By Kalakantha Das
Obstacles to Recruiting
During his amazing eleven years of personal worldwide preaching, Śrīla Prabhupāda proved Krishna consciousness could transform everyone into Vaishnavas, regardless of their birth. People today can still be transformed, regardless of how social externals have changed over the years. However, in many parts of the world, today’s ISKCON constituencies have changed. In this chapter we will look at three principle obstacles to local recruiting and a solution for each.
Obstacle #1: Complacency
Many ISKCON temples outside of India are supported and led primarily by devotees from the Hindu diaspora. With such a pool of sincere and capable devotees, the temples are stable. What need is there to reach a wider audience?
The Indian diaspora is the largest in the world, roughly 20 million people, 16 million of them Hindu. Overall, Hindus make up 80% of India’s population and about 15% of all humanity. However, outside of India, the Hindu diaspora accounts for only 0.3% of the world’s population. If ISKCON outside of India focuses on the Hindu diaspora, the great majority of humanity stands to be overlooked.
In addition, there are many long-term drawbacks to ISKCON resulting from focusing exclusively on the Hindu diaspora.
– ISKCON leaders will not learn how to reach non-Hindus.
– ISKCON will become increasingly irrelevant to most of the world’s population.
– Due to losing its unique international appeal, interest in ISKCON will dwindle in India and elsewhere.
– As a minority ethnic religion, ISKCON may become more vulnerable to social and political change.
Tens of thousands of wonderful devotees of Hindu heritage have sustained and expanded Śrīla Prabhupāda’s temples. But ISKCON cannot afford to complacently depend on them alone.
Solution #1: Appropriate Outreach
ISKCON temples with large Hindu congregations naturally offer programs, food and classes designed to meet their needs. To reach non-Hindus, the first step is to make targeted programs they will find relevant, attractive and convenient. In addition to kirtan and prasādam, such programs may include yoga exercises and a vegan menu as ways to attract today’s youth. If conducted properly and regularly, these programs often result in a few bright young people taking serious interest in Krishna consciousness.
To further advance, these newcomers will then need deeper education in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. For this purpose, they need regular, stimulating morning and evening spiritual programs, just as Śrīla Prabhupāda offered at 26 Second Avenue, first with his M-W-F evening kirtans and Bhagavad-gītā classes and later with his morning lectures on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
While presenting Krishna consciousness at his first storefront temple, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave philosophy in small doses and used examples relevant to his audience. He did not even introduce the regulative
principles until after his first initiations. Although today the regulative principles are known to all but the
newest guests, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s gentle approach can still attract and engage many young Westerners.
The combination of appropriate outreach and regular opportunities to hear and chant at the temple will attract and prepare some sincere people to take the step into Vaishnava life. What then?
Obstacle #2: Incomplete Marketing
Suppose you were marketing a product but had no inventory. Suppose you were marketing a service but had no one to do it. What would be the point?
In the same way, preaching Krishna consciousness without an ashram and an ashram leader means that when we succeed in awakening interest in a conditioned soul who wants to experience bhakti immersion, we are unprepared.
In ISKCON’s early days, when Śrīla Prabhupāda saw young people taking serious interest he quickly established ashrams and leaders. All forms of ‘marketing’ Krishna consciousness—lectures, harināma, book distribution—resulted in young newcomers moving into ashrams and, in turn, contributing to the marketing. This win-win cycle made Krishna consciousness spread like wildfire.
Without ashrams and dedicated caretakers for newcomers, sporadic attempts at Western outreach rarely bring active new devotees to Krishna consciousness.
Solution #2: Create Ashrams
Temple leaders who want to round out their marketing to non-Hindus need to arrange living facilities for serious students. It is important to shrug off the “I’ll figure out a room when someone asks to move in” attitude and establish ashram rooms prior to students asking. When the spider is hungry, she does not chase insects—she builds a web.
Making devotees is up to Krishna, but making ashrams is up to us. Once there is an ashram in the temple, recruiting and training can begin. Just as the consciousness of the parents attracts a certain spirit soul to the womb, so Krishna inspires certain spirit souls to turn to Him when we as spiritual parents are ready to accommodate them.
