Srila Prabhupada: The Preacher and the Manager

“When you preach, the management will follow you like a shadow.”
said Srila Prabhupada to his secretary.

Starting an “organised attempt to spread Krishna Consciousness”, Srila Prabhupada instantly faced the challenge of how to manage such a movement. As a movement is constantly moving, often taking on a life of its own, Srila Prabhupada had to constantly keep his disciples organised—without denying them their individuality.

He attracted such strong individualistic persons that coordinating their newly gained enthusiasm demanded truly transcendental qualities. As his disciples roamed the world and opened new branches, Srila Prabhupada, without a telephone and without the internet, spent much of his time daily keeping in touch with them via ordinary mail, writing letters while he himself was constantly travelling.

Besides writing his books, writing letters, and preaching to individual devotees, he gave daily lectures which were to be followed by rigid management. He tried to delegate the growing load of management already at an early stage but often faced defeat due to the inexperience and foolishness of his disciples. Most of them were, after all, youngsters who had hardly ever worked in their lives or had any managerial experience at all. But they had one quality: they were ready to listen to his instructions. Besides the typical Kali-yuga tendency to quarrel amongst themselves for no reason, Srila Prabhupada had to constantly step in as mediator and manager.

This challenge remains until today for everyone who tries to follow in his footsteps. It was in my presence, during his stay in France, that I heard Srila Prabhupada say:
“Without the cooperation of the brahminical class and the kshatriya class of devotees, we will not be able to spread this movement effectively.”

In the last 53 years, I have seen enthusiastic preachers who were catastrophic managers and good managers who lacked the ability to inspire volunteers through personal interaction. Srila Prabhupada put preaching as the absolute priority, because that is where everything starts. He said, “When you preach, the management will be at your fingertips.” Yet while constantly immersed in the preaching spirit, Srila Prabhupada turned daily to intense management in order to give his preaching a practical, three-dimensional form.

Money manifested, buildings manifested, and new assistants manifested—who themselves needed assistance in the form of practical advice based on the practical philosophy Krishna provides through His ultimate words.

Why did the Supreme Lord choose to speak the Bhagavad-gita on a battlefield of Kurukshetra? Is that the place to speak philosophy? For Krishna it is. For Srila Prabhupada it was. Thus, he daily faced new challenges and Maya’s attacks, experienced setbacks, and relished battles being won. With Krishna as his assistant, Srila Prabhupada gave inspired, practical advice to his disciples on how to put his movement into action so others could also join.

What we often see today is different. After a lecture—often not concerned with the present urgent needs—an interesting but entirely theoretical presentation of Krishna-conscious themes, or simply a speaker’s speculation, most listeners retire to their domestic areas. There they face the daily challenges of eating, sleeping, and sex life, along with medical problems and agitation arising from the struggle to keep the regulative principles intact.

Everyone has his or her own domestic Kurukshetra battlefield, and it is there—not in the lecture alone—that we must prove ourselves in Krishna Consciousness. Fighting the war with Maya while simultaneously keeping Krishna and the spiritual master as our charioteer is the daily challenge for any devotee living in this world.

Being a temple president for almost thirty years, I often faced the challenge of how to be seen as a devotee even after the lecture I gave, when I dived into restaurant management, temple management, and interactions with the unpredictable field of karmis that came my way. Every manager has to face opposition, envy, and the stubborn conditioning of those he is supposed to coordinate. Living with devotees does not change this, as we are not pure devotees but aspiring devotees, all striving for the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.

I had the luxury of being protected all those years by a GBC who faced the same daily challenges as I did: after the lecture came the heavy load of management, including money, name, and fame—which in themselves are sources of great pain. Even Srila Prabhupada could not avoid being seen by some of his godbrothers as “maybe a good money-maker, but far from being able to present the cream—the entrance into the rasa-lila dance.”

Such an offensive attitude is maintained even today by those who see management in Krishna Consciousness as something mundane, meant for the lowest type of devotee, while they—the so-called paramahamsas—think they have already achieved levels of Krishna Consciousness unseen by others. The mediocrity and managerial incompetence of such “transcendentalists” is often declared to be renunciation, leaving us with the question: Renunciation of what—something we never had?

It is rare today to find a responsible manager who dares to defend Srila Prabhupada’s policies in an uncompromised fashion. It is far easier to “preach” and then move on. Preachers often live almost anonymous lives, avoiding exposure to personal dealings, where they could be revealed as autistic introverts or simply academic speakers without the ability to guide others in tangible, practical ways.

Guidance does not include micromanagement, which turns the listener into a passive gizmo in the hands of the speaker. Such “surrender” was never advocated by Srila Prabhupada, who often placed his unqualified disciples into situations far beyond their comprehension. “Krishna will help you,” was his ultimate advice—and the Supreme Lord, when asked by His pure devotee, truly did help all those willing to surrender to such a great acharya.

In my lifetime, I have seen things that today are merely dreams for most devotees: books published and distributed in astonishing numbers and preaching centres established so rapidly that there was always a shortage of managers. It was the “Hare Krishna Explosion”. In Europe today, we often collect only the debris of that explosion. There are more speakers than listeners, and after grand presentations, only a few are ready to step out of their private zones. When the preacher moves on, everyone goes home.

