namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

by Ravindra Svarupa das

In this essay, Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu describes his involvement in ISKCON's guru reform movement, instrumental in ending the "zonal acarya system," the dark ages into which ISKCON descendet soon after Srila Prabhupada's disappearance from this planet.

Analysing what went wrong with ISKCON at that time, Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu arrives at conclusions that are important to today's issues as well.

"The point is that the difficulties that precipitated the guru reform movement are intimately connected with psychological patterns and styles of relationships that began to establishing themselves from the beginning. These are grounded in the inability of many devotees to acknowledge and deal fruitfully with their own spiritual shortcomings and failures, or, in traditional vocabulary, their inability to execute the process of anartha-nivrtti (the eradication of "unwanted things" from the heart)."

And while the zonal acarya era is a thing of the past, ISKCON, the institution and we, it's members, would do well to apply the remedial measures he recommended at that time in our own lives and spheres of influence.

"...I concluded that the only way I could responsibly conduct research on such a loaded subject was to attempt to entrust myself to the guidance of Supersoul, the indwelling guide and director of intelligence. I feared more than anything else my own stupidity. I was the Straw Man, and I needed a brain. I decided to entrust myself to Prabhupada's instructions for attaining direction from Supersoul. Thus, as a remedial measure, I undertook to rigorously restore my sadhana to a strict level." ...

"At the beginning of the reform movement, I tried to show how within ISKCON concealment of failure leads to isolation. This principle holds as much for relations among communities as among individuals. Progress in spiritual life, individually and institutionally, depends first of all on the frank acknowledgement of shortcoming, errors, and mistakes. Without that, all "progress" is mere bluff."

Here at ISKCON Silicon Valley we are in the middle of our Janmastami Vyasa Puja Sankirtan Festival, which is another two weekend event. We've completed the first weekend and we are heading into the second. Below are the emails that Vaisesika Prabhu has sent out to inspire us to perform the sankirtan yajna.

by Kaunteya das

The building has some unofficial affectation at officially representing ISKCON in town, and we were shocked to observe some of the incongruities in appearance and accommodation, towering among them the inappropriateness of the bathroom facilities.

by Gauragopala das

In April 1972, the Melbourne City Council in Australia began a campaign to try and move the Hare Krishna devotees away from the city streets. This struggle with the Council would continue on for another three years.

Not only were we now continuously harassed on the streets by the Council, we were also harassed in our own Temple with middle of the night Police raids looking for devotees who had never paid their fines for chanting on the streets, distributing books, and performing drama plays in the City square.

Photo: Kurma Prabhu being dragged away to jail for chanting Hare Krishna on the streets of Melbourne, Australia in the early seventies.

by Kaunteya das

Competing brands of Gaudiya-vaisnavism at times claim that Srila Prabhupada only gave the basics, and that ISKCON people need to take shelter in their representatives to accede to higher dimensions of bhakti.

I beg to disagree. Besides the insulting and indefensible remark that ISKCON's Founder-Acarya didn't provide his followers with enough directions to achieve whatever is there to achieve, I would propose that ISKCON—or at least a good percentage of its members—need to go in a different direction. My observation is that devotees would tremendously benefit by absorbing themselves in the narrations of Mahabharata and Ramayana, thus imbibing the fundamental ethical values presented therein.

The Telegraph reports that the Catholic Church in Italy is planning to follow the summer exodus of it's flock to the country's beaches by setting up a hundred foot long inflatable church at Molise on the Adriatic coast:

The 100-foot-long church will be set up on Saturday and is to be manned by a team of priests waiting to hear confession, give mass and sing holy music.

"There will be four or five people singing, with music about God," said Chiara Facci from the Catholic group Sentinelli del Mattino, which is putting up the blow-up church.

by Kaunteya das

At times the standards of our "grihasthas" are so low and disfunctional (ethically, spiritually, economically, etc.) that I am thinking of starting a campaign to promote grihamedhi consciousness, in the spirit of "something is better than nothing."

In ISKCON's pshyche the word grihamedhi represents (and with reason) an unacceptable social stereotype. "The grhastha means he is making the best use of a bad bargain. And the grhamedhi means he is animal. " Srila Prabhupada said in a Gita lecture in London, on 20 August 1973. Such references have created an impression of the grihamedhi as an unspeakably corrupted being, a detestable individual functioning on a level of debasement to which devotees could never possibly plunge?

by Kaunteya das

With this post I officially inaugurate a campaign against the overusage of the word ‘wonderful’ in the Krishna consciousness movement.

