Why are there only young devotees in ISKCON?

This question would have been especially relevant in times I joined this movement, where the oldest member could have been around 25 years old.

Fortunately, this is today not anymore the case and at least as a minority, there are "older" devotees in ISKCON. As stated in Shrimad Bhagavatam, age is defined along with the grade of knowledge, meaning spiritual realization. (Discussions between Kalipadeva and his mother).

But it is an issue to think about, as growing old in ISKCON often brings certain sort of discontent about the ever incoming and outgoing bhaktas and bhakta candidates, giving this movement a steady profile of unsteady, immature, experimenting and always mistakes-repeating group of individuals who never learn their lessons. Even today we are confronted with great demand for academic education, sometimes in sastric sense, sometimes in material sense, when it comes to reality and realized knowledge, most of our temples and our preaching projects carry a rather infantile profile. This may be one of the reasons this movement doesn’t get the respect it should have as we are presenting the highest philosophy and the highest culture available on this planet.

Looking at the Vedic society, its culture was based on mutual sharing of experience and realization, leading to the point of preparing everybody to go back home back to Godhead. To be able to do so, his and hers life had to be regulated and organized already while living here in this world, by placing the body with all its necessities in the frame of varnasrama dharma structure. Spiritual world is certainly full of ever increasing spontaneous ecstasy, but ITS NOT A CHAOS. The synthesis between the older ones and younger ones living in tune with sastric injunctions ensured prosperity and safety for everybody involved.

Chaos can be minimized by synthesizing the passionate energy of the young generations with the maturity of the older ones. Maturity doesn’t mean that the older members of a spiritual society become "sloka collecting introverts", but are always open for any possibility to teach the younger ones how to achieve the goals set by the previous acharyas. That means they have to preach "practically" in words understandable to those who should put physically into action what they heard and learned. If the older ones become estranged from the younger ones, chaos follows and the same mistakes will be repeated, or even worse, magnified.

When the older ones become idols, locked up in their pseudo brahminical confinement, the young ones will become discouraged and being not able to relate to such mummified impersonal intellectuals, they will seek their own ways to progress and grow up… as weeds on the road.

Academic pseudo intellectualism may be pleasant for the false ego of its proponents, but ultimately for young generations it is not inspiring. Younger generation wants to see "some action".

We may eagerly facilitate inexperienced youngsters as they prove to be occasionally quick money-collection-machines. Justifying our "pragmatism" with the needs our preaching has, we passionately seek results by ignoring the presence of members of the older generation who still seeks full engagement in Srila Prabhupada’s mission. When a movement is powered by vaishya type of persons, naturally the financial gain will be defined as priority. Too often the warnings not to repeat the same mistakes done in the past go unnoticed while the passion of creation and "progress" prevails.

It should be natural for an older devotee to minimize his material necessities and work more for the benefit of Srila Prabhupada’s mission. But if proven being physically unfit, he or she may be quickly ignored and left at mercy of material society. I other words, if you,

1. Have no rich relatives to maintain your body.
2. Didn’t inherit their assets as they died.
3. Are of deteriorating health.
4. Don’t agree unconditionally with the dogmas being established by your (often younger) superiors.
5. Cannot in minimum time produce maximum financial asset.
6. Are not a member of some of the influential alliances which finds you of some value for their agenda… 

… Then don’t grow old in ISKCON!

Of course a big :-) and one little :-( is in order at this point.

Devotees do grow older in ISKCON, some falling in maya, some not. Some are victimized by their own bitterness and stocked in their own disillusioned state, some keep on going despite all odds and try to find a niche where they can somewhat contribute to Srila Prabhupada’s mission. There is always a niche for those who are serious at heart as "the birds of the same feather flock together".

And so there are indeed "older" devotees in ISKCON in various ashramas. But of course, the combination of material expertise fully engaged in Krsna’s service as demonstrated by Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta maharaja, Srila Prabhupada and some of His followers is a wonderful and inspiring combination. These acharyas thought us not only THAT we have to go back home back to Godhead, but also HOW we can go back home back to Godhead. It takes indeed a life time to gain maturity. There are wonderful preachers in ISKCON who lack material expertise. But they can inspire other who have this kind of expertise… if aware of their own limitations and aware of the practical needs in the preaching field. And there are devotees with great material expertise who lack spiritual realization. But then there are those who have material expertise and use it with high spiritual realization for the mission of Srila Prabhupada. Such devotees are rare, but most beneficial for anybody who comes in contact with them. They don’t join this movement due the need to find a place to sleep, some food and some basic economy as many do. They have no need to profile themselves and make career in the "ISKCON hierarchy". They simply see the need to spread Krsna consciousness in most efficient way possible.

Unfortunately, such madhyama adhikaris are often not recognized by fearful kanistha adhikaris who see them as a threat and sense the danger of exposure of their own "academic foolishness".

And so the challenge remains: How can we expand the principle Srila Prabhupada demonstrated, as He, the only "older devotee" in His ISKCON revealed with the help of His "younger devotees" the full dimension of Krsna consciousness. If the synthesis of younger ones with older ones will not take place, we may forever remain a little sect of "sastric introverts" being in a mediocre way maintained by passionate inexperienced youngsters who may also potentially become the same as they grow old. And so we will live in our little world forever, dreaming about our return back home back to Godhead.