From this list we can see that the ISKCON of the 21st century has more than enough information to conduct its preaching activities. Most things we do will never change; how we do them might. Information technology has given us access to digitisation and rapid transit of the message of Krishna, to film, satellite television, and to the Internet. But it also means that atheism uses the same techniques. Ultimately, it will not be our means of transmitting information that will help the mission in the 21st century, but the oldest technique of all: making friends.

The current demographics of ISKCON tell the story that we now have many more people and many more centres in countries where ISKCON’s presence would have been unimaginable before. But out of the quarter million more people that ISKCON has since the day that Srila Prabhupada stood under a tree in a New York park, hardly 5% of them live in the communal way that he envisaged as being most helpful for spiritual life.

A few weeks ago I had a realization that it's healthy to be proud of something that's worth being proud of. That's kind of axiomatic, isn't it? Pride without something worth being proud of, however, is pathological, and that's the kind of unrealism that gets people into trouble.

Here's something worth being proud of:

Staff Sgt Aristotle Sonnenberg, aka Partha-sarathi das, a US soldier deployed in Iraq, was recently awarded a medal for exemplary bravery and leadership in combat conditions. This award recognized his pivotal role in saving the lives of 56 injured Iraqis while under fire.

Hare Krishna.

I have the good God given fortune to work at a place that challenges staff and clients to think outside the box, to challenge our daily habits and routines, to do things consciously and with purpose, and to reach our human potential.

Lately we have been speaking about two things that make me think about Krishna consciousness and the way we practice it.

First, we are focusing on breaking out of routines, out of our daily little comfort box we live in, going to new places, meeting new people, trying new tasks, etc. There is a big world out there with unlimited possibilities if we put on our creative hats, but human beings have a tendency to get stuck in the comfort of routine.

The first is that the idea of charity is very important for creating a spiritual revolution in society. In Srimad Bhagavatam 1.17.38 Srila Prabupada specifically mentions charity "up to fifty percent" as one of the three principle points in his manifesto for respiritualizing society. If we are going to really spread Krishna consciousness in a major way, to create the spiritual revolution that Srila Prabhupada repeatedly speaks about in his books, then we will need serious resources to make that happen. Of course the commitment of resources follows from a personal commitment to spiritual life, but a commitment to spiritual life is tangible. It is not just a vague sentiment but practical action.

Join the growing number of Bhakti Homes!
Have your place recognized as a

Sraddha-kutir

An Abode of Faith and Spirituality

Srila Prabhupada Wished to See All Homes Transformed into a Center of Spiritual Cultivation

"Everyone can establish a small temple in his house, and he can begin family-wise—himself, his wife, his children. That is wanted. This Krishna consciousness movement wants to see that every house has become a temple of Krishna. That is our program."

(Lecture, 13 December 1972)

In ISKCON, this aspect of nurturing every single family into a “center of Krishna conscious faith” has not yet developed to its fullness, although it is a central and core strategy for the respiritualization of the world. This Sraddha-kutir initiative (Sraddha-kutir is the original term used by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura) aims at acknowledging the residences of practicing devotees as places of spiritual cultivation. It’s an invitation to every family, couple, or single to be formally recognized as an “ISKCON-followers unit.”

In the notes of the last Euro-GBC meeting (Mayapur, 2008), there is this currious action item:

TRADEMARKS Praghosa dasa will inquire whether it is possible to trademark ‘The Hare Krishna Movement’ and the cost for doing it.

If this statement were trademarked, then would this create a spiritual liability, an impediment, for those who may not necessarily identify with institutional ISKCON? The "Hare Krishna Movement" is a referent for Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement, not ISKCON specifically, and although ISKCON has been an important part of the Hare Krishna Movement's historical legacy, by no means can institutional ISKCON be said to be the Hare Krishna Movement's exclusive heir and proprietor.

The bureaucratic restriction of the use of such a broadly applicable name would be something like trying to prune the branches of the Caitanya Tree to one branch and not letting any others grow.

