By Kaunteya Das
The Mayapur Gaura Purnima Festival is over. This morning also the South Indian Safari group (about two-hundred devotees in four packed buses) left. Mayapur is back to its usual rhythms and I feel the duty to report to you on the last intense three weeks of activities by the Congregational Development Ministry.
In fact I plan to write separately on some of the items on the list; this is just an overview, before time erases the memories (or the eagerness to share).
Of course, the months leading up to the GBC meetings are usually times of renewed dynamism, as we generally want to come out with new publications to present to the Governing Body Commission and to the hundreds and thousands of devotees gathered for the Gaura Purnima festival. But I will skip the details of the preparations and jump to the official, manifested part.
Report to the GBC
An informal tradition developed in the last few years, that of giving the report to the GBCs in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, on a CD, instead of drabber printed sheets. This year the report had 156 slides, prepared by Hema Lavanya Prabhu, and included a few video clips. We handed the CDs to the GBC members on the last day of the meeting, the 15th February.
Congregational Development Workshops
On 16-19 February we held four panel presentations. This year we chose to focus on geographical/cultural/language areas, asking active players from the places involved coming and sharing about their experiences, their insights, and their advices.
We dedicated the first day to “The First World” (North America, Europe, and Australia), the established free-market economies. We had Jnanagamya Prabhu and his wife Maha-maya Mataji who shared about using billboards to invite people to the temple and about holding “Love Thy Neighbor” festivals for the cultivation of the neighbors. We also had HH Candramauli Maharaja speaking on his observation in different areas and especially on the ISKCON Prison Ministries. Aniruddha Prabhu, Temple President in Melbourne, Australia, focused on his educational programs for the congregation and how they generated the students’ enthusiasm for distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Day two was “The Great Mother Russia,” with devotees from Russia and other Russian-speaking areas. Our Abhyarci Mataji had worked well and in advance to inform and invite both speakers and listeners, so we were blessed with the largest attendance of the four days. Speakers included some (or most?) of the Russian Regional Secretaries and other active Prabhus: Carudesna, Uttamasloka, Visvamitra, Acala, Vivasvan, Siksastaka, and Aditi-dukha. In their brief speeches they highlighted fundamental concepts of community development such as the importance of taking initiative, the caring spirit, the spirit of propagation, building friendship, etc.
We reserved the third day for “The A World” (Asia and Africa). HH Bhakti Dhira Damodara Maharaja shared on the challenges and adventures he meets in West Africa. HH Gauranga Prema Maharaja, leader of the biggest Nama-hatta department in the world, based in Mayapur, spoke on what is happening in West Bengal, Orissa, and Assam. Among others we also had a group from Delhi (which now has thirty Bhakti-vriksha groups), lead by Venu Krishna Prabhu; they presented a skit on how joining a group changes one’s life and influences one’s family.
On the last day the focus was on the Spanish-speaking worlds, with speakers from Panama, Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Spain. They talked about different dynamics observed in their areas.
We are transcribing the most instructive speeches from the above panel discussions, for publishing them as separate articles.
Bhakti-vriksha Seminars
On the same days, February 16-19, from about 1:30 to 2:30 pm, Vijaya-venugopala Prabhu and his wife Prema Padmini Mataji presented the system of small, multiplying small groups. Syamananda Prabhu, who serves in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, was so impressed by the system and by the results already achieved that he encouraged the Ministry to speak to all Indian leaders, when they meet next month in Ujjain. I contacted the organizers and they granted one hour for this purpose.
Congregational Preaching Night
Our usual time during the festival—18 February this year—for reporting the highlights from the world, the results in the field, the work of the Ministry, and the individual preachers who distinguished themselves.
We were blessed by the presence of two special guest speakers, HH Sivaram Maharaja and HG Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu (both GBCs and initiating spiritual masters in ISKCON). We also plan to publish their speeches as separate articles.
The main substance of the presentation was the PowerPoint presentation created by Hema Lavanya Prabhu (stay tuned for a downloadable version).
Publications
We published issue no. 21 of the Congregational Development Journal, containing:
Message from the Minister, by Jayapataka Swami
Life at The Loft – by Sita-pati Dasa; principles and application of avant-garde urban preaching.
ISKCONizing the G-12? – by Jambavan Das; adopting and adapting the successful method.
Recipe for Success: Being Rigorous with the Essence and Flexible with the Changeable – by Amrita Gopala Dasi; looking into the tension between tradition and innovation.
Introducing Bhagavad-gita for the Youngest – artwork by Kesavi Devi Dasi
“Bhakti-vriksha Completely Changed our Lives!” an interview with Som Maskara, from Kolkata
The Answer to the Mystery of Life – by Bhakta Jerry of the ISKCON Prison Ministries column
We also printed the book Super Sunday, a number of observations and recommendations I compiled on how to improve the Sunday Program, a key aspect of the life of our communities. The chapters had been previous individually published in Congregational Development Journal, but this time we expanded the content and the book was thoroughly edited by Guru Krishna Prabhu. HG Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu wrote the Foreword and Bhaktin Sara Bock provided a stimulating appendix: “The Sunday program: New Ideas, New Life.” We also included new photos and original drawings.
The Bhakti-vriksha Leader; The Sector Leader
We can’t take credit for these two small books, produced by the Mathuradesh Bhakti-vriksha Training Center, but we gladly welcome these resources. Vijaya-venugopala Prabhu and Prema Padmini Mataji distilled years of experience in these practical mini-manuals for those who take responsibility for single groups and for those supervising a cluster of groups.
Posters
For the first time the Ministry published educational/inspirational posters. The first, “The Vamanadeva Approach,” describes the three basic steps necessary for following up on the initial outreach activities: contacts, cultivation, and care, showing (in the colorful artwork of Kesavi Mataji) the importance of collecting the emails (names, addresses, etc.) of interesting people; following up with phone call and other means of communication, and then offering education, association and community. The second poster shows key quotes from Lord Caitanya, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and Srila Prabhupada on key subjects of congregational development. The third poster contains a big picture of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura with his exhortation to cooperatively work to develop the Nama-hatta program.
Book-cart
Another novel feature was the newly built book-cart, through which different Ministry staff interacted with the devotees offering our publications, answering questions, and gathering contacts for ongoing communication. The book-cart vastly improves, in looks and practicality, the usual book-tables, and allows us to be present where needed at the different times of the day: early morning in the temple courtyard, in front of the Panca-tattva temple extension during the seminars, at the main pandal in the park in the evening.
Annual Planning Meeting
The Congregational Development Ministry held its main meeting in the Lotus Building conference room on the 5th March, with morning and afternoon sessions. We divided the agenda in two main parts reports on Gaurabda 520 and plans for Gaurabda 521. I felt inspired at the intellectual liveliness of the meeting and the selfless pledges of expanded service from many of the devotees present. I plan to report separately also on this. For more on congregational development, please visit www.namahatta.org.
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