were buddhists and ii like the idea of reincarnation and meditation and karma and all those kind of things. So I wasn’t too sure about Krishna whether that was some sort of geographical or cultural a that was sort of stuck on to buddhism because the template of buddhism was orange robes and shaved heads and these people were obviously Buddhists despite what they were telling me and I don’t really like doing that whether they like it or not you are you will be a buddhist so I came along with them and gradually came to know what it was all about.

I put up a fight, but the fight wasn’t good enough. Unfortunately, like thankfully, qualified warrior the that’s a nice segway because that’s it’s you kind of met the devotees in the classical circumstance that we think of you when we think of preaching and outreach, especially in the mood of Mahaprabhu and as Srila Prabhupada gave it to us those simple sweet ways of book distribution street san festivals is there any difference between? Today and then, in terms of how to connect people to Krishna consciousness, those methods should there be other methods. Is there is separation? What what’s your thoughts on how to connect people today to Krishna consciousness?

Yeah, my thoughts is as a missionary movement, a religious movement spiritual movement preaching movement we are permanently in a state of tension between two very important things. One is preserving the legacy of thousands of years of tradition given to us by the most recent representative a power and at the same time, making sure that we’re relevant and accessible to the people of twenty 2223 etcetera so the core values the core teachings and the core expressions, namely the Hare Krishna mantra must stay the same. But packaging in which that’s delivered will be completely relevant and accessible to the people of the day, but he did it definitely did it and we were also called upon to do it but certain things stay the same and certain things will be changed. Otherwise, we will be irrelevant. Because we’re focusing on my hyper, let’s begin with the verse. He was explaining the famous verse that all about his charm before they go on harry. I’m ava and she said I’m said I’m star. Na na na ana, it was explaining that verse and said this states that anyone who accepts any other path cannot be delivered. That’s the first point. This is the. For the triple repetition, nothing else, nothing else nothing else, which emphasizes the real process of self-realization. So that’s hardcore and non-negotiable. This is what we do. This is what the movement is all about and in the same section, which is the thirteenth chapter of Srila Prabhupada says on these principles only does a Krishna consciousness movement go on. We have no other business than to talk of Krishna worship Krishna. And mantra, so that’s the non-negotiable. That’s the legacy that we’re charged to preserve.

But let’s be clear that our family business can come in a multitude of colorful packaging to attract the minds and sensibilities of the people of the day. So the things that proper emphasizes books daily worship festivals based on daily worship. These things are. The sort of things that we do the the the the ingredients of the Hare Krishna movement that are non negotiable how you present that to people and more importantly, when you present it to people on their journey, that’s the most important thing when you hold back and when you offer something that will change, according to the sensibility of the person and the the the the confidence and ability of the particular a particular preach.

There’s two directions I wanna take this questions coming up in my own mind. I love how you narrow down what it is the essence of what was given and then the packaging says, is something that’s a little more negotiable. There seems to be a kind of I’ll use a word that might be touchy, but it’s almost a nostalgia around the traditional packaging. Let’s say the packaging that was there in the early days of the movement, and of course that’s the packaging that was created by Srila Prabhupada and his followers directly when he was and the there’s an apprehension almost to give up that packaging in certain circumstances, even though it might make more sense from the side of a material perspective, what’s gonna be more effective and attractive for people today. So how can we navigate that especially in this this awkward period after has recently departed his disciples are still present how do we navigate what packaging to use and what’s not kind of being disrespectful to the tradition?

I think certain elements have to be there before we we start thinking of changing packaging and these are some non-negotiables that go along with the basic messages and one is that firstly in movement, everybody is a preacher. Lord Chaitanya said: I am the only gardener how many places can I go how many fruits can I pick and distribute so when a crucial element is that perhaps now that the movement has been successful, there is a tendency to regard preachers as a select species of life something that other. It’s something that other people do this book distributed is in this managers and book distributors, preach and managers manage I think that’s a dangerous dichotomy to raise because in movement everybody is picking the fruit. Everybody is you know everybody becomes a gardener. Secondly, everybody has to be following the process Srila Prabhupada says that to be a preacher means to be humble to be happy to be pure things like this and I really think that if we hold on to those two things that we’re doing very well and from that position of strength, then we can begin to negotiate what is the packaging that I would like to deliver otherwise certain things can be lost in the desire to be relevant and accessible.

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