Let ISKCON keep the acronym "ISKCON" trademarked. They can have as much control over its use by others as they want. But do not trademark names like "The Hare Krishna Movement". There will be branches of the Chaitanya Tree that will not be a part of ISKCON, and they should be rightfully recognized by that name without the fear of being threatened by legal sanction.

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by bhakta Jason Matthews

It was 1973 when I first came into contact with Krishna’s pure devotees. I was five years old and traveling through the Frankfurt airport with my parents and older brother. In thinking back on the experience it’s really odd that I remember it so clearly now, especially as it has become covered by other experiences of conditional life and remained forgotten for thirty two years.

As a very inquisitive child, I liked to explore and ask many questions of my parents and others around me. Therefore, it was always necessary for either my mom or dad to hold my hand so I did not wander off into the environment. This occasion was no different. My eyes were darting around from one person to another. Looking up and down the airport corridors, I was indeed enarmoured by all of the activity.

Saturday marked the finale of the grand ten day out-reach festival, "inSpirit" organized by couple of the local Toronto Devotees as a forum to do active preaching to the Yoga and the Student Community.

His Holiness Devamrita Swami was the guest speaker for this festival and it was organized by the Bhakti Yoga Club and the Urban Edge Yoga, two outreach projects undertaken by the Toronto temple devotees.

Needle less to say, I am yet to come down for the whirlwind of the past ten days. It was an amazing experience, watching how powerful the Holy name and the teachings from Srila Prabhupad's books and see it being understoon and experienced by a completely different audience.

by Kaunteya das,
19 April 2008, Sridham Mayapur

Indian ISKCON leaders appear thrilled at the opportunities offered by the Sraddha-kutir and Damodar programs

About eighty ISKCON leaders from all over India—including GBCs, regional secretaries, temple presidents, and other administrators and preachers—converged on Mayapur for the Indian Continental Committee meetings of April 19–20. These meetings offer leaders the chance to discuss and share on relevant topics and breakthroughs.

The Congregational Development Ministry introduced two initiatives, which are becoming its focus for this year. The first is the Sraddha-kutir campaign: the recognition of singles, couples, or families that successfully obtain a certain standard of spirituality in their home. The program aims at building a better, deeper relationship between the temple and its community members by acknowledging the latter’s efforts in purifying their life and living environment. HH Jayapataka Maharaja showed a PowerPoint presentation that highlighted the purposes of the initiative, the means for putting it into practice, and the benefits that temples and communities would accrue by implementing it.

by Partha Sarathi das,
Iraq, 17 April 2008

Jump on the Godhead Express!

I'm back on missions, which means long days. But I am still continuing with programs. We were having a program when all of a sudden, we heard the incoming alerting system. The rocket impacted a 100 feet from the ashram. I directed everyone to run to the bunker. When everyone was out the door, I grabbed my Silas and my mrdanga and ran to the bunker. For those that have never experienced the bliss of going through a mortar or rocket attack, it is a waiting game. You sit in this little bunker waiting, sometimes it is only one rocket, sometimes five or six. So you're there for some time.

by Devaki dd

After arriving in Australia, I was eagerly anticipating the first Sunday Feast, hoping to meet well-known faces. However, to my surprise and disappointment I could hardly discover any. I thought to myself, "Let's wait until visiting sannyasis and gurus will come—surely devotees would then attend the temple programs." But I was to be disappointed again. My last hope was for Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-puja, but again, not many of the older devotees turned up.

The situation made me wonder; I couldn't stop contemplating why it was so difficult in the Western world to keep devotees active in their spiritual life. I had been truly shocked how few of the "old faces" were still coming to the temple. It seemed that many devotees had stopped chanting, and quite a few marriages had broken up. This was not just a phenomenon in Australia, but all over the Western world—something which indeed pained me. As we are always proclaiming, "Srila Prabhupada has built a house in which the whole world can live." With pain in the heart we have to admit that although so many conditioned souls do enter the front door of this house very eagerly, many also leave again through the back door.

by Madhava Smullen

ISKCON's Prison Ministry traces its roots all the way back to 1962, when Srila Prabhupada visited Tihar Prison in New Delhi. "If you give me the chance to speak to all the members of the Jail," he wrote to superintendent Sri Puri, "It is quite possible for me to turn them into ideal characters."

