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The Nectar of Congregational Preaching

The Congregational Development Ministry is pleased to announce the release of a new book: The Nectar of Congregational Preaching. For the past ten years the Congregational Development Ministry has worked to extend Srila Prabhupada's mercy by creating programs such as Bhakti-vriksha and the Siksha-program. These preaching programs and many others are detailed in the book, along with statements from Srila Prabhupada and the previous acaryas on the necessity of engaging congregational members in the Hare Krishna movement. The heart of The. Nectar of Congregational Preaching is statements from over 100 GBC leaders, gurus, Srila Prabhupada disciples and senior devotes. ISKCON's most noted leaders speak candidly on their vision for developing the congregation according to the desires of Srila Prabhupada and the guru parampara. This makes the book particularly suited to clear any doubts ISKCON devotees and leaders may have regarding the importance of congregational development, and enthuse those who have dedicated their lives to other aspects of Srila Prabhupada's preaching movement to include the congregation in their planning and vision. To order The Nectar of Congregational Preaching, published by the Congregational Development Ministry, 250 pages, hardcover, please write to cdministry@namahatta.org. Right now the book is available from our office in Sridham Mayapur, at a subsidized price of rs. 250 for third-world countries. Mailing to other parts of the world will result in considerable delays and the cost of shipping will have to be calculated on a case-to-case basis. Wholesale distribution to other continents is being arranged, and depending on shipping cost, the final prices will be announced. Eventually the whole book will be available on this web site, too, but this will take some time.

01 - Dedication & Copyright

His Divine Grace

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas, you expanded the Krishna consciousness movement. Your beating on the brhat mrdanga continues to make the whole world dance in ecstasy. By your transcendental mercy, the Hare Krishna movement continues to expand through your disciples, grand-disciples and followers.

ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry

All quotations and excerpts from A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's books, letters, Statements by:

lectures, conversations and illustrations are from BBT publications: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International ISKCON Laws and GBC Resolutions: ISKCON GBC PRESS All other materials in the book (text or illustrations): 2006 ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry All rights reserved. It is forbidden to reproduce any part of the contents of this book or its cover by any means whatsoever, either mechanical or electronic, without the written permission of the publisher. For more information on the contents of this book or on the activities of the Congregational Development Ministry, please visit our web site: www.namahatta.org Write by email to: cdministry@namahatta.org First printing 1,000 copies Printing by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Sri Mayapur Dham, 2006

SrilaBhaktivinoda Thakura , Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura , A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and followers of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Published by Edited by Additional editing by Proofreading by Additional proofreading by Design and layout by Coordinated by Illustrations by Research compiled by

His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Amrita Gopal Dasi Braja Sevaki Devi Dasi Mahamaya Devi Dasi Bhaktin Sara Bock, Lavanga Manjari Devi Dasi and Shiromani Devi Dasi Vaikuntha Nitai Dasa Seva Swarupa Dasa Kesavi Devi Dasi and Gauravani Dasa Abhinandana Nitai Dasa, Hema Gopi Devi Dasi, Phanisvara Das and Prema Padmini Devi Dasi

Transcriptions by

Adi Devi Devi Dasi, Cintamani Devi Dasi, Gour Nama Dasa, Jasoda Sachi Devi Dasi, Lalita Phaneswar Dasa and Ragatmika Devi Dasi

02 - Table of Contents
Foreword
by His Grace Kaunteya Dasa

Preface
by His Holiness Hridayananda das Goswami

Introduction
by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami

CHAPTER ONE
Congregational Preaching Programs at a Glance What are the elements of a Nama-hatta? Who started the Bhaktivriksha program? Why are counselor groups the secret of Chowpattys success? The Congregational Development Ministrys core programs are described in brief.

CHAPTER TWO
History of the Future Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu established the precedence for engaging congregational members in His glorious sankirtana mission. The previous acaryas, specifically Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, provided the blueprint for establishing congregational development.

CHAPTER THREE
Srila Prabhupadas Vision The essential evidence: quotes culled from Srila Prabhupadas books, letters and conversations establishing that congregational development plays a significant role in expanding the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

CHAPTER FOUR
Where is our Ship Sailing? GBC members, deputies, sannyasis, temple presidents and senior devotees churn the nectar. The Hare Krishna movements influential leaders share their insights on congregational preaching.

CHAPTER FIVE
Songs of the Acaryas Bhajans written by great devotees in the Gaudiya-Vaisnava tradition glorify Lord Caitanyas magnanimous sankirtana movement.

CHAPTER SIX
About the Ministry The purpose and goals of the Congregational Development Ministry are listed along with an explanation of the different tattvas of the official Nama-hatta emblem.

Appendices
Index of the statements from ISKCONs leaders

03 - Foreword
It's 1512. Lord Caitanya has recently left His Puri headquarters for a long preaching tour in South India. He arrives in Kurmaksetra and the brahmana named Kurma invites Him home. The brahmana offers prasada and other services and then asks permission to leave his family and to accompany the Lord on His travels. Lord Caitanya doesn't welcome Kurma's proposal and actually rebukes him, "Don't speak like that again." Lord Caitanya advises him to remain home and chant. Then the Lord utters His immortal words:

Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Sri Krishna as they are given in the Bhagavadgita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land. Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 7.128

Pencil-drawing by Kesavi dd Srila Prabhupada writes a cardinal purport to this verse, beginning by underlying its relevance to ISKCON: "This is the sublime mission of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness." The purport goes on, elaborating, among other things, on the idea of remaining in one's residence, chanting the maha-mantra, and reading the scriptures. Srila Prabhupada concludes, repeating Lord Caitanya's order, although spoken almost 500 years ago, still functions as the fundamental beacon for today's preachers: "The Krishna consciousness movement is trying to elevate human society to the perfection of life by pursuing the method described by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His advice to the brahmana Kurma. That is, one should stay at home, chant the Hare Krishna mantra and preach the instructions of Krishna as they are given in the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam."

This simple three-point summary reveals the essence of the values sustaining the work of the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry. Applying the first precept, that "one should stay at home," might appear as not requiring an exaggerated amount of work, as people are already "at home." Nonetheless, new devotees (and sometimes old devotees) often need continued personal guidance to learn how to live at home according to the standard Vaisnava guidelines of cleanliness, discipline and marital harmony. Facilitating congregational devotees in seriously applying the second canon, quality chanting of the holy names, involves helping them to build faith in the practice through careful cultivation, the exemplary behavior of senior devotees, and the support system of like-minded friends. The third principle, to propagate the instructions of Krishna, directs us to systematically assimilate the philosophy and formally empowers all congregational devotees to broadcast the transcendental message, becoming spiritual reference points for others. Many other direct instructions on ISKCON's community development are found throughout Srila Prabhupada's books and speeches. This present volume attempts to make at least some of them known and appreciated for what they represent: priceless shining gems illuminating the path of building all over the world active, healthy and merciful spiritual communities of loyal followers of Srila Prabhupada.

Secretary, ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry

04 - Preface

Even in the early days of ISKCON, devotees began to realize that the vast majority of the world's population would not fit in our Hare Krishna temples. As we matured, we realized that this was not merely a logistical problem, but a historical and cultural issue. When we study traditional Vedic culture, and indeed the traditional religious culture of people throughout the world, we find a natural social structure in which saintly persons stand at the cultural, and physical center of human communities. Culturally, spiritual leaders enlighten the community and engage them in pious, purifying, and liberating activities. Physically, we find that in traditional cultures around the globe, that a religious center, be it a church, mosque, synagogue or temple, stands at the center of towns and villages, surrounded by families engaged in all of the normal vocational and social duties of human life. Thus we see that as ISKCON matures and grows, it becomes, increasingly, a congregational movement. As Krishna consciousness expands into the world, more and more people are following Srila Prabhupada's simple and brilliant advice to simply add Krishna to their lives.

More and more good and devoted people remain in their homes, in their families, in their schools and workplaces, but they add Krishna to their lives. We strongly encourage ISKCON's congregational members, who are the vast majority of ISKCON's members, to regularly visit our temples and participate in temple programs there. At the same time, for various good reasons, we must also organize regular congregational programs in the homes of our members. Here are some of the reasons: 1. Many ISKCON members do not live within easy proximity to an ISKCON temple. 2. For many sincere people, the informal, highly personal, and homey atmosphere of a home program affords a more comfortable, more appealing introduction to Krishna consciousness. 3. Devotees living in the world with families and jobs have special needs, challenges and opportunities, which often can be most naturally and congenially addressed and understood in the setting of a congregational program. 4. Congregational programs often provide unique opportunities for congregational devotees to lead kirtanas and bhajans, give classes, and take leadership roles. All these activities, when performed sincerely, inspire and empower the devotees. The more we inspire and empower devotees from all walks of life, the more ISKCON will flourish. 5. Finally, history shows that the most powerful spiritual movements are those which spread widely on a grass-roots basis. Lord Caitanya predicted, and desired, that His name be chanted in every town and village, and the most practical way to do this is through congregational programs. My godbrother, His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, deserves special recognition for having tirelessly pioneered and inspired congregational preaching in ISKCON. This volume, published by the Congregational Development Ministry, is a welcome and important contribution to the Ministry's work and I thank all those who have made it possible. With best wishes,

(web site)

05 - Introduction
Srila Prabhupada was given the whole world as his frontier for preaching. He wanted to fulfill Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's prediction that His holy name would be spread all over the world. Prithivite ache yata nagaradi grama / sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama (Caitanyacaritamrta, Antya 1.117). Srila Prabhupada traveled the world eleven times, published volumes of Krishna conscious books and established 108 temples and centers. Everything was a massive success. Srila Prabhupada was the pioneer who paved the way for the future of Krishna consciousness. Millions of his books were distributed, yet at the same time he realized there were not as many devotees to match the numbers of books that had been distributed. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada said, "Training is needed." That training is fulfilled by congregational preaching, which emphasizes small group cultivation of people, and training in the principles of devotional service. The Nectar of Congregational Preaching highlights how congregational preaching is one of the frontiers that Srila Prabhupada opened. He wanted to see Krishna conscious communities develop all over the world. His vision was that people will practice and preach Krishna consciousness from their homes. The congregation can help preach alongside and support the temple preaching in various ways.

"Make Homes Into Centers"

Congregational development is an untapped field that presents new opportunities for all kinds of preachers,. It incorporates a systematic method for contacting and cultivating new devotees and engaging them in service. New people and potential devotees should, as far as possible, be brought into the loop, their details taken and follow-ups commissioned. As Srila Prabhupada said, we have to fan the fire and cause it to burn. In the developmental stages of Krishna consciousness, new members can serve from their homes, and participate in programs at the temples. Everyone can be engaged in congregational development; everyone can be a part of the rich programs that bring in new devotees. There are possibly over one million people already in the Krishna consciousness

movement. Yet we must ask ourselves, "Is everyone engaged? Particularly, is everyone engaged in bringing in new devotees?" It is very important that people utilize their talents and abilities to give other people Krishna consciousness. This was the mood of Lord Caitanya. This is what He told the brahmana in Kurmaksetra.

"Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Sri Krishna as they are given in the Bhagavadgita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land." Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 7.128 The Lord instructed His follower, "Stay in your home and make your country people Krishna conscious. You do not have to become a sannyasi." This is the idea motivating congregational preaching: It is spread by those empowered by the mercy of Lord Caitanya. If the Lord desires, a devotee is able to tell people about Krishna consciousness. And there is no limit to Lord Caitanya's mercy. Every devotee should be engaged in spreading Krishna consciousness. There is no limit to how many people can become involved and we need to get everyone involved. Everyone should see that they have a very important part to play in developing Krishna conscious communities. People in many parts of the world are not so favorable to organized religion due to previous negative experiences. When congregational development is at the forefront of the preaching, however, people can be taught how to practice in their home, a pressure-free environment. After that, it is up to the individual to determine how much he or she wants to be involved in organized temple programs. The home can be made into a suitable place for practicing Krishna consciousness. The point is that everyone should practice Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness is a very open process - at any place and in any circumstance, everyone should chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and read Srila Prabhupada's books. As one becomes more and more Krishna conscious, the temple festivals and preaching activities become naturally more attractive. Sometimes people are allergic to Krishna consciousness because they think that joining the movement means becoming a monk or living a monastic life. Of course we have that option for people who want to live as monks, but we also have the option for people to practice Krishna consciousness from their homes. Srila Prabhupada said you do not have to shave your head or join the temple. Krishna consciousness is very relevant to everyone. Congregational outreach programs bring new opportunities and new challenges. These programs save people from illusion and contamination from the material world. Krishna consciousness gets rid of the binding illusion of the material world and liberates us from material identification. We need to give people this contact with Krishna consciousness, and this is where congregational development becomes essential. Congregational development reaches out to people in various ways and gives a range of options for a variety of prospective devotees.

Another important aspect is that as the congregations grow, it becomes difficult for the temple presidents and temple devotees to care for the congregational devotees. Temple devotees have time-consuming services, deity worship, and the routine work of the temple. Caring for the congregation and training them can be done by the congregational members themselves. Helping the congregations to develop is a very exciting aspect of preaching. The more devotees are trained and inspired in Krishna consciousness, the more effulgent they become. The more active they are, the more instrumental they become in spreading the sankirtana mission.. Sometimes we do not know how to engage new devotees, especially devotees in the congregation. But the idea is that everyone can be a preacher. Lord Caitanya told the brahmana to be a preacher. Anyone can share what they know; even new devotees have something to share. They can tell their relatives, friends and neighbors about how wonderful Krishna consciousness is. Every man, woman, and child has the potential to be empowered by Lord Caitanya and do service for the temple and for the conditioned souls. Many senior devotees have experience in the temple and in congregational preaching but don't know how to engage their talents and abilities in expanding Krishna consciousness to meet the demands of the times. This wealth of experience can be actively utilized in congregational preaching. I know some devotees who have their own Nama-hattas or Bhaktivrikshas and they engage their time in cultivating people in Krishna consciousness. One example is Matsya Avatara Dasa, who has his own center in Italy for training people. (Prabhu's testimonial is included in this book.) Some devotees may preach in a big way, and some may preach in a small way from their home. By "preaching" we do not mean in a negative, pushy way. Effective preaching means sharing information and distributing our wealth of experience to help new people see the value of taking up the process of bhakti-yoga. Congregational preaching offers a wide range of opportunities for devotees to help people go back to Godhead. If one person goes back to Godhead, then the person who helped them gets a free ticket to the spiritual world. We know that when we help others come to Krishna consciousness, our own spiritual progress is increased. I know some families who were living in an environment unfavorable to spiritual life. But when the family worked together to spread Krishna consciousness, the whole environment changed. The family members became preachers, soldiers in Krishna consciousness, serving in Lord Caitanya's army to deliver the conditioned souls. Another avenue where congregational preachers may have considerable influence are yoga and vegetarian societies. Millions of gurus and organizations promoting different varieties of yoga and vegetarianism. People are interested in things that are favorable to a Krishna conscious lifestyle. Hare Krishna devotees can try to make bhakti-yoga attractive to them. We can propose, "Why stop at hatha- yoga when you can go for the topmost yoga, bhakti?" This is an opportunity for our devotees to bring practitioners of other types of yoga to higher levels.

Congregational development was the original preaching program of Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupada mentioned that Lord Caitanya did not personally establish any temples. Lord Caitanya spread the congregational chanting of Hare Krishna by preaching everywhere He went. Lord Nityananda started the Nama-hatta. But even before Lord Nityananda and Sri

Caitanya Mahaprabhu started the sankirtana movement, Srila Krsna Dasa Kaviraja Gosvami described in Caitanya-caritamrta that Advaita Acharya, Srivas Thakura, and the Vaisnavas of Nadia district held meetings in the devotees' homes. From Sri Caintanya-bhagavat (2.111) we find that Srivas Pandit and his brother loved to chant the names of Hari in his house. After Lord Caitanya went to Sri Jagannath Puri, He sent Lord Nityananda to Bengal to start Nama-hatta. Then there was a gap of four hundred years. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura revived Nama-hatta and wrote about the importance of congregational preaching. He had over five hundred Nama-hatta groups all over Bengal. These groups were more developed than what we call Nama-hatta today. Some of the groups would meet daily. Bhaktivinoda Thakura required that every full-time member of the Nama-hatta visit five homes per day with a flag in their hand. The name of the flag was the "Victory Flag of the Holy Name." The devotees would go door-to-door and chant Hare Krishna just like the original followers of Lord Caitanya. This style of preaching is very good for learning how to surrender to Krishna. The Nama-hatta groups were called prapanna ashram (a center of surrender), and the homes that were Krishna conscious were called sraddha kutirs (a home of the faithful). Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura developed very extensive programs to involve people in preaching and, with his followers, organized different festivals called maha-utsavas. Later, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati took over the birth place of Mahaprabhu and formed a matha. He established 64 temples and preached in London and Bangladesh. He said book distribution was the brihad mridanga. Book publication was most important in his vision, yet when he gave his final address to his disciples, he conveyed a more holistic view of the preaching: he talked about the importance of developing the Gaura Mandal parikrama. He stressed the importance of devotees serving the holy dham. Book publication and distribution and Nama-hatta preaching will bring more people into the Mayapur parikrama. With the development of Sri Dham Mayapur and increased book distribution and Nama-hatta groups, congregational development will take on even more importance.

Preaching Is the Essence

The Congregational Development Ministry is trying to develop different strategies to stimulate the preaching work. These preaching methods can be standardized, copied, refined, and perfected. Some of the preaching programs were developed by devotees in the field. Some approaches (like the cell-program) already existed, and we adapted the method to suit our Vaisnava tradition. Some things were done by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu 500 years ago, and we are continuing in the tradition He established. And, of course, we are always trying to improve in every respect. Presently we have many Nama-hatta groups, and the devotees are holding kirtana, lectures, and distributing prasada. One of the interesting priorities is identifying and recognizing Krishna conscious families. We want to give them recognition by calling them Sraddha Kutirs. We need millions of Krishna conscious families in the world to be bases for Krishna consciousness.

The activities of many groups will be discussed in this book so that readers can understand the different systems in summary. Of course, if one wishes to delve deeper into any of the subjects, The Bhakti-vriksha Manual and the Congregational Preaching Journal are available from our Ministry library and give more detailed information. In The Nectar of Congregational Preaching some of the programs that will be discussed are:

Nama-hatta Sadhu-sanga groups Counselor groups Bhakti-vriksha Various temple-based programs Sunday school Sunday Feast Outreach programs Prison preaching

In the future we are certain that new ideas will arise as devotees become more and more determined to spread Krishna consciousness. The different kinds of preaching are like links in a chain. Books are the basis, preaching is the essence. To pull people out of material suffering, we need a strong chain of different kinds of connected preaching. We want to pull this civilization up. We want an ISKCON where congregational preaching is very strong. We need many expert preachers. For that purpose, we have compiled this book. We hope that people take some inspiration from it, get a vision from it, and get some ideas about what they can do within their realm of congregational development.

What is congregational preaching?

Even after many years, a clear understanding of congregational preaching has yet to emerge in many devotees' consciousness. Many devotees seem confused, even mystified, about what congregational preaching is. They are not able to grasp that what has actually developed in this field is relevant to them. Congregational preaching is relevant to every person in the Krishna consciousness movement. It's a basic necessity for us to preach. We hope that The Nectar of Congregational Preaching will provide basic information about the field. We seek to clarify what congregational preaching is and give an overview of many of the basic programs. We hope that all of the mysteries will be revealed and that devotees will become part of the inner circle by reading this book. We want that preachers and devotees at all levels get a taste of the nectar by reading this book. We have compiled testimonials of various senior devotees, sannyasis, preachers, gurus, and devotees who have direct, hands-on experience in congregational preaching. We have tried to address the following questions:

What is the importance of congregational preaching? What are the highlights? What are the experiences of the devotees in the field? What are their needs? Where are we lacking?

