PRAY FOR JAYAPATAKA
Request to Disciples, Mayapur, 24 May 2025
Written by Nandan Acharya Das
“You may have received the message from my chief secretary Mahavaraha Das and health forum updating that I have had a fever since the last few days and I am put on intravenous antibiotics.
I would like to request all my diksa, siksa, aspiring, shelter, grand disciples, and well-wishers to pray for my quick recovery and to fulfill the instructions of Srila Prabhupada while I am in this physical body: ‘If it so pleases, if You so desire, my Lord, please make my spiritual master well.’
I hope that all my disciples are very careful to follow their vows, strictly practicing the four regulative principles, and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra daily. Hare Krishna!”
PADA: Well shucks prabhus, there are people out there saying that the nasty PADA guy is wishing these GBC guys unwell. Not really. I don't need to wish them unwell, since they seem to attract unwell like giant magnets.
PADA: Well shucks prabhus, there are people out there saying that the nasty PADA guy is wishing these GBC guys unwell. Not really. I don't need to wish them unwell, since they seem to attract unwell like giant magnets.
I do however show that their fall downs, catastrophic failures, suffering, premature deaths etc. ... are part of the karma of imitation of a pure devotee. I cannot control these reactions, all this comes from the higher authority and not from me, but I do report on these issues, because it is relevant.
In sum, I do not wish them well or unwell, they made their own situations. Imitation of a pure devotee takes one to the lowest regions of the universe, and may make one suffer reactions now, that is not anything I have any power over.
ys pd angel108b@yahoo.com
WHY ARE WE LOSING SO MANY DEVOTEES?
Any devotee who is a little observant and has been active within ISKCON for a good number of years may have seen a certain phenomenon taking place in most communities around the world: so many people come to Krishna consciousness, they stay around for some time, but then somehow or another many of them fade away. And we may not see them any longer. Sometimes, when we re-visit a temple after fifteen or twenty years, the only personalities familiar to us are the Deities. All other faces are new.
Once when re-visiting a community after fifteen years, where I had spent a considerable amount of time in the beginning of my Krishna consciousness, I was excited to visit after such a long period, expecting to meet old friends. Anxiously awaiting the first Sunday program, I could hardly see any old and well-known faces. I thought to myself: ‘Surely, everybody will be there when our gurus and traveling preachers visit.’ But again I was disappointed. I was anxiously awaiting the Janmastami celebration, and once again I had to ask myself: ‘Where is everybody….?’
This experience disturbed my mind - I was trying to analyze what was happening. I couldn’t stop wondering what we were doing wrong - why we could not keep devotees enthusiastically and actively involved for their whole life time.
Shortly after, I joined the Devotee Care Committee of the GBC Strategic Planning Group. Interestingly, this Devotee Care Committee was initially a Preaching Committee. And within this Preaching Committee we had two moods: one was ‘let’s make new devotees - let’s reach out and bring new people to ISKCON.’ And the other was: ‘Where are all the old devotees? What happened to them? What is the use of making new devotees if they fade away after some time?’
WHY ARE WE LOSING SO MANY DEVOTEES?
Any devotee who is a little observant and has been active within ISKCON for a good number of years may have seen a certain phenomenon taking place in most communities around the world: so many people come to Krishna consciousness, they stay around for some time, but then somehow or another many of them fade away. And we may not see them any longer. Sometimes, when we re-visit a temple after fifteen or twenty years, the only personalities familiar to us are the Deities. All other faces are new.
Once when re-visiting a community after fifteen years, where I had spent a considerable amount of time in the beginning of my Krishna consciousness, I was excited to visit after such a long period, expecting to meet old friends. Anxiously awaiting the first Sunday program, I could hardly see any old and well-known faces. I thought to myself: ‘Surely, everybody will be there when our gurus and traveling preachers visit.’ But again I was disappointed. I was anxiously awaiting the Janmastami celebration, and once again I had to ask myself: ‘Where is everybody….?’
