{"id":5936,"date":"2008-06-11T10:06:55","date_gmt":"2008-06-11T09:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=5936"},"modified":"2008-06-11T10:06:55","modified_gmt":"2008-06-11T09:06:55","slug":"preaching-big-with-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=5936","title":{"rendered":"Preaching Big, With A Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kesava Krsna Dasa<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many of us like to use fancy terms like \u2018paradigm shift\u2019, \u2018positive thinking\u2019, and \u2018think big\u2019, but we often end up thinking big in a small way. We habitually rely on \u2018out of the box\u2019 thinking, usually after we have shifted the goalposts. Our ability to strategise is then limited to tried and untested formulas, without igniting the much-anticipated revolution we frequently refer to.<\/p>\n

If we think of Iskcon as simply being another religion or culture base, our planning will go accordingly, and then our preaching efforts remain within this paradigm. We operate much as the other religions do, minding our own business with them, and compete for new recruits. We need to realise that this approach does not take advantage of the non-sectarian nature of Krishna consciousness.<\/p>\n

While book distribution is the main thrust of our outreach, still only a few rare fortunate souls come forward to join us. This indicates that those few have an affirmative change of heart thanks to the purity of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s words. Then our nama-hatta and temple structures nurture and expand from these bases. But, what about the majority of the population who are non-devotees?<\/p>\n

It is quite obvious that millions of people receive our books, yet they may have tried to read and make sense of arcane concepts such as karma, but their consciousness is not developed yet to accept. It shows that this colossal mass-market as it were, remains an untapped source for our future success in preaching and expansion. These people require not philosophy, but a different approach to engage them in Krishna\u2019s service.<\/p>\n

The Spoilt Masses.<\/p>\n

Recently a famous actress somehow linked the deadly earthquake in China, to bad karma, and the oppression of the Tibetan people. While the political overtones were evident, the bad karma connection certainly irked the atheistic Chinese authorities and other establishment figures. This karma concept remains a Looney tunes notion to most people.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, the press, for his observation that disabled people were suffering bad karma, similarly berated a manager of the English national soccer team. He was subsequently relieved of his duties. Srila Prabhupada\u2019s books are full of references to karma.<\/p>\n

Because the general populace is unable to attribute suffering to karma, and blame either God or chance, reveals how the collective consciousness is spiritually undeveloped. Though words like karma and Hare Krishna are household lingo that appears in dictionaries, the substance behind them eludes most citizens.<\/p>\n

On this level, people who eat meat, and implicate themselves in the vicious circle of animal killing, will not give much priority to animal rights, or the subjective absurdity that is karma. Literally speaking, these people are \u2018killers of their own soul\u2019 (Sri Isopanisad \u2013 mantra 3). It should not surprise us that spoilt \u2018soul-killers\u2019 do not come in droves to our cause. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta said that this inability, or stubbornness to tie karma with misfortune, is due to a spoilt mentality.<\/p>\n

He wrote; \u201cSome people think that it is nothing but flattery to say that the Lord is all merciful. If the Lord was really merciful, how is it that there is so much suffering in this world? Some people even think that if Godhead was omnipotent, He would have changed our motives without effort. Their argument is similar to such a spoilt child.\u201d (Upakhyane Upadesa)<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, this is not a hopeless case for the devotees. We need to connect with these people on a human level. As human beings, they appreciate aesthetic human endeavour in the arts, sciences, culture, and literature. Feelings of gratitude and a host of other emotions still affect them. This is where our preaching can succeed by tapping into these emotions.<\/p>\n

That Was Nice.<\/p>\n

I heard one man tell a story of how, some years ago, he was travelling on an aeroplane sitting next to someone who looked very familiar. During the journey, they talked and exchanged some details. The man realised that the co-passenger was a famous, past-his-prime actor. Every year since that brief encounter, the man receives a well-wishing Christmas card from him, and it touches his heart.<\/p>\n

On the material plane, this is a nice gesture. Most of us, at one time or other, must have received a gift, a card, an encouraging message, and so forth, even from someone not very close to us. If we remember how the thought behind these nice gestures touched us, also helped to develop a fondness for such well-wishers.<\/p>\n