It is important to hear from the congregational field preachers, the people who are actually serving as congregational preachers as their primary service to Lord Krishna. When we read

their realizations, it's enlightening for all of us. What do they feel? What do they experience? What are the challenges that they face? What are the goals that they have? We hope that some of these questions will be answered in the following pages. Sometimes Srila Prabhupada criticized inactive Hindus who just believe, but don't practice defending, propagating, or protecting their own religion. We want to avoid a static congregation. Static congregations don't help spread the Krishna consciousness movement, don't help support the temples, nor help in saving the conditioned soulsthis is what we don't want. There's a need for engaging everyone in congregational preaching. We want dynamic congregations in every temple. We want congregations that are actively preaching and are empowered, enlivened, and enthusiastically bringing in new devotees. We want congregations that are supporting Krishna conscious programs to their capacity. Everyone has their different capacity. Many devotees have household duties, and it is understood that there will be a limit to the amount of time they can give. But there's a need for everyone to identify themselves as congregational preachers to make a bigger community. We need everyone to give some time and some energy to make it all progress. In 1972 or 1973, Srila Prabhupada urged the English devotees to reproduce the wonderful book distribution results of their American godbrothers. The boxes of Krishna books and The Teachings of Lord Caitanya filled the book room at the Bhaktivedanta Manor and devotees were wondering how they could distribute so many books. Tribhuvanatha Dasa, who was very enthusiastic about Hare Krishna festivals and who had been very much encouraged by Srila Prabhupada, became concerned that perhaps he should stop the festivals and simply distribute books instead. When he expressed this to him on a morning walk, Srila Prabhupada quickly turned around, struck the end of his cane on the ground, and said very firmly: "No. Everything should go on simultaneously - side by side." Temple devotees should be trained in congregational preaching so that they can make new devotees from people who don't fit into the temple devotee profile and make them part of the congregation. We have options to offer. Everyone should know what those options are and the methods by which we identify whether a person is suitable to be a temple devotee or is better situated as a congregational devotee. Then we can preach accordingly.

Gratitude
This is the Congregational Development Ministry's first attempt to publish inspirational material. We hope that by these efforts devotees will become more inspired and will want to assist in the congregational preaching efforts. The writings of our previous acaryas, instructions and quotations from Srila Prabhupada, interviews with our senior devotees, and statements from our preachers are the heart of this book. I'm very grateful to the senior devotees who contributed to The Nectar of Congregational Preaching, by giving their testimonials and sharing their experiences. In the future there will be new editions, but we hope that this first volume serves the purpose of inspiring everyone, because, as we say in English, "Many hands make light work." There are so many souls who need to be delivered from maya, and the more hands we have helping, the better. We can distribute more books, make more devotees, and achieve more development. Congregational preaching is a wonderful opportunity, but somehow some devotees are missing out on participating in this revolution. This book is a humble attempt to give devotees who are already preaching to the congregation even more inspiration to continue. We want to show

that their service is appreciated by the leaders of our movement and is authorized by the previous acaryas. This was a rush job. We had it on our To Do list for some years. Finally we have a team of people who came together and wanted to compile some books. So I said, "Why not finish this congregational nectar book?" They put it on their priority list. I'm very grateful to the team of devotees who gave importance to getting this book out. Like Prabhupada said, "When the house is on fire, even if the person doesn't speak perfect English, somehow he gets the message across that the fire must be put out immediately." Congregational development is so urgent, it's like the house is on fire, and we need to put the fire out. This is one of the key areas of our preaching that needs to be developed. We hope that if there are any shortcomings in this book that people will overlook them. We wanted to get the seeds planted in time so we could get the early harvest. Hare Krishna, Minister, ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry

Chapter 1: Congregational Preaching Programs at a Glance

Congregational Preaching Programs at a Glance

What are the elements of a Nama-hatta group? Who started the Bhakti-vriksha program? Why are counselor groups the secret of Chowpatty's success?

The Congregational Development Ministry's core programs are described in brief.

Nama-hatta and Bhakti-vriksha

Nama-hatta, the marketplace of the holy name, was founded by Lord Nityananda in Navadvipa dham and elaborately described by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Sri Godruma Kalpatavi. The Nama-hatta program brings Srila Prabhupadas teachings into areas where no regular temples are available or in hostile environments such as countries that do not allow ISKCON to establish centers. Groups can cater to specific member-groups like children, students, or professionals. Nama-hatta devotees are generally established in their social, familial and economic situations, and therefore offer a stable environment for people to cultivate Krishna consciousness. Nama-hatta is the most traditional of the congregational programs and mirrors the organization of a regular ISKCON temple with the leader and his assistants in the center. There is no membership limit and some groups become quite large. Groups function under the direct supervision of ISKCON preachers responsible for the area. Minimally experienced devotees can serve as group-leaders. Training of existing members and recruitment of new ones depend largely on the group leaders initiative and inspiration by visiting preachers. Nama-hatta groups are found throughout the world. Devotees come together at least once a week for kirtana, arati, and lecture from Srila Prabhupadas books. Nama-hattas vary in size. Nama-hatta devotees follow the precedence set by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura by chanting songs about the glorious activities of Lord Nityananda's marketplace (some of these songs are found in Chapter 5 of this book) and hold festivals to attract people to the Krishna consciousness movement. Interactive Nama-hatta bhajan groups give new devotees an opportunity to hear and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra in the association of senior Vaisnavas. Any member of the group may lead the kirtana. Also, house programs have become a very popular feature of the Namahatta. Temple devotees visit the homes of congregational members and lead kirtana , offer classes on Vaisnava scripture and arrange prasada.

Individual levels:

The process of purification begins with the samskara patra. Anyone who promises to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra 108 times (one round) daily receives a certificate attesting to this pledge. The next stage is the League of Devotees. Individuals are required to chant four rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra daily and practice pure vegetarianism.

The Bhakti-vriksha group is geared towards branching out. A branch of a certain thickness branches off into two. This branching process continues until the tree has thousands and thousands of branches, all connected to the main root. Lord Caitanya is the original root, and even one single branch from the Caitanya tree can grow and form thousands of sub-branches, small twigs, leaves, and so on.

History
In 1996 when His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaja became ISKCONs monitor for congregational development, the GBC requested him to research other religious groups approaches to spreading their missions. Maharaja found that religious groups are effectively spreading their missions by cultivating members in small groups. The small group approach is not a new invention of the other religious missions. Lord Caitanya Himself used it 500 years ago to establish His preaching mission: The Lord brought the desire tree of devotional service to this earth and became its gardener. He sowed the seed and sprinkled upon it the water of His will. By His inconceivable powers, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself became the gardener, the trunk and the branches of the tree of devotional service simultaneously. From the trunk grew many branches and above them innumerable others. Thus the branches of the Caitanya tree formed a cluster or society, with great branches covering the entire universe. - Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi 9.1 Lord Caitanya went from village to village to spread the teachings of Lord Krishna. Each person He preached to would make five more families Krishna conscious. Each of those families would preach to five new families, and so on. The Bhakti-vriksha program uses a similar dynamic, with small groups that multiply because each member brings new people to Krishna consciousness. Every small group of ISKCONs congregation is a part of the branch, stemming from the bhakti-vriksha, the tree of bhakti of Lord Caitanya. We are part of the Caitanya-tree, the ISKCON branch, and Srila Prabhupada is our connection.

Pencil-drawing of a Bhakti-vriksha group meeting

Principles
As soon as a Bhakti-vriksha group has 15 members it divides into two groups. To make this possible, every servant-leader has a trainee-servant-leader who is learning how to lead a Bhakti-vriksha group by assisting the leader in his or her duties. Since Bhakti-vriksha groups are limited to 15 members, an intimate relationship between the participants is possible. New members are assigned to more experienced devotees who personally guide them in their Krishna conscious development, and the servant-leader of the group knows about each members difficulties and abilities and can guide them in their spiritual advancement.

The Weekly Meeting

The weekly meeting has six parts: association, kirtana, japa, discussion, preaching reports and plans, and prasada. But belonging to a group doesnt simply mean to attend the weekly

meeting. Being part of the Bhakti-vriksha program is a lifestyle. Even after the weekly gettogether the members act as friends, keep in touch with each other, and participate in outreach programs and preaching excursions. In the weekly meeting, instead of having a formal lecture, the group discusses a particular aspect of the Vaisnava philosophy. Everyone participates and is encouraged to share his or her realizations of the subject and how the teachings can be applied in one's life. Discussion involves everyone and makes the meetings highly interactive and engaging. Another characteristic of the weekly meeting is the preaching section, during which the group discusses the preaching activities of the past week and plans for future outreach engagements. Besides the weekly meeting of each group, on Sundays all groups in the same area come together, in the temple or in some other suitable place. In these larger gatherings the focus is on bigger kirtanas, lectures by expert preachers, and training sessions for specific areas of responsibility. On special occasions such as Gaura Purnima, Janmastami, or Ratha-yatra, all groups in the city-sometimes the whole country-join together for a grand festival. In larger gatherings, devotees experience the joy and inspiration of practicing Krishna consciousness in the association of hundreds and thousands of devotees. A devotee needs both the closeness of a tight-knit group and the experience of associating with devotees in a large group setting. The Bhakti-vriksha programs structure follows the same format as Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakuras Nama-hatta organization. It is a pyramid structure with the groups at the base. Every few groups are supervised by a sector-servant. A few sector-servants are supervised by a circle-servant (up to this level they are all congregational devotees), and so on, for as many levels as necessary. The idea is to have close supervision and accountability at all levels. To this end, every leader has to submit regular reports to his supervisor, detailing the events of the weekly meeting and other projects under his care. The mood of every leader on any level must be as a servant of the devotees. A higher position means serving more devotees.

Counselor-system, Siksa program, and Sraddha-kutir

HH Radhanath Maharaja

The Need to Care for Devotees

The Counselor program stresses the need to provide care and education to all members of our society. Why are devotees leaving ISKCON? Not because they find a higher philosophy, as there is no higher philosophy than Krishna consciousness. The main reason is that many devotees dont feel cared for by the society they serve. They feel neglected and are often treated impersonally. His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaja presented a plan to solve such problems in a booklet entitled "Simple Steps for a Simple Temple": At one time, the leaders of our brahmacari ashram and the leaders of our congregation thought that every member of our community was well cared for. Then we actually undertook an investigation, asking individual devotees to be completely honest, and we found that so many people were thinking, Nobody cares about me in this movement. The leaders were shocked. We felt it was important to develop a system to make sure that each devotee is educated, trained, and feels the support of the Vaisnavas. This basic principle is simple but powerful. If a sincere person feels cared for, he will reciprocate. He will want to serve and make sacrifices for other devotees and for Krishna. When devotees are inspired, they surrender joyfully. Through such surrender one makes great spiritual progress. His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaja and his disciples have organized the Sri Sri RadhaGopinath Temple in Chowpatty according to the ideals outlined in the Counselor system. This experiment proved highly successful and has been implemented in different temples with the help of devotees from Chowpatty.

Implementation
The first step is to convince the leaders of the necessity of caring for each and every devotee. Devotees should not be seen as instruments to accomplish goals, but as individuals,

Vaisnavas, with bodily, mental, and spiritual needs. The essence of our Vaisnava culture is to understand that we are the servant of the servant of the devotees - no matter what our varna, our ashram, or our service may be. His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaja said: One requirement is what has to be done today. We need money today, go out and get money. We need to cook today, go and cook. We need to clean, go and clean. We need to do puja, go and do puja. What has to be done today has to be done today. But the problem is that if someone just does what has to be done today, after ten years he realizes, I have no future. We should think of the future of each devotee. We should engage every devotee with two directions in mind: one, what has to be done today; and two, what is the master plan to keep this devotee happy in devotional service till the day of leaving the body and going back to Godhead? Sometimes in our society we become so highly philosophical that we forget that we are people. Senior, trained grihasthas act as counselors for other grihastha families, and senior brahmacaris are counselors for groups of brahmacaris. In this way, every devotee is part of the program and feels that his personal needs and problems are being cared for. In Chowpatty, all devotees systematically learn the philosophy using standardized reading material. Every week the devotees take an exam on the material covered during the previous week, and the counselors make sure that every counselee thoroughly understands the material. Counselors teach the importance of observing strict sadhana and Vaisnava etiquette, as well as proper relationships between the ashrams and between men and women. Also, they interact with the temple management on behalf of their counselees to help to solve personal problems. Counselors in turn are counseled by senior counselors, who help them with their duties as counselors. Counselors and other devotees from the community form committees to assist devotees in different situations: the Childrens Committee infuses children with Krishna consciousness; the Womens Committee provides a sanga to hear about examples of great Vaisnavas like Srimati Kuntidevi, Gandhari, and Visnupriya. The women discuss how these teachings can be applied in their personal lives. The Business Enterprise Committee explores ways for grihasthas to better support the temple, and the Employment Committee finds employment for devotees within the community. There is also a Marriage Board, Housing Committee, Financial Assistance Committee, Health Committee, and a Farm Community Committee. ISKCON Chowpatty has developed a successful working model of the counselor system which can be modified to suit different requirements. The main principle is that ISKCONs leaders have to make it a priority to train devotees to respect, honor and care for each other.

Related articles on this site:

The Spiritual Counselor System Simple Steps for a Simple Temple

The Siksa Program is a system for encouraging the congregation (especially those who are enthusiastic about the Bhakti-vriksha program) by recognizing their chanting and spiritual standards. It is a great way to help congregational devotees consolidate and increase their spiritual practices. It also offers a system to identify those who are serious about advancing in Krishna consciousness. The Siksa Program has five levels, gradually leading to initiation. The levels, in brief, are: Sraddhavan Chanting at least one round of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra every day and reading Srila Prabhupada's books; Chanting at least four rounds of japa daily, refraining from meat-eating, believing in Lord Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and avoiding grossly immoral acts; Chanting at least eight rounds and practicing sadhana bhakti by worshipping Krishna at home and eating only prasada. Refraining from intoxication, meat-eating, gambling and extra-marital sex; Following the four regulative principles, solid sadhana, practicing Srila Prabhupada Asraya standard for a minimum of six months, with additional faith in and surrender to a present ISKCON initiating spiritual master;

Krishna-sevaka

Krishna-sadhaka

Srila Prabhupada Asraya

Often we see that there are groups of devotees who live in locations far away from temples, Nama-hattas or any other standard type of preaching program. Due to their family or employment situation, devotees sometimes have to stay in isolated places. But if they are following the regulative principles, chanting a prescribed number of rounds, regularly reading Srila Prabhupadas books and accepting all other aspects of Vaisnava culture like Ekadasi fasting, they can be recognized as part of ISKCONs congregation. Such households are termed Sraddha Kutirs. The members of the Sraddha Kutirs are expected to be active preachers. They may later create Nama-hatta or Bhakti-vriksha groups. A home where at least one family member follows ISKCONs regulative principles and chants a fixed number of rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra every day, and the other family members are favorable towards devotional service may be designated as a Sraddha Kutir. A Sraddha Kutir can be recognized by an ISKCON-approved plaque on the door. A Sraddha Kutir is considered to be a precursor to a Nama-hatta or Bhakti-vriksha group, since devotees are naturally inclined to spread the message of Krishna consciousness. Because the devotees

are liberal in giving their association to interested newcomers, eventually other families in the area will take up devotional service and join together in a congregational group.

Guidelines for accepting a family as a Sraddha Kutir:

1. At least one member follows ISKCON regulative principles and chants a fixed number of rounds every day; 2. Other members of the family are favorable to Krishna consciousness; 3. There is a future possibility that they will all accept higher spiritual commitments until they reach the level of accepting initiation; 4. The family members are inclined to and/or actively spreading the mission of Srila Prabhupada.

Recent Article: The Sraddha-kutir Program

Grihastha Vision Team, Youth Forum, Sunday Feast & Sunday School

[Article]

This community effort to help devotees in their personal lives falls under the responsibility of the Grihastha Ministry and shall be mentioned here briefly only. The Grihastha Vision Team maintains a website at www.vaisnavafamilyresources.org.

From the GVT - web site:

This is a site created by the Grihastha Vision Team. The GVT is a grass roots volunteer group of Krishna devotees who are mental health or educational professionals. We hope to remain

non-political, and independent in our thinking. We are not an official ISKCON group, though we are working on it. Our intention is to provide resources to support married couples and prospective couples primarily in North American ISKCON communities. However, the broader community of Vaisnavas, and anyone who is interested in spiritual married life are welcome to take advantage of the knowledge that is shared here. We want to help spiritualize your married life so that it will be an asset for your Krishna (God) consciousness. Her Grace Krishnanandini Devi Dasi and her team provide highly specialized support to grihasthas and are open to working with congregational members.

Srila Prabhupada wrote in a letter to Kancanbala, 20 April 1970: Regarding your preaching work in schools, colleges and universities try to attract the students. They are our great future hope and they will take up this matter very quickly because the students are not very much contaminated. Youth preaching and development is a very important field. Young people may participate in both regular programs and/or programs geared to meet their needs. Pandava Sena, a group that was founded at the Bhaktivedanta Manor nearly ten years ago, is actively engaging young devotees in preaching Krishna consciousness. The ISKCON temple in Pune is home to one of the most successful programs in the world. In 1996, His Grace Radhesyam Dasa, one of the students at IIT Pune, began to show a new direction to his friends: he systematically cultivated a group of students in Krishna consciousness, constantly encouraging them to bring their friends and other contacts. Thus ISKCON Youth Forum (IYF) was initiated and is being adapted by many other educational institutes and youth groups. Unlike a regular Sunday Feast, where the audience is very diverse, the IYF involves preaching to like-minded candidates. The preaching strategies are highly focused and dynamic.

Related Links:
ISKCON Youth Forum Pune ISKCON Youth Forum Mumbai Pandava Sena (UK) Wikipedia-entry about Pandava Sena Youth Forum preaching is characterized by:

Distribution of easy to understand books for students to understand Vedic knowledge in a scientific way Training camps and youth festivals for girls and boys Regular seminars on topics that are interesting and relevant to youth, such as mind control, and stress management Training students in Vaisnava music and singing

[Article]

The Sunday Feast is the oldest congregational outreach program in ISKCON and was established by Srila Prabhupada himself. Practically every temple invites the local congregation to come for class, kirtana, and prasada on the weekly holiday (in some places, Friday is the day off, and in other places the feast is held on Saturday). The Congregational Development Ministry will very soon publish a book dedicated to the topic of the Sunday Feast. Super Sunday, written by Kaunteya Dasa, secretary of the Ministry, gives practical tips for improving the Sunday feast. Starting with issues of the best time to hold the feast, reception of guests, shoes, and undesirable visitors (bums), it covers all aspects of the event, including the length and content of the Sunday feast lecture. Installments of Super Sunday has been published in consecutive issues of our Congregational Development Journal. Check out the Ministrys website at www.namahatta.org for more details. [super sunday link]

As the next generation of devotees will be the leaders of our society, its important to engage them in Krishna consciousness from an early age. This is confirmed in the teachings of Prahlad Maharaja in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Children are very capable of understanding the basic principles of Krishna consciousness if they are presented in a suitable way. Srila Prabhupada commented in a Bhagavatam lecture: Just like we send small children to nursery school, or preliminary, primary schools.Similarly, because that is the age, receptive age.So Krishna consciousness should be taught from that childhood age. Therefore I wanted that on Sunday, let people send their children here and we shall teach Krishna consciousness. - lecture, Montreal, 10 June 1968 Young minds remain pliable for only a few years. Letting that time slip by means missing the unique chance to help children build a solid spiritual basis for their futures. Boys and girls learn spiritual values they will hold on to for the rest of their lives, even while living in a materialistic society. At Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath Temple in Chowpatty, India, devotees engage children in giving speeches during the Sunday program. The children prepare for weeks before the event, and on the day of their presentation you can be sure that the whole extended family will be there, eager to watch the performance of their offspring. This keeps children engaged in an edifying, unforgettable way, and is attractive to adults, too. Some of the activities we offer to the youngest devotees, like puppet theatre, are very effective in entertaining grown-ups also. Taking care of children is a valuable service, and the selected volunteers who supervise and teach them should be encouraged, thanked and supported. From the BBT (and other sources) Krishna conscious board games, song, coloring and storybooks are available. ISKCON Foundation even offers a free starter-kit for Sunday schools, including a curriculum for the first two months, a student booklet and teachers guide, and a guide for administrators on how to run the program Contact Tapasvini Devi Dasi at tapasvini at juno.com.

