I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be part of a Vaiṣṇava community in 2026.
Not really in terms of rules or institutional policy or who is doing things right or wrong. I mean something deeper than that.
What do we actually value?
What do we remember?
Who do we see?
And what do we feel responsible for carrying forward?
My dad [Badrinarayan Swami] leaving this world has made me think about this much more deeply than I have before.
He gave almost sixty years of his life to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s movement. There are many devotees of his generation who did the same thing in different ways. They built temples, preached, raised communities, took enormous responsibility, lived through incredibly difficult periods in ISKCON’s history, made mistakes, learned things, sacrificed things, and somehow carried this movement from something very young into something that now is prominent all over the world.
And that generation is leaving.
That’s just the reality.
ISKCON is getting older.
More and more of the devotees who personally knew Śrīla Prabhupāda and spent their adult lives carrying his mission forward won’t physically be here much longer.
And I keep wondering what happens then.
Obviously the institution continues.
The buildings continue. The festivals continue. The management continues. The projects, meetings, fundraising and preaching continue.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/what-do-we-carry-forward-by-nila-madhava-das/
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