How to Unite under Disunited Leadership

Nothing can be achieved without leadership. These are Srila Prabhupada’s words. He himself demonstrated what can be achieved under a bona fide leader, and the history of mankind has shown us what can be destroyed under the leadership of unqualified leaders. In both ways, the result depends on the leader. A person ultimately presents even the most impersonal concepts.
Even those who claim, in a populistic way, to never exercise authority over others—the “democrats”—ultimately always reveal their nature as absolute autocrats.

In Vedic society, the king served as the leader, demonstrating his commitment to the citizens by being a visible, tangible person willing to sacrifice his life for their benefit.
In the atheistic present society and pseudo-spiritual societies, the leaders prefer anonymity, either living entirely according to double moral policies or “preaching water and drinking wine”, as the saying goes.
“We are all equal, just some are more equal than others” is the hypocrisy of Mayavada doctrines manifested in the name of democracy. The elected leader becomes a leader simply by issuing empty promises—even in the name of religion or an imagined spiritual path.

Even the most anarchistic “movements” are always led by an anarchistic leader—so strong is the principle of leadership. A cheater will write a book describing the uselessness of written words, and a thief will preach about the need to be selfless, sharing equally the stolen goods. As much as Kali Yuga citizens oppose any authority by claiming to be themselves the centre of the universe, due to their lack of intelligence, they are ready to follow any blind leader who reflects their material desires, always planning for better ways to enjoy this world.

Srila Prabhupada’s movement is ready to show the way out of this chaos based on the absence of bona fide leadership. Even by collecting the most stubborn, anarchistic individuals, Srila Prabhupada achieved the impossible—he united them under his leadership. Even while facing setbacks, with disciples leaving, following their false egos again, or being weakened by their senses, in Srila Prabhupada’s presence everybody became like an angel. In his absence, the process of disunification started again—even while he was still present on this planet. By no means demanding authority, but commanding authority, Srila Prabhupada again and again united the disunited in one gigantic task: to spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world.

As the mission—Krishna’s mission—was the primary objective, and Srila Prabhupada viewed himself as a servant of this mission, it became obvious what can happen when we all become part of it. To become part of Srila Prabhupada’s mission automatically ensures the flourishing of each individual, just as watering the root of a tree automatically nourishes its branches. Krishna Himself promises that such devotees who are spreading His mission are the most dear to Him.

As soon as leaders divert the attention of their followers to themselves, away from the purpose of the mission, the process of disunification begins, as everyone carries their own concept of how to achieve unity. The unity to be found “inside oneself”, as often preached by Mayavada-infected leaders, was not Srila Prabhupada’s way of uniting others. For Srila Prabhupada, there was no “inside Krishna Consciousness” and “outside Krishna Consciousness.” There was no “West Krishna Consciousness” and “East Krishna Consciousness.” There was no “male or female Krishna Consciousness”—there was only Krishna Consciousness.

When united in serving the mission of spreading Krishna Consciousness, the individuality of each devotee is not only preserved but flourishes as well. Under the charismatic leadership of a narcissistic leader, temporary unity may be achieved for a particular group of mesmerised followers, but there is never true unity at large, as such stupefied followers perish along with their leader.
When leaders become narcissistic, self-appointed “guardians of the gates of Vaikuntha”, impressing upon us that they alone hold the keys, naturally their followers disunite or give up the idea of leadership altogether, following the formula: “save yourself, the ship is sinking”—finally drowning in their own mediocrity.

There are plenty of examples of disunification and polarisation in the history of mankind, and there are also many examples—even within the ISKCON movement—of how temporary a charisma-powered personal cult can be.
In my lifetime, over the last 54 years, I remember many names of those who were glorified as saviours of the planet globally and who, finally, being disconnected from the flow of mercy of guru-parampara, could not save even themselves.

What remains as a platform for unification is the chastity of those who are willing to put aside their own concepts and emotions and follow the guidelines established by the Founder-Acharya. Then suddenly we find ourselves living in the association of those we would never meet—or even like to meet—if we were not connected through the mission of Srila Prabhupada. How many seriously drug-damaged, mentally disturbed, and bizarre individuals I met while trying to be part of Srila Prabhupada’s movement! The stories I could tell would be quite colourful. But once serving the mission in the form of book distribution, harinama, and prasadam distribution, I found myself in the association of wonderful devotees.

There will be—and there can be—discussion about how to serve the mission of the Founder-Acharya most effectively. That is natural and part of our individuality. But as Srila Prabhupada pointed out, there must ultimately be a conclusion on how to go forward and serve the mission. Whatever we see flourishing in ISKCON is under the guidance of personal leadership. Whatever has been created in the past was done by devotees following personal leadership.
Even when many leaders fell down, still, when connected even briefly to the invigorating current of mercy coming from Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet, they achieved what is impossible even for their mediocre critics.