Weekend-warriors, Loft-preaching, ISKCON Prison Ministries

From distributebooks.com

One night, after reading Ramesvara Dasas ecstatic daily sankirtana report, Srila Prabhupada felt moved to write a message on the back of the report. My dear boys and girls, you are working so hard for broadcasting the glories of Lord Krishna's lotus feet and thus my Guru Maharaja will be so pleased upon you. Certainly my Guru Maharaja will bestow His blessings thousands of times more than me and that is my satisfaction. All Glories to the assembled devotees. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami N.B. Everyone should go with the Sankirtana Party as soon as possible. This note made many devotees take up book distribution as their life and soul. Presently, however, most devotees are staying and working outside of the temple. They are working for five or six days a week and are unable to dedicate their time fully to fulfill this crucial instruction. Weekend Warriors is a book distribution program performed mainly by members of the congregation in their free time, generally the weekends. Though its done just a few hours per week, still the participating members get the taste of having gone out with the sankirtana party to do our family business of book distribution. A few hours of dedicated service by many members of our society can make a great difference in the number of books distributed, and we are getting many new contacts to follow up and cultivate and many new faces visiting our temples - a very effective way of congregational development. One of the best things about this program is how it brings devotees together. Congregational and temple devotees who are otherwise too busy to share their realizations and thoughts, but when they come together to work as a team, are able to build confidential and lasting relationships. Temple devotees can help the congregation by securing permits for them to do book distribution in crowded areas and they can arrange to get tables, banners, posters, books and other paraphernalia needed to carry out the program. The congregational devotees offer cooperation in terms of time spent in book distribution and together they can work on cultivating new contacts got through the program. So its an excellent way to build up community spirit. The program is becoming already famous in North America with many ecstatic success reports in the area.

Related Links: Weekend Warriors on distributebooks.com

Worshiping deities, wearing an uncommon dress, dancing wildly in ecstatic kirtanas, eating on the floor (with hands), speaking and hearing Sanskrit terms and the intricate philosophy behind. . .sound fascinating? Well, not for all. Some people, especially Westerners and even Western-minded Indians, prefer a casual, non-threatening, but certainly devotionally motivating atmosphere, where they can learn more about the mysteries of ancient Vedic texts in a non-missionary way. ISKCON Auckland, under the guidance of His Holiness Devamrita Maharaja, started to use the device of a modish cafe/seminar scenario called The Loft. The staff are sankirtana devotees during the day who adopt a different strategy at night.

Focus on the Guest

From www.urbanmissionary.info, the personal web site of Sita-pati Dasa from Brisbane, Australia: When people come to The Loft, they are coming for more than a meal - they are coming for an event. Make it an event, make it memorable. Focus on the guest! The difference between The Loft and a temple is that at the temple the deity is the center of everything. Everything revolves around the deity. At The Loft, the guest is everything. The guest is the representative of Narayana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Especially the athiti guest, the unexpected guest, is said to be Narayana Himself. When a guest comes knocking at the door one should immediately stop worshiping the deity to serve the guest, and then when the guest is satisfied one should resume serving the deity (ref: Pancaratrapradipa). Everything at The Loft is calibrated for the experience of the guest. Who cares what you as a staff member would like the place to be, or would like to do there? The place is not for you, it is for the guests. At The Loft itself, the focus is on the guest. It doesnt matter what you want to do. What will bring people in, bring them back, and bring them along in a progressive fashion, has to be the focus. Everything at The Loft has to be done to make the guest comfortable and happy, not the staff. Take care of the staff outside the Loft so that they can sacrifice there. Its not a playground.

Related articles:

Loft Preaching (namahatta.org) Loft Preaching (urbanmissionary.info)

[Articles]

The ISKCON Prison Ministries are under the Congregational Development Ministrys umbrella and run by very dedicated devotees who spread Krishna consciousness to people in rehabilitation centers and jails. This material world is just like a prison house; it is a punishing place meant to bring us to that point of becoming disgusted, surrendering at last to Krishna, and going back to our original nature of eternal life in bliss and complete knowledge. - The Science of Self-Realization If you give me the chance to speak to all the members of the Jail, it is quite possible for me to turn them into ideal characters. - letter to Sri Puri, 1962 Sri Haridasa Thakura was a pioneer preacher. He inspired prisoners in Bengal to surrender to Lord Krishna (who also appeared in jail): Thakura Haridasa said to the prisoners, Your present state of mind is auspicious for you, because you have received the opportunity to cultivate Krishna consciousness by giving up endeavors for material enjoyment. Therefore always remain engaged in chanting Krishnas names and in remembering Krishna. If you get freedom from prison life and again indulge in sense gratification, then as a result of associating with wicked persons who are averse to the Lord you will forget the Supreme Lord. As long as the endeavor for material enjoyment is prominent in the living entity, there is no possibility for him to worship Krishna. The goal of the material enjoyers is diametrically opposite to Krishna. The conditioned souls who are devoid of devotional service to Krishna are always merged in topics related to their wives and children, which are the center of their enjoyment. If by the mercy of the Lord a person in this dangerous situation meets a saintly person, his taste for material enjoyment will be turned into taste for the service of the Supreme Lord. When one gives up the cultivation of Krishna consciousness, then his natural material propensities will submerse him in a mire of offenses. I do not mean that you should remain suffering within this prison, but in your present condition you have the opportunity to constantly chant the holy names of the Lord. Therefore

do not be distressed. The Vaisnavas always bless all living entities with the words: May your devotion to the Supreme Lord be fixed. I consider this the greatest mercy towards the living entities. Your prison life will soon be finished. Never give up your determination for serving the Supreme Lord in any condition. -Caitanya-bhagavata,, Adi 16.56 ISKCON Prison Ministries, under its director Candrasekhara Prabhu, try to create awareness among ISKCON devotees and its congregation about the difficult situation of devotees in prisons all over the world. Many times inmates write to ISKCON temples for devotional paraphernalia and literature but receive no reply. More devotees are needed to communicate with prisoners interested in Krishna consciousness, as well as donations to pay for books, Back to Godhead subscriptions, japa beads, altar pictures, and postage fees. In India the local administration is usually favorable towards preaching to prison inmates and extends its cooperation to these efforts, allowing regular preaching functions to take place in jails, and supply of devotional paraphernalia to prisoners. In many Indian jails, prison preaching programs are now a regular feature. In other countries, however, devotees face great difficulties in these efforts. Some inmates are already on the path towards Krishna consciousness at the time of their imprisonment, while others come into contact with devotees through Srila Prabhupadas books and ISKCON magazines available in prison libraries. In many ways the prison environment is not at all favorable for devotional service: a vegetarian diet is usually difficult to obtain, and access to books, lectures, and devotees is very limited. Many inmates look upon practicing devotees as crazy and may try to exploit their apparent weakness. On the other hand, sense enjoyment and other distractions of the material world are severely limited, allowing the inmates mind to focus on the relief experienced through devotional service. Letters from inmates who came into contact with Krishna consciousness show that it is possible to make great advancement while in prison. Many have altars in their cells and offer their food via Srila Prabhupada to Krishna. Some have come into contact with a spiritual master while in jail; a few even received initiation.

Related Links: IPM Newsletters

The Nectar of Congregational Preaching, Chapter 2

grhe thako, vane thako - sada hari bole dako - Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakuras instruction to always chant the name of Lord Hari, whether one resides at home or in the forest, established the precedence by which the Congregational Development Ministry functions. In the broadest sense of the term, congregation of devotees includes every person who aspires to serve Lord Krishna in His most munificent incarnation as Lord Caitanya. Householders and unmarried devotees, initiated and uninitiated, those living within a temple structure and those living in a private residence: we are all part of the International Society for Krishna Consciousnesss congregation of devotees. Devotees are united in purpose-to follow the path taught by the mahajanas and go back to Godhead. Yet if we are to succeed in spreading Lord Caitanyas message in every town and village, it is essential to recognize and utilize the spiritual potency of the congregation. Congregation is usually characterized as people who live outside of the temple and, to some degree or another, practice Krishna consciousness. This narrow definition of congregation gives the impression that the majority of devotees are residents of the temple, an impression that does not match reality. Presently, the majority of ISKCONs devotees live in their private homes and visit the temple to attend programs and festivals. As fewer devotees make their residence in the temple compounds, Srila Prabhupadas vision of using temple facilities to train people in practicing Krishna consciousness at home comes into sharp focus.

The temple center is started just to present an example to the neighboring residents how they can make a small temple in each and every home. It is not necessary that hundreds and thousands of people will live in our temple, but if we can make effective propaganda, then the

neighboring residents, householders, will be inclined to be initiated and follow the modes of temple life. - letter to Tamal Krishna Goswami, 1 June 1969

ISKCONs Founder-Acarya Srila Prabhupada established 108 temples around the world. Upon opening the first center in New York, Srila Prabhupada insisted that temple devotees attend mangala arati, all temple programs and participate fully in sankirtana (preaching) activities. Knowing the breadth of Krishna consciousness and understanding the diverse constitution of those who take up the process, Srila Prabhupada gave a practical blueprint for advancing in bhakti-yoga at any time, any place and in any circumstance.

One who feels that he is not yet ready to live in a temple or undergo strict regulative principles in the temple, especially householders who live with wife and children, can start a center at home by installing the Deity, worshipping the Lord morning and evening, chanting Hare Krishna and discussing Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Anyone can do this at home without difficulty, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu requested all the devotees present there to do so. - Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 3.190

Srila Prabhupada consistently stressed simplicity in organizing preaching activities extending out from household temples.

Your home to home preaching is very good. The important thing is to make arrangements that they hear and chant. That will make your preaching successful. Once they begin chanting then automatically they will want to follow the rules and regulations, attend arati, take prasada, etc. - letter to Tusta Krishna Swami, 9 January 1976 The potential of householders to spread Lord Caitanyas supremely auspicious movement is unlimited. Congregational preachers must simply be convinced in the efficacy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhus wonderful command: bolo Krishna (always chant the name of Krishna!), bhajo Krishna (cause the flower of the holy name to blossom into the expanding petals of Krishnas form, qualities and pastimes, and thus enjoy that flower-like name!) and koro Krishna-siksa (become endowed with the knowledge of sambandha-abhideya-prayojana, and relish the supreme rasa which is the honey-nectar of that name-flower.) People in the age of Kali are reluctant to practice spiritual life. Mahaprabhus instruction to chant the names of Krishna incessantly (kirtaniyah sada hari) is sublimely simple, yet the dense darkness of ignorance characteristic of this yuga is a challenge to those preaching Krishna consciousness. Acaryas, being expert in convincing people to take up bhakti-yoga, must be bold and dynamic in presenting Krishna consciousness to the masses. Srila Prabhupada described the expertise a preacher must possess to be effective in distributing Lord Caitanyas mercy. The expert devotees also can discover novel ways and means to convert the non-devotees in terms of particular time and circumstance.

Devotional service is dynamic activity, and the expert devotees can find out competent means to inject it into the dull brains of the materialistic population. Such transcendental activities of the devotees for the service of the Lord can bring a new order of life to the foolish society of materialistic men. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His subsequent followers exhibited expert dexterity in this connection. By following the same method, one can bring the materialistic men of this age of quarrel into order for peaceful life and transcendental realization. - Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.16

Mahaprabhus Order
Lord Caitanya laid out His divine plan for propagating Krishna consciousness to His principle associates, Lord Nityananda and Sri Haridasa Thakura:

suno suno nityananda, suno haridas sarvatra amar ajna koroho prakas prati ghare ghare giya koro ei bhiksa bolo krsna, bhajo krsna, koro krsna siksa iha bai ar na boliba, bolaiba dina-avasane asi amare cohba

"Listen, listen Nityananda! Listen, Haridasa! Make My command known everywhere! Go from house to house and beg from all the residents, Please chant Krishnas name, worship Krishna, and teach others to follow Krishnas instructions. Do not speak, or cause anyone to speak, anything other than this. - Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 13.8-10

Param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam: All glories to the congregational chanting of Krishnas holy names. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu wrote these words in His Siksastakam, and in obedience to His order, devotees all over the world are absorbed in chanting and distributing the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami glorified the sankirtana movement in Caitanya-caritamrta:

By performing congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, one can destroy the sinful condition of material existence, purify the unclean heart, and awaken all varieties of

devotional service. The result of chanting is that one awakens his love for Krishna, and engages in His devotional service, as if immersing himself in a great ocean of love. - Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya 20.13-14

Lord Krishna Himself advented in this age of quarrel to distribute the congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Srila Vrindavana Dasa Thakura revealed the mission of the most magnanimous avatara, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

tabe prabhu yuga-dharma sthapana karite sangopange avatirna hana prthivite kali-yuge dharma haya hari-sankirtana etad arthe avatirna sri-saci-nandana ei kahe bhagavata sarva-tattva-sara kirtana-nimitta gauracandra-avatara

In order to re-establish the religious process of the age, the Supreme Lord descended on the earth with His eternal associates. The religion for Kali Yuga is the congregational chanting of the Lords holy name and in order to propagate this religious process, Lord Caitanya appeared as the son of Mother Saci. It is confirmed in the Srimad-Bhagavatam that the Supreme Absolute Truth, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, incarnated solely to propagate the congregational chanting of Krishnas holy name. - Caitanya-bhavagata, Adi 2.21-23

The Bengali phrase kirtana-nimitta gauracandra-avatara brilliantly describes Lord Caitanyas transcendental mission. Nimitta means cause or source as well as because of. This incarnation of the Lord engaged one and all in chanting the holy name of Krishna. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Sri Sri Godruma-Chandrer Ajna (The Divine Command of Sri Godruma-Chandra) explained Sriman Mahaprabhus order to accept congregational chanting of Hare Krishna as ones life and soul:

Mahaprabhus order is simply this that everyone should incessantly chant harinama. Incessantly chant harinama: the meaning of this command is not that people should always chant the holy name while completely desisting from all bodily activities, household duties, and dealings with others. How should one be engaged in harinama? Since the Lord gave humanity the command to incessantly take the holy name, then the true meaning is that everyone, whether grihastha or sannyasi, vanaprastha or brahmacari, brahmana or ksatriya, vaisya or sudra, low-born or mleccha, and so forth, all people should remain in their respective situations and chant harinama.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura commented on Lord Caitanyas glorious sankirtana movement:

Sri Gaurasundara said that sankirtana is the only duty of humankind. This is proof of His magnanimous nature. Human beings can attain what is impossible even for the best of the demigods to attain. Sri Gaurangadeva does not cheat and does not mix material enjoyment with spiritual understanding. He has preached what is most beneficial to all living beings. If one hears His teachings he will understand that all other teachings in this world are incomplete and weak. Sri Gaurasundara has not descended to cheat people as the mental speculators cheat people by presenting their insignificant sadhanas. By preaching SrimadBhagavatam Gaurasundara has proved that the sadhanas put forth by the so-called sampradayas are simply ineffective. He has also demonstrated that the congregational chanting of Krishnas name is the only way to attain auspiciousness. The living entities are not becoming liberated because they do not engage in krsna-kirtana. Sri Gaurasundara incarnated in this world to benefit all living entities. Our only welfare lies in performing krsna-kirtana. There is no other way to attain the ultimate goal of education, knowledge and life itself.

The Sweeper of the Nama-hatta: Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Because he performed sankirtana in the same spirit as Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Saccidananda Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is known as the pioneer of congregational preaching. He established over five hundred Nama-hatta centers and wrote extensively about the transcendental teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Always dynamic in his approach to spreading pure devotional service to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura studied the scriptures in great detail, especially Srimad-Bhagavatam and Caitanyacaritamrta, and rescued the Vaisnava religion from the grips of the smartas and sahajiyas. His son, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, narrated the glories of this most exalted devotee.

Jagad-guru Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is one of those spiritual masters who have been sent to this world by Sri Gaurangadeva for the benefit of the jivas of this world. That great personality who has given everyone the opportunity to know about pure devotional service and the disciplic succession is none other than Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. He is dear to Gauranga and our only shelter. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is such an intimate associate of Sri Gauranga and is non-different from Him. Accepting unalloyed devotional service as his primary duty, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura instructed everyone to practice it. . . . [He] had no love for anything other than pure devotional service. Before Bhaktivinoda Thakura appeared the current of bhakti had been obstructed by the worldly masses. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura alone considered devotional service preyas and again made the current of bhakti flow. - Amrta Vani, page 120

Prior to embarking on a Nama-hatta preaching tour with his associates, the Thakura spent several years writing books and giving lectures detailing the conclusions of the scriptures, specifically that loving devotional service to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna is the goal of life. He faced the formidable task of definitively establishing Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the most munificent incarnation of Godhead. As he noted in his biography, the Thakura had to contend with both Indian and foreign critics who held deep-rooted prejudices and misconceptions about Vaisnava dharma. Mahaprabhu entrusted everyone with the responsibility to preach Vaisnava dharma, he wrote in Chapter 18 of Jaiva Dharma. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura did not merely write about preaching. He himself vigorously preached Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhus order and in the creation of Nama-hatta, inaugurated a systematic process of distributing the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. The Thakura outlined the procedure one should follow as a sankirtana preacher.

Preach the chanting of the holy names of Krishna and the teachings of Sri Gauranga in every town and village. Take Sri Caitanaya-caritamrta in your hands, go door to door, and preach the Lords holy names and the teachings of Sriman Mahaprabhu. As Mahaprabhu ordered Sri Nityananda and Sri Haridasa to travel and preach His message, similarly, being servants of Sri

Gauranga, you should engage proper candidates to travel and preach the teachings of Mahaprabhu. Preaching cannot be done by unqualified persons. In our opinion, you should immediately set up a Vaisnava school. After educating some selfless, well-behaved persons in the teachings of Mahaprabhu, send them to every town and village to preach His message. - Sajjana Tosani 11/3 The preachers should propagate the teachings of Mahaprabhu simply out of love. They should neither receive salary nor reward. It is not possible to preach pure religious principles without pure devotees. That is why when other religious groups preach, they hardly achieve any results. - Caitanya-siksamrta 1/2 One should transform an unqualified person into a qualified person, then instruct him about the holy name. Whenever possible, one should avoid speaking in any way that will obstruct the preaching. - Jaiva Dharma, Chapter 8

In an article published in Sajjana Tosani (2/1), a widely read spiritual journal, the Thakura described the preaching activities of the previous Vaisnavas and the Gosvamis. Some of the previous Vaisnavas and the Gosvamis have illumined the entire world with the light of pure eternal Vaisnava dharma, by writing devotional literatures, songs, by preaching religious principles, by chanting the holy names of Hari, and by their pure characteristics and sublime Vaisnavism. Since the entire world has now been plunged into darkness under Kalis influence in the form of irreligious principles, Mahaprabhu is attracting the minds of many persons and empowering many devotees to preach His own teachings, to distribute love of God, and to preach actual Vaisnava etiquette. Exemplary Vaisnava behavior (sad-acara) was a topic Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura addressed in several forums. He encouraged preachers to boldly distribute the pure religious principles enunciated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in a spirit of compassion. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura simultaneously advised preachers to expose and defeat philosophies opposed to pure devotional service.

