namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

Andy Serwer and Allan Sloan write today in their Time article "How Financial Madness Overtook Wall Street":

The media is abuzz with news of the upcoming USA presidential election.

We are working on asking different devotees what they think about certain issues related to the structuring of ISKCON: the role and authority of the GBC zonal secretary in his area; the nature and function of the RGBs (Regional Governing Bodies); the application of certain instructions by Srila Prabhupada on these matters; the financing of the different levels of the Society, and so on.

by Kaunteya das

Today I was talking with a very senior devotee; he said that ISKCON is in a state of anarchy. I didn't agree on the description and offered a different analysis of the situation of ISKCON structure and operation worldwide.

I compared the trust of the devotees in the GBC in the faith that people have in the current banking system, technically and somewhat euphemistically called fractional reserve banking, in which only a small portion of the deposits are actually available for redemption by the clients. In other words, the idea that our money is safely stored in impenetrable bank vaults represents a myth, a mere illusion. This psychological phenomenon maintains the modern system afloat.

From a lecture on SB 2.1.1-5, given in Boston, on the 22 December 1969:

"Eyes means introspection. Therefore Vedic culture says, eyes... Sastra-caksus: 'You should see through sastra. Don't try to see by these eyes.' These are, what is the value of this eye? They are conditioned in so many ways. You don't believe the eyes. See through the sastra, through the spiritual master, through the sastra. Try to see through this. That is perfect seeing."

by Kaunteya das

Actually the method doesn't even deserve the verb 'serving.'

The "system" is: someone brings breakfast prasadam (generally the morning maha plus something cooked in larger quantity and a drink) to the prasadam hall in plastic buckets of different sizes (often without enough spoons for serving); then people come and make their plates.

You have probably seen it: mangala arati is over and Tulasi puja is about to start; from the devotees in attendance one reaches the mat on which he will stand and then removes the socks, spectacularly flinging them to the nearest wall—possibly ten meters away—from which they bounce and come to rest as crumpled balls.

Having witnessed the cherished liturgy for a number of years, I ask myself:

• Is this ritual of removing the socks necessary (independently of if they are thrown or not)?
• Who introduced or promoted it?
• What's wrong with the devotees' socks at 5:00 am? Already dirty?

by Kauntya das

The days started early, by waking up spontaneously (if you don't include the Vayasaki bhajan CD playing loudly in the nearby temple room) at 3:15 am. It always helps to chant a few rounds before mangala-arati...

Mangala-arati was the most attended I ever saw here: young and senior devotees alike filled up the temple. For the occasion we sang Vibhavari Sesa instead of the customary Guruvastaka prayers.

I have been invited to become the GBC here. I have been in the country for the last three months. This is an exploratory tour—I have not yet committed to take up the service. I have been traveling and getting to know the devotees. I have been to Tijuana, Mexico City, Leon, Guadalajara, Saltillo and Monterrey.

The situation of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, after nearly thirty-eight years of preaching, is disconcerting.

by Kaunteya das

In the temple where I am at the moment there is Srila Prabhupada's room. Actually Srila Prabhupada visited twice this temple, and therefore his room is "really" his room. There is also a Deity sitting in the room (in the "holding the translation microphone" mudra), and in front of the deity sit, day and night, brooms and other cleaning utensils.

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 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.

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?

"This is the function of the GBC, to see that one may not be taken away by maya. The GBC should all be the instructor gurus. I am in the initiator guru, and you should be the instructor guru by teaching what I am teaching and doing what I am doing. This is not a title, but you must actually come to this platform. This I want."

Letter to Madhudvisa, 4 August 1975

From Kaunteya's Blogspot Profile:

• Gender: Male
• Location: Sridham Mayapur : India

About Me

Secular name: Dr. Carlo Oppecini, PhD Indovedic Psychology. Serving as secretary of the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry (www.namahatta.org) and as a member of the GBC Strategic Planning Team. For more information on ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Founder-Acarya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada) please visit www.iskcon.net, www.iskconnews.com & www.krishna.com.

I am in Monterrey, Mexico, with my wife, Sri Radha Govinda Dasi. We plan to go to Mexico City on Saturday the 16 of August; then she flies to Italy before Janmastami, while I will stay a few more weeks in Mexico.

This morning I was giving the Bhagavatam lecture; we are discussing the story of Ajamila and the verse mentioned that he chanted the name of Narayana.

One initiated devotee in the audience asked: What does it mean Narayana?

"When we are tired of the ordinary world and take nature for granted, we need to be shaken up so that everything is a miracle again. This is the mission of the artist."

Brigid Marlin

(I would add that this is also the mission of the devotee. The painting is also by Brigid Marlin)