Considering how the soul-killing majority are grappling with issues of suffering, and are not pliable to Vedic reasoning, but who nonetheless are open to poignant human friendliness, means there is an enormous area to effect changes in perception. These changes will create good fortune for them, and ease the way ahead in our preaching strategies.<\/p>\n

The Human Touch.<\/p>\n

It is common knowledge that many people remain somewhat indifferent to our cause. The Food For Life initiative helps to engage people who would otherwise not be. They appreciate the human side of feeding the hungry. With this in mind, an expert preacher should be able to win the hearts and minds of people by doing simple things, which help to change the mindset.<\/p>\n

For instance, wherever our temples and nama-hatta groups are situated, attempts could be made to send goodwill messages aimed at certain religious denominations whenever a holiday or special occasion comes. To get the importance of this, let us suppose one day, a message in a newspaper read something like this: \u201cOn behalf of the Christian fraternity, we extend our best wishes to the members of Iskcon, otherwise known as the Hare Krishna Movement, on this auspicious day of Janmastami. May God bless you all\u201d.<\/p>\n

Would this not be such a jolting, pleasant surprise, that it would make us reconsider whatever hostility we held for them? Such a nice human gesture as this would alert us to the fact that those people have big hearts, and are going beyond typical sectarian divides. In reality, it probably will not happen, because motivated religions are sectarian and divisive.<\/p>\n

But think what kind if response we would get if we took the initiative and gave out nice goodwill messages to all Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Jews, on their respective holy days. The followers of those religions will respect our non-divisive outreach. They will see how different we are. Indeed, we are different.<\/p>\n

These messages will touch the hearts of those who would otherwise be inimical towards us, because the human touch made the difference. If we had done this some time ago, especially in areas of the world where orthodox and conservative elements are openly hostile to our expansion plans, things could have been different. It is never too late to start.<\/p>\n

We Are Different.<\/p>\n

Srila Prabhupada established Iskcon, not as another Hindu grouping or religion. For these reasons, he excluded the formal worship of demigods, and wanted the members to simply follow the \u2018eternal-dharma\u2019, or the principles of Bhakti, that far outweigh any petty claims to normal religion.<\/p>\n

We often say to people that our cause transcends all \u2018isms and sectarian concerns, but our preaching methods remain rooted in a way that ignores the human touch. We are still largely misunderstood as \u2018other worldly\u2019 good folk with some strange ways of living, or much worse. <\/p>\n

Perhaps if we really capitalise on our differences, and reach out to all, regardless of religious persuasion with our messages that cross the religious and sectarian divides, it will automatically make people wonder even more about us. If we can cross over where other religions cannot, not only will extra curiosity be aroused, but an attraction to something really different, will boost more interest.<\/p>\n

Just as when the British and American military forces occupy hostile terrain in certain Muslim countries, they employ a strategy of winning the hearts and minds of the people there. Our human touch appeal is the same thing, except we offer the extraordinary unconditional love of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. <\/p>\n

The Friendly Difference.<\/p>\n

By capitalising on the difference that is Bhakti, the expertise in preaching can be geared to creating a favourable situation. Simple messages as, \u201cTo all of you who are celebrating Christmas, we, of the Hare Krishna Movement (Iskcon), wish you all the very best\u201d. These need not be temple expenses as sponsors can volunteer. We can go even further, by sending \u2018Thank You\u2019 cards to whoever has helped us in any way.<\/p>\n

When, after some time, more people connect with us and become our friends, the chances are greater that karma related issues could be understood. The friendly difference could potentially trigger the revolution we all speak of.<\/p>\n

Ys, Kesava Krsna dasa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"HareBy Kesava Krsna Dasa<\/strong><\/p>\n

Simple messages as, \u201cTo all of you who are celebrating Christmas, we, of the Hare Krishna Movement (Iskcon), wish you all the very best\u201d. We can go even further, by sending \u2018Thank You\u2019 cards to whoever has helped us in any way. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-kesava-krsna-dasa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}