If evil philosophies exist in your country, then you should try to correct them. Even if this causes a confrontation with cheaters and cunning people, still you should fight them for the sake of Mahaprabhu. - Sajjana Tosani 4/6 It is our duty to remove those harmful insects who have entered into the flower of pure religious principles followed and instructed by Sri Mahaprabhu. It is not that such insects are only plundering the fragrance of the flower of religious principles, but they are trying to finish the flower by gradually eating it away. The seed of pure instructions that Mahaprabhu Caitanyadeva, Prabhu Nityananda, and His son Viracandra gave in order to establish the society of Vaisnavas has in some places become fruitless due to falling into barren land. In other places it has produced unwanted weeds after falling onto uncultured land.

- Sajjana Tosani 2/4

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura guarded the pure teachings of Mahaprabhu by creating an organizational structure under which preachers operated. In terms of the Nama-hatta, every devotee was assigned a specific duty related to the function of the marketplace. The devotees who toured Bengal under the banner of Nama-hatta were engaged in performing bhajan/kirtana, giving lectures from the scriptures (especially Srimad-Bhagavatam) and in taking the local devotees out on nagar kirtana. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the designated sweeper of the Nama-hatta, kept the market clean by ensuring that the activities in the marketplace were in agreement with sastra and preserved the tradition established by the previous acaryas.

Many activities that are illegal and hostile to devotional service are being widely performed in the name of devotional service. Unless those activities are clearly exposed, there cannot be any victory for preaching pure devotional service. - Sajjana Tosani 2/4

The songs of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura fully reveal the mood and mission of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. Gitavali, Saranagati and Kalyana Kalpataru are among his most celebrated song books. In Caitanya-siksamrta, he wrote about the importance of devotional music in cultivating bhakti . A practitioner of devotional service should hear only those songs and music that do not satisfy his senses but that describe the Lords pastimes and help him to cultivate devotional service. We should carefully give up hearing ordinary music and songs, because such hearing simply increases our attachment for material objects and sense gratification. The captivating lecture and Vaisnava songs (I had) personally composed filled the assembled devotees with prema, wrote Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in a diary detailing the events of the Nama-hatta preaching programs. In The Seventh Goswami, Sriman Rupavilasa Dasa described how Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakuras preaching activities set a precedence followed by his successors, specifically Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

[Bhaktivinoda Thakuras] activities immediately invoke the original preaching mood of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, on account of which huge crowds wildly chanted the Holy Name in ecstasy. The aforementioned crowds were getting the same opportunity by the pure association and presentation of the eternally liberated associate of the Lord, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. We may also recall how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura brought the holy name to thousands, following in the saintly footsteps of his father. Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in his turn held huge gatherings in Delhi, Calcutta and Bombay, and Ratha-yatra celebrations attended by thousands in the West, simply to continue the disciplic succession of ecstatic distribution of the holy name, following in the footsteps of his most exalted predecessors.

Singha Guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura

In A Ray of Visnu, Sriman Rupa-vilasa Dasa noted how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura took on the mission revived by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura had laid the groundwork by reviving interest in Vaisnava thought, establishing its credibility and respectability, publishing the books of the Gosvamis of Vrindavana, and also creating his own brilliant transcendental storehouse of transcendental literature, poetry, songs and deep philosophical tracts. Now Sarasvati Thakura was distributing it, publicizing it, writing books, and creating a sensation. His activities were that of an empowered preacher. He preached to the intellectuals all over India, had exhibitions, established many temples, established pada-pithas, wrote many books, published magazines, held huge festivals, re-established holy places, and installed deities. He burned with the desire to fulfill Lord Caitanyas mission to spread Krishna consciousness all over the earth. Sarasvati Thakura was innovative in developing strategies to attract people to Krishna consciousness. He dispatched his sannyasi and brahmacari disciples to preach to newcomers and counsel those who were practicing Krishna consciousness in the home. He emphasized that devotees require personal care in order to advance in the practice of bhakti-yoga.

Human beings carry a variety of diseases and each needs to be treated individually. Unless the disease is properly diagnosed, proper treatment cannot be administered and the ailment cannot be cured. A platform speaker cannot do much for sick people. He can only give token relief. One who gives personal instruction to each and everyone does more for others than the platform speakers do. Generally, whatever platform speakers say cannot solve the problems of everyone in the audience, nor can it always benefit every individual. A persons defects are better rectified in a private tutorial class or private coaching than in hearing lectures in a school or collage. Therefore, those who instruct particular persons separately can award them something more permanent. - Amrta Vani, page 308

The programs initiated by the Congregational Development Ministry are dedicated to this goal: to provide devotees with personal care and guidance. Following the framework designed by the acaryas, senior devotees take up the service of training and counseling junior devotees in the Bhakti-vriksha and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura spoke about the duties of a devotee-preacher:

There are no real friends or well-wishers in this world except those who attract the living entities to chant Krishnas holy names. The charity given by millions of magnanimous donors is insignificant compared to the magnanimous nature of the preachers of the holy names. - Amrta Vani, page 307

Sri Mahaprabhu has said, In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard. Mundane sound vibration has filled the entire world. We should replace it with transcendental sound vibrationWorship the Lord with love and devotion and benefit the whole world. Those who are of a higher class should preach. It was Mahaprabhus desire that we each propagate the transcendental sound vibration, so we should engage in namasankirtana. - Amrta Vani, page 311

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura delivered an address to his sannyasi disciples before they departed for preaching the mission abroad. The instructions contained in Sarasvati Thakuras speech are especially encouraging for ISKCON devotees who are assisting in delivering Gaura-vani in Western countries.

Those nations to whom you are going for the propagation of the chant of Hari are mounted on the summit of proficiency in all affairs of this world. They are practiced in the exercise of

rational judgment [and] are endowed with the quality of good manners. [We] should maintain our hope unshaken that they will prove to be the worthiest re\cipients of the heard transcendental Voice if we unlock to them the gates of the natural exhibition of abiding argument and enduring judgment. If we unpack our baggage of the genuine discourse of Hari by relying on the qualities of forbearance it will certainly receive the garland of welcome from the hearts of nations gifted with keen intelligence. We are merely beggars devoted to the chanting of the words of Sri Caitanya. We have no more nor any higher desirable object than the pleasure of serving Sri Hari-Guru-Vaisnavas. - A Ray of Visnu, page 122

Chapter 3: Srila Prabhupada's Vision

The essential evidence: quotes culled from Srila Prabhupada's books, letters and conversations establishing that congregational development plays a significant role in expanding the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

"Let one remain what he is"

Srila Prabhupada built a house the whole world can live in - Krishna's house. He knew that not everyone interested in spiritual life would live in the temple. Does this mean that such

people are less pure or less surrendered to Krishna? Of course not, and the following quotes from Srila Prabhupada support the truth that one can practice Krishna consciousness from any position. In the Bhagavad-gita, we learn that it is not necessary to give up our occupation to have a devotional life: tasmat sarvesu kalesu mam anusmara yudhya ca mayy arpita-mano-buddhir mam evaisyasy asamsayah "Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Krsna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt." -Bhagavad-gita, 8.7 translation and purport

If we preach to people that the highest form of worship is to live in a temple, we may misguide people in their spiritual lives. If a preacher prematurely asks people to leave behind their homes and families to move into a temple, prospective devotees be scared away. Rather, we can encourage congregational members as Krishna encouraged Arjuna: He does not advise Arjuna simply to remember Him and give up his occupation. No, the Lord never suggests anything impractical. In this material world, in order to maintain the body one has to work. Human society is divided, according to work, into four divisions of social orderbrahmana, ksatriya, vaisya and sudra. The brahmana class or intelligent class is working in one way, the ksatriya or administrative class is working in another way, and the mercantile class and the laborers are all tending to their specific duties. In the human society, whether one is a laborer, merchant, administrator or farmer, or even if one belongs to the highest class and is a literary man, a scientist or a theologian, he has to work in order to maintain his existence. The Lord therefore tells Arjuna that he need not give up his occupation, but while he is engaged in his occupation he should remember Krishna (mam anusmara). If he doesn't practice remembering Krishna while he is struggling for existence, then it will not be possible for him to remember Krishna at the time of death. - Bhagavad-gita, Introduction

Preachers must follow Krishna's instructions and encourage others to become Krishna conscious in every aspect of their lives. One can think of Krishna anywhere. Lord Caitanya also advises this. He says: kirtaniyah sada hari. One should practice chanting the names of the Lord always. The names of the Lord and the Lord are non-different. So Lord Krishna's instructions to Arjuna to "remember Me" and Lord Caitanya's injunction to "always chant the names of Lord Krishna" are the same instruction. There is no difference, because Krishna and Krishna's name are non-different. In the absolute status there is no difference between reference and referent. Therefore we have to practice remembering the Lord always, twenty-four hours a day, by chanting His names and molding our life's activities in such a

way that we can remember Him always. How is this possible? The acaryas give the following example. If a married woman is attached to another man, or if a man has an attachment for a woman other than his wife, then the attachment is to be considered very strong. One with such an attachment is always thinking of the loved one. The wife who is thinking of her lover is always thinking of meeting him, even while she is carrying out her household chores. In fact, she carries out her household work even more carefully so her husband will not suspect her attachment. Similarly, we should always remember the supreme lover, Sri Krishna, and at the same time perform our material duties very nicely. A strong sense of love is required here. If we have a strong sense of love for the Supreme Lord, then we can discharge our duty and at the same time remember Him. But we have to develop that sense of love. Arjuna, for instance, was always thinking of Krishna; he was the constant companion of Krishna, and at the same time he was a warrior. Krishna did not advise him to give up fighting and go to the forest to meditate. - Bhagavad-gita, Introduction

Srila Prabhupada stated that a devotee is not just one who lives in a temple. However, some temple communities make a strong distinction between living inside and living outside the temple. There is sometimes a stigma placed on living outside. To preach effectively, we should try to correct this attitude if it still exists in our temple communities. Actually there is no difference between devotees living inside the temple and devotees living outside the temple. You are right that the important thing is to remember Krishna, whatever is your activity. - letter to Susan Beckman, 20 September 1972

At a press conference in London, 5 August 1971, Srila Prabhupada and his disciple corrected the misunderstandings many have about what makes a devotee: Prabhupada: We are not concerned with the family, we are concerned with the individual person. If one wants to be initiated in this Krishna consciousness movement he has to give up all these sinful activities. Woman Interviewer: So you give up family as well. But what about Syamasundara: No, no, you don't have to give up one's family. Woman Interviewer: But I mean supposing I wished to become an initiate. Wouldn't I have to come and live here? Syamasundara: No. Prabhupada: Not necessarily. Woman Interviewer: Oh, I could stay at home? Prabhupada: Oh, yes. Woman Interviewer: What about work, though? Does one have to give up one's job? Prabhupada: You have to give up these bad habits and chant these beads, Hare Krishna mantra. That's all. Woman Interviewer: Would I have to give any financial support? Prabhupada: No, that's your voluntary wish. If you give us, that's all right. Otherwise, we don't mind. Woman Interviewer: Sorry, I didn't understand. Prabhupada: We do not want to depend on anyone's financial contributions. We depend on God, or Krishna. Woman Interviewer: So I wouldn't have to give any money at all. Prabhupada: No. Woman Interviewer: Is this one of the main things that distinguishes a genuine guru from a fake guru? Prabhupada: Yes. A genuine guru is not a business man.

Srila Prabhupada taught us that Krishna consciousness is practical. We can convey that practicality in our preaching so that people can easily apply Krishna consciousness in their lives. Yogesvara: During your conversation with this gentleman, you mentioned that there was nowhere any sanction by God for industry or business. So does that mean that these workers in factories and industries, to take to Krishna consciousness they could not go on with their work? Prabhupada: No. Our recommendation is that whatever position you are, you can chant Hare Krishna. So even the workers in the factory, they can chant Hare Krishna. What is the difficulty? Even in factory, they take some leisure hours. So why not sit down for five minutes, ten minutes, and chant Hare Krishna? Where is the difficulty? Apart from the work they are doing, we are recommending, "Whatever is done is done. You chant Hare Krishna. Then everything will be all right." Where is the wrong? Yogesvara: But eventually it's understood they must stop their industry. Prabhupada: There is no question of stopping. If that is their livelihood, how they can stop it? That is not possible. But they can add this Hare Krishna mantra chanting. Then things will be adjusted. It is not possible to stop different methods of livelihood. That is not possible. If one can stop, it is well and good, but even he does not stop, he can chant Hare Krishna mantra. - room conversation, Rome, 24 May 1974

Another important point is that Lord Caitanya did not like hypocrisy. People's hearts are longing for a sincere and pure spiritual movement that teaches love of God. Most people can distinguish between a genuine spiritual movement and one that may be putting on an external show but internally has hypocrisy, neglect of its members, and other problems. Which type of movement have we become? Our movement's success depends the degree to which we follow the teachings of Srila Prabhupada-not fanatically, without sense, but in a proper mood and in a spirit of love.

Instead of becoming a pseudo transcendentalist for the sake of wanton living and sense enjoyment, it is far better to remain in one's own business and execute the purpose of life, which is to get free from material bondage and enter into the kingdom of God. The prime svartha-gati, or goal of self-interest, is to reach Visnu. The whole institution of varna and is designed to help us reach this goal of life. A householder can also reach this destination by regulated service in Krishna consciousness. For self-realization, one can live a controlled life, as prescribed in the sastras, and continue carrying out his business without attachment, and in that way make progress. A sincere person who follows this method is far better situated than the false pretender who adopts show-bottle spiritualism to cheat the innocent public. A sincere sweeper in the street is far better than the charlatan meditator who meditates only for the sake of making a living. - Bhagavad-gita 3.7

There are many pseudo meditators who misrepresent themselves as belonging to high parentage, and great professional men who falsely pose that they have sacrificed everything for the sake of advancement in spiritual life. Lord Krishna did not want Arjuna to become a pretender. Rather, the Lord desired that Arjuna perform his prescribed duties as set forth for ksatriyas. Arjuna was a householder and a military general, and therefore it was better for him to remain as such and perform his religious duties as prescribed for the householder ksatriya. Such activities gradually cleanse the heart of a mundane man and free him from material contamination. - Bhagavad-gita 3.8

Let us take to the gradual cleansing process recommended by the Lord instead of teaching false or premature renunciation which can be harmful to devotional life.

3.1: Preaching as a Way of Life

yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna' - upadesa amara ajnaya guru haia tara' ei desa

Lord Caitanya went a step further to say that not only can one practice devotional service from home, but that an ordinary householder can and should become a spiritual master! Here is where the great potential for the field of congregational preaching can be seen. "Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Sri Krsna as they are given in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land." PURPORT: This is the sublime mission of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Many people come and inquire whether they have to give up family life to join the Society, but that is not our mission. One can remain comfortably in his residence. We simply request everyone to chant the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. If one is a little literate and can read Bhagavad-gita As It Is and Srimad-Bhagavatam, that is so much the better. The Krishna consciousness movement is trying to elevate human society to the perfection of life by pursuing the method described by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His advice to the brahmana Kurma. That is, one should stay at home, chant the Hare Krishna mantra and preach the instructions of Krishna as they are given in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. - Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 7.128

kabhu na badhibe tomara vijnaya-taraiga punarapi ei tham pabe mora saiga Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu further advised the brahmana Kurma, "If you follow this instruction, your materialistic life at home will not obstruct your spiritual advancement. Indeed, if you follow these regulative principles, we will again meet here, or, rather, you will never lose My company."

Lord Caitanya set the example of how one can preach to householders. ei mata yanra ghare kare prabhu bhiksa sei aiche kahe, tamre karaya ei siksa "At whomever's house Sri Caitanya accepted His alms by taking prasada, He would convert the dwellers to His sankirtana movement and advise them just as He advised the brahmana named Kurma." The cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is explained here very nicely. One who surrenders to Him and is ready to follow Him with heart and soul does not need to change his location. Nor is it necessary for one to change status. One may remain a householder, a medical practitioner, an engineer or whatever. It doesn't matter. One only has to follow the instruction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and instruct relatives and friends in the teachings of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.

- Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 7.130

He also engaged His householder disciples in the sankirtana preaching mission. In the course of His preaching work, He used to send daily all His followers, including Srila Nityananda Prabhu and Thakura Haridasa, two chief whips of His party, from door to door to preach the Srimad-Bhagavatam. All of Navadvipa was surcharged with His sankirtana movement, and His headquarters were situated at the house of Srivasa Thakura and Sri Advaita Prabhu, two of His chief householder disciples. - Srimad-Bhagavatam, Introduction

Imagine how rapidly Krishna consciousness could spread if we as preachers empowered the congregation to engage their homes, words, skills, talents, and families in the preaching movement. Why ask them to give everything to the temple if they can turn their own homes into active preaching, training, or educational centers.

Srila Prabhupada showed us how simple it is to practice Krishna consciousness at home: The best process for making the home pleasant is Krishna consciousness. If one is in full Krishna consciousness, he can make his home very happy, because this process of Krishna

consciousness is very easy. One need only chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, accept the remnants of foodstuffs offered to Krishna, have some discussion on books like Bhagavad-gita and SrimadBhagavatam, and engage oneself in deity worship. These four things will make one happy. One should train the members of his family in this way. The family members can sit down morning and evening and chant together Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. If one can mold his family life in this way to develop Krishna consciousness, following these four principles, then there is no need to change from family life to renounced life. But if it is not congenial, not favorable for spiritual advancement, then family life should be abandoned. One must sacrifice everything to realize or serve Krishna, just as Arjuna did. - Bhagavad-gita 13.8-12, purport

Any householder, regardless of his position, can perform this sankirtana-yajna without expenditure. All the family members can sit down together and simply clap their hands and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Somehow or other, everyone can manage to perform such a yajna and distribute prasada to the people in general. That is quite sufficient for this age of Kali. The Krishna consciousness movement is based on this principle: chant the Hare Krishna mantra at every moment, as much as possible, both inside and outside of the temples, and, as far as possible, distribute prasadam. - Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.12.10, purport

Srila Prabhupada cited the example of Advaita Acarya regarding worship at home: In this way all the opulences of Advaita Acarya, His faith, devotion, home, riches and everything else were successfully utilized in the worship of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. PURPORT: Advaita Acarya set an ideal example for all householder devotees in His reception of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His devotees and in His execution of a daily festival at His home. If one has the proper means and wealth, he should occasionally invite the devotees of Lord Caitanya who are engaged in preaching all over the world and hold a festival at home simply by distributing prasada and talking about Krishna during the day and holding congregational chanting for at least three hours in the evening. This procedure must be adopted in all centers of the Krishna consciousness movement. Thus they will daily perform sankirtana-yajna. In Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.5.32) the daily performance of sankirtana-yajna is recommended for this age. One should worship Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His four associates, the Panca-tattva, by distributing prasada and holding congregational chanting. Indeed, that, yajna or sacrifice, is most recommended in this Age of Kali. In this age, other yajnas are not possible to perform, but this yajna can be performed everywhere and anywhere without difficulty. - Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 3.204

We can teach new devotees to not only offer their food to Krishna, but to distribute the prasada. In this way they will immediately be engaged in preaching work and experience the joy of helping other souls come back to Krishna. Lord Caitanya advocated a process whereby everyone may remain in his present position without change but simply hear from the proper authoritative sources about Krishna. Lord Caitanya advised everyone to spread the word of Krishna. He advised, "All of you become spiritual masters. Your duty is simply to talk to whomever you meet of Krishna or of the instructions given by Krishna." The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is operating for this purpose. We do not ask anyone to first change his position and then come to us. Instead, we invite everyone to come with us and simply chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, because we know that if one simply chants and hears the topics of Krishna, one's life will change; he will see a new light, and his life will be successful. - Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.7.44, purport

Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu requested them all to return home and begin chanting the holy name congregationally. He also requested them to worship Krishna, chant His holy name and discuss His holy pastimes. Everyone can execute the cult of Krishna consciousness at home, as ordered by the Lord. Everyone can congregationally chant the holy name of Krishna, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. One can also discuss the subject matter of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam and install Deities of Radha-Krishna or Gaura-Nitai or both and worship them very carefully in one's own home. It is not that we have to open different centers all over the world. Whoever follows the Krishna consciousness movement can install Deities at home and, under superior guidance, worship the Deity regularly, chanting the maha-mantra and discussing Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. We are actually teaching in our classes how to go about this. One who feels that he is not yet ready to live in a temple or undergo strict regulative principles in the temple, especially householders who live with wife and children, can start a center at home by installing the deity, worshiping the Lord morning and evening, chanting Hare Krishna and discussing Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Anyone can do this at home without difficulty, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu requested all the devotees present there to do so. - Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 3.190

