Searching for Lord Chaitanya’s movement

By Garuda dasa

Where would ISKCON be if (in the west) there were no Indian bodied souls supporting our temples for the last 30 years? This is not meant as an offense whatsoever to the invaluable service that the Indian community faithfully offers to ISKCON, only a question meant to ponder the advantages of incorporating a more westernized approach. As a second generation preacher, many such questions have sharpened my thoughts in finding answers as to how we can best serve the Holy Name in the west. Where and how will Lord Chaitanya’s movement be expanding next? To find answers beyond the confines of traditional preaching in ISKCON, I went on a 25,000 mile journey by car to reenact and go beyond my previous personal devotional experiences. The journey was a kirtan festival tour; I wandered from town to town, hosting kirtans in a different place each week.

Groups such as the Morman Church and the Jehova’s Witnesses are opening an estimated 150 new centers yearly. Should we Hare Krishnas be satisfied to merely maintain the same centers Srila Prabhupada opened in North America before his departure? Srila Prabhupada’s work was a miracle. It is my hope that our blessed community will stop at nothing to resume the ecstatic proliferation, taking no rest in complacency. This is not to make light of the tireless service that so many devotees render in maintaining our temples with utmost devotion. However, it must be acknowledged that more devotees are needed to aid the expansion of Bhakti Yoga as the West expands, according to time, place and circumstance. Innovation is key. How do we attract and maintain more new devotees? How do we enthuse and engage the already established Vaisnavas?

Following disciplic succession is the true philosophy of life. However, continuing to serve amid only the traditional formulas we have ascribed to in ISKCON is limiting and (after two decades) has proven to be rather like working for a small company; it’s a great job, but there’s little expansion or innovative action to realize such. The traditional ways once brought great success, and still can if incorporated into current times. As the generations shift and sink deeper into the iron grip of Kali Yuga, so should we adapt our approach and increase our fervor. As far as being able to reach our countrymen in this western market of souls, how do we compare to other movements? How do we compare to our own movement’s expansion when Srila Prabhupada was present? Let us not fail to satisfy Srila Prabhupada’s desire for us and others. Having said this, it is in intense service to the Holy Name that I must beg the question: wherein lies the hope?

All glories to the first generation of devotees in the glory days of Srila Prabhupada, who experienced and assisted him in the vast preaching expansion. We should not be content, however, with memories alone. The first generation devotees will not be around forever. Preachers of the next generation are rare and must be sought out if they are able to expand the fire of outreach and are more than eager to see the movement expand in their lifetime. It is in their innovation and walk forward that a path is being laid; this is the nature of outreach and how Srila Prabhupada used the energy of youth in his preaching dynamic. The answers are to be realized in action, in serving the Holy Name alone. Lord Chaitanya has established this service in His precepts, this movement’s life blood.

Lord Chaitanya says: “This sankirtan movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large”, and “the Holy Name alone can render all benediction upon living beings.” In the Sri Nityanandastakam Lord Nityananda has spoken: “O brothers, please constantly chant the Holy Name, please give this gift of your liberation to me!” It then says, “Lord Nityananda traveled on every path spreading the Holy Names and without considering His own interests He was merciful to the people”.

There is a quote from the epic “Lord of the Rings” in which a great battle between the demoniac and pious forces occurs that reminds me of the mercy of the devotees, and encapsulated my own consciousness while embarking on my tour: “I give up hope for myself that others may find it.” To reach my countrymen I would have to change my dress. I just switched from a yogi in a dhoti to a yogi in cotton pants and shirt. I kept the shaved head without the sikha. I was what I am: a simple person, just a soul with intention, no external things to bewilder, only a message to share. I have read directly from Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswmai Thakura’s writings where he says that anyone who thinks a Vaisnava is someone with a certain type of dress, haircut, or facial marking is of hellish mentality. I was more accessible to others, yet not compromised.

After an intense 6 months of service at a struggling ISKCON temple, I found the only way to make a “difference” was to be “different”. I went to my hometown to work and raise funds; I sold most of my belongings and simplified. In harmony with my regular yearly preaching tour, I geared up. Instead of the regular short and intense (summer) pattern, I left early and stayed on the road many months longer, an extended trek, one that would make or break this soul’s desire to find hope for the world.

Using contacts from my regular yearly preaching tour, I worked hard with laptop and cell phone to get aide in securing venues and advertise in the various towns I would visit. Each week I was able to arrive in a different town, print and distribute advertisements, and at the end of that week share a kirtan festival in honor of the Holy Name. Along with the kirtan festivals, I attended interfaith conferences, preached at farming communes and arranged to speak on radio shows. In His Siksastikam Lord Chaitanya said there are hundreds and millions of names, and there are no hard and fast rules for chanting them, so as a universal holy name emissary, people opened their homes to me and offered kindness that translated to hope for me to keep going. This was due to the Lord’s kind reciprocation.

