By Iksvaku dasa
There are some devotees around the world who are paying attention to the expansion phenomenon called the G12 – Movement. This is not surprising due to the amazing numerical successes this movement is having and it may well have some pointers that we could use in our preaching. G12 stands for ‘Government of 12’ and aims at empowering those ‘touched’ by the word of Christ to ‘touch’ another 12 individuals, and in that way grow exponentially. At present it is claimed that their numbers reach hundreds of thousands active members around the world.
The model proposed by this group contains interesting aspects that are also found in our Vaisnava tradition: discipleship, prayer, friendly encounters, etc. The proposed discussion has the aim of exploring valuable elements that can be used in our preaching.
When Kaunteya Prabhu (Secretary of the Congregational Development Ministry) suggested this research, and to publish it, I considered some devotees’ immediate response to the ‘don’t introduce anything new’ line given by Srila Prabhupada. There are numerous places where Prabhupada warned us to not concoct new things – and stick to what he had established. With this in mind as an ‘undisputable warning’ I embarked on browsing through different web sites dealing with the ‘G12 explosion’.
Almost immediately I observed some ingredients in their model that resemble our traditional practices. The most noticeable one is that of ‘discipleship’. Although our concept of discipleship is certainly more defined and with a deeper spiritual significance, the way that they handle it appears to make all the difference, at least in the results of their preaching.
Their ‘disciple-ing’ basically means to befriend someone, care for them, introduce them to their group, train them in their methodology and ’empower’ them to obtain 12 disciples of their own. Each of these processes is performed in a very structured way and everyone involved becomes an active part of a continuously growing congregation.
Trying to consider the way in which our own tradition handles such concept (discipleship), I thought of how Sri Caitanya took care of His immediate followers and sent them to establish Krishna consciousness in different places. He personally traveled throughout India to ’empower’ local people to preach Lord Krishna’s message. Each one of Sri Caitanya’s followers was meant to represent Him in their preaching. His mood had to be the same in the devotees’ presentation (preaching) and relationships. This essential model facilitated India’s inundation in the Sankirtana Movement.
Even after Sri Caitanya and His associates’ disappearance we learn how this mood was practically identical in terms of presentation and association. Up to the times of Bhaktivinode Thakura who re-established a full fledged program to expand Krishna consciousness, it can be observed how caring, training, and outreach were the main components of his Nama-hatta model. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta followed the mission of Srila Bhaktivinode but took a more ‘militant’ approach in order to counteract the damaging influence that impersonalism and sahajiya-ism had caused in India. With this purpose he (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta) established the distribution of Krishna consciousness literature as the main part for expanding the sankirtana mission. Srila Prabhupada took this (book distribution) as the most important aspect of his preaching.
Although all this is clear and right, one may wonder ‘what is the need then to look for something new?’ The answer to such query is what I found when i began to research the G12 movement. In brief, if we use –fully- what our own tradition gives us as main ingredients (caring, practicing, training, etc) we can also reap a greater success in our endeavors.
The core ‘spark’ of the G12 growth is to follow the model (numerical: 12 apostles) of Lord Jesus’ preaching. Again I considered “but … what is our model in this context?” Many standard answers popped up: distribute books, 16 attentive rounds, full morning program, the list was quite long. I thought again, but in terms of how we deal with those to be preached to or ‘discipled’, is there an exact blueprint in our line’?
Quite vividly it came to my mind the way that Srila Prabhupada started our movement, with so much success in such a short time. Then it really ‘hit home’, we also had a ‘model’; Prabhupada befriended those ‘young boys and girls’ of the 60s and 70s, established a very personal relationship with them and ’empowered’ them to preach and to open temples. The new disciples’ main interest was to please Prabhupada by attracting new members to the movement. This was the motto for many years and consequently, we also expanded largely.
Yes, the books should be there, the rounds and the spiritual programs also, but how we deal with our newcomers, that seems to be fundamental. It was, in ‘Prabhupada’s model’.
If we can rekindle more and more that fire and enthusiasm in bringing new people to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement, taking proper care of them, assisting in their training and enabling them to present Prabhupada’s message to others, the growth of ISKCON will benefit immensely.
All this requires planning, organization and action, of course. Therefore the basic point in this discussion is the growth of our congregation in practical terms. The analysis of G12 is used as a catalyst to evaluate things that we could be doing better, maybe are doing wrong at present, or that we forgot to do along the way. In this line of thought I examined the parallels of G12 with our own tradition.
I hope that this discussion encourages devotees to participate in the matter of congregational preaching and any related matters.
Your servant,
Iksvaku dasa
Website: www.namahatta.org
mmm… Nice analysis Iksvaku prabhu!
Are you just trying to find parellels?
Its very nice the way you portray Srilaprabhupad being able to handle the newcomers, in a similar way of G12. But I guess you are saying that this type of care is not present now in the movement!?
I suppose that you have an idea for ISKCON’s congregation ! I see that you carefully avoid dicussing openly how it will be very useful to apply some of the techniques of G 12 in ISKCON,especially as you seem to have done quite a bit of research on this.
Your mood is very nice: So your idea is to get people involved more in taking care of newcomers etc…in a systematic way!
what is your practical suggestion?? How do you see us putting in action the G12 kind of program, for the present situation?
Dear Om Prabhu:
Thank you for your comments and your query.
It is a fundamental part of our advancement to be able to relate to others appropriately. Sri Caitanya and His associates showed this during His pastimes and certainly the Vaisnavas have that quality of offering compassionate association to the people in general. However, due to the influence of the age and the consequent conditionings that we experiment, relationships may be strained amongst some devotees and there is the risk to make this ‘the norm’. When this happens, the preaching is affected since newcomers do not want to remain in such association.
The aim of this analysis is to explore deeper in the area of relationships and proper association. I do believe that we find this in our Iskcon… in some places, but I believe also that there is plenty of room for improvement.
One very interesting point of the G12s is that each of their members take personal responsibility for a number of souls to be guided in their process. I asked myself ‘how many people do I have in my agenda… to help them in taking KC?….
The Congregational Preaching Ministry is researching on how to apply this principles; which are found in our own tradition, and apply them in the development of our congregations. In reality these are fundamental ‘pillars’ for Krishna conscious society, not only ‘strategies’ for preaching…
A similar approach is explained by Radhanatha Swami in his ‘Counselling system’ or in Niranjana Maharaja’s book ‘Taking Care of Krishna’s devotees. All these points are considered part of the approach towards preaching.
To be practical and before a grand formula or system is designed a simple application of such example could be to make a conscious decision of ‘helping others’ to advance. Write… say 3 names in ouir ‘mental’ agenda and think ‘I’d all what I can to assist these people in experiencing KC’
Srila Prabhupada truly became his first followers’ well wisher. He cooked for them, was concern about their health, will write letters to them, phone them, exchange gifts, listen to their problems and provide practical assistance in every way he could.
We may have become a bit too institutionalised in the process of growing and preaching. This is not a generalisation but rather a prompting (to myself ) that it is very important to be personal and committed in ‘preaching’ to others.
Hare Krishna,
your servant,
Iksvaku dasa