The simple process of pleasing the Lord (for the householders especially) is to install the Deity of the Lord at home. By concentrating on the Deity, one may progressively go on with the daily routine work. Worshiping the Deity at home, serving the devotee, hearing the Srimad-Bhagavatam, residing in a holy place and chanting the holy name of the Lord are all inexpensive items by which one can please the Lord. - Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.9.27, purport

Srila Prabhupada made many references to service in the home: One may live in the darkest jungle alone out of home, but a steadfast devotee knows very well that he is not alone. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is with him, and He can protect His sincere devotee in any awkward circumstance. One should therefore practice devotional service at home, hearing and chanting the holy name, quality, form, pastimes, entourage, etc. in association with pure devotees, and this practice will help one awaken God consciousness in proportion to one's sincerity of purpose. One who desires material benefit by such devotional activities can never depend on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although He sits in everyone's heart. Nor does the Lord give any direction to persons who worship Him for material gain. Such materialistic devotees may be blessed by the Lord with material benefits, but they cannot reach the stage of the first-class human being, as above mentioned. There are many examples of such sincere devotees in the history of the world, especially in India, and they are our guides on the path of self-realization. Mahatma Vidura is one such great devotee of the Lord, and we should all try to follow in his lotus footsteps for self-realization. If we take to Krishna consciousness, automatically we become immune from sinful activities. The devotional service. The mind, being engaged on the lotus feet of Krishna, as Ambarisha Maharaja did. Ambarisha Maharaja was very responsible emperor of the world, but he fixed up his mind on the lotus feet of Krsna and he engaged his words simply: vaikunthagunanuvarnane, simply describing the qualities, the transcendental qualities of Krishna. He used his eyes to see the Deity. He used his legs to go to the temple. He used his hands for cleansing the temple. He used his nose for smelling the flower and tulasi offered to Krishna. He used his tongue for tasting krishna-prasada. In this way he engaged all his senses in the service of the Lord. So there was no chance of committing sinful activities by his body. It is, it can be done by everyone. Everyone can install Deity at his home and regularly worship the Deity according to the injunction of the sastras and spiritual master, eat prasadam, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, and chant Hare Krishna. This is simple life. And one can become immune from all sinful reactions. - lecture, Vrindavana, 5 November 1972

PURPORT: This is an opportunity for everyone. If one simply follows the instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, under the guidance of His representative, and chants the Hare Krishna mantra, teaching everyone as far as possible the same principle, the contamination of the materialistic way of life will not even touch him. It does not matter whether one lives in a holy place like Vrindavana, Navadvipa or Jagannatha Puri or in the midst of European cities where the materialistic way of life is very prominent. If a devotee follows the instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he lives in the company of the Lord. Wherever he lives, he converts that place into Vrindavana and Navadvipa. This means that materialism cannot touch him. This is the secret of success for one advancing in Krishna consciousness. - Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 7.129

We want every house to be a temple, not that our place should be the only place for the people to come. Especially for the householder devotees, the path of deity worship is strongly recommended. As far as possible, every householder, by the direction of the spiritual master, must install the Deity of Visnu, forms like Radha-Krishna, Laksmi-Narayana or Sita-Rama especially, or any other form of the Lord, like Nrsimha, Varaha, Gaura-Nitai, Matsya, Kurma, salagrama-sila and many other forms of Visnu, like Trivikrama, Kesava, Acyuta, Vasudeva, Narayana and Damodara, as recommended in the Vaisnava-tantras or Puranas, and one's family should worship strictly following the directions and regulations of arcana-vidhi. Any member of the family who is above twelve years of age should be initiated by a bona fide spiritual master, and all the members of the household should be engaged in the daily service of the Lord, beginning from morning (4 a.m.) till night (10 p.m.) by performing mangalaaratrika, niranjana, arcana, puja, kirtana, srngara, bhoga-vaikali, sandhya-aratrika, patha, bhoga (at night), sayana-aratrika, etc. Engagement in such worship of the deity, under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, will greatly help the householders to purify their very existence and make rapid progress in spiritual knowledge. Simple theoretical book knowledge is not sufficient for a neophyte devotee. Book knowledge is theoretical, whereas the arcana process is practical. Spiritual knowledge must be developed by a combination of theoretical and practical knowledge, and that is the guaranteed way for attainment of spiritual perfection. The training of devotional service for a neophyte devotee completely depends on the expert spiritual master who knows how to lead his disciple to make gradual progress towards the path back home, back to Godhead. - Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.22, purport

Regarding worship of the form of the Lord, or deity, Rupa Gosvami has written the following verse: "My dear friend, if you still have any desire to enjoy the company of your friends within this material world, then don't look upon the form of Krishna, who is standing on the bank of Kesi-ghata [a bathing place in Vrindavana]. He is known as Govinda, and His eyes are very enchanting. He is playing upon His flute, and on His head there is a peacock feather. And His whole body is illuminated by the moonlight in the sky."

Thus it is the duty of every householder to install deities of the Lord at home and to begin the process of worshiping along with all of his family members. This will save everyone from such unwanted activities as going to clubs, cinemas and dancing parties, and smoking, drinking, etc. All such nonsense will be forgotten if one stresses the worship of the deities at home. -The Nectar of Devotion, Text 13

Srila Prabhupada also talked about his own experiences as a child: Our house was just behind the present Govinda Bhavana. And we had the opportunity of seeing this Radha-Govinda from very childhood. When I was three or four years old I used to visit this Radha-Govinda daily. Pusta Krishna Jaya Radha-Govinda! Jaya Prabhupada. And that is the inspiration of my devotional life. Then I asked my father that "Give me RadhaGovinda Deity; I shall worship." So my father was also Vaisnava. He gave me small RadhaGovinda Deity. I was worshiping in my house. Whatever I was eating, I was offering, and I was following the ceremonies of this Radha-Govinda with my small Deity. - talk at Radha-Govinda Mandir, Calcutta, 24 March 1976

Devotional service is very simple, and anyone can adopt it. Let one remain what he is; he need only install the deity of the Supreme Lord in his house. The Deity may be Radha-Krsna or Laksmi-Narayana (there are many other forms of the Lord). In this way a brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya or sudra can worship the deity with the results of his honest labor. - Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.20.9, purport

3.2: Training People to make Temples in their Homes

From the vision presented by Srila Prabhupada it is clear that people can worship Krishna from their homes. But who will teach them how? To learn any new skill requires personalized training and care. Devotees working under the banner of congregational development should

spend time in people's homes teaching them deity worship, chanting, cooking and other devotional arts. Srila Prabhupada also stressed that the temple can serve as an example for householders to follow: "Immediately, a person cannot be renounced, therefore gradually, step by step. So unless there is proper training... Now just like we are selling millions copies of these books, they are reading, and how many of them coming forward? So it requires training. Training is essential to make them Krsna conscious." - evening darsana, Bombay, 14 August 1976

My Dear Tamala Krishna, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 29, 1969, and I am glad to note that our temple activities are effecting good results. The boys and girls from the neighborhood coming to help the temple activities is the good result of our attempts. The temple center is started just to present example to the neighboring residents how they can make a small temple in each and every home. It is not necessary that hundreds and thousands of people will live in our temple, but if we can make effective propaganda, then the neighboring residents, householders, will be inclined to be initiated and follow the modes of temple life. So you encourage the visitors, boys and girls as well as married couples, to understand the value of life and how they can peacefully and happily live if they follow the routine worship method in the temple and establish this in their home to be happy in all respects. Krishna Consciousness Movement is actually an attempt to make all people happy generally and, becoming liberated in this life from material contamination, they'll be thus eligible to enter into the Kingdom of God after quitting this body. - 1 June 1969

Temple authorities can help new devotees worship from their homes as well. My Dear Hugo Salemon, Please accept my blessings I am in due reciept of your letter dated October 8th, 1974. So far your worship of Lord Jagannatha in your home and your becoming initiated. It is alright provided you have the recommendation of the temple president. I am very glad to see that such a young boy as yourself you are taking serious interest in this Krishna Consciousness Movement. Please continue in this way. Our process is something universal. It cannot be checked by any means. Anyone in any place, in any country can chant Hare Krishna. If it is possible to go to the temple, then take advantage of the temple. A temple is a place where by one is given the opportunity to render direct devotional service to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. In conjunction with this you should always read my books

daily and all your questions will be answered and you will have a firm basis of Krishna Consciousness. In this way your life will be perfect. I hope this meets you in good health, Your ever well-wisher A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

An acarya who comes for the service of the Lord cannot be expected to conform to a stereotype, for he must find the ways and means by which Krishna consciousness may be spread. Stereotyped methods will never help spread Krishna consciousness. Therefore, what we are doing is perfect by the grace of Lord Caitanya, for it is He who proposed to invent a way to capture those who strayed from Krishna consciousness. - Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi 7.31-32 purport

A devotee shows compassion to those poor souls who are wanting in spiritual knowledge by enlightening them in order to elevate them to Krishna consciousness. That is one of the duties of a devotee. He should also make friendship with persons who are on an equal level with himself or who have the same understanding that he does. For a devotee, there is no point in making friendships with ordinary persons; he should make friendship with other devotees so that by discussing among themselves, they may elevate one another on the path of spiritual understanding. This is called ista-gosthi. In Bhagavad-gita there is reference to bodhayantah parasparam, "discussing among themselves." Generally pure devotees utilize their valuable time in chanting and discussing various activities of Lord Krishna or Lord Caitanya amongst themselves. There are innumerable books, such as the Puranas, Mahabharata, Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita and

Upanisads, which contain countless subjects for discussion among two devotees or more. Friendship should be cemented between persons with mutual interests and understanding. Such persons are said to be sva-jati, "of the same caste." - Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.29.17

Organization and intelligence are necessary ingredients for effective preaching, and some devotees may organize preaching parties that focus on teaching people devotional skills that they can apply in their lives. We can have traditional traveling book distribution parties, as well as traveling cultivation parties. Jagadisa: Prabhupada, I was thinking of taking books, going from town to town, and finding interested people and then... Prabhupada: Everyone will be interested. Jagadisa: Yes. And stay for some time in one place, find some local people, train them up cooking... Prabhupada: Yes. Yes, that is good. Jagadisa: ...kirtana, speaking, reading the books... Prabhupada: Oh, yes. That is wanted. Jagadisa: ...and let them set up a small center in their house or purchase one storefront. Prabhupada: If one is convinced about this favorably, that is success. It doesn't matter what dress. Let him teach his family, and the neighborhood. Let them do their own business. It doesn't matter. Let them understand Krishna, Krishna science. That is wanted. Do that program. Make that program. - room conversation, Bombay, 7 January 1977

Bhavananda: Srila Prabhupada, in our preaching in Bengal, many times we come to villages and the people are very sincere. They say that "We have our village, but we need someone here to guide us." Prabhupada: Yes. Bhavananda: "If you could make one small little temple with Gaura-Nitai and have someone here to tell us what to do" They want to become Krsna conscious. Prabhupada: Oh, yes. Bhavananda: But there's no one there to guide them.

Prabhupada: So you reply this, that "You come. I shall train you. You will guide. We are prepared to guide you, but it is not possible to, bring men outside to guide you. You come to us. I shall train you how to guide." This is the reply. And that is wanted. - room conversation, Mayapur, 14 February 1977

Prabhupada: ...That is the way of Indian teaching, that there is one teacher, and how he's managing hundreds? That means there are groups. One who is elderly student, he's taking some beginners: "Write a or A like this." That he can teach. What he has learned, he can teach. Similarly, next group, next group. So in this way, one teacher can manage hundreds of students of different categories. This is organization. Not that everything I have to do. I cannot teach anybody to do it. That is not intelligence. Intelligence is that employ others to help you. That is intelligence. Not that "Oh, I was busy, I could not do it." Why? What about your assistant? Train assistant so that in your absence things can be done. ...Everyone should be teacher and student. - room conversation, Paris, 30 July 1976

In a letter, Srila Prabhupada shows his appreciation of home preaching: Your home to home preaching is very good. The important thing is to make arrangements that they hear and chant. That will make your preaching successful. Once they begin chanting then automatically they will want to follw othe rules and regulations, attend aroti, take prasada., etc. - Letter to Tusta Krishna Swami, 9 January 1976

In this way, try to recruit some of the intelligent class of student class to take up this Krishna consciousness philosophy and study it carefully. Try to recruit some of such men to become our devotees. There is need for intelligent young men to train them up as future leaders and preachers to go all over the world for spreading the message of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If we simply go to the college on one night and leave immediately for another place, it will be difficult to make very much impression upon these students. I think it is better to stay at one place for some time, at least one week, or as long as the students are interested, and try to sell as many books as possible. After your lecture in the college you may request if there are any interested students, that they may make further programs for you in their homes, or in some

club or hall, like that, so that you may remain some time longer and concentrate on recruiting two or three good men, whoever appears to be the most interested, and by your diligent preaching to them you may be able to persuade some of them to become our devotees. Of course we shall not expect them immediately to come into the temple, like that, but if at least the seed is planted and they begin chanting rounds and following the principles while continuing their studies at school, that is our great victory. And if they like, they may go and live in one of our centers, wherever they like, and learn further. - letter to Satsvarupa and Hrdayananda, 9 January 1973

We want to show the world that Krishna's service is not stereotyped, one-sided. Krishna can be served from any position, provided one is willing to serve Him. Krishna can be served and approached by businessmen, by lawyers, by scientists, by artists, by musicians, by philosophers, even by thieves and rogues; everyone. He is so kind. One has simply to accept the prescribed method how to approach Him. When I speak of thieves and rogues I do not mean that a Krishna devotee is also a thief or rogue. The idea is that even the thieves and rogues are eligible to accept this path of Krishna Consciousness and make their lives sublime. - letter to Gargamuni, 11 November 1969

As described in the second verse of this chapter, not only is this devotional service easy, but it can be performed in a happy mood. One does not need to undergo any severe penance and austerity. He can live this life in devotional service, guided by an expert spiritual master, and in any position, either as a householder or a sannyasi or a brahmacari in any position and anywhere in the world, he can perform this devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus become actually mahatma, a great soul. - Bhagavad-gita 9.14

For spiritual advancement of knowledge a suitable place and atmosphere are definitely required. The place on the western bank of the Saraswati is especially suitable for this purpose. And there is the ashram of Vyasadeva. Srila Vyasadeva was a householder, yet his residential place is called an ashram. An ashram is a place where spiritual culture is always foremost. It does not matter whether the place belongs to a householder or a mendicant. The whole varnsrama system is so designed that each and every status of life is called an srama. This means that spiritual culture is the common factor for all. The brahmacris, the grhasthas, the vnaprasthas and the sannysis all belong to the same mission of life, namely, realization of the Supreme. Therefore none of them are less important as far as spiritual culture is concerned. The difference is a matter of formality on the strength of renunciation. The sannysis are held in high estimation on the strength of practical renunciation. - Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.2.

In this way, try to recruit some of the intelligent class of student class to take up this Krishna Consciousness philosophy and study it carefully. Try to recruit some of such men to become our devotees. There is need for intelligent young men to train them up as future leaders and preachers to go all over the world for spreading the message of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If we simply go to the college on one night and leave immediately for another place, it will be difficult to make very much impression upon these students. I think it is better to stay at one place for some time, at least one week, or as long as the students are interested, and try to sell as many books as possible. After your lecture in the college you may request if there are any interested students, that they may make further programs for you in their homes, or in some club or hall, like that, so that you may remain some time longer and concentrate on recruiting two or three good men, whoever appears to be the most interested, and by your diligent preaching to them you may be able to persuade some of them to become our devotees. Of course we shall not expect them immediately to come into the temple, like that, but if at least the seed is planted and they begin chanting rounds and following the principles while continuing their studies at school, that is our great victory. And if they like, they may go and live in one of our centers, wherever they like, and learn further. - Letter to Satsvarupa and Hrdayananda, 9 January 1973

The Nectar of Congregational Preaching, Chapter 4

Statements by Members of the GBC Body

Part 1
(Click on the photo to display the whole statement.)

His Holiness A.C. Bhaktivaibhava Swami

"Congregational members naturally need more encouragement because of the material duties they have to perform."

His Grace Anuttama Prabhu

"Leaders and managers must understand how to help develop, nurture and empower our congregation members."

His Grace Bhadrinarayana Prabhu

"There is a section of humankind that is inclined toward monastic life, for living in the temple, and being very strict and austere. "

His Holiness Bhakti Brnga Govinda Maharaja

"I would like to request all of our members to try and understand how we can implement Nama-hatta and Bhaktivriksha groups in a more concrete and sound way. This will help us to further the mission of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu."

His Holiness Bhakti Bhusana Maharaja

"This congregational preaching is very important, and I wish it could be developed much more, because without a doubt it is the program of the future."

The Nectar of Congregational Preaching, Chapter 4 (Part 2)

Statements by Members of the GBC Body

Part 2
(Click on the photo or the name to show the whole statement.)

His Holiness Bhakti Caitanya Swami

"An inspired and well-organized congregation is one of the great assets that any ISKCON project can have, and I am completely supportive of any congregational development program." (Photo: Vrndavan-lila dd)

His Holiness Bhakti Caru Swami

"It is very important that all temples around the world recognize the effectiveness of this preaching strategy, and implement it with all sincerity. Then the desired result of successfully spreading Krishna consciousness, all over the world, will be achieved." (Photo: Vrndavan-lila dd)

His Holiness Bhaktimarga Swami

"This is whats going to interest these people who are growing up in North American, Western European, or whatever society. They are going to be looking because theyre lost." (Photo: Vrndavan-lila dd)

His Holiness Bhanu Swami

"The group becomes in fact a spiritual community, catering to all the needs of the individuals, with mutual cooperation for spiritual progress. The group provides mutual assistance to overcome individual problems, whatever they may be."

His Holiness Bhakti Purusottama Swami

"Temple presidents should not take congregational preaching to be separate from the temple program. I do not believe that our society can develop nicely by just providing some facility to brahmacaris, Sunday programs, and life membership. Temple presidents should see how effective congregational preaching is and acknowledge it as one of their main preaching programs."

NCP - Chapter 4, Part 3

Statements by Members of the GBC Body

Part 2
(Click on the photo or the name to show the whole statement.)

Sri Srimad Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Goswami Maharaja

"The congregations need more assistance from the temple devotees. They need more guidance in the association of the devotees. It is very important for them to get the association of devotees because they work from morning to night."

His Holiness Bir Krishna dasa Goswami

HH Bir Krishna Maharaja's contribution has been published in a separate article on this web site: Developing Vaishnava Communities.

His Holiness Devamrita Maharaja

"If books are indeed the basis, then it may be a good idea to make them the basis of congregational preaching. A powerful tactic may be to try forming Nama-hatta groups around book distribution, rather than trying to toss it in later as an option."

His Holiness Gopal Krishna Goswami

"The congregational development program should be one of the top programs of every temple and we should encourage the congregation devotees to advance spiritually and to take on responsibilities."

His Holiness Guru Prasada Maharaja

"Bhakti-vriksha is definitely the best program for the development of Krishna consciousness. Now we call it Bhakti-vriksha but Im sure in the future it will have hundreds of divisions. Bhakti-vriksha will be one branch and there will be other branches."

NCP - Chapter 4, Part 4

Statements by Members of the GBC Body

Part 4
(Because of it's length, this contribution from the Minister for Congregational Development is presented as a separate article.)

