Whether you like it or not, Jehovah's Witnesses are always ready to do two things (1) Distribute books (2) Sit down and talk with you, and help you to understand. ISKCON has many book distributors, but we need more gurus.

After people have read one of Srila Prabhupada's books, and if they want to know more, their first question is often something like this: "How can I find out more about all this? Do you have any meetings in my town?" or "Are there any other Krishna people living near me?" That was my first eager question at the age of sixteen when I received a Back to Godhead magazine in the streets of Nottingham, England.

by Vijay Venugopal das and Prema Padmini dd

With Sasthivara and Gandhari

Sasthivara makes a living by selling paintings. He told us a bit about Russian history. Russian people, by nature, prefer a strong leader and are not interested in conquering other countries. In fact, the various nationalities in the Russian federation are from small countries which joined Russia to get the protection of a strong king.

Russians are so simple and obedient that, when Harikesa Swami, the previous GBC, told them to rise in the morning, shower, and chant for two hours, some of them misunderstood and actually stood in a cold shower for two hours while chanting japa!

by Gauragopala das

Indian Hindus are populating ISKCON Temples in the West in a way never seen before over the last forty-two years. This is happening all over the world at a massive rate and is not a phenomenon, as some suggest. The fact is, as India becomes a wealthier nation, we can only expect more and more students to leave India and attend Western educational institutions as well as many more arriving from India to become citizens of other countries.

by Devaki dd

Chowpatty is becoming more and more an example for ideal community development within ISKCON. However, sometimes it is not easy to convince senior devotees of the value of the much discussed and glorified Counselor System. And without full and active support from senior devotees it is rather difficult to put into practise. Often we hear the opinion, "the Bhakti-vriksha Program does the same thing." Some devotees conclude, therefore: "No need for any new systems!"

There are basic differences between these two programs; it is not that one is better than the other. If we analyze them more deeply we discover that they have fundamentally different goals, and that there is plenty of room for both programs to run side by side in a yatra.

Kripamoya Prabhu explains history and development of book distribution follow-up strategies in the UK. This online-book contains the following articles:

• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: The Mail Order Miracle
• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: Meet the Monks!
• Book Distribution Follow Up Strategies: Market Place Festivals

The articles have been posted originally on his blog, The Vaishnava Voice. If and when Kripamoya Prabhu writes more on this subject, I'll include it here.

You can download the whole series as a pdf-file, too.

Such lack of integration between preaching styles inevitably leads to organisational snobbishness, the consequent erosion of team spirit, and can lead to the complete disintegration of a temple or centre. At the very least, it means that the right hand of the movement doesn't know what the left hand is doing—and any interested people lose their way in the confusion.

So the idea was quite simply to bring the different types of preaching together into a seamless programme that more or less resembled Srila Prabhupada's idea of 1973. We wanted to keep the cost down, so we made sure that we paid for everything we did with the proceeds of book distribution. We also wanted the programme to be reproducible for any sankirtan team.

Tribhuvanatha Das, who preached to me in a muddy field in the rain—he was completely dedicated to the spirit of adventure in taking Srila Prabhupada's message to the world

I've been writing something recently about book distribution follow-up strategies. As readers may have gathered, such things are important to me. Firstly, on a logical, strategic level, and on a much more personal level. I came to Krishna myself through a varied campaign.

I'm very grateful to the devotees who spared the time to first speak with me many years ago. My existence as a devotee and as a preacher within the Krishna consciousness movement is the result of their combination of techniques. I had already received Back to Godhead magazines, seen devotees off in the distance at pop festivals, but never had that magic conversation that would bring me to any kind of conviction. The conversation where someone actually cared that I took up the practice of Krishna consciousness.

Energetic book distribution, Back to Godhead subscription, a good mail-order and personal correspondence service were, at one time, a very important part of ISKCON's outreach.

There's been a lot of Srila Prabhupada's books sold in our little country over the years - perhaps some 100 million pieces of literature over almost 40 years. No exagerration. During that time we've come up with various methods of staging our follow-up to book distribution so that people who wanted to know more could gradually get to know the devotees, learn more of our philosophy and life, and find a place for themselves in the wonderful Hare Krishna movement.

IPM Freedom Newsletter
July–September 2008

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
founder-acarya of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness

Under the guidance of His Holiness Candramauli Swami

bhakti te mukti: Devotion is real freedom!

This Sunday, 29th July 2008, is the second annual Yoga fest in Brisbane.

Jonathan Murphy from Radiant Light Yoga has worked really hard to pull off this event, which brings together Brisbane's entire yoga community once a year.

by Vijay Venugopal dasa and Prema Padmini dd

Everyone got their turn to pour different coloured ingredients on their Lordships: milk, ghee, curds, and all sorts of juices. Then, as They were being dried and dressed, my husband narrated the story of the pastimes at Panihati, which everyone heard with great enthusiasm and joy, resolving to think of the lake as the river Ganga, hoping Their Lordships would bless them.

Once dressed, Caitanya Avatari and I in turn led a rousing kirtana, going round and round the deities with the devotees. Offerings were made, and we finally enjoyed the delicious mahaprasadam—chipped rice separately, and all the other items mixed together. The other visitors to the lake, as well as some locals, also got their share.

by Kaunteya Das

No, it's not my daughter—nor the daughter of any of my friends. It's the name of the new youth Nama-hatta group inaugurated in Mexico City.

On 21 May 2008, at around 4:00 pm, His Holiness Bhakti-bhusana Swami (GBC and initiating guru), accompanied by fifteen to twenty devotees (including yours truly) from the local temple, went to officially, and joyously, start the new congregational group coordinated and hosted by Bhaktin Carla. The devotees' happiness and enthusiasm was obvious.

by Devaki dd

The highlight of my visit to Mayapur this year was Anuttama Prabhu's seminar on leadership and management—an extremely valuable course, which teaches so many important skills and principles of effective leadership and management.

