Giving people KC philosophy and ISKCONs current situation
Philosophy · asked by user [] · 2007-07-27 · 2 answers
An example:
You preach to people, tell them to practice, come to the temple, associate with devotees but you know that when they get to know iskcons current situation they will feel cheated or dissapointed. You feel like you are offering them shelter in a house that is collapsing.
Still, we want to spread the message but this may be always on the back of your mind.
What do you tell them? To practice at home and beware of temples?
You preach to people, tell them to practice, come to the temple, associate with devotees but you know that when they get to know iskcons current situation they will feel cheated or dissapointed. You feel like you are offering them shelter in a house that is collapsing.
Still, we want to spread the message but this may be always on the back of your mind.
What do you tell them? To practice at home and beware of temples?
user [29] · 2007-07-27
Im sorry - what do you mean by implying that ISKCON is collapsing? What is the current situation of ISKCON you are talking about? My opinion is ISKCON functions very nicely and fulfils its mission. Maybe there is not so much fast development, but collapse?user [34] · 2007-07-27
I think abhiram is refering to the lack of preaching in North America, and how generally most temples in North America do not have the capacity at this point to train up new devotees. But, what you can do, prabhu, is send the new bhaktas to a temple that does have the capacity to train them up strictly. A few temples that come to mind:Rupanuga Vedic College in Kansas City. It is run by Danavir Goswami, and I can say that this is the best place for a new bhakta. Danavir Goswami is the creater of the Bhakta Program, by the way. I do not know if you know him or not, but Danavir Goswami is a very wonderful devotee.
San Deigo, which is run by Mahat-tattva prabhu, who is a very staunch brahmacari. It is a very good temple. Mahat-tattva is the founder of Sastra-dana, an innovative book distribution method. He is also a very wonderful devotee. There are also a few other senior brahmacaris at this temple.
New York, has a good brahmacari ashram, and resident sannyasis like Romapada Swami and Candrasekhar Swami.
So, instead of trying to train bhaktas separately, they should be sent to a place where they can get quality training, such as the places above. I hope this answers your questions, prabhu.