Is ISKCON meant for only educated people like IITians and IIMians?

From: Ajaya Krishna Viyyapu

Is ISKCON only meant for highly educational professionals like IITians and IIMians only, because whom ever i see they are not ordinary people like me ?

Transcript

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question from Ajay Krishna is ISKCON only meant for highly educated professionals like IITians and IIMians because whoever I see they are not ordinary people like me answer not at all neither in the mission statement of ISKCON the purpose of ISKCON or the practices of ISKCON is mentioned anywhere that ISKCON is limited to any specific kind of people Ishwara Prabhupada founded ISKCON his goal was to educate all of humanity in spiritual values and to bring all of them closer to each other and closer to God and it is based on the Bhagavad Gita which certainly doesn’t differentiate between different living beings in fact what to speak of just all human beings Krishna considers all living beings to be his children even non-human beings like animals and plants of course spiritual knowledge can be given only to human beings and spiritual practices can be followed only by human beings so that’s why the scope of the Gita Wisdom includes all living beings but the transformational potency of Gita Wisdom is largely meant for human beings and Krishna consciousness is based largely on the Bhagavad Gita so certainly one shouldn’t have the idea that ISKCON is meant only for a specific class of people now if it is found that we have encountered only say IITians, IIMians that is likely because these may be the most visible members of the movement it quite often happens that those people who are dedicated and talented they make it to these top institutes in college and if they become devotees then they continue using their talents and their dedication in Krishna service and then they naturally may become teachers they may become counselors they may become managers in the movement also so it is not that only those who are well educated can be members or leaders, basic point is there is an ethos that made these people successful in material life and that ethos helps them also to rise in spiritual life however there are many other devotees who are from a wide cross section of society ISKCON has programs which reach out to the villages and we have padhyatras where devotees walk from village to village and then we have rural community development where eco friendly living is practiced and there are many people who join from the local villages and of course there may be well educated members also in that community, in such communities so if we just explore around beyond visible members of ISKCON we will find that there are many other people also who are as you see ordinary people like me of course anybody who comes to Krishna is not ordinary, extraordinary so you as well as everybody who is in ISKCON is extraordinary Krishna says in 7.3 in the Bhagavad Gita that among thousands of men few endeavour to know me and among those who endeavour to know me even fewer actually know me in truth so you are getting introduced to Krishna in your consciousness you are by no means ordinary you are a special person now we feel that from the point of view of material education and qualification that may not be so distinguished but that is inconsequential as far as having sincerity of heart in approaching Krishna and if one has sincerity of heart then one can make tremendous spiritual advancement irrespective of one’s material qualifications or the lack thereof so therefore there is no need to have this notion of ISKCON being reserved for a particular class of people and if you can just look around beyond the visible leaders of the movement you will find that that there are people with whom who are just like us and we can develop relationship with them and even if people are very well educated and in general that bad education doesn’t really matter so much in devotional circles if somebody is in a leading position ISKCON that’s because that person is is a serious devotee and if that person is a serious devotee then that person is likely to have devotional qualities of humility, tolerance caring for others and so that’s why that educational qualification also need not create any barrier between us and those devotees, we can relate with them also and we can also relate with others who are in your words ordinary