The term is so ubiquitously presented, so monotously applied, that such prodigality defeats the very purpose and intention of the adjective, that is, to point out how special a person or behavior is.

Every devotee is wonderful. Every culinary preparation is wonderful. Every service in wonderful… If everything is wonderful in one sense nothing is really wonderful. Does everything really warrant an intense condition of wonderment?

by Vasu Murti das

This has originally been posted as a comment to the article World Holy Name Week. Vasu Murti Prabhu shows that chanting and worship of God's holy name is an integral part of every genuine religion—Christian, Muslim, Sikh, or Buddhist. Especially during World Holy Name Week, this fact can be used to improve dialog and relationship with followers of those religions.

ISKCON aims to bring the holy name to every town and village, and this program is helpful in fulfilling this vision. If properly implemented, there will be massive harinama sankirtana festivals across the planet every year, generating a tremendous amount of media interest and coverage. Every year, devotees around the world will share their ideas on spreading and glorifying the holy name, resulting in an increased focus on the chanting of the holy names.

This year, World Holy Name Week will be observed from 13–21 September; this nine day period includes the following auspicious tithis:

• Saturday, 13 September: Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Appearance Day
• Sunday, 14 September: Srila Haridas Thakura's Disappearance Day
• Monday, 15 September: Acceptance of sannyasa by Srila Prabhupada (also: Sri Visvarupa Mahotsava; beginning of the third month of Caturmasya, fasting from milk)
• Sunday, 21 September: Srila Prabhupada's arrival in the USA

Please celebrate World Holy Name Week on as many of these days as possible. Some Suggestions:

by Ravindra Svarupa das

Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu publishes, in weekly installments, his realizations about a prophecy Srila Prabhupada made in 1975, that World War III was imminent. This prophecy was not fulfilled, and when asked about this, Srila Prabhupada replied that Krishna had changed His mind.

• Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu's blog: So It Happens

Believing that these articles make first class reading for devotees new to Krishna consciousness, I am collecting them in this online book in our New Devotee Channel.

by Devaki dd

Chowpatty is becoming more and more an example for ideal community development within ISKCON. However, sometimes it is not easy to convince senior devotees of the value of the much discussed and glorified Counselor System. And without full and active support from senior devotees it is rather difficult to put into practise. Often we hear the opinion, "the Bhakti-vriksha Program does the same thing." Some devotees conclude, therefore: "No need for any new systems!"

There are basic differences between these two programs; it is not that one is better than the other. If we analyze them more deeply we discover that they have fundamentally different goals, and that there is plenty of room for both programs to run side by side in a yatra.

Kripamoya Prabhu explains history and development of book distribution follow-up strategies in the UK. This online-book contains the following articles:

• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: The Mail Order Miracle
• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: Meet the Monks!
• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: Market Place Festivals

The articles have been posted originally on his blog, The Vaishnava Voice. If and when Kripamoya Prabhu writes more on this subject, I'll include it here.

You can download the whole series as a pdf-file, too.

[Names have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.]

Many years ago, I was on a Hare Krishna farm. One day, while working in Krishna's kitchen, I learned that there were maha sweets kept in the big fridge over night. The next day, I told my friend and Godbrother about this and we began to plan a caper. It was so easy—we simply went down to the kitchen about 2 am and slid open the window on the side of the building. We went inside and grabbed the sweets out of the fridge. Oh, if you've ever had milk sweets made from Krishna's whole milk that were offered with love then you may understand. If not, I can only tell you they are wonderful! We couldn't imagine how anyone, especially a devotee, could leave them in a fridge over night. So we began to hit the place about every couple of weeks. We felt not to would be offensive!

In his blog View From a New Vrindaban Ridge Madhava Gosh Prabhu quotes a conversation between Srila Prabhupada, Hari Sauri Prabhu, Ramesvara Prabhu, and Jagadisa Prabhu during a train-ride in India. In this conversation Srila Prabhupada esplains how he expects his disciples to create a Krishna conscious society based on varnasrama-dharma.

by Vasumurti das

In his book, Holy Cow, author Steven Rosen (Satyaraja dasa) does an expert job of explaining the philosophy and history of the sankirtana movement to nondevotees. He begins by quoting Srila Prabhupada as saying, "Real philosophy is nothing more than this: 'friendliness to all living entities.'"