Creating a residential space, however simple, is an essential step to bringing young Westerners to Krishna consciousness. This is what Śrīla Prabhupāda did with his tiny storefront on 26 Second Avenue. He held public programs there, allowed students to live there, and even shared the bathroom in his small apartment with his fledgling disciples. At first Śrīla Prabhupāda accommodated men only, but after two years he instructed his ISKCON leaders to accommodate women as well. In July 1968 he wrote to the ISKCON Boston temple president:
“A brahmacārīni ashram is certainly a great necessity because there are so many girl devotees who are attached to our Krishna consciousness movement. Those who are married couple, there is nothing to be said—simply to live together as husband and wife. But those who are not married certainly such brahmacārīs and brahmacārīnis should not live together. That is a special restricted term of our cult. But because in your country there is no distinction between boys and girls, or man and woman, they can freely mix without any restriction, I did not give too much stricture on this point because by such stricture they might be annoyed, and whatever Krishna consciousness they are trying to develop might have been checked. But factually if you can organize a brahmacārīni ashram, it will be a very nice idea.”
Under Śrīla Prabhupāda’s direction, the young men and women living in ISKCON ashrams created temples and congregations that grew around them. Ashramites created ISKCON congregational members. Now, can ISKCON congregational members “pay it back” by saving ashramites from extinction?
Some congregational members have reservations about supporting ashrams in ISKCON temples. They may feel that ashrams attract people who are material failures and not deserving of support.
At Krishna House we keep the ‘lazies and crazies’ from crashing our ashrams by establishing a supervised spiritual school, the Bhakti Academy. Our ashrams are not merely residential quarters; they are dormitories for registered students. Applicants must sign a document stipulating the requirements for enrolling in the school and certifying that they understand that violating these requirements is grounds for dismissal and loss of residence. If a student becomes disqualified, they have no grounds to continue staying in the ashram.
Those from cultured Hindu backgrounds usually do not require an ashram to become devotees, so they naturally question the need for them. “Ᾱtmavat manyate jagat;” in this world we generally think that everyone sees things as we do. However, we have experienced that those from non-Hindu backgrounds almost always require an ashram experience to deeply embrace Vaishnavism. Once transformed into Vaishnavas by the touchstone of bhakti, these young men and women become enthusiastic representatives of the disciplic succession and contribute far more to ISKCON than the modest investment required to accommodate them. Their enlivening presence also uniquely inspires the children of devotees about the value and viability of ISKCON as a movement that can change the world.
Obstacle #3: Lack of Commitment
Running a temple requires capital and manpower. Lacking the ability to convert local people, ISKCON leaders in wealthier countries often bring in qualified devotees from other countries to worship the Deities and perform other services.
However, Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted temples to cater to local populations. In England, Kenya, Hong Kong and elsewhere he directed his representatives to uncover local devotees and train them to perform brahminical services. The same can be done today if we are willing to make a commitment. Being short on manpower is all the more reason to invest in attracting and training new devotees.
Solution #3: Establish a Human Resource Director
We would not think of having a prasādam program without a cook or a Deity worship program without a pujari. Similarly, a serious recruiting and training program requires a committed, qualified leader.
New devotees, particularly those new to the Vedic tradition, require a lot of care and attention. Who will care for them? Nearly any sincere and experienced devotee can provide this care, regardless of their age, nationality or background. However, with so much to do and often so few people to do it, we may choose to assign newcomer care to someone with many other responsibilities. This shows low commitment to attracting newcomers and as a result, the cycle of lax recruiting and lack of manpower usually continues.
Experience has proven that the devotee in charge of newcomers care must undertake this service as their main engagement. If there are no newcomers for the leader to train, he or she prepares everything
for the new arrivals and prays earnestly to Krishna to please send them. For many years at Krishna House we have observed that when we provide them with a place to stay, a training routine and a person to care for them, Krishna sends newcomers again and again and again.
If we can’t delegate devotee care to another qualified devotee, it is still possible for a temple president to organize a recruiting and training program on a small scale. However, the temple president must be able to lead the morning program most days and be prepared to invest many hours of training in the newcomers.
When leaders focus on newcomers, they feel protected and naturally imbibe a service mood. Śrīla Prabhupāda personally established this mood of selfless service, first in New York and then in San Francisco. Then his students caught on and carried it to ISKCON centers around the world.
Once these three prerequisites are in place—programs, facilities and an attentive leader—the Bhakti Habitat infrastructure is in place and a sweet Vaikuṇṭha mood of selfless service can manifest. That mood itself becomes a powerful tool for attracting newcomers, changing the lose-lose cycle (low commitment/low manpower) to a win/win cycle (newcomers attracting more newcomers).
