Why Should We Compromise? | BHAKTIN JANE

BY: BHAKTIN JANE

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA (SUN)

Yoga is becoming a so-called breakthrough preaching method in some devotee circles. It seems to be attracting some souls to Krishna Consciousness. Many devotees who are advocating this type of preaching are sincere and hardworking in their attempts to spread Krishna Consciousness.

Most have limited funds and are without the financial support from the wider ISKCON community. I think it’s important for devotees across the globe to share their experiences in the hopes that the instructions of our beloved Acarya, Srila Prabhupada, will be taken to heart.

That’s why I’m submitting this article, certainly not to criticize other devotees and their sincere preaching attempts, but to share my own humble experiences and realizations with the yoga trend, and to highlight what I think is a deviation from Srila Prabhupada’s transcendental instructions.

Most devotees, especially Sun readers, are aware of these instructions, but I’ll repeat a few just to clarify.

“We will present our program exactly in the line of Lord Caitanya, by kirtana, prasadam distribution and speaking from Bhagavad-gita. We cannot deviate even an inch in order to attract the followers of the ecology philosophy or any other materialistic, utopian movement. Our ideal Vedic community will attract everyone on its own merit.”

(Srila Prabhupada’s Letter, March 3, 1974)

“Don’t try to invent anything “Road Show” or “Yoga Village”…If preaching is pure, automatically leaders, managers, funds, everything will be given profusely by Krishna, without any doubt.”

(Srila Prabhupada’s Letter, December 23, 1972)

Some devotees, like Gopavrndapala Prabhu, believe that Krishna Consciousness does not resonate with the people of today. Other devotees, like Hamsavatar Prabhu are putting on Hatha Yoga programs to fix this, because yoga is very attractive to the masses.

I wasn’t around in the sixties and seventies, but from what I hear there were just as many people interested in Hatha Yoga then as there are today, if not more. Yet Srila Prabhupada instructed devotees to ‘present our program in the line of Lord Caitanya’ instead of training up as yoga instructors. The 80’s were a very materialistic time, as much so as today, and yet many people became attracted to Krishna Consciousness through kirtan, philosophy and sumptuous prasadam. So how are the people, the time and the place of today any different?

The famous quote of Srila Prabhupada instructs us to “tax our brains as to what is the best way to present Krishna consciousness to a particular people at a particular time and place.” (Letter, November 13, 1970). In my humble opinion, many devotees have misunderstood this instruction. This does not mean that we should lure in devotees through Hatha, veganism, ecology or rock ‘n roll, which Srila Prabhupada has specifically told us not to do, but instead we should work within his instructions to perfect our preaching.

An example of a devotee that followed Srila Prabhupada’s instructions successfully is given in a lovely account by Nirmala Mataji concerning the divine service of HG Bhadra Priya Mataji:

“She would prepare five course feasts for hundreds of students. She would pour over cook books and meditate on how to make the presentation as attractive and delicious as possible.”

In his recent article, “Hatha Yoga from an Entirely Different Standpoint“, Hamsavatar Prabhu advises that we should ‘judge by results’. From what I can understand, he is sincerely trying to preach Krishna Consciousness despite having limited funds and getting no support from the wealth that some members of ISKCON are said to have amassed. He has introduced some souls to Krishna Consciousness through Hatha. That is a good result. But, in my personal experience, there are a lot more neutral and negative results from devotees putting on Hatha Yoga programs than there are positive.

One of the most pro-Hatha devotees in Australia is Sitapati Prabhu, maintainer of Planet ISKCON. He and his good family moved to Brisbane several years ago, where they took over the Sunday Feast program that was held in the downtown Govinda’s restaurant. I might also add that the Brisbane temple holds a separate Saturday Feast for the Indian congregation, so the downtown Sunday Feast attracted more of a younger crowd with a lot of university students. Entry was $3, and the program was almost supporting itself. At the time of Sitapati’s arrival, the Sunday Feast was thriving and attracting over 100 people every week. Attendance was actually growing, and not just because of the sumptuous and plentiful prasadam, mind you, but many, many people were enthusiastically chanting and dancing wildly in the kirtan, hearing from Bhagavad Gita, buying books, becoming vegetarian, and some were becoming full-time devotees. Those devotees are now temple managers, pujaris, cooks, teachers, and book distributors within the movement.

