namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

Here's an interesting case study in centralized organizations versus decentralized ones. See my post on the book "The Spider and the Starfish" from mid-year for some more background on that dichotomy.

David Haslam has put together a proposal for the ISKCON GBC to create an online ISKCON Guru database.

I'm working on the follow-up to my bestselling book "On Leadership". It's called "On Rulership".

The extended title is "On Rulership and the Volunteer Varnashram Society".

Live from his hideout deep behind the former Bamboo Curtain, David Jorm riffs on life in China and the re-introduction of varnasrama social organisation in a modern context.

David Jorm on China and Varnasrama (ogg, 5 MB)

It's not often that the ISKCON GBC and Srila B.V. Narayana Maharaja agree, but they seem to see eye to eye on this issue.

Lack of retirement planning for leaders is a major problem in ISKCON.

It's all good to say: "Leaders and officials in ISKCON should all be volunteers!"

However, in practice, what will happen is that people will give large sections of their life to ISKCON, and not receive a pension or contribution to a retirement fund in return. Two things result from this:

My thought this morning:

Preachers should be compassionate. Administrators should be just.

When mercy replaces justice in a land, the people are left unprotected by the rule of law.

One of the great things about our modern political systems is that they are based on the idea that everyone should be protected by the rule of impartial law. There are no favorites, no elites who can act with impunity.

In the different yugas different conditions prevail.

In Satya yuga, the "age of truth", conditions are such that the balance of power lies with the brahmanas. Everyone is a paramhamsa in this age and there is no varnashram, so everyone is a brahmana. In this age the process of self-realization is meditation.

In Dvapara-yuga, the "second age", which usually follows Satya-yuga, the process of self-realization is Deity Worship. In this age the balance of power lies with the Ksatriyas.

The inevitable happened and Resolution 311 died on the delivery table.

Resolution 311 was an ISKCON GBC resolution that recommended that the BBT annotate Srila Prabhupada's as a strategy to deal with two issues facing ISKCON today: weak preaching and outreach, and internal cultural issues.

H.H. Jayadavaita Swami released an official statement from the BBT on his blog.

You heard it here first.

The Spider represents a centralized organization. It may have many limbs, but cut off the head and it's a deathblow.

A Starfish, on the other hand, typifies a decentralized organization. "Its center is everywhere and its circumference is nowhere". Cut a starfish into pieces and it will grow into many more starfish.

H.H. Bhakti Caru Swami recently had a heart attack. Afterwards he underwent a change in direction. The focus of his preaching has shifted and he is speaking more openly about the broader issues of constitutional evolution of ISKCON, rather than sticking to the narrow party line of maintaining existing systems.

Here is a page from a contemporary edition of the Talmud, a central Jewish scripture.

In the center is the Babylonian Gemara, the core of the text. Surrounding it are various commentaries, such as the Rushmie and the Tosafat.

Vyenkata Bhatta is working on a piece for ISKCON News.com about "the furore surrounding Bhakta Corey / Caitanya das' blog" and the GBC response.

A friend who works for Microsoft [which proves devotees are transcendental to mundane divisions like "conservative" and "liberal" ;-)] writes me:

Prabhu I was reading the post off your blog . In which you have invited everyone to the Saturday Harinam. You said that it’s another day wasted if we don’t use our energy for the Lord’s mission. Prabhu ….. now when you to use the energy in Lord’s mission everyday what does that mean? Now my understanding to it is something like this

That other group dedicated to the downfall of materialistic globalized civilization is also facing significant internal debate over traditional gender roles. From CNN comes the story: "Al Qaeda faces gender debate".

In an April 2005 post entitled The Inevitability of Gay Marriage I wrote: "Over the next ten years time anyone opposed to Gay marriage will increasingly be viewed like someone who opposes freedom for black people or suffrage for women."

During his recent visit to Brisbane His Holiness Devamrita Swami gave class on an interesting and potentially controversial verse and purport. The Bhaktivedanta purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 10.4.5 contains this paragraph:

Here is an example of applying some of the principles employed by Bill O'Reilly in his Sunsara Taylor / Ron Luce interview [link] to the recent "Hare Krishna Diary" incident. It would not placate the cries of the lynch mob for blood, but it wouldn't absorb the agenda of the complainants into the GBC response either; and it would focus on process, maintaining a metastructure that can accommodate diversity within it, and raising the tone of the debate.

At the root this is a discipline issue.

Vedic Civilization means both Manu Samhita and Kama Sutra.

Trying to implement a "Vedic civilization" with only either one or the other is a fantasy and is "the logic of half a hen" ardha-kukkya nyaya.

That's why this "men and women" is the province of grhastas and adminstrators, not brahmacaris and sannyasis.

• Bhakta Corey (aka Caitanya das) mixes his own adolescent immaturity and lack of real life experience with his promotion of Srila Prabhupada's statements on social issues.
• His detractors mix their own dislike of Srila Prabhupada's statements on social issues with their critique of his presentation.
• The GBC statement fails to make a distinction between these things.

Actually Rick's talking about "renewal", but points number 5 and 6, in fact all of them, relate to my recent piece on ISKCON Constitution.com

Here are Rick's points, via Dave Ferguson:

When God wants to renew a church, a country, a movement he always takes you through five moves:

Vrajadhama sent me this video a couple of months ago with the note: "The origins of the Loft?"

Of course, we had no knowledge of or contact with this while the Loft was developing. The Loft paradigm evolved as an organic response to the environment, influenced by the interaction and realizations of devotees.

This video strongly suggests that this is indeed a natural process of cultural integration and missional outreach that Eastern traditions undergo in contact with contemporary global culture.

Orthodox at the core. Innovative at the edge.

Please read this post on Communication and Intention before continuing here.

This morning I was finally able to articulate what has provoked rage in me over resolution 311.

Here is the logic of the resolution:

Premise A. (explicit in resolution) We have external PR issues.

Premise B. (explicit in resolution) We have internal cultural issues.

Premise C. (implicit) X

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours talking with one of the members of my Sastric Advisory Committee. He is an editor at my work and spent a number of years studying to be a rabbi. He did some editing for me on my recent op-ed piece on ISKCON News (which explains the difference from my normal voice).

During our discussion he made an interesting point.

I would like to see reports coming out of the GBC meetings that include such details as how many books are being distributed in each GBC zone, how many devotees are going out on harinam, and how many initiated devotees have actually read the 4th canto, and what is being done to increase these three figures.

I would like to see GBC leaders taking time to meet with local leaders in their zones and sharing their expertise and experience to increase effectiveness at a local level.