This experience disturbed my mind - I was trying to analyze what was happening. I couldn’t stop wondering what we were doing wrong - why we could not keep devotees enthusiastically and actively involved for their whole life time.
Shortly after, I joined the Devotee Care Committee of the GBC Strategic Planning Group. Interestingly, this Devotee Care Committee was initially a Preaching Committee. And within this Preaching Committee we had two moods: one was ‘let’s make new devotees - let’s reach out and bring new people to ISKCON.’ And the other was: ‘Where are all the old devotees? What happened to them? What is the use of making new devotees if they fade away after some time?’
Then the Preaching Committee turned into the Devotee Care Committee. This is how the whole concept of Devotee Care evolved - through the realization that we like to concentrate on making new devotees, but we make only very little effort to inspire and nourish the older ones.
In a letter to His Holiness Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami on 16 June, 1972, Srila Prabhupada instructs:
“You mention you like to speak now very often, but the first business should be to preach to the devotees. It is better to maintain a devotee than to try to convince others to become devotees.”
In several letters, Srila Prabhupada expressed his concern in regards to putting too much emphasis on making more and more devotees, rather than training them thoroughly, and he gave the famous analogy of boiling the milk. In a letter to Hamsaduta on 22 June 1972, he gave the following instruction:
“Now we have got so many students and so many temples but I am fearful that if we expand too much in this way that we shall become weakened and gradually the whole thing will become lost. Just like milk. We may thin it more and more with water for cheating the customer, but in the end it will cease to be any longer milk. Better to boil the milk now very vigorously and make it thick and sweet. That is the best process. So let us concentrate on training our devotees very thoroughly in the knowledge of Krishna consciousness from our books, from tapes, by discussing always, and in so many ways instruct them in the right propositions.”
It is certainly much easier to attract new people to Krishna consciousness and impress them, rather than inspiring and uplifting a practicing devotee. In order to give inspiration and nourishment to a senior devotee, one has to be able to come up with something deeper and of substance. We can only uplift others according to our own level, but not higher than that. This may be one reason why we tend to put more emphasis on attracting new people - because it is easier.
Sometimes, we can detect the following attitude within ourselves: while a person has not yet accepted Krishna consciousness we reach out and are trying to take care of them in a very personal way. And as soon as the person ‘joins’, we think: “Now he is one of our people.” And we expect and demand service from them and easily lose the mood of caring for their spiritual development. We tend to forget how much care and nourishment the bhakti-lata needs in order to continuously develop and ultimately bear the fruits of pure bhakti.
It is not enough to simply bring a person to Krishna consciousness. In Chaitanya-Charitamrita, Madhya (19.152 to 162), we find the analogy of a devotee having to become an expert gardener. We don’t simply plant the seed and every now and again throw a bucket of water on it. It requires regular and ongoing care, nourishment and cultivation. The process of devotional service is meant to bring about a deep transformation of our heart. It is a dynamic process we are meant to undergo under the guidance of senior devotees. Spiritual life is ever increasing - we never reach a point where we have learnt and realized everything. We don’t want to become stagnant, but progressively move forward to higher and higher levels of spiritual experience.
Giving and accepting shelter is the very essence of spiritual life and accompanies us throughout our entire life within Krishna consciousness: we are meant to continuously endeavor to take shelter - in the holy name, in guru, Krishna and the Vaishnavas. And we are meant to qualify ourselves more and more in order to reach out to others and give shelter. Unless we endeavor to get to deeper levels of understanding of what it means to take shelter, it easily remains external and superficial, and we take shelter in name only, as a formality.
However, deep within our hearts we maintain our independence. Furthermore, understanding the connection between the principles of giving and accepting shelter and culture serves as an eye-opener. In spiritual culture, they form the natural foundation of any meaningful relationship, whereas in materialistic culture it is unknown: nobody wants to accept shelter, and nobody wants to give shelter to others....
