How can we make people in the lower modes interested in Krishna?

Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
If somebody is in the mode of passion or ignorance, while we distribute books to them, they just are not interested. So what should we do? We can try to be creative and try to see how whatever is their circle of interest, we can present Krishna consciousness in a way that makes sense to them. So, for example, people are very stressed in the mode of passion because they have hundred things to do, so little time to do it.
So we can help them address their stress. So by understanding spiritual knowledge, we can address this. So we can try to find out within their circle of interest, what is the activities in bhakti which they can connect with? What is the aspect of bhakti they can connect with? And that way Prabhupada was expert.
Prabhupada, a hippie once came and told him, Swami, what is Vaikuntha like? You said Vaikuntha is so much happiness. What is the happiness of Vaikuntha like? And Prabhupada said, it is like an ocean of LSD. Now, somebody may say, actually, one of the offenses to the holy name is to compare, to give any mundane interpretation of the holy name.
Now, where in which scripture is said that Vaikuntha’s happiness is like an ocean of LSD? Now, Prabhupada’s point is that he has to make that message intelligible to them. So for that person who is a drug addict, for them, happiness is equal to LSD. So ocean of happiness, I want to go there.
So, Prabhupada was expert at marketing. The point, when we are trying to do outreach, the point is not just to get it right. The point is to get it across.
The message has to be presented in a way that it goes across. People can see the relevance, people can see the applicability in their lives. So if we associate with experienced devotees who have done outreach to different audiences, then we can also learn about how to present things better.
That is one way we can develop a scale. But otherwise, there are some people who are just not interested. They are not at that spiritual evolution.
They are not at a level where they are receptive. So all that we do is, just end the interaction of cordial note, they have some prasad, offer them prasad, and just move on. Now, if people can, after interacting with the devotees, just feel, I met a nice person.
I don’t agree with what he said. I don’t agree, but I suppose that itself is a step forward for the religion, they will get a gyan suprati by that. So, if people are ready, see our goal in bhakti is we want to open the door for people to come to Krishna.
This is so wonderful, please come in. Some people will not come. Now when they don’t come in, we don’t have to bang the door in their face.
You are not coming, you are a demon, get lost. No, we open the door and leave the door open for them. Leaving the door open for them means that we give them a favorable impression about Krishna, about devotees, about Krishna’s wisdom.
And how to do that? Just be cordial, be polite. Then, even if they don’t agree, we move on to somebody else. So, if we can, connect with their circle of interest, that’s best.
If we can’t, then at least let them get some basic appreciation.