How can we preach better?
Purity is the force, Srila Prabhupada said. People can easily detect the purpose in our preaching. When it is done purely for Krsna’s pleasure, they sense that purity. Innocent ones get curious, pious ones become devotees and demons become furious. All this happens spontaneously and often without any rational reason. After all, the initial response is generated from the heart, not from the brain.
Then there are those who try to impress the public by any means. Really by ANY MEANS. To create a sensational impression, they change the vocabulary first. Hiding Srila Prabhupada’s pure, simple and sublime words behind fancy assortment of pseudo academic terms, often derived from mayavadi literatures, they feel the need to "improve" His clear and uncompromised expressions.
Lectures, or classes, become "seminars", chanting becomes "mantra meditation" service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes "service to humanity", prasadam distribution becomes "service the poor and hungry", varnasrama dharma farm projects become "eco-villages", kirtan becomes "musical meditation", development of Love of Godhead becomes "defining the stages of one’s personal growth along the need of expressing oneself", discussing the sastra along Srila Prabhupada’s purports becomes an "all-inclusive philosophical debate", aiming to finally collect "prestigious awards". Indeed, the art of using words to cover ones lack of sincerity has no end.
After changing the vocabulary change of dress follows. Saris are replaced by punjabis, dhotis by blue jeans and modest hair cut is in order, maybe even a smartly shaped artistic beard. Obeisances exchanged between vaisnavas are replaced by warm embraces which, once exchanged between brahmacaries and brahmacarinis become "instantly inspiring".
The need to open ones heart and mind to other vaisnavas will be channeled into "professionally guided counsel and mediation sessions", conducted in manner any psychiatrist would be pleased with. Thereafter the participants may relax on the prepared sofas, only to take "a view inside" and examine the effects of their "inner voice". In order to "really reach out for the conditioned souls", preachers may appear in most bear outfits to impress the chiefs of various African tribes… . or maybe to impress the whole American population while riding on the horses in the dress of Wild West Colorado cowboys? After all, seeing such a display even the local "village folks" might be truly impressed.
As one of my ingeniously humorous godbrothers once predicted: “Soon we may distribute cigarettes without nicotine, beer without alcohol and punctured preservatives.“
As demonstrated in the sixties, such "smart approach", conducted in the human spirit of "we are all one" is doomed to fail. There were social workers in the sixties who voluntarily allowed them to be locked away in jails so they can counsel prisoners in most intimate way and learn about the psychological backgrounds which led them to the ways of their lives. The result was that many of these brave social workers came out of these institutions as well trained criminals. Instead the rescuers saving the victims, the victims polluted the saviors. The number of criminals just kept on increasing.
Seeking sanity again and returning to Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet, we may discover that there was not much "smart adjustment" in His preaching policies. Even He "adjusted what He could" as He said, He saw no need to hide away the essential statements of the sastra. He didn’t seek any "cover up" and He stayed purely faithful to the instructions of His spiritual master. Thousands and thousands joined the mission of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu due to His purity and uncompromised spirit. The result is the proof.
Observing the preaching of the members of the "fertile brain community" who are "building the bridges to the other side", we never see anybody to return from the other side and join Krsna’s mission side. As matter of fact some want us to believe that "there are no sides anymore", inviting us to take a swim in "the universal swimming pool of love and global brotherhood". The idea of "pretending to be one with you and then turn you into a devotee", results into a situation where we may end up asking ourselves:
“Are we devotees pretending to be karmis or karmis pretending to be devotees?”
No wonder one gets confused. In midst of heated discussions about the definition of reality one forgets to:
- distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books
- distribute His prasadam
- and distribute the Holy Name in form of harinama sankirtana.
To serve few complicated ones we forget to save the majority… The simple ones.
The unique and most wonderful achievement of Srila Prabhupada is that He put a wast and complex body of Vedic knowledge into a compact form so everybody can follow. To reverse that wonderful achievement and disintegrate His mission again into a puzzle game full of complexities in name of "smart preaching" is great disservice to His Divine Grace. The first victims of such "smart approach" are the preachers themselves as they totally ignore the warning of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu expressed in His statement that He might rather live in a cage with a tiger as to embrace the close association of a lusty man.
And so the simple ones present Srila Prabhupada’s message simply and purely, never forgetting its most sublime nature as the community of the fertile brain preachers gets more and more confused by the echoes of their own minds in vain strive for improvement of their pseudo intellectuality.
All glories to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami who SIMPLY saved us from the intricate network of karmic actions and reactions we could have been captured in life after life.