Your servant, Devaki dd
Please visit www.theholynameretreat.net
www.therootsofspiritualculture.net
PADA: Lokanath swami said in 1988 that ISKCON has become an empty ghost town. He said everywhere is a skeleton crew. Where are all the devotees? If the body turns into a skeleton, then something serious is wrong. And the reason ISKCON is empty is simple, the GBC removed me in 1979 and then they removed thousands more after that. And they spent $20,000,000 suing Bangalore, saying we need to remove those hundreds of devotees too so we can make their buildings into skeleton crew.
“You mention you like to speak now very often, but the first business should be to preach to the devotees. It is better to maintain a devotee than to try to convince others to become devotees.”
In several letters, Srila Prabhupada expressed his concern in regards to putting too much emphasis on making more and more devotees, rather than training them thoroughly, and he gave the famous analogy of boiling the milk. In a letter to Hamsaduta on 22 June 1972, he gave the following instruction:
“Now we have got so many students and so many temples but I am fearful that if we expand too much in this way that we shall become weakened and gradually the whole thing will become lost. Just like milk. We may thin it more and more with water for cheating the customer, but in the end it will cease to be any longer milk. Better to boil the milk now very vigorously and make it thick and sweet. That is the best process. So let us concentrate on training our devotees very thoroughly in the knowledge of Krishna consciousness from our books, from tapes, by discussing always, and in so many ways instruct them in the right propositions.”
It is certainly much easier to attract new people to Krishna consciousness and impress them, rather than inspiring and uplifting a practicing devotee. In order to give inspiration and nourishment to a senior devotee, one has to be able to come up with something deeper and of substance. We can only uplift others according to our own level, but not higher than that. This may be one reason why we tend to put more emphasis on attracting new people - because it is easier.
Sometimes, we can detect the following attitude within ourselves: while a person has not yet accepted Krishna consciousness we reach out and are trying to take care of them in a very personal way. And as soon as the person ‘joins’, we think: “Now he is one of our people.” And we expect and demand service from them and easily lose the mood of caring for their spiritual development. We tend to forget how much care and nourishment the bhakti-lata needs in order to continuously develop and ultimately bear the fruits of pure bhakti.
It is not enough to simply bring a person to Krishna consciousness. In Chaitanya-Charitamrita, Madhya (19.152 to 162), we find the analogy of a devotee having to become an expert gardener. We don’t simply plant the seed and every now and again throw a bucket of water on it. It requires regular and ongoing care, nourishment and cultivation. The process of devotional service is meant to bring about a deep transformation of our heart. It is a dynamic process we are meant to undergo under the guidance of senior devotees. Spiritual life is ever increasing - we never reach a point where we have learnt and realized everything. We don’t want to become stagnant, but progressively move forward to higher and higher levels of spiritual experience.
Giving and accepting shelter is the very essence of spiritual life and accompanies us throughout our entire life within Krishna consciousness: we are meant to continuously endeavor to take shelter - in the holy name, in guru, Krishna and the Vaishnavas. And we are meant to qualify ourselves more and more in order to reach out to others and give shelter. Unless we endeavor to get to deeper levels of understanding of what it means to take shelter, it easily remains external and superficial, and we take shelter in name only, as a formality.
However, deep within our hearts we maintain our independence. Furthermore, understanding the connection between the principles of giving and accepting shelter and culture serves as an eye-opener. In spiritual culture, they form the natural foundation of any meaningful relationship, whereas in materialistic culture it is unknown: nobody wants to accept shelter, and nobody wants to give shelter to others....
Your servant, Devaki dd
Please visit www.theholynameretreat.net
www.therootsofspiritualculture.net
PADA: Lokanath swami said in 1988 that ISKCON has become an empty ghost town. He said everywhere is a skeleton crew. Where are all the devotees? If the body turns into a skeleton, then something serious is wrong. And the reason ISKCON is empty is simple, the GBC removed me in 1979 and then they removed thousands more after that. And they spent $20,000,000 suing Bangalore, saying we need to remove those hundreds of devotees too so we can make their buildings into skeleton crew.
