For preaching is it enough to simply hear classes of senior devotees and repeat?
Thank you Abhijeet. So does preaching mean we hear classes of two or three other devotees and then we speak. Is that good enough content for giving classes? It depends on a lot of factors.
But firstly, there's nothing wrong in it. That's the very basic thing. See, in among preachers, I observed many categories, but let me, for our conducting, three levels of devotees.
Devotees who just don't like to speak. They have to be pushed to go and give classes. Second is devotees who like to speak, but they don't know what to speak.
Third is devotees who like to speak and they have the capacity, the interest, the passion to come up with their own thought flow to speak. So now, if those who are the third level are given content to speak, they just rebel against it. You know, OK, this is the notes, this is speech.
How can I do that? So now, for many devotees, if some notes are given, they feel empowered. And that's the second category. They feel empowered when some outline, some structures and notes are given.
And for the first level, if notes are given, they feel restricted. They feel actually disempowered. Same activity it has opposite of third category.
Third category, who means who can't prepare their own material. They feel disempowered, they feel restricted by that, constricted. So I would say that many devotees in preaching go from the second to the third category organically.
But we don't, we can't expect that we be in the third category directly. So if one is not in the first category, then really there is not much worry about preaching. So even when we take points from anyone else's classes and speak, I think there are a lot of differences that come.
First is that we won't repeat exactly the same thing. We will not only have our own way of presenting, we will have our own conviction, our own emphasis, our own some examples we may give, whatever strikes with us. So basically, preaching works at many levels.
One is a head to head connection. Second is a heart to heart connection. So there can of course be a, so for the sake of the speaking on the Dasasana, some content has to be there.
But as far as developing people is concerned, a lot depends on how we talk with them before or after, how we take care of them. Even the best preacher without a proper system, it depends on whether there's a good follow-up or not, whether there's a good host or not, whether the venue is right or not, whether the timing is right or not. All these factors come into the picture also.
Even if they have a very high class preacher, but if the lecture is at a time of an India-Pakistan cricket match, say World Cup final or something like that, it will not come. So all those other factors come in. So I would say that preaching is definitely not just like cutting pasting of content from different people and speaking.
Preaching has all these other factors of having some kind of follow-up team, having a good host, being able to talk with people, being able to engage people. So all those aspects come in preaching. And in the long run, I find that the class itself is important, but if somebody is a visiting preacher going to some place, then the class becomes extremely important.
That's what people are in a sense paying to get you there for. And yes, people would like to talk after the class and all that, but they're not expecting also a long-term relationship. But if somebody is going to do a regular program, then content is important, no doubt.
But content is not all that important. So it depends on what kind of preaching one is doing. And even if it's a visiting preacher, I would have been visiting, especially if somebody is travelling to a distant place to preach.
It's like there's a regular program going on, some other preacher is going, we are told go for a week over there. And it's OK. Content people will see, but not all that much.
So while taking content from different people, I suggest that three things we could do to make it more connected, to make people want to see authenticity. So if something really touches the speaker's heart, the speaker is speaking from the heart, then it definitely touches people's heart. So first thing we could do is that we can check whether we feel inspired about the topic.
So generally speaking, if we have the capacity to choose the topic and that is the best. And usually there is a congregation program or something. We do have the capacity to choose.
I want to speak on this topic. So then when we choose a topic, it's best to think that if I was going to meet some friend, meet some new person. Now, would I feel comfortable and inspired to speak on this topic? So if you feel inspired to speak with one or two people at the individual level, then it's not so much difficult speaking to a group of people also.
So just see whether if we take a topic which we would never speak on a one to one basis, it will be unnatural. So take a topic that we feel that we feel comfortable with, that we can sort of connect with, we can take ownership of. Even if the content is not our own, at least the topic, the main theme is something which we can connect with.
Then within that, try to, we always, there are some preachers who are very organized in their classes. This point, this point, this point, this point goes. Now, the advantage of those kind of classes is that if we get, we note down the classes, we have a clear structure.
This is how the thought has been. Some preachers, they may also be very inspiring, but they may be much more spontaneous. So their structure may not be very clear.
So it's not, we don't have to become like someone, you know, we can just be who we are. We can be spontaneous, we can be structured, however it works. But whatever works means, means that it is always good to be structured, especially if you're doing a course or something like that.
But then it depends on sometimes trying to prepare a structured class that takes so much stress and energy. They're first in preparing and then after that while delivering also. It's almost like we are repeating a memorized script, it may appear like that.
That is not our nature. Then it becomes, although we may be speaking very good points, it will become, it will look like artificial. So naturally, everybody when they speak, especially if it's a formal occasion like a class, they will have some kind of structure in their mind.
But then more spontaneity and less structure and sometimes more structure and less spontaneity. So now, whatever, so whatever we feel comfortable with, we take that topic and treat it accordingly. And sometimes we can maybe, if you decide there are two, three speakers whom you like to hear and you get their class, get their classes and then you, they may be very structured, they may be very spontaneous.
You come up with your own, own style and what you are comfortable at. So that way, the theme is something which we have become comfortable with. A style is something which you have become comfortable with.
And then lastly, with the content, it's best not to speak things which we ourselves are not very convinced about. We ourselves know that this is just too long, too impractical. For somebody else, they may be very inspired about it.
They may be very inspired and they may, it's, sometimes it's a little paradoxical. See, if I'm struggling to control my senses, then what happens? Sometimes I may speak strongly about sense control because I want to speak to myself. But then it can come off as very alienating to others.
So we just have to see. Again, as I said, teaching is a lot about what works. So it should, it should, basically, I learned one principle in writing and that, you know, don't put in writing that which you would not speak in a conversation.
Means this writing should just be speaking, but it is more structured, more grammatically sound and more smoothly flowing. But writing and speaking should be the same. The same principle I would apply that, that I don't, I wouldn't speak in a class, something which I would not speak in, speak during normal speaking.
Of course, sometimes certain standards are to be established and we may need to speak about those standards and we may not speak that directly to a person when we are talking with them, which is fine enough. But overall, if we are comfortable, basically, one of the best techniques, there are various, I used to read, long ago I read a book on public speaking, they said that, you know, for writing, it is a book on writing which applied for public speaking, that don't think about the masses out there who are going to read your books. Every reader is an individual.
And either the reader is going to like you or the reader is not going to like you. And you can't do anything about it. So just be yourself.
So instead of thinking that there is such a big audience, just think that they are all individuals. And some people will connect with us, some people will not, which is fine. So we just think of them as rather than a crowd, we think of them just as individuals.
Then the whole tension of public speaking goes down quite a bit. And we can move forward. And one more thing which comes up in giving classes is answering questions.
And that may require some preparation. But then it depends again on different preachers. Some preachers don't encourage too many questions.
And over a period of time audience also understands. This is how this person is. I feel more comfortable answering questions.
Then that's perfect then. So I would say that that may require some preparation. So, OK, on this topic, what kind of questions may come? And then we can consult somebody about it.