Preaching FAQ

THE IMPORTANCE OF PREACHING

PREACHING STRATEGIES

THINGS TO AVOID WHEN PREACHING





THE IMPORTANCE OF PREACHING


How can I please you and Krsna?

I am one teacher, one preacher, and I have established a community where we can all learn about the Esoteric Teaching. With the help of my students, I have also established an example community where our principles are put into practice, and that is going successfully. The fact is, though, that I have pretty much pushed it as far as I can on my own. I need your help to grow this community.

I have been working more than full-time for many years to establish this community. Sometimes I need to take some time off from full-time preaching to renew my energy and enthusiasm. I may be self-realized, but I'm also human.

And the events of the next few years are likely to increase interest in our teachings. People who have been sitting on the fence about 2012 are likely to become more committed, meaning that we will have many more new students to introduce to our ideas. They will have lots of questions and we will need help in dealing with them. It also means that people you know, or in your neighborhood or social circles, may suddenly see the limitations of materialistic culture and will start looking for a way out.

All this means that you also can become a preacher, a teacher of the Esoteric Teaching. You don't have to attain complete self-realization first; you can teach whatever you have already realized. Teaching can be as simple as inviting a friend over, sitting down and watching one of our videos together. Then if they have questions, direct them to this website and the Community Forum. Anyone can do that; the key is to develop the desire.

Kṛṣṇa says,


So if you really want to please Kṛṣṇa, start preaching! If you have ideas on what we can do to support your preaching activities and enthusiasm let us know on the community site. Then you will be successful. For example, one early idea was the Bridge concept:


Another idea from a different student:

What is significant about The Bridge preaching concept is that it extends our reach deeper into the society at large and greatly expands our potential audience.

Most devotees preach in a rigidly dogmatic, stereotyped way that brands them as "Hare Kṛṣṇas", and immediately turns people off. People are different now than back in the 60s when those preaching strategies were developed. Yet most devotees can't see that those hackneyed strategies are obsolete and unworkable. You can't just demand that people give up meat-eating; you have to build a foundation, a conceptual framework first, or there is no reason for them to do anything.

The idea of The Bridge is that it starts where people are today, focuses on a specific interest or theme, and gradually leads them higher with the aim of connecting with original Vedic sources and culture. I have a hard time doing this, because I have gone through 40 years of devotional training and frankly have a hard time remembering what it was like to be materially conditioned. So I am asking for the help of the devotees, who are closer to material life and can remember what was important and how they thought back then, to structure the programs.

I want to focus on the high-end, straight Vedic style preaching like the Sunday Satsangs and Evening Darshans. Now that we have a clearer idea how we want to develop the preaching, it's time to share the conversation with a wider audience of the more advanced devotees.

So if you have a particular interest, say for example in music like Uddhava, you can engage that in preaching. Uddhava is studying Vedic music and getting together a series of videos on Vedic musical principles. The idea is to attract people who are interested in music to the Vedic musical principles and demonstrate their superiority. The same can be done in any field of interest, just like our popular 2012 video series. We want to diversify beyond the 2012 audience and apply the same principle to many fields, so there is a very large scope for developing preaching programs using The Bridge concept.

So once again, if you really want to please Kṛṣṇa, start preaching!




Isn't it selfish to study the Esoteric Teaching for my own soul and not to help others? Especially as I could use some of my time for orphans, the homeless, etc.

Of course we should help people, but there are three issues: what is real help; who is qualified to help; and who to help first?

Real help means giving people spiritual knowledge, encouragement and facility for authentic spiritual life. The tricky part is that we cannot give something that we ourselves do not have. So to really help people we have to help ourselves first. That means we have to be at least a little advanced in spiritual knowledge and practice before we can really help others. The best thing is if we can attain complete self-realization; but since that may take many years, it is more practical to share our realization almost from the beginning.

You see, making spiritual advancement for oneself and sharing it with others are two separate disciplines, two different skills. It is perfectly possible to learn the Esoteric Teaching and practice it oneself without having the ability to help others; but not the other way around. Without practicing the Esoteric Teaching ourselves, it is not possible to help people. This is true even if you are expert at teaching other things, because the Esoteric Teaching is about a certain state of consciousness, and if you don't have that consciousness, you cannot show others how to get it.

It is useless to help someone materially without also helping them spiritually. We may give someone ordinary food and that helps them for today; or we can give them Kṛṣṇa-praṣādam, and that will benefit them eternally. So if want to help old people, sick people, children, orphans, addicts etc. that is alright; but we must give them spiritual knowledge, otherwise we are just adding to their problems and increasing their term of material existence.

My own feeling on the matter is that I have limited time, energy and resources; so I will do the most help by helping the people who are most able to help others. I personally can help maybe ten people. So if I help ten people who cannot help others, then my help stops with them. But if I help ten people, each of whom can help ten others, then my help spreads to a hundred. See the point?

That is why I deliberately choose the most intelligent and most capable people to help. I especially want to help the people who will be able to help many others later on. Our sanga in India is designed to help very capable and committed people attain self-realization quickly, so they can help many other people advance in spiritual life.