If ISKCON wants people, they would be spending $20,000,000 on a plan to keep people and not remove them. It is always the same thing, they keep removing people and one of the people they removed started a home program and now they are harassing the people coming to his house, harassing the guests and trying to make them not come. So even if someone tries to preach and bring people to Krishna after being removed, the leaders program is trying to halt that as well. The leaders need to start to encourage people and not discourage, remove, sue, harass etc. ys pd
BB: Well said. This should be sent as a letter to all of the temple presidents. Sometimes it seems there will be a mood to drive away current devotees when admin changes so there will be nobody to argue when things don't seem right. New people are more easily controlled but for how long?
MG: Same feelings and thoughts here. I come back to some temple 10, 20, 30 years later and find 90% it is all new faces. TP dasa made a good point about Raga transfer being required, and the video is great, I listened to it third time by now, it makes sense, that shelter of rasik devotees is the real requirement.
Many devotees don't know, how to proceed from philosophy. They do bhakti-sastri, bhaktivaibhava, sankirtan, pujari, and than dead end. From philosophy we have two choices, we either go to politics or to devotional psychology (Raga). Devotee care psychology is simply not good enough, despite best alteuistic intentions, humanistic mindset, missionary flexibilities, love for people.
If we are not connected to raganuga-sadhana at some level, we become boring vaidhika politicians regardless of our good ability to entertain others. Devotee care and boiling the milk is not about becoming skilled diplomat of the sect, but becoming real and genuine in spiritual substance.
GVD: Here is the explanation:
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/3/24/
MG: Great essay within a purport, from sraddha to Prema. Srila Prabhupada rules! Thanks for sharing the link.
KD: Hearing from the right person is key. That person is Srila Prabhupada. Most devotees either don't do this and instead hear from conditioned souls. or they don't know how to really hear Prabhupada with rapt attention, nivishta. This requires training and practice, which is not there in ISKCON. Merely passing exams is useless.
TP: You need a living person in front of you to get the real Krishna bhakti transfer into your heart. 100 conditioned souls will understand Srila Prabhupada in 100 different ways. You need a living bhagavata also beside you to get the transfer.
KD: That's ideal, of course. But we teach devotees how to discuss in a vada manner, which greatly helps to overcome the problem of different conditioned perspectives.
BB: Well said. This should be sent as a letter to all of the temple presidents. Sometimes it seems there will be a mood to drive away current devotees when admin changes so there will be nobody to argue when things don't seem right. New people are more easily controlled but for how long?
MG: Same feelings and thoughts here. I come back to some temple 10, 20, 30 years later and find 90% it is all new faces. TP dasa made a good point about Raga transfer being required, and the video is great, I listened to it third time by now, it makes sense, that shelter of rasik devotees is the real requirement.
Many devotees don't know, how to proceed from philosophy. They do bhakti-sastri, bhaktivaibhava, sankirtan, pujari, and than dead end. From philosophy we have two choices, we either go to politics or to devotional psychology (Raga). Devotee care psychology is simply not good enough, despite best alteuistic intentions, humanistic mindset, missionary flexibilities, love for people.
If we are not connected to raganuga-sadhana at some level, we become boring vaidhika politicians regardless of our good ability to entertain others. Devotee care and boiling the milk is not about becoming skilled diplomat of the sect, but becoming real and genuine in spiritual substance.
GVD: Here is the explanation:
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/3/24/
MG: Great essay within a purport, from sraddha to Prema. Srila Prabhupada rules! Thanks for sharing the link.
KD: Hearing from the right person is key. That person is Srila Prabhupada. Most devotees either don't do this and instead hear from conditioned souls. or they don't know how to really hear Prabhupada with rapt attention, nivishta. This requires training and practice, which is not there in ISKCON. Merely passing exams is useless.
TP: You need a living person in front of you to get the real Krishna bhakti transfer into your heart. 100 conditioned souls will understand Srila Prabhupada in 100 different ways. You need a living bhagavata also beside you to get the transfer.
KD: That's ideal, of course. But we teach devotees how to discuss in a vada manner, which greatly helps to overcome the problem of different conditioned perspectives.