Who is the leader?

The one who leads by example. In a practical sense, in Srila Prabhupada’s movement, he is the one who moves on the preaching front lines. Even grandfather Bhishma took part in the battle of Kurukshetra, even though he was considered old by material standards.
That our swiftly ageing leaders suffer from deteriorating bodies, often troubled by the karma of massively initiated unqualified disciples, worthless fellows in terms of Srila Prabhupada's mission, does not mean they cannot take part in active preaching.

Management can be delegated to localised grihasthas. They may not always be experienced or mature enough for such tasks—surely mistakes will be made—but it could hardly be worse, speaking in ISKCON terms, than it is now. As once my authority, then GBC chairman, said in a lecture addressing his disciples: “If I fired you all from management and replaced you with karmis, we would do better!” So there is nothing to lose in terms of managerial efficiency.

From a sannyasi or brahmachari, it is expected that he will be present day and night in the preaching field. There are luxurious wheelchairs available for the elderly, and there are young servants ready to assist those who inspire them to preach Krishna Consciousness. One simply has to become visible again in public and “visualise Krishna Consciousness to others”, giving up the incest-like mediocre discussions “within ourselves”.

Srila Prabhupada never stopped moving, wearing out one servant after another. He regularly complained about the burden of management he had to accept due to the incompetence of his disciples. As management follows the preacher like a shadow, if not delegated early enough, it turns an ecstatic sannyasi into a troubled banker and an ecstatic brahmachari dancing in kirtan into a troubled householder.

The absolutely transcendental divine nature Srila Prabhupada manifested cannot be copied, but it can be followed. When leaders become old men simply collecting the benefits of their previous preaching or their institutionally designated position, advocating a “retreat to one’s inner side” (without actually defining what that means), disunification follows immediately, as no movement is created by imploding introverts.
Unification requires the readiness to take responsibility for others—even at the cost of being criticised. To bite the very hand that feeds one is a common habit of Kali Yuga residents. One can only tolerate such behaviour. Unification requires setting aside one’s momentary comfort and serving others who are ready to serve the mission. The leader is the servant, not the master.

A real leader seeks the association of strong followers, even at the cost of encountering constructive criticism. A cult leader seeks stupefied worshippers who offer only blind loyalty.
A real leader rejoices when others surpass him in enthusiasm to serve the mission. A cult leader becomes envious when seeing a follower as a competitor.
A real leader is a servant of his leader—this is the principle of guru-parampara. Srila Prabhupada beamed with pride when seeing his disciples grasp the essence of his teachings, boldly exploring new ways to transmit Lord Caitanya’s mission.

Today, under fragmented leadership, only parts of the original unified mission remain. How then can those we preach to develop unified faith in a divided movement? While institutionally we may feel embarrassed, the recorded words of the Founder-Acharya remain—and on that foundation, we find lasting unity. Anything else will perish along with occasionally charismatic leaders and their followers.

Thus, unity exists among those serious about following the Founder-Acharya and chaos among those who follow blindly or are captivated by the charisma of a particular leader.

Every preacher carries charisma. The difference lies in how it is used. The charisma of a bona fide leader reflects Srila Prabhupada’s charisma. Even if he sees himself as a broken mirror, he can still reflect that light for others in this dark age of Kali. Even one word of Srila Prabhupada can save many. Our own words may lack weight, but if we reflect even a single ray of his knowledge, we have done something meaningful in our limited lifetime.

Only in this way may we unite. When harinama processions lack visible leadership, when book distribution is carried by only a few determined souls who still try to be part of Srila Prabhupada's mission, and when the leaders are not visible in public but retreat to their private luxurious residences, served by their servants intimately – how can the conditioned masses benefit?

This is the challenge true leaders accept. They remain on the road, avoiding comfort and fruitless institutional debates, energised by the mercy flowing from Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet, which are always moving fast, never resting.

As the devotee population increasingly consists of grihastha families, Srila Prabhupada expected us to be revolutionary by establishing spiritual communities—farms and congregational centres—to raise children and live spiritually, opposing degraded material society.

Whatever unity can be achieved locally serves as an example for others. It is more productive to focus on one’s local field than become discouraged by global conditions. One valuable instruction I received from my previous GBC was: “Do not make it your priority to worry about what others are doing elsewhere.” Srila Prabhupada even discouraged the ISKCON Newsletter, saying, “We are doing the same everywhere anyway.” Instead, he preferred Back to Godhead as the real newsletter, broadcasting Krishna’s message daily.

Srila Prabhupada showed us how to be simultaneously one and different. As long as he remains the ultimate leader, there is hope. When leaders become servants of their own vanity, only chaos prevails.