Taking this course confirmed my realization that there is another reason why we have lost so many devotees worldwide over the past years besides the fact that we have failed to create a supportive spiritual culture which would give nourishment and shelter to each and every devotee joining this movement. We have also failed to educate and train our leaders systematically and equip them with the necessary skills in order to become true servant-leaders, who lead with affection and detachment. Rather we have so often allowed that dangerous weed to grow and flourish: the attachment to power, position and facilities...

Of course, for a movement like ours to grow, we need the book distributors to also become interested in the people who actually read the books as well as those who buy them. We also need them to be interested in someone who, after reading one of Srila Prabhupada's books, decides to take up the practises of bhakti-yoga such as chanting the Hare Krishna mantra and offering food on their home altar.

Whilst it is tempting for any of us to simply be a book distributor, it defies logic if, after a person reads the book you gave them, for us to then not be interested in that newcomer's welfare. It defies logic but it does happen sometimes. Unfortunately, there are not enough devotees for some of us to 'only' be book distributors. Each of us must also be well-rounded teachers and encouragers to everyone who takes up our Vaishnava path.

Tucked in the upper northwestern corner of Mexico, between the Pacific Ocean and the U.S. border, Tijuana—said to be the most-crossed frontier point in the world—is a nondescript urban metastasis, born from countless people’s dream of crossing the line from poverty (their birthplaces in Latin America) to prosperity (Yankee land).

No imposing cathedrals or picturesque old-town here; on the other hand, plenty of drugs and other Kali-yuga specialties are easily available. Yet even here, Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s devotees actively engage in reawakening their consciousnesses and kindling bhakti. This outpost is some three thousand kilometers away from the capital and the main temple in the country, but otherwise is close to San Diego and Los Angeles. As a result, they have received the visit of such luminaries as Radhanatha Maharaja and Devamrita Maharaja.

Recently the GBC has been considering multiple ISKCON centers in one city. It's an inevitable historical development that is currently being groked. One center cannot be all things to all people. The reality is that a cutting-edge urban preaching center reaching out to a western population has radically different priorities to an established ISKCON temple serving Deities and an established congregation including many ex-pat Indians. You can't effectively do both in the same place at the same time.

In order to have these two centers functioning at their optimum we've discovered that you need to have separation and cooperation between the two—they need to be interdependent. Each can remain focused on its core values and identity. There needs to be a constant process of communication and negotiation between the two. One cannot be subservient to the agenda of the other. In this way they can coexist in a symbiotic relationship.

Over the weekend I went to visit the Gaura Yoga centre in Wellington. It was very inspirational to see what they've done there. In my travels within ISKCON, I have seen nothing quite like it. Although there are many places trying to learn from its model, there is no substitute for the original. There are three aspects to what they do there which I think make it so special.

by Bhakta Mike, posted May 13, 2008

In response to a law suit citing obstruction of religious practice, the Arizona attorney general has requested the Tucson ISKCON temple and Govinda's Natural Foods Restaurant to provide three meals a day for inmate Jeff Walls, a Hare Krishna devotee in Federal Prison. Walls told the state that eating the prison food violated his religious practice of only eating sanctified food prepared in a clean, meat free kitchen by a brahmana with spiritual consciousness. The attorney generals office is negotiating with temple president Sandamini Mataji to provide those meals.

From this list we can see that the ISKCON of the 21st century has more than enough information to conduct its preaching activities. Most things we do will never change; how we do them might. Information technology has given us access to digitisation and rapid transit of the message of Krishna, to film, satellite television, and to the Internet. But it also means that atheism uses the same techniques. Ultimately, it will not be our means of transmitting information that will help the mission in the 21st century, but the oldest technique of all: making friends.

The current demographics of ISKCON tell the story that we now have many more people and many more centres in countries where ISKCON’s presence would have been unimaginable before. But out of the quarter million more people that ISKCON has since the day that Srila Prabhupada stood under a tree in a New York park, hardly 5% of them live in the communal way that he envisaged as being most helpful for spiritual life.

The Purposes

1. To help devotees feel accepted, appreciated, and recognized for their efforts in spiritualizing their environment and life.
2. To encourage devotees to raise their home standards.
3. To inspire devotees to take more responsibility in the missionary activities of ISKCON.
4. To ensure devotees that their local temple leadership cares for them.
5. To build better, more productive relationships with every active member of the community.
6. To consider every Bhakti Home as a potential center for expanding Krishna consciousness, a reference point for seekers and other devotees alike.

The idea is also to gradually focus the leadership’s attention toward giving advice and guidance on crucial matters, relevant for congregational devotees: children’s education, stability of marriages, reciprocal support between temple-based and home-based devotees. The leadership and community can then create a harmonious atmosphere of cooperation and symbiosis.

Join the growing number of Bhakti Homes!
Have your place recognized as a

Sraddha-kutir

An Abode of Faith and Spirituality

Srila Prabhupada Wished to See All Homes Transformed into a Center of Spiritual Cultivation

"Everyone can establish a small temple in his house, and he can begin family-wise—himself, his wife, his children. That is wanted. This Krishna consciousness movement wants to see that every house has become a temple of Krishna. That is our program."

(Lecture, 13 December 1972)

In ISKCON, this aspect of nurturing every single family into a “center of Krishna conscious faith” has not yet developed to its fullness, although it is a central and core strategy for the respiritualization of the world. This Sraddha-kutir initiative (Sraddha-kutir is the original term used by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura) aims at acknowledging the residences of practicing devotees as places of spiritual cultivation. It’s an invitation to every family, couple, or single to be formally recognized as an “ISKCON-followers unit.”