“Action speaks louder than words” was Srila Prabhupada’s policy. To act, he had to adjust how uncompromised principles could be applied according to time, place, and circumstance. No acharya before him faced such global challenges. Constantly travelling the globe, Srila Prabhupada encountered diverse conditioning among conditioned souls, always demonstrating that Krishna Consciousness can be established anywhere, under any circumstances, because it is ahaituky apratihatam—ultimately independent of material conditions.

Still, money was lost or stolen, assets destroyed, and Krishna’s property damaged—even in Srila Prabhupada’s presence. What to speak of his absence. Where there is fire, there will be smoke; where there is practical action, there will be opposition from material energy. Such opposition is a test of our sincerity. Srila Prabhupada even went so far as to declare the strength of opposition a sign of success.

There is a disappointment on the part of the managerially inclined devotees when they receive wonderful inspiration from brahminically qualified devotees—without any tangible guidance on how to put things into action. Seeing previous great leaders in ISKCON being torn down by opposition and envy of others, tempted by the ways they got hold of vast amounts of money, and compromised by female admiration (behind every big man there is a big woman is a well-known symptom, as we live in a perverted reflection of the spiritual world :-)), many such great fighters were eventually dragged down in the course of their management.

Today, those who are the so-called “not managers” are often preaching lofty, high-flying philosophy, while their followers struggle on the ground. Like scientists speaking an incomprehensible language absolutely not understandable to common people, such preachers speak in terms that are admired but not understood—admired by simple devotees who actually do not understand them at all. This creates a virtual society based on blind faith.

We should never forget that after presenting the highest philosophy available on this planet, Srila Prabhupada turned to practical management, always hoping he could delegate it to others while focusing on the most important part—writing his books. Yet he was repeatedly drawn back again and again due to the challenges his managers faced, challenges they could not handle.

Srila Prabhupada was indeed EVERYTHING—and he gave us EVERYTHING. He was the ultimate preacher, manager, and adviser, going far beyond any scope of preaching done before him. One has to be an intimate associate of the Lord, as to manifest such multiple task-demanding service to the Lord is not possible even for advanced devotees, let alone aspiring madhyama-adhikaris.

Due to the absence of those who are willing to risk their reputation and their lives in the managerial field, we find Krishna Consciousness in many areas has become constipated. Still, it is never too late to attempt to organise and present Krishna Consciousness in a practical fashion. Yes, we occasionally see great gatherings in the form of Ratha-yatra processions and big festivals. But these events, surely wonderful, often remain entertaining spectacles in the eyes of the public, while direct, uncompromised preaching—calling for surrender of one’s life to the mission of the guru-parampara—is missing.

To start something is difficult, but it is even more difficult to maintain it, and the greatest challenge is to improve it in a long-term fashion. Opening and closing projects in Krishna’s name has happened many times, but sustaining and developing a started project is rare. This is why the establishment of varnasrama society is so difficult—it demands discipline, humility, surrender to higher guidance, and finally awareness of one’s own conditioning. Instead, today we often see “mentally self-installed Vaishnavas”, bereft of all these qualities.

As leadership turns populist in the name of mercy, responding to the demands of the public rather than to spiritual principle, such originally spiritually inspired movements become doomed to fail. This can be seen even in official religions, which often no longer correspond to the original ideals of their founders.

Who is speaking, and what is spoken, is one challenge we may face. But the real challenge is: who will manage—in other words, who will guard the legacy of Srila Prabhupada, not only by speaking, but by organising such a noble attempt to demonstrate Krishna Consciousness to the public?

The movement Srila Prabhupada gave us is not meant for introverts hiding themselves in so-called “retreats” in forest areas. It is a movement in which our own progress in Krishna Consciousness depends on the way we give it to others. Srila Prabhupada summarised this mood in his letter to Mohananda das, written on December 6, 1971, in Delhi, India:

“You are a very nice boy, so I think Krishna has given you His special favor to serve Him as a responsible officer in His Movement. Now you shall have to become very serious and convinced yourself in order to manage others, and this will force you to become Krishna Conscious.”

Letter to Mohanananda, December 6th 1971, Delhi

Religion without philosophy can easily turn into fanaticism. Philosophy without religion can easily turn into dry speculation. And religion and philosophy without practical management will remain only a theoretical blueprint without any tangible result in our lives and in our spiritual future.

This is the challenge Srila Prabhupada left for us.

As he humorously said, it was not that after hearing the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna leaned back in his chariot and said to Krishna, “Well spoken, my Supreme Lord. You are the Supreme Controller, and you are the Supreme Doer, so please now fight this battle for us. And then Arjuna relaxed and smoked ganja,” concluded Srila Prabhupada humorously.

No—we are those who were entrusted to fight the daily battle with illusion. Even if we do not want to take part in this preaching warfare, the war is upon us one way or another, as we live in this material world. We will be criticised by the “don’t criticise” hypocrites; we will be envied for any small success we may achieve; we will be tempted by name, fame, and glory; and we will have to prove ourselves in the managerial field one way or another.

To manage Srila Prabhupada’s legacy is far more invigorating than simply managing one’s own mediocre field of survival. This is realised by all those who have given their lives to Srila Prabhupada’s mission. This is the difference between “sympathisers” and real participants in Srila Prabhupada’s movement. Both are nice—but the real nectar is to be found on the preaching battlefield. Such blessed souls receive special protection from the Supreme Lord, as demonstrated by Srila Prabhupada himself.