TP: I recommend this talk to highlight this topic.
https://youtu.be/85z_cw5yOSE?si=RVi1-LPmgJ_hpFPP
SA: This is so true.
KKR: I already responded to Devaki dd in in person saying that I don’t necessarily think all of the devotees that are no longer seen have left, but have moved on to practice in their own way, often preferring small intimate sanga groups rather than being around temples and larger congregation. I meet many such devotees so I know they are out there.
SA: This is so true.
KKR: I already responded to Devaki dd in in person saying that I don’t necessarily think all of the devotees that are no longer seen have left, but have moved on to practice in their own way, often preferring small intimate sanga groups rather than being around temples and larger congregation. I meet many such devotees so I know they are out there.
They often express that they have the same desire to become Krsna conscious as they always had, but they no longer resonate with the “culture “ that surround a lot of our temples or communities.
SD: Times are changing fast. Calibre of devotees are changing fast. Bhakti Devi is still here however and we hang on to the dust of her lotus feet in despair.
TD: Srila Prabhupada - "And this kind of hypocrisy-they have taken sannyasa and mixing with woman. This is not to be allowed. If you want woman you get yourself married, live respectfully. We have no objection. But this hypocrisy should be stopped."
Woman reporter: What about women who are leaders..?
Prabhupāda: Well, according to Vedic conception woman is never offered leadership. But Experience! has shown that woman's leadership has not been successful.
Woman reporter: Do you think Mrs. Gandhi's leadership has not been successful?
Prabhupāda: Well, there is already trouble. There are many big, big men, they do not agree with her and she has taken emergency steps. So on the whole, the country is in trouble.
Woman reporter: What about Mrs. Meir, president of Israel?
Prabhupāda: I do not say of any particular woman, but according to Vedic civilization, we have never seen in the history that woman has become a leader.
Woman reporter: Women have been leaders.
Prabhupāda: They were not selected. The leader — formerly it was monarchy —the monarchs were selected by the advisory board of the first-class men. So they never selected any woman to become the leader of the society.
Woman reporter: What about women who are elected by the people?
Prabhupāda: Well, people election... Just like you elected Nixon and then you wanted him to come down. So this kind of election has no value. Sometimes you elect and sometimes you pull down. So what is the value of this election?
Woman reporter: So a leader should not be elected.
Prabhupāda: Elected, but not by this general public. They have no intelligence. They sometimes elect a wrong man, and again they try to drag him down. So what is the use of such election? - Television Interview -- July 9, 1975, Chicago
TD: Hey Mr Rogers neighborhood!.. welcome to the jungle whitebread. You Obsequious simpsters. Ahaahaa Your entire estimation of reality is bogus. You Wokester Utopian HalfSteppers should buy some toys 'cause you can't play this game.
SKD: Maybe it’s a lot to do with devotees at some point finding out about the horrors of the dark abuse history and the non-accountability of many abuser’s and not wanting to be associated with it. Also the extreme sexism can be super off-putting, especially for Westerners. These are just 2 reasons and there are more such as spiritual abuse and corruption.
KD: Do you think having all upper management going for ideas like 3 / 35 where they finally admit to worrying more about Indian people than anyone else might have something to do with it. It can, and has, come across that this movement isn't for anyone in every town and village, it's for people of a certain ethnicity first and foremost??
BB: Yeah all the focus is on Hindus and Hindu donations.
KD: Much appreciated and much needed post.
SD: Times are changing fast. Calibre of devotees are changing fast. Bhakti Devi is still here however and we hang on to the dust of her lotus feet in despair.
TD: Srila Prabhupada - "And this kind of hypocrisy-they have taken sannyasa and mixing with woman. This is not to be allowed. If you want woman you get yourself married, live respectfully. We have no objection. But this hypocrisy should be stopped."
Woman reporter: What about women who are leaders..?
Prabhupāda: Well, according to Vedic conception woman is never offered leadership. But Experience! has shown that woman's leadership has not been successful.
Woman reporter: Do you think Mrs. Gandhi's leadership has not been successful?