His Holiness Jayapataka Maharaja

Jayapataka Swami - Wikipedia "When temples are given significant support from the congregation, a lot of pressure is taken off the temple devotees. Prior to the congregation helping the temples, resident devotees were forced to do business and other commercial activities just to maintain the temple. Now, many former temple devotees have entered the grihastha ashram and are purifying their lives by giving contributions to the temple. Temple devotees are able to focus more on performing devotional services such as deity worship and preaching." How I came into contact with congregational preaching is something that happened very naturally over a long period of time. In 1969 I went from Toronto, Canada to Los Angeles. In those days I was with Srila Prabhupada on morning walks. One day he stopped walking

opposite a church on a corner and he mentioned that in the future ISKCON would be like that: temples with a few devotees living in them and large congregations of people practicing Krishna consciousness from their home. It was surprising for me to hear Prabhupadas comment, since in those days we were establishing temples and the devotees were living as brahmacaris and brahmacarinis. At the time, large congregations of devotees living outside of the temple seemed a revolutionary idea but Prabhupada knew this would happen. Eventually Srila Prabhupada sent me to India. My impression of India was that everyone seemed to be a devotee. Everyone had altars in their home, and they offered different pujas. Theism was prominent. Living in India gave me an appreciation for Indian people. I saw how people were practicing Krishna consciousness in their homes. (Of course, temple life is something special, and I felt protected as a resident in the temple.) That was something new for me. I didnt have so much experience with home-based bhakti-yoga.

After serving for some time in India, we faced a big challenge in Mayapur. We were attacked and needed support from the Hindu people to protect ourselves. Relying on help from the Hindu community, we held a march with 168 sankirtana parties. Over ten thousand people marched in Mayapur to show their solidarity with ISKCON. Prabhupada was very pleased by the procession. Later I went to see Srila Prabhupada and reported that so many kirtana groups were organized in Mayapur. I wanted to preach to all the village people who were devotees. I proposed that if we organized them that we would be a huge army of people. Srila Prabhupada instructed, You can bring them to the temple. Let them experience Krishna consciousness. Teach them how to worship the deity, then have them go back and practice Krishna consciousness at home. Following Srila Prabhupadas direction, we brought some villagers to the temple and taught them the basic standard of Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada told me that I could make an organization by expanding congregational preaching. I wanted to call the project the ISKCON Sankirtana Organization because I thought that there

were no sankirtana parties in India. Then His Holiness Bhakti Caru Maharaja gave me one Gaudiya magazine with a heading on the front that read, President, A.C. Bhaktivedanta. Srila Prabhupada was, at that time, a vanaprasta and was the publisher of this magazine. Included in the magazine were fine articles by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura on his preaching programs. He was engaged in spreading congregational preaching, and he called his program Nama-hatta, the marketplace of the holy name. I had an inspiration: lets try to revive Bhaktivinoda Thakuras program for the pleasure of the previous spiritual masters and Srila Prabhupada. For many years I helped develop Nama-hatta in India. But when I tried to promote Nama-hatta congregational preaching in other parts of the world, it was not so much appreciated. People had their idea of paradise: devotees wanted to develop everything according to the temples structure without expanding much outside. Meanwhile, in India the Nama-hatta was expanding into hundreds of centers. For many years I tried to expand congregational development single-handedly, but there was not such a good outlook towards Nama-hatta devotees. We tried to establish something to change the negative outlook-that people living outside of the temple could not be devotees-by showing that Krishna consciousness could be effectively practiced at home. From Srila Prabhupadas life we saw that he was a practicing initiated devotee while he was a grihastha. The ten thousand disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura were primarily grihastas.

The question arose: why not in ISKCON? Why shouldnt ISKCON have hundreds of thousands of grihastha devotees practicing from their homes? But how to achieve it? It seemed a mystery, and the idea of organizing grihastas did not interest other preachers. Srila Prabhupadas centennial celebration gave me an opportunity to promote the idea of congregational development. At that time, the GBC awarded me the service as monitor of congregational development. It was a new challenge. I was told to research what other religious groups were doing to spread their missions. I had to find out what the cutting edge strategies were in congregational development. I asked my mother to help with the research since she is active in the Christian ministry. She gave me some books about a new kind of church called cell church. The cell church system is based on small groups meeting together.

I had to determine whether such a thing existed in our Krishna consciousness history. We found that Lord Caitanya gave the order that people should gather in groups of 5 to 10 in front of their house and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. In that way, they avoided persecution from the Muslim rulers. Lord Caitanya also mentioned that congregation develops like a spiritual tree, a tree of devotion. The twigs of a tree grow from one branch and branches out to many more subbranches until it has hundreds and thousands, or many millions of branches all coming from one original root branch. We decided that this program should be called Bhakti-vriksha, or the Tree of Devotion. I got support from the GBC to extend this program. Temples were encouraged to implement Bhakti-vriksha to expand congregational preaching. As time went on, we found out that devotees in the congregation needed care and training. Temple devotees, who are already busy with temple services, cant always take up this service. The plan was that congregation devotees get trained up and take care of each other. We used the structure given by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura as a model. He promoted the Nama-hatta groups in a systematic way. We considered Bhakti-vriksha to be a kind of sub-branch of Nama-hatta. Nama-hatta groups can be small or can be big. Bhakti-vriksha was a small Namahatta which ran in a very dynamic way: a lot of interaction, a lot of discussion, a lot of teambuilding efforts. Sometimes the Nama-hatta could be just a class, questions and answers, prasada and kirtana. It was very interesting to see how things developed. Next we asked some devotees to try this new system called Bhakti-vriksha. There were already thousands of Namahattas around the world by this time, but nobody had done Bhakti-vriksha. The devotees tried it out and found that it was effective, especially among young, educated people. They liked the interaction and discussion. As the preaching developed, the GBC was kind enough to give me service as the Minister of congregational development. This service required more commitment than being a monitor. Now I had to become an expert in the field and set up training programs. Somewhere along the line Kaunteya Dasa, who was the best book distributor from Italy and a very active, intelligent devotee, came to help. His taking on responsibility on behalf of the ministry was a very important development. Good man power is needed to spread the preaching activities. I started interfacing with other ministries, such as the book distribution ministry. We tried to promote book distribution among the congregation and found that the members could significantly impact book distribution scores. Even now, individual congregational devotees distribute books. When the book distribution scores of the congregational members are combined together, they as a group distribute a large amount of books. When temples are given significant support from the congregation, a lot of pressure is taken off the temple devotees. Prior to the congregation helping the temples, resident devotees were

forced to do business and other commercial activities just to maintain the temple. Now, many former temple devotees have entered the grihastha ashram and are purifying their lives by giving contributions to the temple. Temple devotees are able to focus more on performing devotional services such as deity worship and preaching. Gradually different small groups started to develop. At first these small groups were called cell groups, and then later came Nama-hattas. Bhakti-vriksha came next. Bhakti-sangas and counselor groups see to the care of devotees. The idea is that the devotees should be trained in small groups, allowing them to associate with senior devotees, as well as with their friends. Devotee-friends are able to discuss the practical aspects of Krishna consciousness. Practical application makes Krishna consciousness very relevant to life. Otherwise they might not really understand how one can be a practitioner in the home. But when newcomers discuss the practice of Krishna consciousness with committed devotees, practicing from their home becomes very easy. We have had to face many challenges from the beginning. There have been a lot of doubts amongst leaders who are concerned about congregations becoming too strong. Now most temples have congregations. Some are very big. Every temple has congregational support. Relations between the temple and the congregation are improving in most places. There are literally thousands of different kinds of groups helping to spread congregational preaching. There are a number of congregational members who are practicing and training their members. Working in teams, they are organizing temple festivals. Some new temples will come up in places where ISKCON doesnt want to operate on a full deity worship schedule. Even today some temples are run by the congregation-with deities and without deities. For example, in Siberia there is no temple but there are Nama-hatta centers run by the congregation. In South Africa they have a temple that was built by the congregation. The members are running that temple. Some gigantic Nama-hatta centers are growing to the size of temples. Krishna consciousness is now much more established in society. People understand that mothers, fathers and working people are also practicing devotees. We hope that in the future it will more acceptable that people practice Krishna consciousness while doing their daily activities. Devotees in the congregations are getting initiated. They are dedicated. Many of them are serving in the temple boards and proving to be very responsible devotees. They are doing just as Prabhupada was doing as a responsible grihastha devotee. It wasnt that when Srila Prabhupada took sannyasa that he became a responsible devotee; he was responsible all the way through. When he met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, he dedicated his life to serve him. We need so many people to follow in Prabhupadas footsteps. We need such responsible people living in their homes, chanting and practicing Krishna consciousness. Prabhupada expressed his anxiety that we have distributed so many millions of books, yet where are all the devotees? We are not getting as many devotees as we are distributing books. Prabhupada said that devotees need training. Training is sometimes provided in the temples, but usually devotees are trained in some kind of congregational-sponsored program. People can relate with other people who are practicing Krishna consciousness from their home. By developing the congregation, the potential number of devotees we can make is unlimited. Before, when someone left the temple we would say that that persons spiritual life was finished, that he had blooped. Blooping was like disappearing in the ocean of birth and

death. But now devotees are going from active temple service to active home service. Since most of our devotees are living at home, they need to have programs designed to keep them engaged in Krishna consciousness.

I distributed books in India after Prabhupadas departure. A group of us went to Calcutta to do a big marathon. Our goal was to distribute one million books and win the marathon championship. We were a bit ambitious and competitive. At the end of one day, a book distributor came back to me and said: What should I do? What do you mean what should you do? Distribute books! I said. No, he said, something happened today. Whats that? The devotee explained, Well, I went to distribute books in Howrah train station in Calcutta. I distributed to one man who read the book, came back, and said, Im convinced, I want to surrender. You gave me this book, and now you must guide me. What should I do? So I said, Okay. Come and live in the temple. Because thats what I knew people should do. The man replied, All right, but Ive been working here with the railways, a government job, for my whole life. I have three years to serve before I retire and get my pension, which is half of my present salary. I can give that up as you say if thats what I should do to be Krishna conscious. I have a wife and five children. One daughter is paraplegic, handicapped. I have five cows and a dog and some other animals. Plus his grandmother and aunt stayed with them in the

village. Ill bring all of them and live in the temple, the man said. No! I mean, I dont know if the temple has a place for all of you. So what should I do? I read your book. Im convinced and I want to practice. You can become a life member, I suggested. He said, How much is that? You have to pay thousands of rupees to become a life member? Well, Im a poor man. I just get a simple salary, but I can give you a little bit every month from my salary and become a life member. What else should I do? The book distributor had never faced such a situation. He had never met anyone who surrendered upon getting a book. The railway man wanted to give his life to Krishna, and the book distributor didnt know what to do to facilitate that. He told the man, Buy some more books and keep reading. I thought about it. We had to have a program for all these people. It was not practical for them to live in our temple. So what would be our program? Then I remembered what Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote about the Nama-hatta. Nam-hatta is a program suitable for most people in society. During those days after Prabhupada left, I was thinking that ISKCON must develop well organized programs so that people will chant Hare Krishna and practice Krishna consciousness in their homes. Maybe some of them would join the temple, but that is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that people are Krishna conscious and that they are helping to spread the Krishna consciousness movement in whatever situation most suitable. Lord Caitanya preached to a brahmana that he should not give up his family connection to become a sannyasi. Rather, the Lord advised him to spread Krishna consciousness by preaching to everyone he met. In Prabhupadas purports in Caitanya-caritamrta we find that Lord Caitanya did not build any temples. Instead He distributed Krishna consciousness through harinama sankirtana. Gradually, as we get a broader picture of Krishna consciousness, we can develop preaching programs that are relevant and applicable to the larger society. Krishna consciousness isnt only for completely renounced people. Nor is it absolutely necessary for one to live in the temple. The Congregational Development Ministry is trying to organize programs to develop communities in a more systematic way. ISKCON temples will function as holy places to receive congregation members and new devotees. Temples will be tirthas, places of pilgrimage where people come and get purified by praying before the deity, taking prasada and chanting Hare Krishna. But to do this we have to become very expert in receiving guests and making them feel that the temple is their real, spiritual home. If they want to participate in Krishna consciousness, then we can show them how to make their home into a temple. There is so much to do. Among our current programs is the prison ministry. It is under the Congregational Development Ministrys umbrella and is run by very dedicated devotees who are spreading

Krishna consciousness to people in rehabilitation centers and jails. The devotees serving in the ministry hope that people can actually achieve the perfection of life while serving in a correctional institution. Youth programs are necessary for young devotees who are growing up and in need of support. If devotees dont provide care and support to young people, then they may turn to nondevotees. Sense gratification is very attractive for young people. We have to make Krishna consciousness attractive to youth. This is another challenge. The Ministry wants to develop devotee communities in such a way that temple and congregation members work together to provide different services. In some temples they have different teams of devotees who help other devotees. Some temples have community services which enable grihastha devotees to serve. These service are important examples of Vaisnava seva: helping people get married, providing counselling if the marriage has some difficulty, giving health facilities to devotees by devotee doctors and dentists. They can do some service for the devotees either at a reduced rate or for free. I saw in one temple that police services are available. Those devotees who are employers can give jobs to unemployed devotees. The scope is very great for expanding congregational communities around our temples. In some places congregational groups have formed teams under the temple management. In one place, the congregational members hold festivals. Different groups take responsibility for different aspects of the festivals. This system of delegation makes it very easy for the temple president and his team to utilise the vast man power in the congregation in a very effective way. When people perform devotional service, they get a taste and get purified. A lady came up to me one time and told me, Maharaja, Im a householder. I have children, and my husband takes the car and goes to work. I live far from the temple and I can only go once in a while for the big festival days. But Im so grateful to you because you established Nama-hatta group near our house. I can go there every week. Now Im chanting 16 rounds and following the principles, and Im getting very good association. You saved my life! Im really grateful. This touched my heart. I can think of many simple people like that lady who are benefiting by our humble attempt to give Krishna consciousness through different congregational programs. If we get a blissful taste for Krishna consciousness, then everything is worth while. We can see that everyone will go back to Godhead, chanting Hare Krishna all the way. We need the help of all the devotees to spread this message. This book is an opportunity to let the devotees know more about congregational development, the importance of it, and its history. Srila Prabhupada and the previous acaryas gave us many different structures for spreading Krishna consciousness-congregational development is actually a very exciting preaching field. For the temple devotees there are many opportunities to help congregations grow. Everyone can play a part. I could tell so many success stories of devotees who have tried and succeeded in establishing wonderful congregational programs because of their humble and dedicated efforts. Lets try to make communities of Krishna devotees who are dedicated to following Srila Prabhupada.

Jayapataka Swami

NCP - Chapter 4, Part 5

Statements by Members of the GBC Body

Part 5
(Click on the photo or the name to show the whole statement.)

His Holiness Kavichandra Maharaja

"In is quite obvious that in any religion monks represent a small minority. People have to be trained. Congregational preaching means to train everybody. The home can be an ashram also, but they have to learn what an ashram is like."

His Grace Madhusevita Dasa

"By Krishnas mercy we devised this idea of having a temple with a village constructed nearby. Just like in old Europe, villages were centered around the church. ... All the devotees we had preached to came and settled in the vicinity of the temple. They became a very strong congregation. This is a model that could be applied to many parts of the world. Preaching to the congregation is very auspicious."

Her Grace Malati Devi Dasi

"As wonderful and as big our temples may become, they are not going to be able to be big enough to accommodate the whole world. Lord Caitanyas movement is meant to encompass the whole world."

His Holiness Paramgati Maharaja

"Anyone can become a pure devotee and practice Krishna consciousness at home. Those who are naturally inclined to monastic life can stay in the temple and preach. But there is no difference between those who live in the temple and preach and those who preach from home. The important thing is the devotion, honesty and sincerity of the devotee who practices Krishna consciousness."

His Holiness Prabhavisnu Maharaja

"Of course, to maintain and develop the congregation is a huge project but it can give unlimited opportunity in unlimited circumstances. The congregation is one of the most important fields of preaching and it should be utilized as much as possible. There will be so much benefit both for the preachers, for the grihasthas, for the temples and the movement in general."

NCP - Chapter 4, Part 6

Statements by Members of the GBC Body

Part 6

His Grace Pragosa Prabhu

There is no doubt that congregational development is still one of the great untapped resources available to ISKCON. While our temples, ashramas and educational facilities will always serve as centers of excellence for training and educating devotees to the highest standards of Vaisnava etiquette, culture, and philosophy, for mass distribution of Lord Caitanya's mercy we need more and more congregational outreach. Many devotees have already made great in-roads as far as congregational outreach is concerned but with billions of living entitles on this planet, in many ways we haven't even begun to scratch the surface.

ISKCON's congregational preaching department has made great strides forward and shown a real pioneering spirit that we can now all benefit from and build on. As the momentum continues to gather pace, it will surely only be a matter of time before Lord Gauranga's soothing benevolence will flood all corners of this world we live in.

His Holiness Radhanath Maharaja

HH Radhanath Maharaja's contribution has been published here earlier: Caring for Devotees: The Spiritual Counselor System

His Holiness Ramai Maharaja

I think that congregational preaching is one of the most important forms of preaching in our society. We can trace it back in our Vaisnava tradition from the time of Lord Caitanya when he would go to Srivas Thakuras house and have kirtana and sit with the other devotees. Lord Caitanya Himself would go to other peoples houses and Lord Nityananda also would go with Him. We are already seeing it is growing more and more, and in the future its importance will become more recognized in our society. In Indonesia, a predominately Muslim country, our preaching didnt start with establishing centers. Our preaching started with congregational preaching in peoples homes and building up a following in Krishna consciousness. Whole families are becoming Krishna conscious. In the early years of cultivation in Indonesia, we had got many devotees even before we had any temples. Practically all the preaching for many years was going on in peoples homes. Generally in the history of ISKCON (especially in the West), it has been the other way around. First there were the centers and then the congregation grew more and more. But in Indonesia, we found it to be the opposite. First there was a congregation and from the different areas of the congregation all the devotees wanted to expand more and have a place for regular meetings. They would make a center and sometimes, perhaps, that would turn into a temple. Now we have many hundreds and thousands of devotees in Indonesia and basically it all came from congregational preaching. It is still going on very strong.

The congregation and the centers are in a very cooperative mood. The centers increase the congregational mood, and the congregational preaching enhances the centers mood. In the congregation, the devotees are always encouraged to come to the temple. There are also different types of facilities offered, like educational programs and so forth. In the temple there is not that mood that the outside congregational devotees are not cooperating. In fact, they are also directing anyone who comes to the temple to participate in the congregational programs. I personally spend a lot of time staying at the homes of congregational devotees and doing programs. I think they very much appreciate the sannyasis and the leaders of the society. They appreciate having a sadhu stay in their homes. In fact, there are so many congregation devotees now that there is competition: someone is trying to invite you to there home, someone else is trying to invite you to their home to have programs there. Now in many places they not only have the home preaching, but they have developed leaders in the area and they organize educational programs. I think that we have to see the bigger picture of spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world. There are temples, book distribution, congregational preaching and all these things have to be facilitated very nicely. In Auckland, New Zealand, for example, they are such a developed congregational community that they not only have their own programs, but are supporting the temple in so many ways. They cook the Sunday feast, help on festival days, organize programs and contribute financially. These programs are not only among the Indian devotees. We also have programs where Western and Indian devotees mix. The congregations in Sydney do the home programs where they not only invite the congregation devotees, but the public as well. They get an Indian congregation and they get some Westerners as well. Another thing that happens in Sydney is they have this big Janmastami in the show ground organized by the temple devotees and the congregation devotees combined. They call it the "Festival of India" but it was a Janmastami celebration, so Indian and Western people came. I think that we have to get out of this concept that to do preaching it is absolutely necessary to have a facility first. We have seen with Prabhupadas example, that he didnt really have facility in the beginning. He just started to preach and the facility followed his preaching. Quite often as managers we think, Lets have a facility that will enhance the preaching. But a lot of the time we find we are so involved in establishing the facility that we dont have any more time for preaching. This can almost stop the preaching, and I have personally experienced this. You have to visit people, tell them about Krishna consciousness and gradually things will start to develop more. Krishna will reciprocate. Then the extra facilities required will be provided by Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We have to be very careful not to be too caught up in thinking that before we do some preaching we need a facility.

