How can we share bhakti with Western audiences?

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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Any other questions? We reach out to western audiences. It’s a big challenge and it’s an evolving process. Broadly speaking that Prabhupada came to the west which is primarily America.
He came at a very extraordinary time in western history. The time of the counterculture. So Prabhupada never encountered the west as it normally was.
And what worked in the time of the counterculture because this is an extraordinary time when people rejected mainstream society and in looking for something alternative. That is not what people are doing. So what worked at an extraordinary time may not work in an ordinary time.
So therefore we have to see that today people are not interested so much in rejecting their whole older way of life and taking up a new way of life. People are more interested in wisdom than in religion. So there is a whole group of people who call themselves spiritual but not religious.
As we and others. And for many such people we often appear more religious than spiritual. Why? Because we have so many externals which seem to mark us as belonging to a particular sect, a particular group.
And that’s why it puts barriers in. I was talking with one of the leaders in America. So they have a temple over there and they have like a big, like a small hall for the temple entrance and so the temple premises entrance to the temple sanctum sanctorum entrance.
So like you have over there the main door and this door. So for people to come from that door to this door, actually they have to go through an ocean of misconceptions. Misconceptions or preconceptions rather.
It’s very difficult for them. Because in the so many things which trigger negative reactions. So in general, presenting Krishna Bhakti more as wisdom, more as something which will, which doesn’t come off as so religious.
That is very helpful. So presenting people places where they can get to hear the philosophy without necessarily making a religious commitment. That is what you can help.
So maybe yoga studios where the atmosphere is not direct, it’s vibrant spiritually but it doesn’t seem so religious over there. So that’s one thing. Another thing is that people don’t want to necessarily give up their existing identity.
That means say if somebody is Australian, they don’t want to become an Indian person. So how much of the external externals are essential, that has to be carefully discussed. So if you impose the contextual as the central then that alienates people.
But in general the western ethos is of, current ethos is largely of activism. Of contribution. So basically you could present spirituality in three broad ways.
One is the relationship between spiritual world and material world. Material world is temporary. Material life is temporary.
Just give it up and practice spiritual life. That’s rejection. The second is that material life is good but that won’t satisfy.
You need something more that is complementation. Material life is good but you need spiritual life. And third you could say is improvement.
That your spiritual life will improve your material life. How is that? Say for example many people practice yoga and mindfulness. It’s some kind of spirituality.
They think it is spirituality. Why? Because helping them improve themselves materially. Maybe their physical health improves.
They become more calm. They are able to deal with stress better. So for most people who come to spiritualities, because we started at a time when the counterculture was there.
So our mainstream presentation has always been the first. Rejection. Reject material life and practice spiritual life.
And it has very few takers. Most people are not at that level of spiritual evolution. So the second level is complementation.
And that is where most Indians are. Most Indians don’t want to reject material life or practice spiritual life. Material life is also important, but I want to practice spiritual life.
And that is where most of the movement is right. So if we keep presenting that rejection model, then we alienate a lot of people. Because these people are just not relevant to you.
So you can present, not in a very self-centered way, but to attract people we need the third level. How your spiritual practice can add value to your life right now. Or add value to your contributions right now.
So for example, yoga. It improves health. If there is environmental consciousness.
You can see how we, because of our practice of spirituality, we can live a more eco-friendly life. So if people feel that by joining something, they can do something constructive for the world. Not just give up the world and do something else.
And not just get more people to join that movement. We may say we are doing good to the world, but how are we doing good to the world? Get more people to join. That people are not interested.
Something which can be tangibly seen as making a contribution in the world. If you can show that to people and get people to connect over there, that is something which is quite attractive. So people have that activist tendency.
And if that can be channeled. There is one devotee in LA. He was doing college programs.
And he was inviting his many students to come to the temple. But they would never come. He said we have a nice program, we have kirtan, we have class.
Then he told them that would you like to come this Sunday? We serve free food to 300 people. Would you like to come and volunteer to serve that food? So 90% of the students came. They didn’t come to hear the class, but they came to serve the free food.
Because people want to do something. There was a devotee in New York, New York area. They were a big congregation.
The children would not come to the temple much. So then they tried to get the children to come to the temple. They said no.
So then, the children were not small children, they were teenagers. Then they said can you, we want to make our temple green. Eco-friendly.
So can you take the responsibility for it? Now, when they told that, there was a group of 12 teens, 12 teenage kids, they all came and very eagerly they come to the temple. And they took the whole responsibility. All the prasadam plates, everything, minimized plastic bags and everything.
So they come to the temple and then they see the darshan of the deities and participate in the kirtan, sometimes they hear classes. But they need a sense of involvement. So just doing something to transcend the world, that doesn’t appeal to most people.
It’s also at different phases. Generally, when we are young and are trying to establish ourselves in our career and in our lives, it is the third approach that appeals the most. Because spirituality can add value to my life.
It can improve, help me do things better. When a person comes to the level of 40, 45, where they are reasonably established in their lives, then they’ll be like, okay, I got some success. But it doesn’t really satisfy.
There has to be something more in my life. That’s when the complimentary help starts making sense. And the rejection approach, maybe since somebody says, you’ve got cancer, you’re going to die in six months.
Oh, then rejection approach. So we have to present spirituality in a way that can make sense to people, can appeal to people, can register within their current concerns. So if it registers within their current concerns, then they will take it up.
Thank you very much. Shri Prabhupada ki Gaur Bhakta Vendaki Raas Ka Gaur Is there a conflict