The Monk’s podcast between HH Bhakti Vasudev Maharaj and Chaitanya Charan Prabhu discusses how Bhakti wisdom can be taken to the management world.
H.H. Bhakti Vasudeva Swami has spent over thirty years as a monk in full-time service of propagating the message of Krishna Consciousness. Bhakti Vasudeva Swami joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Lagos, Nigeria in 1984 and was initiated by His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami in 1986. He steered many projects in the early days of the movement in West Africa under the order of his guru. Namely, in only a few months after his initiation, he became a member of the management committee, and later, the president of Lagos State chapter of ISKCON. In 1990, Bhakti Vasudeva Swami served as regional secretary for Nigeria and the West African sub-region. In February 2009, he received sannyasa initiation (renounced order of life) from His Holiness Jayapataka Swami in Mayapur India. Since then, he has been traveling all over the globe preaching the sublime message of love and devotion to Krishna. He possesses the unique ability to preach to intellectuals by presenting the Vedic philosophy in a way easily digestible by his audience.
Click below to start the player
and summary from 1.12.33
Chaitanya Charan Prabhu:
So we discussed today on the topic of taking Bhakti wisdom into the leadership ,in the management ,leadership field. You shared your journey, how it started with Bhakti Tirtha Maharaj’s instructions, and then you were able to publish like 25 papers in three years.
Basically, you mentioned that, in the academic world, we need to have the language and the skills otherwise we won’t be respected. If we are able to present our wisdom in a way that addresses today’s problems, then there is a whole universe open over there,especially in qualitative research-a phenomenological approach. It’s mainly a way of understanding our texts, studying contemporary issues, and then applying for solving current specific problems.
There is a big area in this field, big, big opportunity in this field, this field has not been that well explored. Even if there are devotees in that field, they’re not bringing about that dialogue between, say Bhagvada Gita and modern criminology or modern issues. And for those who want to do this kind of thing on one side, the leadership needs to be less myopic, and the devotees need to become more expert in creating space for themselves.
Then finally, you talked about how ultimately to get people from that utilitarian philosophy to the transcendental, it’s going to be the relationships we develop. So we may give impressive wisdom but we need to be accessible to people. And that relationship, by observing us ,by being with us, they will want to take a Bhakti. Then they can also experience Krishna.
Thank you very much for your time and your wisdom. So if any devotees are interested in this area, so can be on for guidance, can they contact you through your website?
Maharaj: They can contact me on my phone number. You can also give them my email. My email is Bvs.bts8@gmail.com.I’m a liberal guy. I’m a liberal, Swami .They can feel free to contact me.
CC Prabhu-Thank you very much. It was wonderful having you on the Monks podcast. Thank you