May 9, 2008...7:55 pm
Preaching in Gaudiya Vaishnavism
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada
What is the history of preaching in Gaudiya Vaishnavism? That was a question put to me recently. So I did another of my lists. I invite readers to write to me with their suggestions of what I’ve missed out
Preaching is the compassionate activity of reaching out to others with wisdom and guidance, in order to help them advance further along the path of spiritual life. The first objective is to help someone come to the point of choosing to walk the path of spiritual life; the second is to help them stay on the path they’ve chosen.
Vaishnavas throughout history have almost always been preachers. They have visited villages and towns, urging all they meet to hear about God and to chant His many names. They have empowered their followers to create fellowships and ashrams, places where people could come to listen and be inspired. In more modern times they have used every modern invention to broadcast their message of love to as many as possible.
Here is a short synopsis of the history of those innovations, the means by which the Vaishnavas delivered their message and preserved the spiritual strength of their followers.
First the traditional ways spiritual life begins…
After the visit of a saint to one’s home or village
During a public address or talk on some holy topics
While at a festival to celebrate some holy day
After a visit to a holy place and experiencing the atmosphere of devotion there
After experiencing a mystical dream or personal revelation
Inspiration upon reading a holy text
And how spiritual life is traditionally maintained…
Small temple in the village
Periodic visit from a teacher or a group of wandering sadhus
Supportive community of spiritually progressive people
Songs
Literature
Theatre performances
Religious observances in the home
Collective scripture recital or story telling
Temple building
Our greatest preachers…
Lord Nityananda Prabhu
Toured northern India under the orders of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Took many Vaishnavas with him, under the leadership of twelve who settled in different regions and established ashrams there, providing local inspiration, guidance and support
Emissaries sent further off to different places
The Six Goswamis of Vrindavan
(16th century)
The immediate followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
They wrote books of his teachings under his order in Sanskrit, the language of the scholars of the day
Those books went on to become the standard texts of the new movement
They held vigorous debates with the famous philosophers of the day
They recovered the lost holy places of Lord Krishna in Vrindavan
They built temples for people to visit
They organised a society with various departments and areas of responsibility – known as the Vishva Vaishnava Raja Sabha
They left behind them a huge community of Gaudiya Vaishnavas
Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur
(19th century)
Travelled as a magistrate for the British Raja in eastern India
On his travels, met up with associates and held large sankirtan celebrations in the villages
Created 500 ‘nama-hatta’ groups in those villages, many of which still meet today.
Wrote new songs to old tunes, and printed and distributed those songs
Wrote many books of philosophy carefully outlining what was - and wasn’t – pure devotional service to Krishna
Used the Bengali language to attract local people to his message
Wrote in English to share the teachings with the British and the Bengali intelligentsia.
Personally defeated the pseudo-Vaishnavas of his day, and others who threatened the devotee community
Created a regular magazine – The Sajana Tosani
Revived the publishing of the Chaitanya Charitamrita – the life of the Lord.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada
(20th century)
Followed Bhaktivinode Thakur’s example in his vigorous teaching and writing
Created and guided an organisation expressly for the purpose of preaching
Set up a pyramid-shaped care system for all his 10,000 disciples
Preached in Burma, the furthest the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had been
Sent preachers to Germany and London
Started 64Ashrams
Wrote books in English, Bengali and had them translated into various Indian languages and scripts
Started both a daily newspaper and a monthly magazine
Used a travelling show of diorama ‘waxworks’ to preach at community shows
Was the first to take kirtan onto the radio
Employed a steamship for preaching
Recreated an order of saffron-clad sannyasa monks for disciplined preaching to the public
Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
(20th century)
Although Srila Prabhupada’s techniques of preaching are well documented and will be known to readers, it might be worth summarising them here. He brought with him not only the practises of the Gaudiya Math, but also his own ideas. He also accepted some innovations from his disciples and welcomed some aspects of modern technology.
His early preaching…
Correspondence
Writing and personal distribution of Back to Godhead newspaper – a newspaper offering spiritual commentary on the news of the day
Kirtans and public speaking in homes and halls
‘League of Devotees’ organisation and a membership scheme
Personal writing for greater authority in preaching
His ISKCON preaching – the early years…
Public classes three times weekly in publicly accessible premises
Daily sacred meals for all
Sales of Srimad Bhagavatam to bookshops
Personal conversations
Kirtan and public address in local parks
Compilation of new version of Back to Godhead magazine sold by first students and disciples
Sending out disciples to new locations
Establishment of Deity worship
Rathayatra and large hall events
Regular chanting parties in public places
Later years…
Illustrated literature profusely distributed in hundreds of millions
Gaudiya Vaishnavism established worldwide
Chanting parties in major cities
Sunday Feasts and Festivals
Rapid proliferation of new centres in all parts of the world
More colourful festivals developed, with profuse distribution of sacred food
Modern musical recordings
Stage plays
Films and slide shows
Systematic training of new devotees
Annual India pilgrimage
World headquarters established in the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
How he maintained his followers’ spiritual lives…
Devotees in small communities, often in same building
‘Temple president’ given responsibility for ensuring spiritual standards
Stretched his disciples to their maximum potential, thus facilitating their spiritual experiences
Creation of GBC to supervise spiritual standards and temple administration standards
Made himself accessible by correspondence for philosophical questions and service instruction.