When someone is in an unfortunate position, like crippled, mentally ill or stupid, it is because of their sinful activities in their past life. Yes, we can help anyone and everyone, because everyone is a spirit soul, so spiritual life will benefit them. But how do we make the most efficient use of our time and energy? I could spend the rest of my life helping 100 unfortunate people, but if they didn't help others, that would be the end of my effect on the world. But if I help really smart people instead, then they will help many others and my work will be much more beneficial in the long run.




Some of your preaching seems to lack compassion for the situations people are in. If our hearts are open will we not have compassion for those who are suffering, especially when their suffering increases with the coming changes?

We have compassion for suffering, but compassion should be applied properly. As my guru would say, "Compassion for the dress of a drowning man is useless." If someone is drowning, and we throw them a nice new set of clothes, that will not help them.
 
Similarly, helping the material body is not really compassion. Giving spiritual wisdom is real compassion. Without that, we may give some temporary relief to the material body, but the person will run right out and again perform the same sinful activities that led to their suffering in the first place. Just like a bull or an elephant may take a nice bath in a lake, but as soon as he gets out, he rolls around in the dust again.
 
So we aim to help people permanently eliminate suffering by getting rid of the root cause: the association of the spirit soul with the material energy. Of course, if someone is starving it does no good to talk philosophy to them. But on the other extreme, the current heavy materialistic atmosphere saturated with propaganda for illusory sense enjoyment also makes it difficult to comprehend spiritual instruction.
 
When people have tasted some suffering, enough to chastise them but not so much as to destroy them, it is an ideal time to offer relevant spiritual knowledge leading to liberation from material entanglement. Then they are aware that this material world is not a place of enjoyment, but a place of repeated birth and death, where there is really nothing but suffering. That's why the coming times of chaos hold so much potential for spiritual teaching.
 
But if someone misuses the current situation of relative plenty merely to gratify their senses, and does not take the opportunity afforded by opulence to inquire into spiritual life, then they are wasting their human body and will be severely punished by the laws of nature. We may have compassion for a thief, but if he ignores good instruction and continues to steal, then punishment in prison is the inevitable alternative. Not that the state wants to create the prison and maintain so many convicts, but because they will not accept good instruction, criminals force the state to take corrective action for the protection of society in general.
 
So this pralaya coming along with the sandhya is the action and reaction of the law of karma according to our activities. Are we disturbed when a star in a distant galaxy goes nova, or there is some other destructive action of the laws of nature? Then why should we become overwhelmed when the same thing happens on a human scale? Because we make some false distinction between this material body and that one, between other people and ourselves? Do we think we should be exempt from the laws of karma?
 
This is the material world; everything is temporary. Whatever has a beginning also has an end. We chose to reject the association of the Lord and come here as so-called enjoyers of the material energy; instead, the material energy is kicking our butts. Isn't it time we got the message out on a large scale in human society? That's what this Esoteric Teaching movement is all about.




I have been preaching to many people about your site. Is this OK?

Wow, great to hear that some of our students are trying their best to get the word out.

I can tell you from experience that preaching is a long, lonely road in the beginning. But once you find a way to connect with like-minded people, then you will have better relationships and friendships than you ever had before. Relationships on the spiritual platform are so much more robust and real than relationships on the material platform.

All I can say is: keep up the good work! The real struggle of establishing this school of the Esoteric Teaching is not finding students or followers, but training and motivating them to become teachers. If you start from the beginning with this orientation, then you will find it much easier to teach later on. Just make sure to balance your teaching progress with substantial progress in your personal self-realization. Then your teaching will not be mere imitation but authentic, from your own experience.





Is there a difference between the paths of self-realization and preaching?

Here is a realization on this subject from one of my close disciples:


This realization is exactly right. You cannot give what you do not have. The paths of bhajanānāndī and goṣṭhyānāndī are complimentary. I don't think it is possible to do both at the same time, because they are fundamentally different processes.

Before realization, you are simply repeating the scriptures; you don't know those things to be true, but you have faith. After realization, you are talking from your own experience, from direct observation of the transcendental world.




I have been practicing for many years. I have not realized Krsna personally though. Does this mean I can't preach?

I appreciate your dedication to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and the Vaisnava way of life. The distinction I was trying to make is between knowing about Kṛṣṇa, the effectiveness of devotional service and so on, and realizing Kṛṣṇa, seeing Him directly through self-realization. There is no doubt about the certainty of the Esoteric Teaching, or none of us would be here. We all have realized something of the Esoteric Teaching, and certainly we can preach about that experience from the heart.

Perhaps our previous discussion made it sound like an all-or-nothing division between theory and practice. Maybe it would be fairer to say that we walk on two feet: our own personal sādhana and the devotional service of preaching and enthusing others. As our sādhana develops, so does the scope of the realizations we can claim as personal experience rather than merely theory.










PREACHING STRATEGIES


I have been sharing the knowledge you have given us with many others. How can I be effective in my preaching?

I'm very glad that you are taking the risk of revealing your spiritual knowledge and feelings to others. It is a sign that you have confidence in your guru, the Esoteric Teaching and Kṛṣṇa. The best thing is to speak from your own personal experience and realization. Don't just recite things that you have read, but talk about your feelings. That will be very effective.



What is your preaching strategy?