Certainly we need a basic facility, but really we can just go out. I remember when we first started out in Indonesia one devotee just went to a book fair and set up a table. He could not even speak the language but he decided that he would set up a table and meet some people. It didnt take much money so he just set up his table and people were looking. He made some contacts from the people looking and then he went to visit them in their homes. He didnt think to sell the books to make some money and to build a temple; he just went to their home. The congregation is the first thing. I think that if you are going to a new country that the best strategy is to start off with congregational preaching rather than to start a new facility. Just find a few people and encourage them to bring their friends.

His Grace Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu

I think everybody has realized that congregational preaching has become more and more important because we discovered that all over the world, we have congregations. If Krishna consciousness is going to spreadand it will be spreadit will be chiefly through congregation. That is to say, people living at home, and practicing Krishna consciousness at home, and preaching Krishna consciousness in their homes and from their homes to other people in their homes. The history of ISKCON was that in the beginning it was not a congregational movement. It was ashram centered, and anyone who became a devotee was expected to move into the temple. The idea of congregation came a little slowly to us. We kind of discovered we had a congregation and we didnt know what to do with them. In the early days, if somebody didnt move in the temple, they could not be a devotee. Now we have a different vision and we see that this is where we will go, and so the real importance of congregational ministry is not only to make congregational preachers, but to fulfill the ideal of grihastha ashram. Ashram means a place of spiritual development, a place to make people who live at home spiritually strong. And thats a very great necessity. If people are not spiritually strong at home, then they may not be able to preach effectively. We can only preach by the potency that we have from realized knowledge, when we have experience. So, this is a very, very important mission. Its Prabhupads mission.

His Holiness Romapada Maharaja

When incorporating his worldwide mission dedicated to spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world, Srila Prabhupada outlined seven purposes which capsulized the essence of his mission. By analyzing these seven purposes, one can see how congregation development is aimed at fulfilling all of these seven purposes, when the congregation is properly organized and directed. 1. To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world. o In general, persons very involved in the worldly aspects of modern society can identify more readily with grihastha devotees who are showing by example how one can follow Krishna consciousness seriously while simultaneously fulfilling their family and career duties and responsibilities. Outreach programs like Bhakti-vriksha, Nama-hatta and other study programs give the members of society at large an opportunity to associate openly and closely with such grihastha devotees. Thus, it becomes easy for them to practice Krishna consciousness in their lives, too. This is both a natural and a very effective way to systematically educate society at large in the techniques of spiritual life. 2. To propagate a consciousness of Krishna (God), as it is revealed in the great scriptures of India, Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. o In these congregation outreach programs, the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita is discussed systematically from the very basic level, and gradually elevated studies of Srimad-Bhagavatam and other scriptures. 3. To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, thus developing the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Krishna). o Through Congregational Development programs, participants establish a close bond of friendship via rendering service together, either at the temple or at the local preaching center. During various festivals, members of these groups offer their services whole-heartedly in cooperation with the local authorities. There are many centers which are successfully managed by the congregation. o Congregation development is not complete without grooming the children of the congregation devotees, who are the future of our movement. Initiatives like Sunday School and youth clubs are very much integral to the congregational development programs. Through the medium of service to Krishna only can Krishna's identity be known. Through devotional service to Krishna, our eternal relationship will be revealed. 4. To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God, as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. o By encouraging congregation development, the members are not only encouraged to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra regularly themselves, but also to share this knowledge within their circle of influence. Thus, from the very beginning the members are engaged in the sankirtana movement of Lord Caitanya. 5. To erect for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the personality of Krishna. o The congregation members help in various projects of ISKCON by contributing and organizing fund-raising for temple construction, etc.

6. To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler, more natural way of life. o Once the congregation members become close friends and develop spiritual bonding, they naturally try to create a community amongst themselves to fulfill each others spiritual and material needs based on Srila Prabhupadas teachings of simple living and high thinking. Simplicity of life-style follows naturally from strong connections to Krishna and His service, established over time. 7. With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and other writings. o Congregation members, once trained and properly guided, both directly and indirectly in many ways, enthusiastically distribute Srila Prabhupadas books and other Krishna conscious literatures.

His Grace Sesa Prabhu

A big part of congregational preaching is to get the people to identify with the temples and support them. In Alachua, most of the devotees are congregational members. We have a tithing program: every family or every individual gives a little bit every month to help support the temple. The tithe doesnt always go for big projects, like building a temple or installing new deities. A small tithe can be used for the on-going maintenance of the temple and the temple programs. We take congregational preaching to another level when we get the members to do this type of tithing activity. We recently had a campaign in Alachua and our goal was one-hundred percent participation. Even if someone gave $5 or even $1, everyone participated in the tithing program. I feel that this is something that should be done in every temple. Of course, Srila Prabhupada said that fifty percent should be given. That may not be possible; maybe only some people can do that. We started a program last year called Love Thy Neighbor. We took the Christian saying because we live in a strong Christian area. Everyone invited their next door neighbor to the program: Please come to the temple and see our program. We had a very successful turnout. People came from all around the area in Alachua County and also some from Gainesville. We explained different things about the cow program, the deities, the philosophy, and we had a wonderful feast. A few politicians attended. One of the managers from the local bank came. She was happy to come and see the whole temple arrangement and find out a little about Krishna consciousness. Our plan is to do this as an annual event. Programs like Love Thy Neighbor help people understand what the Hare Krishnas are doing. There are a lot of misconceptions now. People can drive by the temple every day without really knowing what goes on inside. Its our responsibility to invite them and make them feel welcome. Devotees can help people understand that we are not some kind of cult, separate from the community, but that we want to interact with the community.

His Holiness Sivarama Maharaja

In England, there are two categories of congregation members. One is the Indians and the other is the locals. With the Indians, it is easy because theyre already Krishna conscious. For them its just a matter of taking up the practice. For the Westerners, before they become a part of the congregation, it is a real issue. Bringing them to that point requires a lot more work. In both cases, generally, I find that congregational preaching, if its not systematic, planned, result-oriented, just turns into a social club. In my mind, this is not what congregational preaching is meant to be. In other words, if devotees lived in the temple just to have a good time, look at the deities, eat prasada and chant Hare Krishna, wed kick them out. In congregational preaching, the congregation only knows what we tell them about Krishna consciousness. If it becomes a social club, then thats our fault. We have to tell them that Krishna consciousness means to preach; that they have to bring other people into Krishna consciousness. Congregation members have to do some active service. There has to be a system, as there is in the temple, to make sure that everyone is engaged. Its already difficult for the congregation, since they dont have full-time association. Unless they are trained to be productive, they just end up becoming a social club. Systematically organized means they should have systematic training in Krishna consciousness. Not that you open the Gita from wherever you like and speak. The congregation should get systematic training, and get recognition for that. These days people are very result-oriented. The congregation can do harinama, book distribution, and they can come to the temple. The guests in Hungary could be dealt with better. In Hungary, we have two main temples. One is in Budapest and one is the farm. On the farm, we have a lot of touristsabout 35,000 and we have about fifteen devotees who do nothing but take care of the guests. In Budapest, because we cant give full-time attention to the guests, the care of guests is not as good as it should be. As a result of that, the congregation doesnt feel as integrated. They complain that they are second-class citizens. They feel that some preferences are given to the temple devotees, but they shouldnt feel like that. They should feel that they are devotees. They feel like that because they see that a devotee, who is on sankirtana, gets glorified. The temple devotees are taken care of, they get prasada and the temple president talks to them. The temple president may not even have time to say hello to a congregational member. In this way, they feel like second-class citizens.

NCP - Chapter 4, Part 7

Statements from GBC Ministers

His Holiness Lokanatha Maharaja

As a padayatri, I was told a number of times that in Prabhupada's letters, correspondence, conversations, that if you just search the term "book distribution," you will find it a thousand times, thousands of times. When you search for the word padayatra, it may appear two or three times. This was the argument that some of our leaders used to prove that padayatra was not Prabhupada's mood. Prabhupada was into book distribution. Padayatra is my personal service that Prabhupada gave to me and when I heard this, I was shocked and hurt. I felt that was not a true representation of Prabhupada. These statements made Prabhupada's presentation very partial. When I would relate with Prabhupada about padayatra, I had no doubts, and I am fully convinced how much he wanted for me to get into it. What we need to do is establish Prabhupada's viewpoint. We must present and express the complete Prabhupada, Prabhupada consciousness. Book distribution is very much in our minds and if we talk of anything else, then we are made to feel guilty. But during Prabhupada's time, if we were doing congregational service or Nama-hatta or padayatra or deity worship or cooking or Food for Life, Prabhupada did not make us feel bad or guilty about it. Whatever work we were doing we always felt proud and pleased because Prabhupada always expressed his pleasure. Whatever he had asked us to do, we did it and he was very pleased. We need to bring Prabhupada completely into the center and then we interface our service with him. I would also sometimes say, Padayatra is the only way! We have this tendency to think, This is the only way, that is the only way. But harer nama eva kevalam, that is, harinama is the only way. Book distribution, congregational preaching, and everything elseall of these programs assist us in achieving that goal, that harer nama is the only way. I think we have to do things Prabhupadas way, and in Prabhupada consciousness. The GBC body is representing Srila Prabhupada, and they are the ultimate managerial authorities. With them we need to establish priorities; some things are emphasized so much that if you do

something else, you are meant to feel very bad and guilty. I would like to have some further discussion or research done and establish the way Prabhupada wanted things to be done. In the Vedic texts we are the leading distributor, but when it comes to Christian literature and all other types, we are not leading. The Christian literature distribution is more than we do and is done mostly by the congregation. We want to make the congregation very, very active. We heard the stories of other groups such as Swami Narayana, Bahais, Swami Shivananda, and half a dozen other groups, who have just finished the centennials of their founders, their acaryas. Their centennials really boosted the congregation. Prabhupadas centennial is an opportunity to expand and establish ISKCONs congregation. Prabhupada's attitude towards the congregation is so sweet. Prabhupada used words such as camels and dogs to describe attached householders, yet he was so sweet, so nice, so gentle, and so caring for the same audience. He would give mahaprasadam and made sure everyone got it. That was Prabhupadas mood for the congregation. Keep that Prabhupada spirit, Prabhupada consciousness, and if you are not happy with the way Prabhupada spoke and emphasized all the aspects of the Krishna consciousness movement and activities, then you are free; you can be the founder of your own society. But this is Prabhupada's society. You do as I did, Prabhupada said. Lokanatha Swami

His Grace Nrsimha Kavaca Dasa

I think that the Congregational Development Ministry is doing wonderful work. Over the last ten years ISKCON has become a more congregational-based society. The work of helping develop the congregation and improve the standard of bhakti-yoga is a very important aspect of Krishna consciousness. In Australia (where I am from) the majority of temple-goers in Melbourne are congregation members. They play a very active role in the pushing on the preaching mission of Lord Caitanya. They are involved in contact preaching and home programs. Every weekend there are many programs organized by the congregation. They are strictly following the principles. Many are from India and some are local devotees. They really work hard to push on Krishna consciousness. Prabhupada wanted devotees who live close to the temple to come and worship the temple deities or at least attend the morning program. He felt that if all the devotees could work cooperatively in a spirit of serving the temple deities, then the mission will go on very nicely. It is imperative amongst all the devotees that we appreciate each others devotion and ability. We shouldnt say, They dont follow this standard like Im following, so they are not as good. Every person has their realization and their capacity. We should appreciate that, and instead of discriminating, look for unity. Nrsimha Kavaca Dasa

His Holiness Prahladananda Maharaja

yare deka, tare kaha krsna upadesa amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 7.128 Lord Caitanya said: Whomever you meet, tell them about Krishna. In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna stated: mac citta mad gata prana bodhayantah parasparam kathayantas ca mam nityam tusyanti ca ramanti ca The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another about Me. Bhagavad-gita, 10.9 The aim of our Krishna consciousness movement is to convince people that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is a person who is complete in all opulences, and when you offer service to Him with love and enthusiasm, you can attain the highest perfection of life. This is to become conscious of Him. Everyone has this opportunity, especially the humans. In this age, just by hearing about Krishna, we can understand our relationship with Him, and become free from the misidentification with the material body and mind. All this requires is that we hear from a bona fide source and chant. Congregational development gives people the opportunity to come together, and hear and chant about Krishna. Gradually, they understand there relationship with Krishna. By practically performing their day-to-day activities, in that relationship, they will receive Krishnas mercy. They will know that they are the eternal servants of Krishna. People associate according to their understanding of what the goal of life is. Unfortunately, the mass of people think that the goal of life is economic development for the purpose of

sense gratification. They need association with people who know how material nature works, so they can regulate their activities of economic development and sense gratification. This will help their progression towards liberation. People may not be engaged in Krishnas service directly, in terms of preaching, but if they have the opportunity to associate, they will encourage each other. They will make progress in the grihastha ashram, and greatly affect their family structure and maintenance. This will encourage them to make progress in devotional service by making Krishna the center of their lives. Although deity worship is essential, in this age, it is more essential to hear and chant about Krishna. Everyone will be inspired to serve Krishna, in the home or the temple.

In Chapter thirteen of Bhagavad-gita, Prabhupada defines detachment in a purport. In the morning and evening, the family should hear Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita, chant Hare Krishna, perform deity worship, and offer food to Them. In the material world, there is no absolute happiness and freedom from distress. If the family is centered on Krishna, the family will most likely stay together. Prahladananda Swami

Her Grace Sudharma Devi Dasi

I thought that congregation referred to those who congregate in the temple. In a sense we are all congregation, because we all congregate in the temple. When we think of congregational preaching, we mean going into peoples homes. This is actually very significant for our movement because if we trace back the roots of Lord Caitanyas sankirtana movement, we remember that Lord Caitanya was a householder. Srivas Thakura and many of the devotees were also householders. The most ecstatic kirtanas were in a congregational setting at the home of Srivas Thakura. Most of

the devotees who protested against Chand Kazi were householders. These people lived everyday lives: they were working as teachers, store keepers, or whatever, and were part of Lord Caitanyas movement. When you go out on the street and make a cold connection, the person doesnt know you and he doesnt know that he has an active relationship with Krishna. That person may or may not be able to open up and enter into the mood of Lord Caitanyas pastimes and get the nectar from the storehouse of love of God. But when you preach to people on a regular basis in their homes and open up their hearts and minds, you are actually able to go with them through all the mellows of devotional service and introduce them to everything that Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya have to offer. This is actually the most ecstatic type of preaching. It is the most necessary because it provides a mechanism for ISKCON to interface with the rest of the world. We create healthy relationships when we preach to the congregation. Many times we find that devotees who live very simply in their homes and practice Krishna consciousness for many years are the most fixed-up, agreeable and kindhearted devotees. They surrender everything to Krishna. Sudharma Devi Dasi

His Grace Vijaya Dasa

The congregation wants to be involved in the important aspects of ISKCON. One of the important programs is book distribution. There are many different things that we are doing now to encourage our congregation to be involved in book distribution. The Weekend Warriors program is for people who are working throughout the week but can spend Saturday or Sunday on book distribution. We started a monthly marathon for congregational devotees. As everyone knows, Srila Prabhupada was very fond of book distribution, so its a way to very quickly please Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. Srila Prabhupada said that book distribution is such an attractive activity. Srila Prabhupada liked a lot of books to get distributed, but we are finding now that the quality is just as important as the quantity. If the purity isnt there, then it gets moved by passion, which doesnt last. Srila Prabhupada wanted his books to be distributed on their merit, which means quality. He said that he wasnt interested in shooting stars, but in moons. Nowadays it is so easy to cultivate people using email. I keep in contact with about 1000 people by email. I write to them about our philosophy. They very much appreciate it. People write back saying, Thank you very much. One lady wrote and said, I dont know how I got on your email list, but I sure am glad to be on it. People are searching, and they appreciate this rich, valuable knowledge. Of course, not everyone is interested, but if we meet nice, interested people then we can collect their information and keep in contact. We want to advance in Krishna consciousness, and we want to help others advance. Book distribution is a very enlivening and purifying activity. There are a lot of people in this material world who are suffering due to lack of Krishna consciousness. Vijaya Dasa

You can purchase a hardbound copy of "The Nectar of Congregational Preaching" at our Online Bookstore at this address.

Statements from GBC Deputies: Aniruddha Prabhu Statements from GBC Deputies
His Grace Aniruddha Prabhu

Four core activities are found in every ISKCON community: book distribution, prasada distribution, harinama and deity worship. These programs are our outreach. So as long as we are doing these activities, we will attract people to Krishna consciousness. Not everybody is going to live in the temple because the temples are not big enough, for a start, and also because the householders have to have jobs to maintain themselves. If they are sincere devotees, then they will always have an interest in Krishna consciousness. A natural consequence of our preaching will be that we will attract people to participate in our communities. So we cannot ignore the fact that we have congregations. It would be like ignoring your right or left armyou cannot do it. My realization is that this group of people is actually our most valuable source of inspiration, of participation and of involvement. Congregation members are active in preaching, book distribution, chanting Hare Krishna, and

prasada distribution. The devotees we attract to Krishna consciousnesswhether they live in the temple or whether they live outside the templewill naturally want to engage in the activities that Srila Prabhupada encouraged us all to perform. To not take advantage of the resources or to neglect cultivating the congregation is foolish. Its a natural development of preaching, and of course it has to be managed properly so things develop in the right way. We expect a service attitude from those who live in the temple. We should see the same service attitude manifest in anybody else who is a sincere devotee. That has to be cultivated. We have to learn to respect everybody. It is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhus instruction that we should respect everybody, what to speak of our members. But we as leaders of communities have to learn how to educate and train these people just as we do with the people who live in the ashram and who work in the temple environment. When you treat people with respect and you put the time into training and educating them, the end result is that you get solid strong preachers who will contribute. Contribute means more than just giving donations. People will want to give time to do service. Also, there will be congregational devotees who will participate at a higher level of devotion. They will chant sixteebn rounds, follow the four regulative principles and become quite strong and active preachers. One of the most important elements of congregational development is training and developing the people Krishna sends to us. I have noticed in the Melbourne temple over the past couple of years that since weve started holding Bhakti-sastri and Bhakti-vaibhava courses, that the devotees develop more faith and knowledge of Krishna consciousness. Next they become more enthusiastic to follow the process of sadhana bhakti. They become very enthusiastic to preach. In our situation, for example, we have probably 1,500 members who at least give one contribution a year, but many times they give more often. Our Saturday Feast program is managed by the congregation. The temple devotees dont have to worry about preparing the bhoga or distributing it. Even the cleaning is done by the congregation members. The Sunday Feast is cooked by the temple devotees and the householders, and the prasada is served out by the householders. I dont have to worry about anything. In terms of following-up on new contacts, we collect names and addresses. We have our Bhakti-vriksha leaders take thirty of the names and addresses of people who live near them, and they ring them up and invite them to Bhakti-vriksha programs. We find out if people have changed addresses and clear our database regularly. We have 4,000 people on our mailing list. Out of thirty people, you might find five families keen to come to a Bhaktivriksha program. They do a study of Bhagavad-gita, Science of Self-Realization, or one of the smaller books. These new people are being gradually cultivated in their homes by senior preachers. At the moment our goal for this year is to double our number of Bhakti-vriksha groups. In 2004, we had half a dozen book distributors participate in a marathon. Then, in 2005, we had forty book distributors participate and thirty-five were householders. Of course they are not doing huge book distribution, but it all adds up. They are going out on weekends. One of the devotees came to me before I left for India and told me about his method for distributing books. Every morning he gets on the tram and sits down beside someone and tries to give them a book. He does the same thing at night. He may distribute 1 or 2 books per day but

over the period of one year, he may distribute several hundred books. In one sense congregational preaching is madhukari, you take a little bit from a lot of people. And that little bit added together, multiplied many times, actually becomes a lot. I think it is important that the leaders of our society put effort into training and educating the congregation because we have discovered how effective it is, especially if the leaders themselves are the teachers. There is this concern that if we train up all these people and they have home programs they wont come to the temple. But what we have actually found is that if you put the time in to training, educating and making friends with these people, then naturally they will respect you and they will be happy to support the temple. There is nothing like the prasada you get in the temple. So if we put our effort into having a strong temple program and plentiful and opulent prasada distribution, then people will keep coming back. As they come back you can train them and cultivate them nicely. The congregation, as I see it, is like a sleeping giant. If you wake him up, you have unlimited potential to do a huge amount of preaching. Congregational preaching should not be underestimated or ignored. If you ignore the congregation, and don't bring them to their full potential, you will have real trouble. They are just like everybody. Hey Prabhu, I want to do devotional service. Please engage me in devotional service. When they have ideas to go and preach, let them go and preach! They might make some mistakes, but that is how we learn. Then they become mature and grow and become an army of devotees. On Janmastami we have 6,000-7,000 people coming in one day, which is quite a lot of people for a temple outside of India. We have about 300 volunteers who are all coordinated by the congregational devotees. I dont have to worry anymore about what is going to happen on Janmastami. Krishna is providing all the resources. We just have to recognize and make good use of them. Preaching to the congregation requires a shift in mentality. His Holiness Devamrita Swami Maharaja mentioned that we must preach as if the person we are talking to is a better devotee than me. In other words, preach to the person in terms of the devotee that they can be. So many people have so many talents and if they can use all those talents in Krishnas service, then they will get purified. Many of the people coming to our temple have a Masters degree or a Bachelors degree. Theyre not stupid people, so we should preach to them in an appropriate way. Developing the congregation may take time. You have to plant the seed, water it, protect it and as you cultivate and nurture it, it will grow into a healthy plant and produce fruits. Even the fruits take some time to mature. You have to see people in light of their potential and not what they are at the moment. This is actually how Srila Prabhupada preached to people. Aniruddha Dasa