This is from Section Two: Creating a Bhakti Habitat of the book “Endangered Species: ISKCON Ashramites in the West” which is 90 pages and available for free download in either PDF or e-book formats at https://krishnalunch.com/iskcon-ashramites/
Dear Kalakantha Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances All glories to Srila Prabhupada,
In my opinion you are a genius. Srila Prabhupada said it’s so simple that we’ll miss it.
Please continue to write articles before we go from endangered species to extinction.
Your servant
Parasuram das
Very perceptive, Kalakantha! It's urgent that ISKCON leaders tackle this problem.
Another aspect of recruiting which has been long neglected by Prabhupada's servants is: "Attract one leader of society, and millions will follow." Prabhupada told us to single out the most popular and influential voices in world affairs, attract them, get to know them one on one, nuture them by giving them the special fruits of Krishna's message, and if even one such celebrity speaks favorably in public, hundreds of people will want to know more.
If more devotees would try this, approaching great personalities and relying entirely on Krishna to show them how to do it and what to say, certainly we would witness a re-kindling of that amazing forest fire of new devotees that swept the world in Prabhupada's time.
yr grateful servant,
Shyamasundar das
Kalakantha Prabhu,
You say, if ISKCON continues to focus on the Hindu diaspora, leaders will not learn how to reach non Hindus, we will become irrelevant to most of the world, and we will lose are unique international appeal.
Let's not delude ourselves into thinking we ever knew how to reach mainstream society, or that we were considered anything but irrelevant by 99.9% of human society.
We originally focused on rainbow gatherings, grateful dead concerts, new age types, and other groups that comprise a minute fraction on the fringes of society. We were seen as a drop out cult, destined to fade away like any other strange fad. Due to many Hindus becoming devotees, we are now known as an upcoming minor religion comprised of sane and productive members of society.
Let's not try to create divisions of Hindu versus non Hindu. Lets first overcome our own tendency to avoid all but the sub cultures we identify with. Then, and only then, we can encourage all devotees, regardless of nationality or culture, to reach out to all types of people. I have seen many from Hindu backgrounds who reach out to every newcomer at a Temple. On the other hand, i have seen western devotees who are not concerned with preaching at all. The distinction is that between neophytes versus preachers. This is judged based on a person's activities not their nationality. Let's encourage all to be preachers and unite on that platform.
Nice remarks. Hindus are as much capable of preaching Srila Prabhupada message that Westerners. Hare Krishna
Kalakantha Prabhu,
You say many devotees have come from Indian Heritage " But ISKCON cannot afford to complacently depend on them alone"
I am alarmed to hear these words from a leader of ISKCON.
There is no ISKCON and " them". The followers of Srila Prabhupada with Indian bodies are as much a part of ISKCON as followers from any nationality. Your statement could be a textbook example of manufacturing an " us vs them" dichotomy.
You say ISKCON cannot " afford" to "depend" on "them alone". But what needs to be changed is this attitude of preaching to others in order to depend on them. Our only concern should be to save conditioned souls. Switching from one demographic to another will not, in itself, create the proper mentality. The concern is why we are preaching, not who we are preaching to. We need to preach properly to all who are willing to hear. And it so happens the Indian diaspora is one of the most receptive audiences.
It is great to try to rekindle the mood of encouraging people to move into temples. But preaching that is making thousands of new devotees must fully supported.
Beyond the cultural " us and them" fallacy we need to be extremely careful not to create divisions between Temple residents and those living outside. We had a similar controversy in ISKCON once before. We all know the history described in the Srila Prabhupada Lilarmrita and Transcendental Diary.
Dana Prabhu, after reading your comments I'm wondering if you have read the "Endangered Species" book. Krishna House ashrams train devotees to live Krishna consciously as they move into their post-ashram life. These ashrams are colleges for Krishna conscious immersion, not permanent residences.
"Endangered Species" is being enthusiastically embraced by ISKCON leaders of Indian and non-Indian heritage around North America. Students of Indian and non-Indian background are moving in to Krishna House ashrams in Gainesville, Houston, Toronto, New York, Grand Rapids, and up-and-coming ashrams in Philadelphia and Dallas with more to come. There is no question of "us vs. them." Srila Prabhupada's followers are all in this together, working to bring the whole world into the glorious house that His Divine Grace built.