I will briefly discuss preaching strategy in terms of the ratio of effort to results. Preaching transcendental Vedic knowledge to enlighten others is an important duty for a devotee, and according to Bhagavad-gita we should do this work without attachment to results. Nevertheless like any human activity, we have to see some response to our efforts, or why are we investing our valuable time and energy in doing it?

After over 30 years of teaching this path in many countries all over the world I think I have a pretty good idea of how this works. It is similar to triage, which is a system whereby limited resources, such as medical personnel and equipment, are apportioned in the most efficient manner. The guiding principle of triage is 'do the most good to those who are best fit to receive it.'

It is pointless to spend energy and resources on people who cannot or will not respond or benefit. For example, so far this year (2007) we have given about 12 courses to over 300 students. Out of all those people, we met only two or three who are capable of receiving this knowledge and who are ready to give something back in the form of service. Similarly, in our online preaching we have had over 50,000 views of our videos on YouTube; how many of those people visit the site; and out of those, how many stick around long enough to really learn something or make a contribution?

Preaching is a numbers game, where you invest a calculated amount of effort and time, knowing in advance that only a limited percentage of those you contact will either benefit or respond. Their reception and response depends on their karmic qualifications. As we have seen from our Jyotish research, a large percentage of our steady and long-term students and disciples are qualified to attain liberation in this lifetime. They have responded the best to our teachings and are participating enthusiastically in the community. Others with less qualification are not, because they cannot: their karmic qualifications and stock of pious activities are not sufficient to allow them to participate fully in a Vedic esoteric school or engage in pure devotional service.

The most intelligent approach to preaching is to use various tests to determine who is qualified, who is sincere and who is worth an additional investment of time and energy. As a practical matter we have to filter out the people who will waste our time and energy and not respond or contribute. Uddhava is very intelligent in this regard and has developed several methods to evaluate people very quickly. This is necessary for us because we are only a few devotees in an enormous preaching field, and need an efficient method to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Basically we have got to the point where if someone does not respond favorably to the first or second overture, we simply go on to the next person until someone does respond nicely. Life is too short, and our cause too elevated to cast our pearls before swine. If this were still the era of the Vedic Empire and our task was to engage everyone, maybe it would be worthwhile working with people who are slow to respond—the difficult cases. But it is an emergency situation, there are few qualified preachers and the need is great, so triage is the order of the day.




I want to preach but I can't force anyone to take up the path. Most people around me ignore me. What can I do?

You are correct; we cannot force anyone to take up the Esoteric Teaching. Either they are ready for it, or not. They will know if they want it. Otherwise just leave them alone, and wait for the right time. They will see how your life is changing and your energy becoming pure and light. Eventually the season will come when they sense a little how lost they are, and are needing direction and purpose. Then they will come to you.




I feel like there is no point in trying to help others understand Krsna Consciousness, because I have not truly understood it myself. I feel it would be too hard to preach to others. Can you offer any advice?

Certainly it is difficult to present the Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas to the people in general. But it can be done if we are patient and methodical. This community is the proof.

When I started this website in 2005, I had no students or disciples. It has grown steadily to its present size and quality because we are committed to high-quality presentation of scriptural truth, honesty, transparency and integrity, and careful weeding out of those people whose ethical values are too low for this process, and who would pollute the community with their intransigence.

You can start preaching now, because you do know something about this process. For example, you know about chanting and accepting the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. You know about the importance of Bhagavad-gita and the Vedic scriptures. You know about vegetarian diet and offering your food to the Lord. That is a lot already.

If you wait until you become fully self-realized before you begin preaching, then you may never start preaching or it will be too late in life for you to be effective. So I would encourage you to share what you know. But I advise you use discretion to select people who will be receptive. Concentrate your preaching energy on those who are already disposed to be pious and appreciate love of God. They are rare, but they are out there; you just have to find them.

Then you can share with them whatever you have understood so far, and if they ask a question that is beyond your understanding, simply refer them here. You can invite them over and watch the Sunday Satsang/Evening Darshan videocast or some of the videos from our site. Then share some nice prasadam. You can print up leaflets or cards (We have some leaflets you can print from our community site) and hand them out to people. It's cheap and foolproof. So everyone can preach according to their level of realization. It just requires teamwork.

Krsna encourages us to preach:


I want to preach but there's not really anyone around these parts.

If you have the urge to preach this Esoteric Teaching, there's nothing stopping you from picking up your video camcorder and uploading a rant to YouTube.



I have an intelligent friend who is coming to visit. My intention is simply to present this knowledge to him once in a nice presentation and then leave it at that if he does not inquire. Is this a good idea?

Yes, this is a good idea. If we have a standard presentation, then we save so much time. Most people are rascals and will just argue out of doubt with no substance, like the poor confused lady we had on the forum once who could not believe even her own spiritual experiences because of her so-called 'scientific' positivist mindset.

It is certainly our duty to present the Absolute Truth to our friends, and then they have the opportunity to choose wisdom or darkness. The ones who are fortunate will accept it, and inquire for more. The ones who aren't fortunate really don't deserve to waste our time. But then at least we have done our duty, and the rest is up to their free will.

I believe that God is very fair, therefore everyone gets a chance at least once in their life for a better existence and higher consciousness. Whether they accept or not is up to them. But we need an efficient way to filter out the rascals so we do not waste our valuable time on those who choose not to respond.




