Why are there only young devotees in ISKCON?

In the comment to the text addressing why mostly young boys and girls join Srila Prabhupada’s movement, a letter from Srila Prabhupada can serve as an additional inspiration.

Of course, we find today older devotees, older bhaktas as well, as the congregational preaching came more into focus as it was the case in the initial days of preaching Krsna consciousness.

Starting an entirely new culture, spiritual culture, is especially in the western world most difficult, as the present "culture" embodies the animalistic principles only. This is entirely in contrast with vedic culture which promotes gradual upliftment of the consciousness towards the ultimate goal, return back home back to Godhead. Whoever plans and wants to stay in this material world will never understand.

Quoting Srila Prabhupada’s letters requires certain discrimination. Srila Prabhupada didn’t rule out that His letters will be published, but He saw of course the publication of His books as the priority.

Srila Prabhupada wrote the letters to particular person in particular time. And so these letters can serve as an inspiration for discussion and not always as the ultimate universally applicable instructions. However, most of them are of universally applicable nature as Srila Prabhupada is addressing basic policies and principles His movement is based on.

In my studies of this letters, I extracted from them mainly those points which are obviously valid for all time.

How Srila Prabhupada could answer ALL the letters of His disciples while traveling around the globe, with no help of digital media, not even a telephone, is simply amazing. His care for His disciples was so intense that He even urged them to write more letters!

How else He could write on 15th of March 1969 to Krishna das to Hamburg all the way from Hawaii:

“No letter from you is useless for me-they are all important. And you can write as long letter as you can. I shall read them carefully with attention in spite of my various duties always.”

Sadly this is today in times of far more enhanced communication possibilities, not the case as many unprotected disciples can testify. The care of Srila Prabhupada was so overwhelming; including advises of medical kind, etc., that His personal care made the recipients of these letters surely often cry.

I never wrote a letter to Srila Prabhupada as I felt entirely satisfied to serve Him through book distribution. Every day I got my lessons from Srila Prabhupada directly on the street, every day I felt His care and presence.

Suddenly, as I returned one Saturday to the temple from traveling sankirtan, the temple president handed to me an open Aerogram which arrived from India. It was addressed by Srila Prabhupada to me and to my godbrother Rohini Suta Prabhu, thanking us for our endeavors to distribute His books. When giving me this letter, our temple president said: “This is from Srila Prabhupada. Now you are saved.”

I couldn’t simply believe what I saw. Line by line I read this letter as I am reading it until today. I asked our GBC how Srila Prabhupada got inspired to write to us this letter. He explained that he was in Vrndavana, describing to Srila Prabhupada how Rohini Suta Prabhu and I reached at that particular time the top place in the ISKCON distribution chart; we made the ISKCON world record. (Later on book distributors arrived on the scene who distributed far more books, bathing in the ocean of nectar of book distribution.) When telling Srila Prabhupada in Vrndavana how we travelled in Germany and finally "distributed 501 and 502 books a week respectively", Srila Prabhupada upon hearing this news said instantly: "Bring me a paper". When being presented the paper, He dictated this letter and signed it on the spot.

Such is the amazing mercy of a pure devotee of the Lord. Such is the power of book distribution which attracts such a mercy.

And so Srila Prabhupada’s letters can serve as most valuable reference to our preaching attempt, often revealing how eager the conditioned soul is to deviate from the instructions of Krsna’s most intimate servant.

Here Srila Prabhupada explains why we should focus on preaching to young people first. As He once said, “in order to join Krsna consciousness movement one has to forget what one heard before”. To get out of the pattern imprinted upon us by the material nature proves for older people more difficult as for the young ones.

“Extend your activities to the University campus because the younger generation is our future hope. Bamboo while it is green can be bent and carved, but while it is yellow and ripe if there is any attempt to bend it, it cracks. Krishna is evergreen youthful Original Person and He gathers around Him all young boys and girls as cowherd boys and gopis in His eternal Vrndavana Lila. So try seriously to impress upon the young hearts and you will be successful.“

To Gajendra das , L. A. 27. 1. 1970