BUILDING SPIRITUAL COMMUNITIES

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BUILDING SPIRITUAL COMMUNITIES

via Gita Coaching by akrura@gmail.com on 5/06/11

By Janki Pandya

Deep down in every human heart is a hidden, longing, impulse and ambition to do something fine and enduring, to love and to be loved. Why? Because it is the nature of the soul, "sat-cit-ananda". Every soul is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Each and every person, in whichever corner of the universe we look in, is ultimately looking for love.

Do you ever wonder why the distressed people go to the temple? When they have had enough with the material world and they just want some love and peace, they will go to the temple. The temple is one place where they feel a sense of comfort and peace, by associating with the devotees, by doing darshan (seeing with respect and devotion) of the Deities, by honouring the prasadam (respectfully eating the sanctified food), many people actually feel that life has a meaning.

Our spiritual master Srila Prabhupada had said that people are not so interested in regularly attending churches, mosques, or temples. However, when people visit ISKCON temples, they are looking for that inner spiritual quest which they are not getting anywhere else, they are looking for the love and care which they have been searching for birth after birth, they are coming to receive spiritual enlightenment and inspiration from the devotees living there. Everybody is suffering from anxiety; therefore every devotee should be trained in the caring of devotees. There is no greater joy or reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone's life.
Here are some suggestions of how devotees can develop loving and trusting relationships in devotee communities worldwide:

RECEPTION

Temples could have special departments specifically for greeting guests when they visit the temple. Srila Prabhupada said that "anyone who comes to the temple is personally sent by Krishna". Therefore, devotees could welcome guests in that spirit. A trained group of devotees could be there waiting for the guests, however if there are not many guests, one or two devotees are adequate for the service.

The guests could receive a warm welcome from the devotees and they could be given a brochure which explains a brief overview of our philosophy, introduction of who Srila Prabhupada is, introduction of the Deities they have at the temple and a schedule of events that take place.

Srila Prabhupada has often emphasized the importance of prasadam; it will slowly melt the hard core hearts of the general mass of people and gradually re-awaken their Krishna consciousness. Therefore, every guest could be given caranamrita and prasadam (the mangal sweet, sandesh is known for converting people into serious, sincere devotees). At the end of their visit, the guests have already made friends with the devotees and they go home with a smile.

The devotees then keep in touch with the guests and basically do a follow up on them and cultivate them according to the degree they reciprocate. The next time they visit the temple, they will bring their friends and tell them, "I have a friend at the temple, let me introduce you to him/her". So in this way, everyone could be trained in the art of hospitality.

I have been personally introduced in this way to ISKCON, and it makes a huge difference because now you know that somebody is personally there looking after you and cultivating you and the faith in Krishna has been established and you will never want to leave the movement. So the personal touch must be there if we want permanent devotees.

COUNSELOR SYSTEM

Counselor systems for existing devotees could be set up in every temple. However, it should be emphasized that a spirit of trust and confidence should be imbibed. If devotees do not develop loving relationships with each other, then there is no question of loving Krishna. How can one love Krishna without loving his devotees? Every one of us practicing bhakti is going through purification and we all have our conditioned natures, but we can look at the higher cause and surpass the small differences and arguments we have with each other. Some of the ways of doing this are:

 Serve the devotee you do not like unknowingly or in public.
 Associate more with the person you have offended or don't like.
 Pray to Krishna to help you or pray to the devotee.
 Glorify the devotee.
 Approach a common friend of the devotee who is in good terms with you.
 Invite the devotees for prasadam at your house, make their favorite dish.
 Offer them gifts on special occasions, e.g., birthdays, wedding anniversaries, etc.
 Help the devotees during their difficult times, be there for them, they should not feel isolated
 Do service with the devotee together, the service will melt everyone's heart and whatever disputes they have had in the past will be forgotten.
 Dedicate or sponsor something in their name
 Don't judge devotees on their past, it is one of the worst things a devotee can do, and it will be neither pleasing to Krishna nor guru.
 Attend a Bhagavatam class of the devotee you don't like, and if possible ask a question. It will make the speaker happy and slowly melt his/her heart.

Srila Prabhupada has built a house in which the whole world can live. We have opened our hearts to do this. It has already been predicted by Caitanya Mahaprabhu that this Krishna Consciousness Movement will spread to every town and village in this universe.

Krishna's mercy is already there, all we have to do is simply become instruments to carry out and execute this message, and Krishna will empower us. But we have to give it our 110%. Between what happens to us and our response is a space, in that space lays our freedom to choose our response. Ultimately, Krishna has given us free will so it is up to us to use it intelligently.

* Janki Pandya lives in Nairobi, Kenya. She has been in Krishna Consciousness for the last four years. She works as a banker at Victoria Commercial Bank Ltd and she is a Relationship Officer for the Customer Service Department. Her service at the temple is cooking for the Sunday Feast at the local ISKCON Nairobi temple.