I want to preach to people I know, and think that before introducing the Esoteric Teaching, I should make them understand the fact that they are living in the illusional, "set up" world. So for example, I was thinking of putting together videos about 9/11, NWO, etc. What do you think?

Preaching or teaching spiritual life and the Esoteric Teaching is a very personal thing. Everyone should develop their own style and approach; what will work for one teacher, location and audience will not work for another. In general, I think what you're doing is right: you're looking at the people around you, comparing their qualifications with the requirements of the Esoteric Teaching, and seeing what they need to become qualified. I did something very similar when I was developing the Esoteric Teaching school.

The only way you will find out if this approach is correct is to try it. You will probably find that some of it works, and some does not. Keep trying different ideas and adjusting your program until it works the way you would like it to. Don't be afraid to experiment with new ideas.

The current cultural standard is far below the minimum requirements for spiritual life. We have to transition people out of material consciousness and into spiritual consciousness. Any practical method is acceptable, as long as it provides the proper results. The important thing is to understand the Esoteric Teaching well enough to never lose the standard of spiritual purity. Then you will always be under the protection of Kṛṣṇa.




I am aiming for self-realization but find that preaching can be very passionate. Is this why you have left the West? Is it still possible to preach to young people while being disconnected from the world and also staying on a high platform of consciousness?

Well yes, preaching is a passionate endeavor. But after preaching, then what? Our plan is to withdraw from the world, because we do not want to be part of the nasty material culture and the coming disaster. We want to cultivate the mode of goodness, because that is the foundation of Vedic brahminical culture and the basis of self-realization. Once we are satisfied with our degree of self-realization, we can go back into the world and preach without being affected by it. If you are still affected by the environment are in then you need to retreat from the world, at least for some time, and pursue self-realization with a concentrated mind.

We are not disconnected from the world as long as we have Internet. For example, the 2012 video is still out there and still getting lots of views. Although a little passionate, many nice students came from that video, so it is certainly effective. Of course other videos that are more in the mode of goodness are also being watched, but that is certainly our most popular.

Even though most of the regular 2012 crowd has seen the video already, as things get really weird later on this year, more people will come searching for answers. So that video was a perfect expression of where we were at that time, which was trying to find a way to promote the website without a lot of work, and it actually had the desired effect. I think it will continue to work for us, especially as the events we predicted in the 2012 series start to actually happen.

Young people today are averse to accepting any authority, because they are so disgusted from being forced to go to school and being cheated. They will only accept something that gives immediate sense enjoyment, or promises sense enjoyment in the future. They are foolish like children. We do not want to deal with such immature people anyway. We can wait until they are sufficiently beat up by their attempts to 'enjoy' that they are ready for some spiritual discipline.

Remember the principle of triage: we are very few, and have only a limited amount of time, energy and facility. We cannot try to help everyone because it would spread our efforts too thin to be of substantial help to anyone. Therefore our strategy is to concentrate our time and energy on those who are most qualified, and that way we get the most benefit from our limited resources.




It is probably hard for a self-realised soul to consider but most people do not even realise that they are conscious! They are listening but cannot hear, watching but cannot see. Is this why you get so many views for your preaching videos yet not many become devotees?

Yes, it's hard for me to imagine not being conscious of consciousness. Impossible, actually. People are like animals, caught in a network of sensual impressions and activities.

"Conditioned human beings are expert at dealing with this material body and mind. These gross materialists, who cannot see beyond materialistic activities, find it impossible to believe that besides our material universe, a spiritual universe exists. Completely identifying with the body, such materialists are like animals, simply eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. They are so captivated by these four animalistic propensities that they lose the power to discriminate between sinful and pious activities. They tirelessly endeavor for a little sense gratification, but all their efforts end in futility. Many modern scientists have taken up the role of priests facilitating such gross activities, which are unbeneficial and fatal. These scientists have made available a variety of products meant simply to titillate the senses, thus creating a deadly competitive mood among the materialists, which has in turn caused an obnoxious atmosphere in society. People think they become free and independent through such sensual activities, but factually they become more tightly bound up in chains. The greater their accumulated wealth, the greater their anxiety and depravity. As much as they try to usurp the Supreme Lord's position of being the only enjoyer, that much and more are they drawn into the jaws of a horrible death. And these activities make a Herculean task out of such a simple and basic activity as sustaining the body, which needs a little nourishment only." [Renunciation Through Wisdom, 17]

The so-called freedom in the material world is only a choice of which style of sense enjoyment one pursues. The scientists and corporations have created a whole universe of useless products for sense gratification, and a flood of glittering advertisements to sell them to stupid people, but none of their hard work has advanced their consciousness one inch. They may have so much money and power but they cannot understand even the simplest thing about the soul.

Meanwhile, the devotees really know the constitution and position of the living entity, the nature and power of God, and are doing their best to convince others to take up the path of spiritual life, but very few people are listening. That is definite proof of the aberrating and delusive influence of material culture. People are so caught up in material sense gratification that they have no time for, or interest in the message of Godhead and the self-realized souls, which is meant for their eternal benefit.



I tried preaching to a friend who is quite materialistic. He is Buddhist and thinks we can come to the truth by ourselves without a teacher. He has critcized my renouncement of various things which were prominent in my life. Any advice on how to preach to him?