Yet it wasn't until 1988 Candrasekhara Dasa established the official ISKCON Prison Ministry in the USA, as an outlet for householders to preach without having to leave their homes; all they had to do was write letters. Shyama Priya Dasi, now an IPM volunteer for seventeen years, was gripped by the idea of such a personal service the moment she was first introduced to it in 1990. "Chandrasekhara showed me a photo album of all the inmates he was writing to," she says. "It was like they were family."

Hare Krishna!

Currently I do preaching via a YouTube Channel, here is the link: YouTube-link

With subscriptions to over seven-hundred devotees who use youtube to post mostly remarkable Krishna conscious videos. You can subscribe to my Favorites and you will be able to see my picks of the best videos posted by them (updated daily). I currently also have eighteen playlists for chanting japa and am adding more. They are listed as: 1 Chanting with God through 18 Chanting with God.

Mumbai–Friday, 25 May 2007

by Vijaya Venugopala das and Prema Padmini dd

On our way to Russia we stopped at the Juhu temple. We met Braja Hari Prabhu, Mukunda Madhava Prabhu, and other senior devotees. We were happy and excited to learn that they had heard from other Indian temples, during a Regional Governing Body meeting at Ujjain, about the great impact Bhakti-vriksha preaching had on their activities. Among others, the temples in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Tirupati, and Kolkata where mentioned–places where we had conducted seminars earlier and where Bhakti-vriksha groups were developing nicely.

One temple president had described how book distribution tripled within one year after starting Bhakti-vriksha preaching! At Juhu temple it was decided to involve the congregation to a larger extent than had been done in the past. We had explained how to do this by structuring all activities around Bhakti-vriksha. Convinced, they requested us to visit on our return from Russia, so we could meet the most active congregation and Youth Forum members.

HG Dravida Prabhu, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.13.11

I will keep posting the available lecture transcript from this year's Gaura-purnima Festival, without posting all of them on the front page. This class deals with varnasrama-dharma and it's application for Vaisnavas, which makes it particularly relevant for ISKCON's community and congregational development, though. From his class:

Here we find the task being taken up by Svayambhuva Manu. Srila Prabhupada quotes this verse, varnasramacaravata. Here it is said that there is no other way to please the Lord than by following this varnasrama system. So how does this varnasrama system pertain to us? After all, we find in the teachings of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, rather in the conversation with Ramananda Raya, that this verse was brought up and Lord Caitanya said, "That is external. Go further." This was one of the first verses answered to the question, "What is the goal of life? How does one achieve it?"

[Post ends here.]

This is the account of an email exchange, starting in 2004, between Kaunteya Prabhu and Dayananda Prabhu about the organized and successful way Jehovah's Witnesses engage their congregation in book distribution and contact preaching. Through the PAMHO conference "Nama Hatta (Congregational Dev.) Forum," Caitanya Mahaprabhu Prabhu from ISKCON Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat, finally picked up the idea and implemented it successfully in his preaching area:

Inspired by this email I started Bhagvad Darshan in Gujarati. I used congregation devotees for all kinds of management, all voluntary service. We started BTG with 2,000 subscriptions; then, the next year 6,000, and now, in 2008, we have 17,000 subscriptions. You mentioned one point, that we were behind because our leaders didn't know the potential power of our congregation.

I do not want to embarrass him, but everyone here in San Jose agrees that the secret of our success is to have Vaisesika's personal association. [But you can't have him he's ours. :-) ]

Actually, Vaish goes around frequently to different temples to inspire book distribution, mostly in North America. He is a kind of national treasure. On Dandavats there is a recent article, not very descriptively titled "Watch LA TV Live Transcendental Video," which is really a short video clip from a presentation Vaish gave in Dallas in 2006, regarding "Four Laws of Book Distribution." I encourage you to watch it. [phani: I couldn't find it.]