You are right, fools dismiss ISKCON as a cult. In fact, ISKCON is the sole organization representing sanatana dharma as it is, strategically bringing the most relevant message of love of Godhead to suffering people everywhere. Ashrams are a vital part of that strategy.
Kalakantha Prabhu,
I have not read any of your books. I give you the benefit of the doubt that they are, overall, positive. But I read a few lines of your writings posted above and red flags popped up.
Discussing problems created from large numbers of devotees coming from the Indian diaspora is a very delicate, and potentially divisive topic. Pains should be taken to ensure the message is free from ambiguity.
You bring attention to the devotees with Indian bodies and say " ISKCON" must not be depend on " them". Distinguishing. "them" from ISKCON is identifying them as an " out group". You seem to identify yourself with ISKCON, the " in group". This is, by no means, an evaluation of your overall character as a leading devotee. But i don't know how to interpret your statement any other way.
Maybe I am wrong about you, but your statement triggered an general issue I feel strongly about. Soon I will address the issue( not you personally) through a Dandavats article.
Your servant,
Paramadayala Nityananda Das
The Krishna Life Ashrama in Atlanta is headed up by two Indian bodied devotees but they are distributing massive amounts of books and making local Americans into devotees based on the books they have distributed plus their festival programs. In turn these local devotees are also distributing books and it snow balls.
They are the world leaders in book distribution.
Baladeva Prabhu,
Jaya! Thank you for that inspiring information!
It also totally repudiated the statement in the article-that by focusing on Indians, "ISKCON leaders will not learn how to reach non- Hindus."
We have all learned we can reach people in every culture and every country, most effectively, by selling Srila Prabhupada's books. Members of all cultures become convinced by reading the same books. We all preach the same message found in the same books. But it is claimed, somehow, devotees from Hindu backgrounds do not know how to reach non- Hindus.
I see no logical grounds for this assertion. And it contradicts observable facts. You have given one example, there are thousands more.
Kalakantha Prabhu,
To support my conclusion, I describe, then counter, some arguments. I am not saying the arguments are yours.
Srila Prabhupada did not want us to cater to anyone for financial support. But currently, great numbers of Indians are becoming full time, initiated devotees.
Education among the Indian diaspora is estimated to be higher than that of 90% of the overall population. If there is justification to focus on college preaching, there is also justification to focus on them.
Some say Temples, with mostly Indians are a dead end. Eventually it will be all Indians. This is fear mongering. Originally, ISKCON was all former hippies. Although more of a spectacle, they were not more representative of the overall population than members of the Indian diaspora today. But it did not mean ISKCON would be all hippies forever.
It was an emergency. Hippies joined first. So the focus was on them, in order to gain ground and launch a larger operation.The emergency continues until there are temples in every city and town. At this time, the most receptive group is the Indian diaspora. Through them, another launch, of a much greater magnitude, is manifesting.
With the same effort(perhaps less) we are making many times more initiated devotees- compared to westerners. Multimillion dollar Temples are popping up in rapidly expanding communities which previously had a handful of devotees(struggling for decades). I have seen advanced devotees in the bodies of Indian children who continue to advance as they grow, although they attend public schools. As evinced by previous comments, Indian devotees, are becoming book distributiors and dynamic preachers. They recruit new devotee from the overall population.
Focusing on the Indian diaspora is the most effective strategy for the future growth of ISKCON. It is an all suspicious, major wave.
Calls for expansion os Krishna Houses, or any form of preaching, are totally auspicious; but not if done in a "fixed sum" framework. Increasing emphasis on these does not require de- emphasizing preaching to the Indian diaspora.This preaching is giving the greatest results. It would be a horrendous blunder to do anything except increase emphasis on it. Increasing other efforts must be done simultaneously.
Some devotees argue that a Caucasian, seeing an ISKCON function populated by Indians, might think it is exclusive. But some proposals to address this will simply increase divisions and bodily identification. Two guidelines are all that is required:
Every Temple should have a sign, outside, saying " All Are Welcome".
Every Temple should have devotees who make sure every guest is greeted, befriended, and cultivated.
If a person is still disturbed because they are from a minority demographic, they are not a good candidate for a philosophy where the primary lesson is to transcend illusory designations.
Kalakantha Prabhu,
Unfortunately, reading the statement above more carefully increases my contentions.