First of all, expecting your friends from your materialistic days to understand your change in consciousness is setting yourself up for failure. Even Krsna says:


It is doubtful that any one of us has personal relationships with enough people to find even one who is capable of becoming a devotee. If we do then we are exceedingly fortunate to have such a great friend. In our preaching on the Internet we go through literally tens of thousands of people before finding one who is willing to become a devotee. And even among the people who are sincere enough to become disciples and accept initiation, very few make it all the way to the perfection of Krsna consciousness, pure love of Godhead.


A far more successful and rewarding strategy is to look for new relationships with people who are hungry for spiritual knowledge, and expose them to it by giving them links to our site and encouraging them to read the Vedic scriptures.

Now as far as your friend, his illusion is that we can arrive at truth independently by our own effort and intelligence. This is a typical Buddhist idea. Krsna says:



So before you can make any progress with him, you will have to convince him that his so-called spiritual method is a stupid idea. For example, if we want to learn anything important in this material world, like medicine or law, we have to go to a school and study with experts. It is not that we can learn it just by asking or being asked questions. So if this is true of material skills like medicine or law, how much more it must be true of spiritual knowledge that leads to solving all problems and transcending this material existence.

The method of Socratic dialog is too slow to arrive at complete enlightenment in a single human lifetime. We need a source of knowledge that is transcendental to this material world. Since your friend has never encountered such a source of perfect knowledge, he cannot imagine the spiritual potency of such knowledge. But when we hear from Krsna directly, if we are sincere we can feel the potency of His knowledge.

The real truth is that your friend is a rascal, and therefore he does not want to accept discipline or control from anyone. He does not want to follow any teacher, or he would have one himself. He is a hypocrite, because he is advocating a spiritual method that he himself is not following. So he is in denial about the real cause and solution of the problems of material existence. This denial of spiritual knowledge and rebellious attitude toward spiritual discipline is exactly the cause of our material suffering. So he is a first-class rascal materialist, and there is little hope that he will become a devotee in this lifetime.


So your friend exactly fits Krsna's description of a demoniac soul in Bhagavad-gita. He wants to make a show of being spiritual, but when you actually become spiritually advanced and begin to renounce your material attachments, all he can do is criticize. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

So you need to learn from Bhagavad-gita Chapter 16 how to recognize the qualities of a pious soul, and concentrate your energy on those people. First you will find that they are very rare. Most people are like your friend: they pretend to be pious or spiritual, but as soon as you dig a little you find demoniac qualities. But once you find such people you will see that unlike your friend, they are very easy to preach to.










THINGS TO AVOID WHEN PREACHING


Each time I try to preach to a friend he gives a poor answer which I find myself responding to, but then he gives another question in response to my answer totally ignoring the answer I have previously given, often contradicting himself.

This kind of exchange is called 'Q&A'. He leads you round and round like a dog chasing its tail and there is no real progress or conclusion. At the end, he has not accepted any of your statements and you have not accepted any of his. So much time and effort, and nothing has changed.

So to repeat once again, to preach successfully you first have to establish a teacher-student relationship. Otherwise you can Q&A until the end of the universe, and nothing will change. First he has to accept that his process of obtaining knowledge is flawed, imperfect. If you cannot convince him of that, then nothing else you say will make a dent.


He is such a rascal that he has no intellectual integrity; he feels free to contradict himself at every turn. He structures every answer just to avoid accepting you or anyone as an authority. He is as slippery as a spring toad; every time you try to make a point, he squirms out of your grasp. It is useless to preach to such rascals. When they show up here, I generally avoid them, ignore them or even chase them away. Instead spend your preaching time trying to find pious people who are predisposed to accepting scriptural authority. Preaching to them will be much more satisfying and productive.




Should we preach to anyone and everyone?


Spiritual instruction should never be imparted to an unwilling audience. That is why tricky strategies for getting people to hear preaching without their willful agreement always fail. The only legitimate pretext for giving someone instruction is that they inquire or otherwise show willingness to hear. In our enthusiasm, sometimes we try to share the wonders of spiritual life with people we care about (or want to impress), but this is usually a disaster. Trying to instruct someone who doesn't want to hear always fails. This is not a failure of the teaching—the Esoteric Teaching is perfect—but it is caused by our lack of discretion.

Actually I am trying my best to train people also to become teachers of this knowledge, but first one has to realize it in one's own consciousness, and that takes time. Explaining the Esoteric Teaching to others can help us understand it ourselves. But be aware that when others ask questions that are beyond your understanding, you will have to go back to the scriptures and find the right answer, or post the question here for consultation, or your faith may be weakened. When this happens, be honest and admit, "That's a good question. I don't know the answer," but also say, "I will look it up or ask my Teacher and get back to you." And make sure you do get back to them with the answer. That way people will respect your integrity.




Could you please expand on the ninth offense to the Holy Name in regards to preaching?

The ninth offense is perfectly clear:


The idea is that if someone is unwilling to hear, we should not press the issue. That would simply give them a bad impression and discourage them from inquiring further in the future.

For example, ISKCON had a program of distributing books at airports and other public locations using pushy, deceptive techniques. It temporarily produced a lot of income, and was glorified by the leaders of the organization as great preaching. However, it was a flawed approach that ultimately created a public-relations disaster, effectively destroyed the credibility of the organization with the public, and ended its expansion in North America.