By 2005, Sitapati Prabhu had taken over the Sunday Feast and set up Atma Yoga next door to Govinda’s. The Sunday Feast changed drastically. Previously, the kirtan had been beautiful in its simplicity, using only mrdanga, kartals and just a single microphone for the leader to be heard. It was from another world. A world that was far away from the Top 40 that blared in the surrounding shops and restaurants, far away from everything you knew and thought you wanted to know. You knew when you heard it that these people and this place were different and special. Post-Sitapati, the kirtan became a mess of sound mixers and tech nonsense, guitars and superstar kirtaniyas. The Bhagavad Gita class became tainted with spoken advertisements to attend the Hatha next door. The price jumped from $3 to $7, and the standard of prasadam took a nosedive, with guests being served tiny portions of half-cooked sabji. “What a rip-off” I heard a guest say as she left.

People simply stopped coming, and there was no one to preach to. Atma Yoga struggled to stay in existence and even had to close down at one point, while the wonderful preaching that took place at the Govinda’s Sunday Feast became no more. At least I can say that I have seen Srila Prabhupada’s unadulterated preaching program (kirtan, Bhagavad Gita class, and prasadam distribution) operating in full glory, in a Western country, in recent times. It was beautiful and attracted thousands of people every year. And it was far, far more successful than any Hatha Yoga /sacred chant/vegan nonsense.

Not only does the use of Hatha Yoga as a lure for the masses display a lack of faith in Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, it is also stupid. Its transparency perpetuates the common public misconception that Hare Krishna devotees are simply trying to make a quick buck by any means possible. I stumbled across the following blog entry by a Melbourne University student, quite by chance. I will quote most of the entry, despite its length, in case the blog is ever removed:

“So yesterday (Wednesday) was class and we were all sitting outside the Victoria State Library lawns — a minute’s walk from uni – b@&!%ing about the redundancy of a Masters course when all they do (so far) is make us do silly grade-10-exercies when I hear, “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, Hare Krishna” accompanied by the sounds of the dholak and manjira. I turn around and see a group of people, a couple of Indians and majority white, dressed in saris and dhotis and dancing away to their chants. For the first time in my life, I was very excited to see the Hare Krishna people. The Hare Krishnas are also called Gaudiya Vaishnavites and are followers of the Hindu god, Krishna. It is known to most (in India at least) that Holi is a major Vaishnavite festival and is celebrated with great aplomb by devotees of Krishna.

For those who don’t know, yesterday (Mar 11) was Holi, the Indian festival of colours. Being my first Holi away from India — and spent studying! — I was very excited to see the Hare Krishna people and was sure they would either have some colours or would at least wish me a heartfelt Happy Holi.

When I saw them, I gave an excited yelp — to the surprise of my Aussie classmates — and ran over to the chanting group to wish them Happy Holi. As I ran towards them, one of the Hare Krishnas, this white girl in a green cotton saree with sandalwood smeared on her foreheard came running towards me…

“Happy Holi!” I yelled jubilantly with a big grin on my face… Only to have a business card — Urban Yoga — thrust into my hand. I stopped mid-sentence, looked at the card and then looked at the girl who – in a very Aussie accent — had launched into the efficacies of ‘mantra meditation and philosophy from ancient Indian scriptures.”

I mumbled I was not interested — by now she was holding my hand — when she pulled out another business card and handing it to me said, “Every Wednesday night, we have vegetarian dinner for $ 5.” I could not think of anything else to say so asked her if they were celebrating Holi…

“Holi? What’s that?” she said.

