namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

by Krsna-jivani dd

I was asked by the local Vaisnava Committee in Split and also Nitai Paramananda Prabhu, headmaster of the Bhakti-sanga program in Croatia, to write a report about the important event of the first Croatian Siksa ceremony, held in Split on June 16, 2007.

The Krishna consciousness movement in Split has been active for eighteen years. At present it consists of some one hundred and thirty members, including the wider congregation; sixty members render active service, maintaining a lively preaching centre with Deities of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai at it’s heart.

Besides starting numerous preaching and educational programs during the past two years, twenty-five new devotees joined during the past eighteen months. Also a number of older devotees returned, or began to participate more frequently in our programs.

During this year's Congregational Awards Night
in Sri Mayapur (Nitai Paramananda Pr. in the blue shirt)

During this year’s Gaura Purnima festival in Sri Dham Mayapur, I had the good fortune to speak with Nitai Paramananda dasa and his wife Mayapur-lila devi dasi. These devotees received an award by the Congregational Development Ministry. They are leading Bhakti-vriksha groups in Croatia.

Amrita Gopala dasi:  Bhakti-vriksha is the wave of the future in terms of expanding the Hare Krishna movement. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Nitai Paramananda dasa:  I absolutely agree. Bhakti-vriksha is an official ISKCON program. The main factor to consider is training devotees to become Bhakti-vriksha leaders. People must be trained to care for others. The core of Bhakti-virksha preaching is relationships, and that sets it apart from other programs. When a new person comes to hear krsna-kotha, they may ask questions of the speaker, but a personal relationship may not necessarily develop. But when someone takes up Bhakti-vriksha, he should be prepared to meet people where they are. Everyone comes together once a week, and also there is the opportunity to meet group members during the week. People will start to open up. There’s a statement that guides us: “People don’t care how much we know unless they see how much we care.” Actually, new devotees must feel secure, and Bhakti-vriksha leaders must take an active interest in all aspects of the new devotees’ lives.

Nitaiparamananda Prabhu, sitting in the front row, with glasses

Nitaiparamananda Prabhu and his wife Mayapur-lila dasi, disciples of HH Jayapataka Maharaja, are the couple playing a leading role in the development of congregations in Croatia, a part of Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia is known as a country, now countries, that is a “fertile preaching ground”. In other words, people, especially young people, are easily interested in the spiritual path and joining movements like ISKCON. Nowadays ISKCON has a good reputation in Croatia and consists mostly of congregational devotees.

I requested Nitaiparamananda Prabhu to write about Bhakti-vriksha preaching in Croatia, and here is his report.