Due to its emphasis on class preaching, is ISKCON not losing the opportunity for mass preaching?
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Hare Krishna. Question from Ravikant Jata Prabhu. Spiritual knowledge is meant for Rajarishis who have intelligence to understand it and who have influence to make it understandable to others.
As number of devotees and resources are few, we want to help people in most effective way. We are preaching to educated and wealthy people that is out of our desire to reach everyone in long run. In war, less wounded people are treated first so that they can assist in treating others.
But don't you feel aspect of reaching to large number of people is neglected and discriminatingly preaching is done? When we have spiritual ideals like Bhakti Tirtha Swami who preached in slums and was also influencing leaders without discrimination. Why can't we? Why do we discriminate so much that people feel neglected when they come to us and don't take process seriously? As Lord Jagannath mercifully comes to give his darshan to everybody without discrimination, can't we reach more people so that they will feel loved and cared and misconception that is gone is meant for rich people and foreigners can be broken. As we reach to every person during marathon without discrimination, can't this mood be followed throughout year so that we can spread Prabhupada's glory more effectively? Sorry for long question and if any devotee feels offended by this question.
Answer, there is no question of offense. This is important and sincere question. One important thing to understand when we make any general statements about ISKCON is that ultimately ISKCON is made of individuals and individuals are individually inspired.
So whatever way a person feels inspired, that way the person will serve and glorify Krishna. And we cannot homogenize or legislate how one will feel inspired to preach. So we have for example within ISKCON we have the Pada Yatra where people, devotees go from village to village in a very simple cart and they share Krishna consciousness over there.
And when they share Krishna consciousness that is often by chanting, singing, distributing prasadam, distributing books. And that is done to people who are of not a very great wealth or influence. They are just people who from material perspective would be considered ordinary.
Of course they are not ordinary from Krishna's perspective. For him every soul is special. So we have to understand that rather than expecting someone to do something within Krishna consciousness, we should focus on trying to ourselves be the change that we want to see.
So we can set a standard. We can ourselves try to share Krishna consciousness in a way that it reaches to a large number of people. As far as institutional emphasis is concerned, that emphasis will also vary depending on the vision of the particular leader.
So when I was asked this question and I answered this point of is it true that ISKCON focuses only on foreigners? Well certainly not. As of now ISKCON's maximum strength is in India. It is.
Actually the number of temples in India are more than in most other parts of the world. In all other parts of the world in fact. The number of devotees in India are far greater than any other country in the world.
So by all standards the ISKCON India is the powerhouse of ISKCON all over the world now. So in that sense is ISKCON focusing on foreigners? It is quite unreasonable to make such a statement because actually most of ISKCON's preaching focus and preaching success has been in India in the last two three decades. And it's increasing.
So there are devotees in other parts of the world also who are also preaching sincerely. So rather than legislating or demanding that ISKCON should do something like this or something like that, we should try to ourselves become the change that we want to see. And when we work in that way, there will be much more positivity.
Now we may say my influence is very small. Actually if we look within ISKCON, we will find that whatever be our vision, it's unlikely that we will be the original, we will be the first one. There will be other devotees, maybe more senior to us, more influential than us, who also have had that kind of vision.
And we join forces with them. We try to assist them and then they have influence, they have associates. And when we join with them, then we can serve more effectively.
So even within the family of Srila Prabhupada, there are different devotees with different definitions of success, all ultimately harmonious with what sharing Krishna Consciousness is all about. But within that there are different definitions of success. So rather than trying to say that why is this not happening, why is that not happening, we should focus on trying to make that happen or trying to link with those who are trying to make that happen.
And in that way will be the change. So in general, we should recognize that Prabhupada has given various definitions of success. So now some devotees are in scientific preaching and often they feel that, Srila Prabhupada gave so much emphasis to scientific preaching, but for all, for most practical purposes, after Prabhupada's departure, most of ISKCON's mainstream leaders have dropped scientific preaching and nobody is doing that much.
The way Srila Prabhupada wanted it. Some other devotees may feel that actually farm communities, Prabhupada emphasized so much, eco-friendly living, but not many people are interested in that. So actually, whichever area of outreach of Krishna Consciousness we think about, those who are in that field wanting to do that can always be caught in these two feelings.
One is that, oh, there is so much to do and nobody is doing it. Why are things like that? And the other could be that, oh, there is so much to do. There's no one doing it.
So let me take the responsibility. Krishna will enable me to do it. As a writer, I feel that our movement lacks articulate writers.
And I'm not alone. There are many other devotees who are literally inclined, intellectually inclined, and they feel that we lack writers. Now, what can we do about it? No, we can't just make those people who are not interested in writing start writing.
So we do writing as much as we can and then other devotees will become inspired. Either the two ways it can happen. Those people who are interested in writing, they see the good writing that is being done in Krishna Consciousness and they become attracted and then they write for Krishna.
There is other devotees who have some interest in writing but don't have much talent. They also become inspired by seeing good quality writing and then they also become writers by that. They also take up writing as a service.
So similarly, if we want to, if we feel that ISKCON is not reaching out to the masses in general, say the way we do it in Bhakti Sri Marathon, yes, that is true. So then what we should do is we should set the example that we want. According to our small capacity, we try to reach out to the masses.
Then two things will happen by that. Now, those devotees who have this kind of inclination, when they see that the service is also happening and it is being successful in its own way, then they will be inspired to also do something similar. And that way the momentum in that direction will spread.
Or the other is, those who are concerned about the basic spiritual well-being of a wide number of people, those who would like to do mass preaching more than class preaching, those people, when they see that ISKCON is doing something in this direction, then they will also become attracted and they will come to Krishna Consciousness and they will do that. So in general, this is the way preaching will happen. Like scientific preaching, either devotees take up scientific preaching by studying science and doing the preaching, or devotees attract scientists who become devotees and they do scientific preaching.
So it can happen in both ways. But for it to happen either way, rather than saying that this is not happening, we should try to become the change that we want to see in society, in our society in particular, and in the broader society at large. Thank you.
Hare Krishna.