Handbook on Deity standards, Educational System, and Marriage ceremonies compiled
Schools for children developed
Personally attended GBC meetings and occasionally corrected ‘mission drift’
Conflicts repeatedly resolved
Fashioned policies that would remain after his physical disappearance.
Established himself as the acarya – the head of the institution
Ensured that Sannyasis remained travelling
From this list we can see that the ISKCON of the 21st century has more than enough information to conduct its preaching activities. Most things we do will never change; how we do them might. Information technology has given us access to digitisation and rapid transit of the message of Krishna, to film, satellite television, and to the Internet. But it also means that atheism uses the same techniques. Ultimately, it will not be our means of transmitting information that will help the mission in the 21st century, but the oldest technique of all: making friends.
The current demographics of ISKCON tell the story that we now have many more people and many more centres in countries where ISKCON’s presence would have been unimaginable before. But out of the quarter million more people that ISKCON has since the day that Srila Prabhupada stood under a tree in a New York park, hardly 5% of them live in the communal way that he envisaged as being most helpful for spiritual life.
What this means for ISKCON today is that new forms of community are required. Devotees do not conveniently live in one suburb of one city. Half of them don’t live in cities at all. So perhaps maintenance of spiritual community for ISKCON in the 21st century means exactly what it meant for Bhaktivinode Thakur: travelling, establishing in each village a network of Vaishnavas who agreed to have weekly or fortnightly kirtan and readings, offering support and guidance and safeguarding the correct understanding of Krishna consciousness by vigorous discussion of what is, and what is not, progressive spiritual life.
4 Comments
May 9, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Kripamoya Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhuapada.
As always thank you for the nice post, since you asked here are two things which I think would be considered important when considering the history of preaching in Gaudiya Vaisnavism.
The first would be Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself, who descended to innaugurate the yuga dharma, he began inducing people to chant from his very birth by appearing during a lunar eclipse, not only did he preach as a grhasta in navadvipa but went on a six year tour preaching tour all over of India. It would take a whole book to properly describe His preaching activities, in fact the book already exists, it is called Caitanya Caritamrta. I know you know this, but I guess it was just too obvious.
The second thing you may have overlooked was a team of preachers, Srinivas, Narottama, and Syamananda who were dispatched back to Bengal by Jiva Goswami with all the books of the Goswamis. They spread Gaudiya Vaisnavism all over Bengal and Orissa, converting many thousands, and even entire kingdoms including the modern country of Manipur which to this day is a Vaisnava state.
Just a couple of thoughts off the top my head.
Your Servant,
Gauranga Kishore Das
May 10, 2008 at 7:36 am
Thank you for this Gauranga Kishore Prabhu. The pieces I’m writing are for a short handbook for devotees in small groups. Brevity is part of the requirement. But in my attempt to keep the list of historical preaching innovations as brief as possible I omitted the ‘Prabhu-trayi’ and Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s own preaching. But you are right, they need to be there, and I’ll include them.
May 10, 2008 at 9:01 am
Dear Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
This is really cool. I liked it a lot. I guess one thing I would add is that the acaryas made organised efforts to secure resources for their preaching by “transcendental means” which in turn became a part of the preaching work. In fact it’s often a feature of the acaryas that they were very expert organisers and “fundraisers”, which was crucial to their later work, although equally crucially, they were happy to preach in situations initially where they had no resources. Both these points might be worth mentioning perhaps.
Your servant
Rob, Pedalyatra
May 10, 2008 at 11:48 am
Thank you for these important suggestions Rob. The history of successful preaching is also the history of powerful people who either tolerated the preaching, or actively supported it with funds, resources, buildings, manpower.
I’m not, of course, saying that preaching can be done without saintly people - it can’t. If you try to preach your message just with money and political power - but without spiritual purity - it becomes mere propaganda and changes no hearts.
But it is certainly true that we often hear about the saints because of powerful men who support them. We all got to hear about Buddha because of Emperor Ashoka; Jesus because of Emperor Constantine; and in our own Vaishnava line there were many kings who gave great wealth and built many temples.
I have written something about the need for organisation in preaching and will post it here too. Best of luck with your Pedalyatra!
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