You say, by focusing on the Indian diaspora, ISKCON will be come increasingly irrelevant. It is not unfair to rephrase that as; we were more relevant but arge numbers of Indians is decreasing that. Too many Indians are hurting the movement. You do not give comprehensive data and repudiate counter arguments. Your assertions are based on your personal perspective. With your claims, using your style of argument, dehumanizing, and destructive racism could be manifested.
You recommend decreasing focus on the diaspora, on the pretext that large majority of the population will be overlooked. Instead you advocate focus on vegans and yoga practioners. But these are also a minute fractions of the population. Why do you see cause for alarm from focusing in one minority , and recommend focus on a different minority?
You claim Indians are blind to the need for ashrams. You attribute the decline in ashrams to their influence. This is a false argument. Residence in Temples, and programs to recruit Temple residents,plummeted, to practically nil in the the mid 1980s due to internal conflict, unrelated to Indians. Arguments for increasing Temple residents stand alone. Please do this without unneeded negative statements about devotees, based on the culture they came from.
To attract westerners Kalakantha Prabhu suggests offering vegan meals and Hatha yoga.This is good! But it targets only about 10% of the U.S. We should offer free pizza and french fries, virtually everyone loves these.
Veganism and yoga are alternative lifestyles. Do we focus on these types of groups because they are more receptive, or because we are not mainstream, and feel more comfortable with them?
I believe Srila Prabhupada simply wanted us to be seen accurately. We are a group of people who are highly educated in monotheistic theology, with strict moral rules, and disciplined spiritual practices. Most will respect such a group. (We have monotheism in common with 90% of Americans).
Hatha yoga is imported( from India). It is connected to impersonalism, and new age hodgepodge.Srila Prabhupada made it very clear, he did not want us to be identified as this type of group. Preaching to them, and offering classes is okay, but it is not a direct step toward reaching the majority.
The Indians are imported but not seen as an alternative group. They work in prized positions in mainstream society( Doctors, IT, etc.) They epitomize the core American ideal of career achievement. While fitting this stereotype, many Indian devotees are distributing books, and making westerners devotees. They are great examples of the best way to approach Krishna, as defined by Ramada Raya to Lord Caitanya. Their joining ISKCON, in great numbers, is a great step towards increased future growth.
Unable to download the pdf – the website does not exist – can the pdf be uploaded to Google drive and share link?
The link to download the pdf is updated. Find it here: https://krishnalunch.com/iskcon-ashramites/
Dana C Seamon Prabhu, you make a lot of good points. But Kalakantha’s article, entitled Obstacles to Recruiting, is very limited in scope. It’s about the old mindset of what to do with people who want to join the temple – how they’re treated, etc. An equally important topic is how to make the KC and the Movement relevant to a much broader audience. Those that could become interested in KC but have no intention of joining an ashram. This also includes Prabhupada’s request to introduce the varnashram system as a prelude to introducing KC. So at least people, who are interested in moral principles etc, can come to the stage of honoring and practicing the dharmic principles. Some of the articles I’ve written show how KC can be very relevant to the modern day concerns people have.
Paramadayala Nityananda Prabhu, thank you for your comments.
The Krishna House model is based on Srila Prabhupada's 26 Second Ave. and Haight-Ashbury approach. He invited everyone to 'just add Krishna.' This approach worked so well that, when I and others joined ISKCON in the late '60s and early '70s, it seemed that new devotees would always keep joining. In North America and elsewhere, a steady flow of newcomers was taken for granted.
After Srila Prabhupada's disappearance, that steady flow dwindled to a trickle. Krishna House is simply a preaching strategy to revive the transcendental flow of new, young energy into ISKCON. The hundreds of newcomers we have been blessed to receive are high school dropouts, PhD students, brilliant students from India, students of Indian heritage raised in North America, students from devotee families, and students from families who have no connection with sanatana dharma whatsoever.
These wonderful young men and women, many still in college or working, together perform daily sadhana, harinama sankirtan, book distribution and countless other services. They make lifelong friendships and are excited to be part of a growing spiritual movement. Since nearly all will become grhasthas, they learn about devotional family life while appreciating their time as single celibate students. They grow into valuable members of devotional communities in North America and beyond.
Krishna House shows that Srila Prabhupada's honest and simple approach still works. It is so enjoyable that some want to develop careers in ISKCON. Regardless of their life choices, Krishna House teaches students to be lifelong devotees of Krishna and loyal members of ISKCON.
How does this sound to you?