Do No Harm

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Rama prabhu,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. You

have made some good points about different kinds of authority. You make the

point that leaders need to be inspiring their followers to follow rather

than coercing or intimidating them. In your experience this works much

better. You feel that a leader's main job should be to empower his

followers -- which means providing them with all the training and resources

they need -- and then elicit from them a voluntary compliance to his

instructions. If followers are unwilling to follow unless some force is

applied then the leader needs to look again at what he is asking them to do.

 

However, you still have a doubt. What does an inexperienced devotee do if

he is subjected to an instruction he finds difficult to follow? If nothing

can clear his doubt should he follow anyway, or reject the order? Can he

rely on his own conscience anyway? Maybe the answer is to apply the

principle of ahimsa, and just try to cause as little disturbance as

possible.

 

In response I agree with your points about leadership. I think Srila

Prabhupada summed it up perfectly in his letter to Karandhara, where he

says: "...our leaders shall be careful not to kill the spirit of

enthusiastic service, which is individual and spontaneous and voluntary.

They should try always to generate some atmosphere of fresh challenge to the

devotees, so that they will agree enthusiastically to rise and meet it. That

is the art of management: to draw out spontaneous loving spirit of

sacrificing some energy for Krishna. But where are so many expert managers?

All of us should become expert managers and preachers." Letter to:

Karandhara -- Bombay 22 December, 1972

 

That is our challenge as leaders. To give a vision that inspires, and to

then to bring on board as many people as possible. Then train and empowwer

them to carry on the mission themselves. There is no question of fear and

intimidation, as I so often see used. What legitimate power do we have for

that? Maybe, when there is actual love and deep trust, then some force can

be applied, but certainly not in the beginning. Let's engender love in our

followers by actually caring for them, and then they will naturally want to

please us. I think this is the secret of success

 

Regarding your doubt: It may well be that such problems will arise. I

think we can have a measure of protection in the institution if we put in

place systems of recourse, where if someone is dissatisfied with his

immediate authority he can go somewhere else for arbitration. In fact, this

is one of the great advantages of ISKCON, that it can provide accountability

on every level. At the end of the day though, there needs to be a final

authority. Without doubt there will always be some people who will end up

going away dissatisfied. But we should do everything we can to ensure that

these are always in the smallest minority.

 

yhs

KDd

 

 

> Dear Krishna Dharma Prabhu,

> PAMHO, AGTSP.

>

> I want to thank you for your very intelligent answer to my inquiry.

> What I have understood is that there is no shortcut for educating devotees

> and leaders alike. Without the education, there is no way to resolve this

> quandary. It also strikes me that in order to avoid placing devotees in

> compromising circumstances, a great deal of self-restraint on the part of

> the leaders is needed. If leaders rely primarily on the authority of power

> to get things done, there will always be a great human cost.

>

> I like to define power as the ability to direct people to take specific

> actions without having to explain to them why they should do so. Like in

> the army -- when the soldiers are told to march, they march, often without

> knowing where they are going. While there is a role for this kind of

> management, it's not a very good modus operandi for an organization such

> as ours.

>

> Once, after having been in positions of authority in ISKCON for many

> years, I accepted an opportunity for service in a place where I knew no

> one and where I had no authority at all. I interacted daily with devotees

> of a large community and region. Over time, even though my service was not

> for the temple or region, I was into various local issues and problems. I

> found myself having a great deal of influence without having any power

> whatsoever.

>

> When I wanted to get something done, I couldn't order anyone to do

> anything. If I wanted their assistance or cooperation, I had to convince

> them it was the right thing to do. However, I soon discovered that

> voluntary cooperation was much better than forced compliance. People

> tended to do things better and with more reliability. And they worked in a

> happier mood. This turned out to be some of the most spiritually

> productive and satisfying years I have experienced.

>

> When I again returned to a position of so-called authority, I still

> relied more on the voluntary approach. It was far more effective and

> efficient in most situations I've subsequently been in. After hearing your

> answer, I feel that if leaders concentrated on giving devotees the tools

> they need to properly evaluate what they hear from others, they would

> willingly do the right thing without the need for force, intimidation,

> manipulation, motivated preaching, cheerleading or trickery. A leader who

> finds he needs to rely on such methods should re-evaluate the program he

> is pushing.

>

> So it seems that experienced devotees can do their part through

> education and leadership that respects the intelligence and integrity of

> the individual. That answers one side of the equation. But still, what

> does the newer devotee do when faced with a serious doubt about the wisdom

> or propriety of an instruction? If after trying to clear up that doubt

> through discussion and as much sadhu, sastra and guru as possible, what

> does one do if the doubt remains? Nothing? Follow one's intuition?

> Surrender? Leave? Rebel? Comply under protest?

>

> Even trying to follow one's conscience can be difficult, as it is often

> impossible to distinguish between Supersoul and the mind. Perhaps the best

> alternative is to act under the principle of "do no harm" -- pick the

> alternative you believe is least likely to give trouble to innocent living

> entities.

>

> Your opinion?

>

> Your servant,

> Sri Rama das