What has happened here is: Vaish personally has been giving classes on Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings, for a long time (about six or seven years or more).

Everything starts from sound vibration. He obviously studies Srila Prabhupada's books very carefully and keeps himself absorbed in hearing transcendental sound vibration constantly. When he speaks to us about the Gita and Bhagavatam (and leads kirtanas), everyone becomes convinced of Srila Prabhupada's message and wants to dive deeper.

[I'm sorry: there was a configuration mistake and the Overview of the Discussion didn't show the important comments. Now it's fixed, so please try again.]

There is a lively discussion going on at www.iskconconstitution.com, a website dedicated to the discussion of ISKCON's emerging constitution—an important topic for devotees considering themselves part of our ISKCON community. One discussion in particular, Local Brahminical Councils, is relevant to our main subject, development of devotee communities, also called congregations.

Krishna-kirti Prabhu and Sita-pati Prabhu are discussing many important questions in comments to this article, looking at different ways to develop communities based on and aimed at Vedic principles in today's different cultural environments. This is an essential subject, not only in the context of ISKCON's constitution, but for the development of devotee communities in general, a must-read for all who are concerned about ISKCON's development in general, and congregational or community development in particular.

Click here to see an overview of the whole discussion, or here for a printable view (one long page) of everything. I'm planning to add other articles relevant to this subject, and you are most welcome to offer your insights, comments, and suggestions.

On behalf of Protima and her family I would like to thank Ananda Subramanian Prabhu (IA, USA) and one anonymous vaisnava for donating U$ 100 and U$ 50, respectively. Protima left Mayapur for Vellore, Tamil Nadu, where the Christian Medical College & Hospital, one of India's best known and reputed medical facilities, offers "Low-cost, but Effective Treatment Wards" for poor patients, among various kinds of specialized and high-tech facilities.

I actually wrote this article 9 years ago, in 1999, so times were changing then and have continued to change since then…. Although some aspects of it are dated, when I found it in a box of old papers I thought enough of it was still relevant to feel inspired to share it. :-)

[Comment to his own post on www.dandavats.com]

From the Article:

Similarly, men have to a large degree lost the good quality of their greater capacity for intelligence and retained a superiority complex through social conditioning. Along with this is a concomitant lack of humility that characterizes all interactions in Kali-yuga; this is the age of quarrel and misunderstanding.

Amongst all this, men have insisted that women live up to the Vedic standard of submission, chastity, and obedience, without insisting that they themselves live up to the terms of their varnasrama contract: providing protection, well informed level-headed guidance, and support. Varnasrama is a social contract—all parties have to fulfill their obligations under the terms of the agreement.

by Anuttama das

The most surprising news perhaps was that in 2007 nearly seventy-six percent of all BBT sales were made in India. Also, India reported printing more than 1,600,000 Bhagavad-gitas last year.

“This is a phenomenal increase in book publication and sales for India,” said Brahma Muhurta, “but it also challenges our other international divisions to keep up with India.”

Much credit was given to the congregations of India’s major temples, including New Delhi, Juhu (Mumbai), and Chowpatty (Mumbai). Each of those congregations took part in ISKCON’s international book marathon during the month of December. December is known as Gita Jayanti month in India, during which Lord Krishna is understood to have spoken Bhagavad-gita. Each of those temples reported over 150,000 maha big books (large hard bound volumes) sold in that period.

The launch of the ‘Year of the Congregation’ went well last weekend. Around 75 of our congregational leaders and preachers came to the event, held at a conference centre run by local Catholic nuns. We chose a venue outside the temple because the Manor is bursting at the seams on a Sunday, and this particular spot has proven to be a good, quiet space that helps the devotees to think.