“Holi. HOLI! It’s the Indian festival of colours,” I replied looking at her and the rest of the dhoti-clad, choti-flaunting, yoga-with-cheap-dinner selling frauds group.

“Oh is it now. Sounds good. You should come for the yoga,” she added, pulling out a third business card.

“You DON’T know about Holi?” I asked, refusing to take the third card now being waved in my face.

“Naw, we don’t celebrate it,” she responded, throwing her arms in the air and adding, “Sing with me Hare Rama, Hare Krishna…”

I just turned and walked away. Vaishnavites who don’t know about Holi but know how to sell yoga.

That was my reaction yesterday, but I had to find out more. How could they not know? I did some research and found out that the day of Holi is also the birthdate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the founder-father of Gaudiya Vaishnavites.

He is also seen as a reincarnation of Krishna. Apparently, Holi is a major day with the Vaishnavites. Today, I called the Melbourne Hare Krishna Temple; the phone was answered by a lady with the name of, Sarva-Mangala Devidasi. I asked her if they celebrated Holi, she said they didn’t. I asked her if they weren’t Vaishnavites. She said they were but that their sampradaya celebrated Holi as ‘Gaura Purnima’, more as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s ‘appearance day’ than as the festival is popularly celebrated.

Oh well. So I was wrong and the Gaudiya Vaishnavites don’t celebrate Holi as I know it. Duly chastised. However, shouldn’t the woman dishing out business cards have explained what they were doing instead of simply selling yoga?”

Although some of these yoga programs are giving some nondevotees access to Krishna Consciousness, who can judge just how many are deterred? Sitapati Prabhu’s transformation of the Brisbane Sunday Feast certainly came across as a money grab, and several devotees were upset and left Brisbane because they could not work with his ideas.

In my humble experience, a simple Bhagavad Gita class with kirtan and nice prasadam, set in a comfortable environment, is much more attractive. Last year I preached to a Canadian who was interested in Krishna consciousness and had started chanting. I gave him Bhagavad Gita, and instead of recommending the Toronto temple Sunday Feast, which is overrun with the Hindu crowd, I found out about Urban Edge Yoga in Toronto, run by a very nice Devamrta Swami disciple in an atmosphere that I thought would be more comfortable for a newcomer.

I suggested the bhakta try out a Bhagavad Gita class there, although it meant he would have to sit through some Hatha Yoga first. He went along, and was pleasantly surprised when the other ten or so participants unanimously convinced the instructor to forgo the Hatha Yoga and instead the group spent the night having kirtan and discussing Bhagavad Gita. It turned out they were all there to learn about chanting and the true identity of the soul.

“We shall base our preaching on Lord Caitanya’s formula as I have done from the beginning: kirtana, preaching, kirtana, prasadam. We are not interested in attracting millions of men. Better we attract one sincere soul – that will be of real value.”
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, November 25, 1972)

“Follow my example as I did in the beginning. That is preaching – cooking, writing, talking, chanting – everything a one man show.”

(Srila Prabhupada Letter, November 12, 1967)

“What is this “Road Show” and “Yoga Village?” It will be another hippie edition. Gradually the Krishna Consciousness idea will evaporate: another change, another change, every day another change. Stop all this. Simply have kirtana, nothing else. Don’t manufacture ideas.”

(Srila Prabhupada Letter, November 5, 1972)

“Whenever devotees made excuses and told Prabhupada that people were not receptive or that they were difficult to preach to, Prabhupada always said that the problem was not with the people they were preaching to; the problem was with us.”

(“Who’s to Blame?” by Mahatma das)

Krishna Consciousness, when presented properly, is inherently all-attractive to the jiva who wants to resume devotional service, especially in this day and age. Preaching programs ‘in the line of Lord Caitanya’ are also perfect, and we should depend on Krishna for the results. Srila Prabhupada said that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta never compromised in his preaching, and that he would not compromise either. We are distributing the perfectly ripened fruit, given to us by Srila Prabhupada. So why should we compromise?