Rosen explains that devotees do not artificially renounce the material world, but rather engage it in Lord Krishna's service. Offering one's food to Krishna is a standard Vaishnava practice, which Rosen compares to the Eucharist in Christianity—sacramental food.

A multimedia website containing audio- and video-files, deities' darshan, book distribution, lectures, whole seminars from ISV, News agregator, Hare Krishna News, events, etc., etc.

Commitment is an essential feature of all devotee relationships, especially the marriage relationship.

All of us have ups and downs, periods of craziness, and periods of clarity. Of course, as we become purified, situated in goodness and, ultimately, transcendental, we fluctuate less and less in our mood and character. But while our material conditioning still has a grip on us we experience periods of more or less Krishna consciousness.

This been said, devotees who have seriously committed themselves to applying the process have in effect declared, by this demonstration of commitment, that they deeply value purity of heart and aspire for it themselves. When a person shows such commitment and dedication, Krishna takes a personal interest in them and is committed to them in return. As devotees we must do the same for each other.

by Anuttama das

On June 20, 2008, Paramount Pictures releases The Love Guru nationwide. The film tells the story of Guru Pitka (Mike Myers), a westerner raised at an Indian ashram, who grows up to be a high-profile and eccentric holy man come west.

While the level of humor contained in the film is crass, the comedy has drawn significant attention even before its official opening—both pro and con—and from Hindu-Americans concerned that it violates appropriate boundaries in dealing with a religious subject.

On behalf of the North American chapters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Vaishnava, or devotional Hindu organization with an ethnically diverse membership, we understand that many Hindus are concerned that the film may mock their faith. At the same time, having seen the film in its entirety, we find it to be a typical satire that does not intend to hurt religious sentiments.

Our Bhaktivinode Thakur Sankirtan Festival begins today with a harinam procession in downtown Palo Alto. Here is an excerpt from an email Vaisesika Prabhu sent out to inspire everyone for the upcoming festivities.

It is a really amazing glimpse into the heart of a vaishnava; I am very grateful to be connected to such a wonderful personality.

A deus ex machina (Latin IPA: de:us eks ma:khina (literally "god out of a machine") is an improbable contrivance in a story. The phrase describes an artificial, or improbable, character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot (such as an angel suddenly appearing to solve problems, or the entire story having been just a dream one of the characters was having).

Wikipedia

After hundreds of devotees have signed an online petition against GBC Resoluton 311, including many senior devotees and disciples of Srila Prabhupada, and the issue became a hot topic on several devotees' blogs, the directors of the BBT decided to keep Srila Prabhupada's books as they are and not to add footnotes or annotations, or change them in any way to make them more palatable to today's educated audiences.

by Vijay Venugopal dasa and Prema Padmini dd

Everyone got their turn to pour different coloured ingredients on their Lordships: milk, ghee, curds, and all sorts of juices. Then, as They were being dried and dressed, my husband narrated the story of the pastimes at Panihati, which everyone heard with great enthusiasm and joy, resolving to think of the lake as the river Ganga, hoping Their Lordships would bless them.

Once dressed, Caitanya Avatari and I in turn led a rousing kirtana, going round and round the deities with the devotees. Offerings were made, and we finally enjoyed the delicious mahaprasadam—chipped rice separately, and all the other items mixed together. The other visitors to the lake, as well as some locals, also got their share.

As His Holiness Bhakti Vidya Purna Maharaja put it so succinctly: "When men are men, women are women."

That's a simple yet powerful statement with profound implications in terms of both ideal and strategy for implementation.

A lot of problems come when unqualified men demand that roles be respected when qualification is not present. This is the same dynamic that lead the people to reject the varnas at the time of Buddha. Similarly people have rejected traditional gender roles.

Just as both Buddha and Sankara demonstrated at their relative points in the course of social development, we need intelligent readjustment. We have to keep the goal in sight like the pole star ("normative view" in the language of Krishna-kirti prabhu), and work our way back onto the "royal road" of varnasrama (as Srila Prabhupada describes it Bhagavad-gita—the safer path).