namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

In this week's podcast we discuss James Cameron's new movie, Avatar - the most expensive movie to produce of all time at $300 million.

We also discuss Leadership.

Here's the podcast file:

• 09-12-19 Red Hill Podcast - Avatar 3d and Leadership

Here are my free ebooks on Leadership that I mention in the podcast:

by Sita-pati das

The problem with "institutionalizing" something is that it marks the first step on a road to deviation.

Institutionalizing is where you abstract roles from people in order to make something reproducible. So you go from having a person who does something (guna and karma in Sanskrit - a person with specific qualities and activities that lead to their having a certain role in society) to having a position (varna, or "color", in Sanskrit).

So you go from having a charismatic leader (from Greek charisma meaning "gifted") to having a leadership position.

The problem is that now that there is a position that is separate from the person, the person who inhabits the position may not have the necessary qualifications to do so.

by Kaunteya das

Today is the anniversary of the incorporation of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness by its Founder-acarya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and I feel I should jot down some thoughts.

I see an ISKCON that is fragmented, in terms of camps of allegiance and standards of service—to the local community and to humanity at large. I see an ISKCON that is struggling with its identity and function in the world: Are we neo-Hindus? Are we social revolutionaries? Are we agrarian?

Or In some quarters there is a tendency to (almost) demonize the initiating spiritual masters, accusing that they were creating factions, but I beg to disagree: The gurus, by and large, are mostly doing their duty to inspire people in spiritual life, to offer shelter to those who wish to seriously practice, and to instruct their students; all actions well within the boundaries of their sacred office.

The problem is, in my opinion, largely "above" the gurus, in the lack of guidance, clarity, strength, and instruction from the ultimate authority of ISKCON, the Governing Body Commission.

Searching for instructions by Srila Prabhupada on how regular home programs should be conducted, I came across this essay from Kripamoya Prabhu, published by ISKCON Communication Journal in January 1994 (article link).

I've read this article before and thought it had been re-published on namahatta.org already, but found that was not the case. Editing it for better online readability, I am surprised how many of our current problems Kripamoya Prabhu recognized and analyzed so much earlier in ISKCON's history. His recommendations not how to avoid, but how to deal with conflict and problems could help devotees deal better with many of today's issues, I think. Here's the essay's 'teaser' from the IC Journal:

"We all want to avoid conflict but life seems to thrust it at us in bucket-loads, so we might as well learn how to deal with it. Kripamoya Prabhu's study of the manifestation of conflict in Nama-hatta groups and the steps he recommends to remedy this, based on his considerable experience and research, is important for all devotees."

As an addendum to the previous post, specifically the point about the paradox of effort and grace, I'd like to recount something from my own experience.

In 2005 I spent the day with Dr. John C. Maxwell, pastor, author, and leadership educator. My work paid for me to go. I have a yearly discretionary training allowance that I was able to use for the day, although I had to pay any associated travel and accommodation costs. The day was called "The Leadership Effect," and consisted of Dr Maxwell speaking on the theme of leadership.

As he explained at the outset, he is a "motivational teacher," rather than a "motivational speaker". A motivational speaker and a motivational teacher both make you feel good when they speak. The difference is that with a motivational speaker when you wake the next morning you don't know why, whereas with a motivational teacher you take away knowledge that you can apply.

Here is an excerpt of a book Sita-pati Prabhu is working on, published as a blog post at www.atmayogi.com. I find it quite excellent, even this pre-release, and want to share it with our readers.

Sita-pati explains how one's ability to lead—society, an organization, a single temple or center, or just one's own life—depends on the ability to see things as they are, to "get real."

The author's introduction:

Further to yesterday's post about the "incompetent and ignorant", here are a few thoughts on the subject that I jotted down this morning. Far be it from me to just call people losers and and leave it at that.

Actually, this is an excerpt from my as yet unpublished book on Leadership. It's a little long, but it really is good stuff—if I do say so.

"The weak must serve the strong, that we see everywhere, is it not? Who can deny?"

Well, true enough—we do see it everywhere. But is it right? Is it just? Is it fair?

In the letter before us, Prabhupada so far seems unfazed by such doubts. The domination of the weak by the strong is, in his eyes, dharma—part of the unalterable nature of reality, and he goes on to extol it as immediately beneficial: "So that competitive spirit makes us strong, otherwise it is a society of weak men only, and what is the good of such society?"

These resolutions I found looking through the published minutes of ISKCON's Governing Body Commission, mostly in Dandavats.com archives.

Originally I wanted to provide a reference of laws that exist in our society to deal with problems between rank-and-file devotees and their managers. Such procedures have been laid out by the GBC and I'll publish them here a little later (almost falling asleep, and will have to spend most of tomorrow at the lab's and my doc's waiting room).

I found the spirit of this Guideline from 1996 very inspiring, though, and wanted to bring it to your attention straight away. If everybody followed this, there'd be much less problems than we see today...

Were I to name the one human act most responsible for the wrongs in this world it would be, hands down, the abuse of power.

As far back as our history books can relate, the strong have exploited the weak. From time to time, the exploited, energized by resentment, rise up and overthrow their exploiters. In this way, the strong and the weak periodically exchange places. Even so, the principle of exploitation remains inviolate.