Being focused-June 24, 2008-Split Croatia

Those of us who were around when Srila Prabhupada was on the planet remember
that the movement and its members were extremely focused on the mission. The
mission was also very very clear to us (becoming Kcon and bringing others to
Kcon). Why were we so focused and how have we lost that focus.

Some people explain that it is due to the fact that Srila Prabhupada is no
longer with us and we have lost the spiritual energy that he brought with
him. I don’t buy that argument as we see (as I mentioned previously) that
there are millions of individuals and groups focused on their missions
without any spiritual impetus. There are millions of successful businesses
and individuals in this world.

Of course we do see that Prabhupada kept us focused by his Vani. If one
reads his letters and personal instructions to devotees one will see that
Prabhupada was really focused on a really clear agenda. Prabhupada’s Vani
though is still with us.

So, what happened?

There are a number of factors. Perhaps the most significant is what I would
call “mission creep.” This means that in the beginning the mission was very
clearly defined and over time other missions which were somehow or other
connected to the original mission and supportive of the original mission,
became more prominent than the original mission, and we were left with many
confusing objectives instead of one or two clear ones.

I will give some examples of this.

Let us take rituals for example. Prabhupada minimized the various rituals
with the idea of streamlining the preaching process, adapting Krishna
consciousness to various locales with the idea of packaging Krishna
consciousness in such a way as it was attractive to all.

On the other hand we have brought in so many rituals and procedures so that
many of the activities of the Krishna conscious movement are practically not
recognizable to those of us who joined in the early days.

Take fire sacrifices for example. Srila Prabhupada did a very simple
attractive fire yajna that was easily understandable and performable.
Nowadays these sacrifices go on for hours and hours and require specialized
training to perform. This would be fine in India where the technicalities
are very important to impress people, but in the west this sort of thing has
the opposite effect of giving people the impression that we are very very
ritualistic.

Hence the rituals become important and we forget that the purpose of the
rituals is to glorify Krishna and above all get people to the point of
chanting the Holy Names of Krishna. Prabhupada himself said that the actual
Deity installation in Vrindavan (Krishna Balarama Mandir) was accomplished
by the Hari Nama Sankirtana rather than by the rituals.

Yes, the chanting of Hare Krishna is the Yuga dharma and everything else is
meant to be supportive of this. It is easy to forget this.

Two days ago I was in our preaching center in Split and outside the altar
area there was a list of the acaman mantras that should be performed before
one could do the worship. I was astounded to see 24 mantras there. Remember
this is a small preaching center (located in an old shed) without installed
Deities not a large temple in India where rituals are part of the preaching.

When I joined the movement, we had a nice picture of the Pancatattva on the
altar things were so simple that anyone could learn the procedures of
worship within a day. In this temple we were introducing so many new people
to Krishna consciousness that we could not even keep up with the influx.

Have you ever wondered why the amount of new people (westerners) coming to
Kcon is inversely proportionate to the sophistication of worship and the
size of the buildings? In India of course the size of the buildings is part
of the preaching strategy.

Also the morning program has increased in length and complexity. Classes are
much longer. If you examine the recordings of Srila Prabhupada’s classes you
will see that they are really focused and generally no more than 35 minutes
each, with some shorter.

Of course in places like Mayapur it may be useful to have a long morning
program as people come there (hopefully) to immerse themselves in hearing
and chanting and that should be the focus. In other places however to be
taking breakfast at 10 AM means practically to lose 50% of one’s focus as
the early morning time is most effective for accomplishing things.

Previously we would be out preaching by 9AM at the latest. Now it is
standard procedure to be going out after lunch (and the accompanying nap).
No wonder our focus has been lost.

While Prabhupada was present and for sometime afterwards we were really
focused on reading his books (which also focused us on the mission). After
sometime many other books became introduced in the society as standard fare.
Some were about the higher aspects of Bhakti and others dealt with other
subject matters. Some were written by the acaryas and some were written by
our present devotees.

Of course Prabhupada did want translations done of the acarya’s works and he
also encouraged his devotees to write. However for these books to supplant
Prabhupada’s own books was not his objective. When this occurs the mission
becomes confused.

When Prabhupada was on the planet there was much opportunity for upward
mobility in the society. For example, I was able to open a preaching center
after 6 months in the movement, and after 7 years I was traveling as a
sannyasi taking more and more responsibility.

Without room for upward mobility people will not perceive a career path in
Krishna consciousness.

The society becomes rather stratified in this case and the hierarchical
structure becomes dominant and domineering so that people tend to lose their
individual incentives to accomplish more for Krishna focusing on the goals
(mission). Hierarchies are useful but when they supplant individual growth
and initiative they need to be toned down. Prabhupada wanted independently
thoughtful individuals in his society (brahmanas) not simply “company men.”

Hierarchies are also connected to cult like dynamics. That is we find that
in many locales the establishment of different personality cults, where
there is a prominent personality who others are emotionally dependent on.
This further takes the focus away from the mission. Srila Prabhupada was a
dynamic personality and a charismatic one but he never permitted the
formation of a personality cult around himself.

I will continue later with more observations and recommendation how on a
societal wide basis and personal basis we can regain our focus

——————————-to be continued————————————————