What should be the highest priority in ISKCON when some devotees emphasize specific aspects like varnashrama?

From: Krishna Gaur Das

Of Highest Priority In ISKCON Especially When Some Devotees Are more inclined towards Organic Farming & Naturally they Will preach to New People In Same Direction. In doing So they May Neglect basic Sadhana,Sangh ,Which Main cityTemple Offers.Is there any Clear instructions From Srila prabhupad.Now A Days Everyone keep Quoting Prabhupad On Farm DevelopmentPlz Clarify

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you what should be the highest priority in this time especially on some people working or moving towards organic farming and naturally they will preach to new people in the same direction in doing so, they may neglect basic sadhana, sangha which the main city temple offers is there any clear instruction from Srila Prabhupada nowadays everyone keeps quoting Prabhupada on farm development answer when Srila Prabhupada was asked what will please him the most he said, when we love Krishna so the purpose of everything that we do in Krishna Consciousness is to develop our love for Krishna or as the name itself suggests to become Krishna Conscious and within this topmost definition of success in Krishna Consciousness that is to love Krishna Srila Prabhupada has given various ways of serving Krishna by which we can become purified and develop love for him so in a sense whether it is food distribution or college outreach or it is rural development to establish for an ashram all these ultimately are abhidheya they are meant to help us fix the mind on Krishna by doing some service for him so the highest priority for everyone has to be to develop love for Krishna and depending on individual inspiration different devotees will adopt various ways of serving him so when a particular devotee a particular community leader takes the initiative of fulfilling a particular definition a particular definition of success that Srila Prabhupada has given us then that needs to be appreciated because Srila Prabhupada’s legacy has to be and the Krishna Conscious culture has to be continued in various aspects so certain if somebody takes the mission of an ashrama and considers that that is an extremely important as per Srila Prabhupada’s mission that is perfectly good and such a person can be appreciated and if we feel inspired by a similar definition of success within Krishna Consciousness then we can follow that now when such a person reaches out to new people that person will naturally emphasize whatever is in his or her heart so and new people who are coming will become accordingly attracted so what we should do is that we need to help people understand this point that there are definite that there are certain core principles of Krishna Consciousness that is developing our love for Krishna which comes primarily by associating with devotees who have inspiration and devotion for Krishna and that inspiration and devotion enables us to transform our hearts and that inspiration and devotion is all around in Krishna Consciousness there are various aspects, there is sadhana there is seva, there is sangha and there is swadhyaya so all of these are important at the same time sadhana is one foundationally important because that keeps us Krishna conscious it keeps Krishna in the center our seva without sadhana will over a period of time just become karma, it will become work on the other hand if there is so much emphasis on sadhana that there is no seva then we won’t get much deep Krishna conscious realizations so that’s why there has to be a balance of both and if and if during a particular phase of a project say the starting of the inauguration phase if a particular aspect has to be emphasized for example lot of work needs to be done to start off a project then that is understandable because in the initial phase of the project and things are just falling together and one who takes the initiative will be will be needing help so we need to appreciate that and if we feel inspired we can assist but at the same time we also have to remember that we have taken that there are certain principles which are foundational for example chanting our rounds and doing our basic sadhana and these cannot be neglected so without these people may do a lot of work, a lot of seva for some time but internally they will be feeling that this is just like work and over a period of time they may go and fall away from Krishna consciousness because they don’t get really a higher taste and they start seeing that this is just so much work that I am doing so individually every devotee has to feel spiritually inspired and how that devotee will feel spiritually inspired will vary depending on individual nature and individual circumstances so rather than emphasizing any one definition of success in terms of abhidheya that distribution or varanashram or or participation in temple programs participation in temple programs can be a part of sadhana if it is foundational if they are like weekly programs or something which is helping us get education in the basic philosophy but in the temple there can be many other service outreach programs also so all these are ways of abhidheya and rather than expecting new people to adopt just one definition of success we need to over a period of time educate people about how there are different definitions of success which Latha Prabhupada has given and whichever way they feel inspired they can follow so rather than taking although initially we have to provide the foundational, the fundamentals of Krishna Consciousness to people but also along with that we need to give them proper understanding so that they can choose and if we have certain projects naturally we will want them to help us in that project and that is understandable and they may also feel inspired if we have introduced them to Krishna Consciousness at the same time we also have to look at what will be the best for their spiritual life and a certain basic amount of sadhana along with education in culture and philosophy of Krishna Consciousness on a regular basis is essential for their sustained spiritual development and along with that they can choose a service according to their, according to the definition of success that gels with their nature that they feel most inspired about so Srila Prabhupada’s emphasis for example Srila Prabhupada, there are several letters that he wrote to the temple president in the GBC and he said that a famous letter which he wrote to which in which he quotes about what is the basic so Srila Prabhupada was asked Srila Prabhupada said that what should the managers do everybody has a desire to do something for Krishna and whatever it is, it is their inspiration that they should do for Krishna so we cannot certain of ours gurus or seniors gurus or leaders in the movement, they have certain inspiration that should be appreciated and sometimes because they are so much into the project, they may to some extent neglect some, neglect or downplay certain aspects of Krishna consciousness so that the project develops for example, morning sadhana may not be possible in certain situations but that should not be the standard that is taught to everyone else and for most devotees the standard has to be maintained and if somebody feels extremely inspired by a particular project and also stays spiritually strong then occasionally on a few occasions like Sita Janmashtami or certain major festivals certain aspects of sadhana can be can be the same strict standards may not be maintained at certain times but that is only exceptional cases, strong sadhana should be maintained normally and overall the important point is that people should be inspired people should not feel burdened so in general this strong sadhana is what gives us spiritual inspiration and that’s why that should be taken care of adequately. Thank you.