NCP - Chapter 4, Part 9

Statements from GBC Deputies

His Grace Hanuman Prabhu
I think that the role of the congregation in distributing Srila Prabhupadas books is very important. Most of the devotees in our movement are members of the congregation and many of them dont live near the temple. Still there is a role for them to play in the preaching mission. There are many ways in which the devotees in the temples can distribute books. First of all, congregational devotees often have more free time compared to the temple devotees, who are engaged from early morning to late evening. The congregation devotees generally have jobs, so they have weekends and holidays free. They can organize themselves in such a way that they can distribute Srila Prabhupadas books. I know many who feel a little shy going to the streets, and meeting the people. One of the things that has been developed in Europe and the United States is the Sastradana program. Congregational devotees sponsor books and the devotees can distribute them to libraries and places where people read. Sometimes they put them in waiting rooms in hospitals. So that has become a very enlivening program for the congregation to do book distribution. We all know that these books have changed our lives and the lives of others also. So my message is that we all have to work together to distribute Srila Prabhupadas books to help others. We can change their lives and start their path of Krishna consciousness. Hanuman Dasa

His Grace Svavasa Prabhu

In the Los Angeles yatra we had a plan which started about ten years ago where we were going to just develop friends. We are not so much concerned with people giving donations, but our focus is on making friends. In the last ten years that program has really fructified. Weve made many friends, and many of these devotees have taken initiation. The congregational members are absolutely necessary for so many projects that we do in the temple, for instance, festivals. Without the congregation, our festival program would decrease considerably. In other words, every major festival that New Dwaraka has, they finance. Not only do they finance it, but they also participate with their time, effort, and energy. We find that the congregation members have their own programs in their own homes, and not only on weekends. They hold classes on Caitanya-caritamrta and Bhagavad-gita. They bring their friends and the program has expanded to where we have several homes where they have several different types of classes once, twice, and sometimes three times a month. Also, we find that people from the congregation step forward with their particular skills, such as financial and management skills. Were able to implement those skills within the structure of the management of the New Dwaraka temple. Weve developed committees from our congregational members who are actually expert, some being professors, and from their association and input weve been able to institute a lot of helpful management principles within the Los Angeles temple. The congregation devotees often offer their support with government activities. The congregation members become very significant in helping us resolve these issues. Because they are educated and professional people, they raise the bar on the kind of individual we want to attract and bring into our community. Developing congregational preaching is essential in order for a temple to become strongly established within the community. Its essential because what it does is expand the field of the

participants in the temple and increase the temple programs, projects and activities. Its essential to become an established institution, a religion. Its also essential because what congregational development does is help you become integrated with the next generation. The children of these congregational members are a bit more westernized, but they actually love Krishna. We find that their youthful energy, their eagerness to assist us in the temple is insurmountable. Their talents and desires have helped New Dwaraka come to a new level, especially when it comes to festivals. Without their assistance, its very difficult to do anything. Svavasa Dasa

His Grace Tirtharaja Prabhu

My opinion on congregational preaching in ISKCON is that full-time devotees must facilitate the congregational devotees. The most important thing is to understand the needs, interests and concerns of the people who are interested in Krishna consciousness. I think it is very important that devotees dont presume to know what it is that people actually want from Krishna consciousness. The needs of the congregation may be different from what we think they really are. We need to sit down with our congregation and hear from them about their vision for the future. We must ask them what role we can play and determine what we can do for them, as far as the Krishna conscious philosophy allows. If Krishna consciousness is nonsectarian and not really a religious process, but a process which helps people establish love of God, then it is very important that we first of all seek to understand where people are at. I dont think the contribution of the congregation is any less than what devotees in the temple make. Rather, I think that the two groups complement each other. According to peoples past lives and their present situations, we need to learn to integrate with the congregation, and in that way spread Krishna consciousness through all different spheres of our society. Basically, people are conditioned by the culture of their upbringing. When we meet people we need to understand that. In Poland, for example, people identify themselves as Catholic, so the two just go together. If youre Polish, you must be Catholic; you cannot be Polish and not be Catholic. In South America, they have a certain way of looking at things that may be different to the Chinese people. First of all, the devotees need to be aware of that cultural upbringing. I think it is very important so that we dont disturb people. I think that in the beginning of Krishna consciousness, we probably disturbed a lot of people. For example, many of the Indian congregation may have been disturbed by our strong preaching against demigod worship. We need to be culturally sensitive in our preaching. Then we need to understand what we can add to their lives. One important thing we have been doing is interviewing everyone who comes into contact with Krishna consciousness and asking them, What have you been doing in the past ten or twenty years since being a devotee? What experiences would you like to share with us?

We can do the same thing with those people who come to the temple. That is called a "skills matrix." When we have a skills matrix of our congregation and of our devotees, then we can do more things that we wouldnt have been able to do. We need to recognize that we have a wealth of experience and many resources that we can tap into. Also, I find it encourages the devotees a lot, because when somebody takes an interest in the things they are doing, they become more interested to render that service. Sometimes people who havent done something for a long time, when they start speaking about things they have done in the past they become enthusiastic to do them again It brings back good memories. Tirtharaja Dasa

NCP - Chapter 4, Part 10 Statements from Srila Prabhupada's Disciples

His Holiness Srila Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja Community for the Heart

I supervise a special community in Pennsylvania, USA. When Srila Prabhupada left Vrindavana in August 1977 to go back to America, he was on his way to this particular

community, Gita Nagari. There he wanted to teach varnasrama dharma to the devotees. Srila Prabhupada wanted to show the example of self-sufficiency, simple living, and high thinking. This is the theme I am working on, and the first aspect we emphasize is improving relationships among devotees. Before starting this movement, while based in Vrindavana, Srila Prabhupada wrote "The Gita Nagari Prophecy." In this document he explained that he wanted a community for the heart, and that Gita Nagari should be a community for the heart. Prabhupada wanted to see a place where the focus is not on external things, but a place that is a hospital for the heart. In Gita Nagari we are trying to give emphasis to the heart, to developing sweet sadhu relationships among Vaisnavas. We have love-discussions on how the different asramas can help one another and how individual devotees can help one another. We have many, many meetings and ista-ghosthis where the congregation shares on issues such as how to take better care of children. We promote samskaras and we perform them in ways that foster a sense of community. We celebrate together when a couple gets married or a baby is born, when a child takes grains for the first time, or starts going to school or goes through his first hair-cutting ceremony.

Sri Sri Radha-Damodara, Gita Nagari Now Gita Nagari is a small community of about sixty devotees. Many own their house and land. We grow food through both personal and community farming. We encourage devotees to use alternative sources of energy and to make herbal medicines. Were looking into traditional methods of construction and into an alternative educational system. We research how to be less and less dependent on material culture. In Gita Nagari we have people from different backgrounds and different countries, but the emphasis is on creating a spiritual atmosphere even within the material realm. If we can raise our consciousness by loveassociation, we can create Satya-yuga within Kali-yuga. Thats the meditation among the devotees there.

Four Guidelines
We stress four guidelines we want to live by. We write them on signs and stick them on walls. Everybody sees them and thinks of them throughout the day.

1. Whenever there is a conflict, we ask devotees to first look at their own fault and think, "What can I do to improve? What did I do that was improper? What did I do that was not understood?" We want to examine first the sphere of our own fault. 2. We ask devotees to think of the person they have the greatest affection or love for, and try to have that same mentality towards everyone. Extending the feeling in this way will make the relationships very strong with love. 3. We ask devotees to look at whomever they associate with in the spirit that the success or failure of their own devotional life depends on how they treat that person. Every interaction should be of a certain quality. 4. The people we live with will most likely be the people we will leave our body with. The consciousness at the time of death is very important for a Vaisnava. Thats why we take very seriously how we associate with the devotees in this project, in this community, where we are probably going to leave our body. We know that we have the responsibility for one another to help create the right atmosphere for the time of death.

"Srila Prabhupada is Coming!"

We all share this mantra, "Srila Prabhupada is coming!" because devotees were most Krishna conscious when Prabhupada was on his wayeven more than when he was present among us. The devotees would work together, putting aside all their arguments, and would be complementing one another. Everybody would work with greater enthusiasm. I wrote about this in my latest book, Spiritual Warrior III, where I talk about community development. We say,

"Srila Prabhupada is coming!" We should take care of the cows well. "Srila Prabhupada is coming!" We should clean the temple to a sparkle and dress the deities very nicely. "Srila Prabhupada is coming!" The devotees should stop arguing.

We use this mantra to help building our community, to create a better atmosphere among the devotees. Bhakti Tirtha Swami

Srila Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja's Puspa-samadhi, Gita Nagari

NCP - Chapter 4, Part 11 Statements from Srila Prabhupada's Disciples

His Holiness Srila Sridhar Maharaja

There is a saying that if you have to do something, there is two ways that you can do it. One is in an organized way and the other is in a disorganized way. Now, if you do things in a disorganized way, you may not get such good results, but if you have a plan, if you have a system, a technique, a method, the chances are that you will get better results. This is common sense. As an institution, we are not that old. In fact, we are still in diapers practically. Still wet behind the ears as they say. We have got a lot to learn. Now, there is a saying that when you want to do something, suppose you have a big complicated plan, you want to build a new brand of motorcar, there is a saying about the wheels: You don't have to re-invent the wheel. In other words, what I am saying is that there are a lot of people out there who have developed congregations. We are not the first people to try to get a message out to society, and we are not the first people to promote religious ideas and try to involve the world. It has been done many, many times before. We can actually learneven from our own tradition there is so much we can learn from the teachings of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and other previous acaryas. Especially in the modern times, although, we know that we have state of the art spiritual technology, literally we have the best religion and we have the best religious ideas. There was a survey, done in America, and they interviewed new religious movements. Like the Buddhist and some Christian groups and Mahesh Yogi and this Yogi and that Ananda. There are so many groups; there are 800 cults. They interviewed different people in society, young people especially, about these new religious movements and they asked them questions about their techniques of recruiting new people. They asked them about dress. One of the questions was, "How do you rate new religious groups as far as philosophy is concerned? And believe it or not, they rated ISKCON as number one in philosophy. So it is a fact. We have a very good philosophy and people know it. Our books tell the story. Nobody can defeat us. But we have one minor problem: we are not very good at marketing. We are not very good at presenting and organizing. That is why we have problems in some ways, although we have state of the art spiritual technology, philosophy, we have wonderful books, and we have the best food in the whole world (Sri Krishna mahaprasada). We have so many good elements. We are relatively small still we are very enthusiastic.

We can do better and that is what we are trying to do now, in terms of fund-raising and friendraising. Friend-raising is a term that I am pretty proud of. We have done a lot of good things, a lot of right things, but we have also made a few mistakes along the way. Srila Prabhupada said that mistakes are the pillars of success, so now is the time for us to grow, even though in some ways, and in some areas of the world the temples are struggling. What are two problems that temple presidents always have? Men and money! So, believe it or not, although many of our temples are struggling in this area, there is a shortage of chips, money, and there is a shortage of manpower. Any program you want to do, there seems to be a shortage of these two things. But the experts say there is no shortage of money. All the books I ever read on fund-raising start off by saying that for a good cause there is no shortage of money. There is one other expert who said that: Srila Prabhupada. He said, There is no shortage of money. He said money is just hanging in the air; you just have to reach out and grab it. Go ahead and try! You keep your hands open and you put them up and you bring them down and close them, and there is money! Money is the honey. Also, Prabhupada said that we are not interested in money. He said that what we really need are devotees. Money will automatically follow. In Mumbai we have more life members than the Lions or the Rotary club. It is big, 20,000 life members. These are all people who have paid one thousand dollars or more to ISKCON. Of course, on this side of the world there is a huge Nama-hatta program with thousands of congregational Nama-hatta members. But these two areas, congregational preaching and fund development, they overlap, just like Laksmi and Saraswati, they are sisters. Saraswati is the goddess of learning and culture, like that, and Laksmi is the goddess of wealth. They work together and in Nama-hatta there is also a need for both of these elements. We want to go into the peoples homes, we want to present deity worship to them, we want to show them how to

offer their food, how to chant on beads, how to follow the four regulative principles. It is a big thing, a very big thing.

Laksmi
On the other side, the Laksmi side, Prabhupada also said that if you go to Swami Vivekananda and you put money on the table and wealth and jewels and everything, hell say, I am not interested. Very smug. I am not interested in wealth. But he said that devotees will accept it because we have so many good programs that we can engage that money in. We can engage that, we say money but actually we use the word Laksmi because Laksmi is meant to serve Narayana, Laksmi-Narayana. And if we allow our congregation just to chant Rama Rama and to offer their food and do everything but to spend their money on television and cinema and so many sense gratification things, and then we are doing them a disservice. In other words, sometimes people think that I am just a preacher; I don't want to talk about money. I dont like to ask for money. What are we asking for? We are asking to put Sita back into the service of Rama, Laksmi back into the service of Narayana. Who benefits from that? We dont benefit. It doesn't go into our pocket. Who benefits? The people who gave they benefit greatly. So, that is part of sankirtana, part of congregational preaching. To spread congregational development effectively, efficiently and effectively are two words that must be on our tongues. Efficiently means when you do things very systematically, that everything is done properly on the right time to the right degree, with the right person in the right place doing the service. Effectively means that we engage people in giving Laksmi for the service of Narayana and we use that as an impetus for them to advance in devotional service.

Pyramid Marketing
Geometry was my favorite subject. Ill explain about a triangle; that means a lot to me. Believe it or not, this is a very important triangle. It has a lot to do with congregational preaching and actually is a marketing principle. You might ask where I got this triangle; I got it from a man named Cliff Underwood in San Diego. Cliff Underwood was a person that we hired. He is a non-profit fund-raising consultant. We hired him to teach us some of the best tricks used by the best fund-raisers and congregational preachers in the western world. This triangle is known as a donor pyramid. It could be used for earning money in any number of different ways or it could be used for, as I like to interpret it, for service, for engaging people in devotional service. It is a way for systematically sifting out those people who are more interested, and those people who are less interested. We have a universe of people out there, and after many years of preaching, and 700 million books distributed in 50 languages, there are a few people who have read those books and find them quite interesting. We may not have a lot of contact with them but they are out there. Someone who received a book, someone who heard the holy name on harinama, someone who attended a Ratha-yatra or festival, a Sunday feast, or visited the temple, someone who got prasada someone whos relative is a devotee, someone who heard our radio, vegetarians, religious students, yoga groups, on and on and on. There are many, many people to engage in our movement.

First Stage

So what you basically do here is try to identify and get a list of people who are in your universe and target them. This is called in business target marketing. You find people who are possibly interested in your product, instead of sending your message to millions of people who have no interest. Then, find out who are more interested, who are ready to make further progress.

First Gift
This is the next stage and it is called first gift. In fundraising they call it first gift, first donation, but it could be first service. For the Sarasvati people (I refer to the congregation as the Sarasvati people) the people who are interested, developing their service mood. It takes a long time to personally meet people. One of the ways by which we can contact these people is called direct mail. You mail a direct mail piece to the universe looking for some interest, it may be for Food for Life or it may be for something to do with yoga, something to do with vegetarianism, whatever appeals to them and you get some result.

Thank You
Then, what you do with this first gift is that you communicate with them. The first kind of communication is to thank them. I think these are two of the most powerful words in the English language. When you do some devotional service and the temple president comes up to you and puts his arm around you and says, Thank you, Prabhu don't you feel good? When someone says thank you, even though it is devotional service, and you know you have to do it or otherwise you will be kicked out of the temple or something, but if someone says thank you, you feel really good. You feel like you are part of the team; you feel like you are wanted. You have to do it in fund-raising and in friend-raising also again. If someone comes from the congregation to the temple and you ask them to sweep the temple floor, does anyone ever go up to them afterwards and say, Thank you Prabhu? No? But that is actually what we should be doing. Communicate with people by sending a Thank You letter, a newsletter, or a copy of Back to Godhead.

Involvement
The next thing you do is to try to involve people. These are two very important principles in fund-raising and friend-raising. Involving can be a simple thing. Involvement could mean just asking their advice. We are about to purchase a new temple, do you think it is in the right area of town? We are asking all of our donors, the congregational people. Is this the right area of town? You may get some good advice. First of all, you will be surprised how qualified congregational people are, you may get some good advice, the second thing is, they begin to think that, I am not just some external karmi or someone that the temple uses, but I am part of the temple, it is my temple, and they ask my advice. It is psychological, but it goes a long way. It is a very good thing to do. Or, it may go as far as involving them in advisory capacity to the temple, an advisory board or whatever. There are so many ways of involving people, like quoting them in your newsletter. Congregational people, if they do some work, put their picture in your newsletter and tell a little story about them, involve them. When you get service, when you get a donation from the congregation, if you thank them, if you communicate with them, if you make them feel like a part of the mission of Lord Caitanya, when you ask them again, it will be a lot cheaper, a lot easier, with a much bigger result.

Vaisnava Hospitality
If you take care of people, in every way, then somewhere down the line these people will give you large amounts of money, because they can see that they can trust you. You show them your accounts that the money was spent properly for what it was meant to be spent for. You thank them publicly when they come to the temple, you take good care of them properly, show them Vaisnava hospitality. These people, after about five or six years, will give you major gifts, large amounts of money because they have faith in you. Again, this will be a smaller percentage; it gets smaller as we are going up in the triangle pyramid. Up here, what we get is the biggest category of donors, these are called the bequesters. The bequester could give his house, his property, his stocks, his shares, whatever it is. This is the donor pyramid and I am really locked into this idea that there is a strong link between the Laksmis and the Saraswatis. We work together, and we overlap our services. So it all ties together and it involves using discipline. If other organizations are doing it, we can also do it. It can improve our book distribution, it can improve our fund-raising, and it can improve all of aspects of our service. Hare Krishna. Sridhar Swami

Congregational Development in ISKCON History of Cong. Preaching

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