Prabhupāda: Well, there is already trouble. There are many big, big men, they do not agree with her and she has taken emergency steps. So on the whole, the country is in trouble.
Woman reporter: What about Mrs. Meir, president of Israel?
Prabhupāda: I do not say of any particular woman, but according to Vedic civilization, we have never seen in the history that woman has become a leader.
Woman reporter: Women have been leaders.
Prabhupāda: They were not selected. The leader — formerly it was monarchy —the monarchs were selected by the advisory board of the first-class men. So they never selected any woman to become the leader of the society.
Woman reporter: What about women who are elected by the people?
Prabhupāda: Well, people election... Just like you elected Nixon and then you wanted him to come down. So this kind of election has no value. Sometimes you elect and sometimes you pull down. So what is the value of this election?
Woman reporter: So a leader should not be elected.
Prabhupāda: Elected, but not by this general public. They have no intelligence. They sometimes elect a wrong man, and again they try to drag him down. So what is the use of such election? - Television Interview -- July 9, 1975, Chicago
TD: Hey Mr Rogers neighborhood!.. welcome to the jungle whitebread. You Obsequious simpsters. Ahaahaa Your entire estimation of reality is bogus. You Wokester Utopian HalfSteppers should buy some toys 'cause you can't play this game.
SKD: Maybe it’s a lot to do with devotees at some point finding out about the horrors of the dark abuse history and the non-accountability of many abuser’s and not wanting to be associated with it. Also the extreme sexism can be super off-putting, especially for Westerners. These are just 2 reasons and there are more such as spiritual abuse and corruption.
KD: Do you think having all upper management going for ideas like 3 / 35 where they finally admit to worrying more about Indian people than anyone else might have something to do with it. It can, and has, come across that this movement isn't for anyone in every town and village, it's for people of a certain ethnicity first and foremost??
BB: Yeah all the focus is on Hindus and Hindu donations.
KD: Much appreciated and much needed post.
HDD: Because there is lack of care for devotees, splains it all.
HH: (ISKCON) Hypocrites, full of hypocrites .....and hypocrisy.
TP: There is no real bhakti transfer... only external vaidhi without the raga substance.
https://youtu.be/85z_cw5yOSE
GD: Pradyumna Prabhu tried to warn the 11 initiating gurus that if they accept more worship than they are qualified to receive then that would create a lot of division and animosity between those who are initiating, and those who are their Godbrother and are not initiating. They were not listened to, and still are not.
I spent 15 years locating 1000 Prabhupada disciples on Facebook and when I approach the GBC to see if they would be interested in hearing from them and creating a ministry for them, we were told that they took a vote not to take a vote. This is the love and trust that is existing today or rather not existing today. It cannot be legislative. It comes down from the top, presumably from the more advanced.
Bullying devotees definitely caused a huge loss of faith in those who are supposed to be acting as brahmanas and the head of the social body that is ISKCON.
Many Devotees were banned from being able to enter temples. This is complete insanity, and after five years, not a single apology has been given or admittance of mistake. How can one work with such a system?
HH: (ISKCON) Hypocrites, full of hypocrites .....and hypocrisy.
TP: There is no real bhakti transfer... only external vaidhi without the raga substance.
https://youtu.be/85z_cw5yOSE
GD: Pradyumna Prabhu tried to warn the 11 initiating gurus that if they accept more worship than they are qualified to receive then that would create a lot of division and animosity between those who are initiating, and those who are their Godbrother and are not initiating. They were not listened to, and still are not.
I spent 15 years locating 1000 Prabhupada disciples on Facebook and when I approach the GBC to see if they would be interested in hearing from them and creating a ministry for them, we were told that they took a vote not to take a vote. This is the love and trust that is existing today or rather not existing today. It cannot be legislative. It comes down from the top, presumably from the more advanced.
Bullying devotees definitely caused a huge loss of faith in those who are supposed to be acting as brahmanas and the head of the social body that is ISKCON.
Many Devotees were banned from being able to enter temples. This is complete insanity, and after five years, not a single apology has been given or admittance of mistake. How can one work with such a system?
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