“Kirtan” is a popular thing nowadays; it wasn’t difficult to get people to attend a universal kirtan festival. Though I was offering kirtan, what devotees have to share is more profound than any other experience offered under the heading “kirtan”. Lord Chaitanya had given me this opportunity to spread the Holy Name around.

In the presentation, participants would read aloud together various nectarean quotes about the Holy Name from the various major religious traditions. The quotes glorified and expressed the topmost importance of chanting and taking complete shelter of the Holy Name of God. As we read these scriptural quotes together I witnessed myself and others becoming more purified, gaining understanding and faith of this highest expressed will of God for us. Next, in the spirit of Srila Prabhupada’s mood of encouragement, as opposed to conversion, we viewed charts arrangements of about 100 holy names from the various religions. These Holy Names were categorized according to meaning (in English) to illustrate how they describe the same unlimited attributes of the One Supreme Lord.

There were many aspects to the presentation and as per purpose, realizations grew as the tour went on: glorifying the Holy Names, reaching out to ALL varieties of people, humanity at large. After churning for these realizations in town after town, I took them to be tested at the hot-seat of my organic preaching grounds, the National Rainbow Gathering. Before going into the gathering, I put together a 40 page booklet which is the culmination of realizations from the tour on a wide and technical scale. Now that the presentation had become internalized, I changed modes and by sharing it in short classes repeatedly, it had become duly distilled. I am continuing to rework and expand the booklet for future publication; with the prayers of the Vaisnavas, may it be successful.

Though it is too extensive to go into all the details of the Holy Name Kirtan presentation and experience, after presenting Lord Chaitanya’s precepts in this universal format, I found that most everyone was eager to hear about Lord Gaurachandra and help in some way to usher into this world (and into their hearts) His kirtan movement and mercy. This was also true about people’s reception and glorification of Srila Prabhupada. So long as there was no formal religion or rigid rituals being presented, intelligent and simple people alike, readily accepted the mercy of their own accord. One such person who hosted an event was an older and educated woman. She was initially reluctant because my contact person described me as a “Hare Krishna”. She confronted me on the phone, “are you gong to present some kind of dogmatic thing?” I assured her that the presentation was universal. I was amazed, that after the kirtan event (while putting away my presentation materials), she and several other people who attended having come from their regular church group, where huddled and vigorously conversing about the importance of starting a Holy Name event in their town. They did start a kirtan circle, bringing new people in as well as having me return; they even sent me some recordings of their kirtans!

During the presentation I encouraged others to join in with what I call “The Holy Name Spiritual Network”. People from several other towns wanted to get kirtan groups started. Had I the chance to come back several more times, these “kirtan circles” would be more permanently established. Where things were established, they used my booklet as an introduction for newcomers. “Bhagavad-Gita As It Is” graced the center of these circles and many people took them.

I’ve been home for a few months and have caught up with bills. Several outreach strategies are opening up for the next phase of service to the Holy Name. At present, I am formulating plans to open a kirtan temple in my hometown. I somehow hope to acquire a touring van in order to bring people in for training while setting up east coast kirtan tours. Establishing a universal kirtan temple, fully western in orientation and solely dedicated to Lords Chaitanya and Nityananda, solidifying an east coast Holy Name Spiritual Network, and producing spiritual orientation videos to do this work in cyberspace are current strategies on which I am working. If anyone has the desire to help with these (editing books, typing, prayers, or other practical services to share), please contact me as per below. In outreach the nature is to ask for help, for preachers often have a lot of inspiration but limited energy and/or resources. Humble requests go out, but we, like the cows under Lord Govinda, learn to trust Him in all things.

Srila Prabhupada kept his finger on the pulse of the world to understand in the moment what the best of all possibilities to expand the message of Lord Chaitanya before him may be. He found, according to His realization, that amid the permanence of the philosophy, some things are variables and may be adjusted to fit the current situation without compromising his unwavering standards. This was his perfect talent as a preacher; his ability is what we must cultivate within ourselves. This may sometimes require putting the spirit of the law above the letter of the law. The need to strategize and apply deftly our knowledge in order to fit time, place and circumstance is the most important principle which will bring this movement forward, and thus, to more exuberant and expansive life as it was in Srila Prabhupada’s physical presence.

For questions, comments and inspirations, please email: garudadasa@yahoo.com