I had some background in advertising and public relations and could foresee the result of this nonsense, so I fought against this style of preaching practically from my first days in ISKCON. But the leaders would not listen to reason, and instead gave me a reputation as a fault-finder, even though I was just trying to get them to understand a basic principle of spiritual life repeated so many times in Srila Prabhupada's books.

This happened because to force or trick someone into accepting a book and giving a donation—especially a larger donation than they actually intended to give—is a perfect example of the ninth offense against the Holy Name of the Lord. As preachers, our object is to produce a favorable impression and spark a hunger for more information about the Esoteric Teaching. If we do not do this, even if we temporarily collect a lot of funds or superficially distribute many books, we fail in our mission, because we have not created a favorable impression in the consciousness of the people we contact.

This is such a basic principle in spiritual life. The fact that ISKCON leaders and other devotees could not understand it shows that they had not realized even the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, which teaches that consciousness is the main symptom of the spirit soul and the fundamental basis of all spiritual life. So the result was that they lost the privilege of preaching in airports and other public places, and there were many disasters in their temples and communities that led to a loss of almost all the senior devotees.

Just as we should not underestimate the power of the Holy Name of the Lord, we should be very cautious of the devastating effects of the ten offenses against the Holy Name. They can destroy our spiritual life and our community. That is why we always recommend that new students begin with chanting the dvadasaksara-mantra instead of the maha-mantra, until they are well established in spiritual life and practices.

Offenses against the Holy Name can devastate our spiritual life and leave us devoid of progress, or worse. I saw it happen so many times in my experience, so I want to protect all our students from making the same mistakes.




So I shouldn't just go out and try and push books on as many people I can?

No you shouldn't. Please remember that our real objective in presenting the Esoteric Teaching is always to produce a positive impression, leading to further inquiries in the future. That is our actual product, not the amount of funds collected, books distributed, video views etc. which are just the means or media involved.


Everything else can be perfect, but if the Supersoul is not pleased, then the whole endeavor is useless. The Supersoul is the root of all consciousness. The actual object of all action is to serve Him favorably, with the intention to develop love for Him. So the effect produced on the consciousness is always the desirable end result of any action, because the quality of impressions and the consciousness they produce is ultimately what drives our destiny in the future life.


But so-called religious organizations try to interpose themselves between the devotee and the Lord and adjust the quality of service or action for their benefit, rather than the benefit of the Lord. In other words, they try to replace the Supersoul, so that the devotee worships the organization instead. Of course this leads to disaster, because it is so offensive to the Lord, who is the actual beneficiary of all service. Srila Prabhupada understood this perfectly:


Therefore our mood is to give our students the tools they need to approach, serve and satisfy the Lord directly, without our having to act as a tax-collecting middleman. In other words, we try to be as transparent as possible and get out of the way as soon as the devotee is well established in service, so they can develop their natural relationship with the Lord.

So our approach is exactly the opposite of the ecclesiastical dominators. Instead of enslaving our students, we seek to set them free, trusting that they will have spontaneous affection for us out of appreciation for our gifts to them. This is really the role of guru, not that we try to make another hierarchal control system for world domination. That is the last thing anybody needs.

Srila Prabhupada's students and disciples love him so much because he gave them much more than he asked from them—and he asked for a lot, but it was clear that he was asking as a representative of Krsna. Similarly we ask everyone to surrender to Krsna, not to ourselves; to render service to Krsna, not to our self or organization; to love Krsna, and experience real happiness.

That will make you spiritually strong; and I want my students and disciples to be strong, not weak. I want them to be educated, to know where to find answers to their questions in the scriptures, so they are not dependent on me to answer them. I want them to be clear-minded, to have a direct personal relationship with the affectionate Lord, so that they will not have to seek pleasure from fallible material sources.

And I hope that you become so strong and independent and enthusiastic that you go out and present the Esoteric Teaching in such an intelligent, attractive, appropriate way that you make thousands of other students who are strong just like yourselves. Then all of our objectives will be satisfied automatically. There is no need for control and exploitation; that is for small-minded materialists who have no real knowledge or direct experience of the unlimited love of God. The real spiritual process is to offer all our actions to the Lord in devotional service, understanding His unconditional support and love for us, and leave the result up to Him.




Should we argue with people?

Getting into an argument is useless. If you know what you are doing, you can convince people through Vedic evidence and reasoning. But if you present the scriptural quotes and they still don't accept, that means they are a rascal who will never accept any theistic argument, no matter how nicely you present it.

Once we were giving a presentation and someone started to argue from the impersonalist point of view. I defeated him five times in a row with Vedic arguments, but he still didn't accept. Finally I just had to tell him to shut up and stop disturbing the class.

The only way to deal with rascals (stubborn people who have no intellectual integrity) is argumentum vaculum (the argument of the stick) if you are in control of the situation, or if not, just bail out. "Discretion is the better part of valor." You have to know when to give up and walk away from a bad situation, or you just compound the damage.




Is it OK to preach to people from ISKCON?

Oh boy... Please be very cautious about introducing people from ISKCON to our materials. We do not want to make the impression that we are trying to steal their people. ISKCON is viciously political, and this would lead to very uncomfortable consequences, especially for you. Please do not agitate our passionate and jealous Godbrothers. Actually I want to remain completely out of their association.

Also, you will find that people whose only experience with the Vedic teachings is from ISKCON usually do not get what we are trying to do. I see this as positive, because it means that they are not really fit for our approach. Better they weed themselves out right in the beginning, since it's much more trouble for us to do it later on.

Actually it is better to preach to completely new people, because they do not have any misconceptions. Śrīla Prabhupāda tells a story about a famous music school that charged, say $1000 tuition if you never had any instruction in music before; but if you had lessons previously to going there, they charged $2000, because it is much more difficult to unlearn bad habits than to start right from the beginning.





I was discussing the following subject with some ISKCON devotees. In Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.14 purport, it says "The transcendental name of Kṛṣṇa, even though uttered unconsciously or by force of circumstances, can help one obtain freedom from the hurdle of birth and death." Doesn't force of circumstances include a situation where a person is forced to chant under duress? Theoretically speaking, can force be used in the service of the Holy Name, perhaps like shock sukrti administered to a failing heart?

In my opinion, Srila Prabhupada's phrase "by force of circumstances" has a different meaning than "by force." For example, the story of Ajamila illustrates how a fallen devotee was induced to chant the Holy Name by force of circumstances. His dear son happened to be named Narayana, so at the time of death, in great distress he affectionately called for his son.

Chanting in great distress, or out of complete need and dependence is the best way to attract Krsna's attention. Krsna is so kind that He does not consider the cause of the motivation, as long as His Holy name is chanted with complete intention and love by someone in a surrendered condition.

The Lord's Holy Name is effective when chanted in love. I would not think this kind of situation can be created artificially by intentionally putting people into duress. In fact, on reflection this seems very distasteful and offensive. If we force people to chant, they will do so only grudgingly, in a mood of anger. This is the same as being an enemy of the Lord like Kamsa. Kamsa was always thinking of Krsna, but because he was thinking of Him in an unfavorable mood, his thinking of Krsna is not accepted as devotional service.


Chanting the Holy Name of the Lord is not a mechanical process. Our willful cooperation, understanding, enthusiasm and initiative are vital to the quality of the chanting.


Chanting the Holy Name of the Lord once with love and affection is millions of times better than chanting mechanically for lifetimes. Forcing someone to chant by holding a gun to their head would be the equivalent of spiritual terrorism. We could never approve or condone of such a demonic and cowardly approach to preaching. That would be against all Vedic principles of honorable warfare.

In the Mahabharata, Maharaja Bhisma describes the ethical principles of warfare to Maharaja Yudhisthira. He says:


So if this is the standard for warriors, what Vedic principle would justify forcing someone to chant by threatening physical harm? This is completely unconscionable, and anyone who would suggest it, or seriously entertain the idea even for a moment, has no understanding of varnasrama-dharma or realization of love of God. In fact, such a person has not even understood the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, or the Vedic theory of consciousness, because he erroneously thinks that the soul can be forced to make spiritual advancement.

Actually, I can't believe that anyone would raise such a suggestion in an assembly of devotees without being laughed out of the room in derision. That anyone would even seriously consider such an outrageous idea points out clearly that the association of so-called devotees has become degraded, and completely out of touch with actual Vaisnava philosophy.

This is the long-term effect of the vicious politics and ugly diplomacy we have seen in Western materialistic so-called Vaisnava organizations. They have lost all spiritual potency, so they cannot believe that one can actually convince people to chant the Holy Name strictly on the merits of Vedic philosophy—something we experience on a regular basis in our preaching work. Therefore disempowered by their own offenses, they fantasize about using force to make devotees of the Lord. This insensitivity would be laughable if it wasn't such a sad commentary on the lamentable state of affairs in our so-called spiritual organizations in the West.





Could you say more about this Babaji? When the element of willingness or unwillingness of the candidate's mind with regard to the Holy Name is rendered irrelevant by the context, and the Holy Name is then introduced as an object of hope, is this consistent with the ontology of consciousness presented in the second chapter of the Bhagavad-gita?

Of course there is no question of forcing someone to love, either Krsna or anyone. It is a ridiculous idea, a complete distortion of the Absolute Truth, a vestige of latent impersonalism. The soul is sovereign within his realm of his current embodiment, and even Krsna observes the principle of free will by not forcing us to love Him.


It is one thing to ignore unwilling bystanders during a public Harinam; it is quite another to try to force someone—even oneself—to chant the Holy Name or worship God unwillingly. The very thought is horrible, tamasic, because it does violence to the first principle of love: any loving exchange must be mutually agreeable to all parties. Otherwise what is the question of love? And love of Godhead is the aim of all authentic religion, especially the Esoteric Teaching.

This is common sense, so what can we say of someone who has lost even their common sense in the name of so-called religion? They are completely in ignorance. Religion means to serve God with love. Vedic devotees are correct to consider the Abrahamic religions inferior because the threat of eternal hell for nonbelievers is abhorrent. God is merciful, and those who know God well say that God is love. Real religion must be based on love, not force; on the unlimitedly attractive nature of God, not on any form of subtle or gross coercion.

As soon as we succumb to the temptation of trying to use force to accomplish the goals of religion, then we are preaching or practicing anti-religion in the name of religion, and in the long run this cheating discourages people from accepting actual religion. What has the Inquisition done for the reputation of the Catholics? Bullies may be feared, but never loved.

This topic reminds me of the bad old days when extremist sociopaths like Tamal Krsna used to preach that we should kill the rtviks (a schismatic group that wants to preserve Srila Prabhupada as the only initiating guru in ISKCON). Well a few years later, Tamal died violently in a car crash in India. Krsna made an example out of him: remember the saying, "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword." Tamal had made so many offenses, but he finally exhausted Krsna's patience by preaching violence to devotees in the name of Vedic brahminical culture.

Therefore we who represent Krsna's lineage, and especially the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, must always adopt the high road and stick to the highest standard of the mode of goodness. The example of Mahaprabhu and His direct followers is there, especially in the exalted philosophy of Sri Rupa Gosvami, that the pen is mightier than the sword. Aside from that, consider the example of the Pandavas versus the Kauravas. From a strategic point of view, when one's party is in the minority, it must set a higher moral standard than the opposition to attract the sympathy of high-class thinkers and pious men.

What question is there of using violence or the threat of violence to teach the exalted precepts of Sri Caitanya? If some Vaisnava organizations are not attracting high-class students, perhaps it is because they have insulted the intelligence of the public so consistently for so many years that their reputation as spiritual teachers is completely devastated. ISKCON is fighting a losing battle because after the scandals of the 80s and 90s, the public perception of their integrity is completely negative. The only sensible solution in such a situation is to withdraw from the preaching field, and regroup on a higher platform of spiritual realization.

What we need is education, not desperation; goodness, not passion and ignorance; spiritually sound, long-term strategic thinking, not foolish impulsive scams that will always backfire. Those who call themselves Vaisnavas must exemplify the qualities of religious life, as given by Lord Krsna in Bhagavad-gita:


Otherwise, regardless of their ecclesiastical designation, they are not representatives of Krsna, but of Kali.



Almost everyone I've met in ISKCON temples either hated the name "Jesus" or expressed fear (of ISKCON) to discuss Him in public. Should we avoid discussing other religions or even 'blast' them when preaching?


Actually Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to preach autonomously, because an 'organization man' is not free to use his initiative and creativity or to adjust the program to the needs and circumstances of the recipients. An expert dietitian can understand how to adjust the menu to the clients' medical and metabolic condition. Similarly, an expert preacher can adjust the message in terms of the audience's needs, at the same time without distorting the real meaning.

Srila Prabhupada was the most expert preacher, and he even advocated chanting the Holy Name of Jesus Christ in kirtan:


At the time I had written His Divine Grace about my concerns for my family members, who were not disposed to chant the Holy Names of Krsna. Yet I wanted to find some way to bring them to the same enlightenment and spiritual benefits I had received. So I petitioned Srila Prabhupada for permission to start a mission preaching the principles of bhagavat-dharma in a Christian context.

Ultimately, I came to realize that I am not the right person to do this; perhaps one of my disciples with a strong interest in Christianity can take it up. But it is very significant that Srila Prabhupada gave his blessings to such a mission. Our small experiments in Mexico with kirtan on the Holy Name of Jesus were very successful. I wish I had taken some videos of the ladies, especially, dancing and crying as they chant the Jesus mantra.

Academic qualifications, beyond knowing the message of the scriptures, are of little use in preaching. The most important thing is to practice what one preaches, and to understand and project the idea that anyone, any spirit soul, is potentially qualified to become a pure devotee. Our business is simply to open the door to spiritual knowledge and advancement, and people will self-select by choosing to enter the path of spiritual discipline, or not.

The only case in which it is justified to 'blast' someone is when they are offensive, and it is not offensive to prefer a different mood of devotional service. For example, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur followed the path of preaching broadly to the public on the platform of vaidhi-bhakti, while his brother Lalita Prasad Thakura preferred to follow the more esoteric path of raganuga-bhakti, spontaneous love beyond the rules and regulations of the scriptures. Nevertheless Srila Bhaktisiddhanta always loved and respected his brother, and Srila Prabhupada accepted him as a spiritual master:


Real Vaisnavas are not concerned with trivial external differences of style or theology; their assessment of a devotee is always in terms of his sincerity, integrity and inner love for the Lord, in whatever mode of worship is most attractive for them. After all, bhakti is the path of transcendental love, therefore love of Godhead is the real measure of a transcendentalist. The particular form that love may take is external.

There is no conflict between those who prefer to worship the Lord as Krsna in the mood of conjugal love with other worshipers of the Lord in different moods. Similarly we have no issue with those who prefer to worship Him as Narayana, or in any of His pastime forms, incarnations or saktyavesa-avataras. When the central interest is the same, why should we create obstacles over peripheral issues?

Love of Godhead is the important thing; therefore Srila Prabhupada always stressed similarities over differences, cooperation over fault-finding and argument. Unfortunately neophyte devotees and people in general are very mush disposed to arguing over the smallest differences, even among family members or Godbrothers. This argumentative mood is very discouraging to devotion, therefore it should be given up in favor of a broader understanding. Srila Prabhupada gave the example, and now it is up to us to follow him.

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