suchandra Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 Seems like there is the discussion going on if sannyasis should be involved in managerial acticities. HH Bhaktivaibhava Swami suggests: "To make it short, rather going into the extreme of heading toward “no more sannyasis and guru’s should be GBC members”, I would prefer to analyze objectively the performance of our GBC members, begin to replace those who need to be replaced, if those are being identified who can fill their place." HH Trivikrama Swami , Sunday, October 21st, 2007 : Thanks Maharaja for your input here . One problem that comes up for those who “simply preach”, is that the results of their preaching is often mismanaged. The good preacher will naturally attract resources. It can be very very discouraging to see these resources squandered by incompetent temple managers. Therefore the temptation to manage the results of one’s own preaching is great. Another point is that Srila Prabhupada both preached and managed. Of course the objection will be that Srila Prabhupada could do that but we can’t. Nevertheless he did often say; “Do as I am doing”, and he sometimes said for one who has strong sadhana management will be at their finger tips. Ultimately everyone will have to pass the test of Maya. Board members who run the church are also found to misuse their authority, especially by getting envolve in petty politics, which seems to be an all prevading problem in Iskcon. HH Bhaktivaibhava Swami , Sunday, October 21st, 2007 : Taking all the other comments and the above one into consideration, I feel we are entering into social studies of ISKCON, which is long overdue. Also you might definitely have different situations in different parts of the world. Some Sannyasa-guru GBC’s might manage vigorously, some not. I feel uneasy, if a GBC member is primarily seen as a manager. I did not get this impression when I studied Srila Prabhupada’s expectations of the duties of a GBC member. Srila Prabhupada gave a lot of managerial power to local TP’s. The important function of a GBC member is to some great extent of a spiritual nature, to have a strong preaching spirit, to inspire devotees, and that of being the watchdog for ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada wanted ISKCON to be governed by dynamic preachers and spiritually advanced members. To make it short, rather going into the extreme of heading toward “no more sannyasis and guru’s should be GBC members”, I would prefer to analyze objectively the performance of our GBC members, begin to replace those who need to be replaced, if those are being identified who can fill their place. I also noticed that often GBC members are getting too much involved with management due to lack of managerial support in their zone. This requires more studies to discover the reasons for the apathy of many younger devotees to take on serious managerial responsibilities in ISKCON. One serious problem I see is that a sannyasi or guru gets too much involved in being harshly criticized in the performance of his GBC duties, but this is not only a problem for sannyasis or gurus, it will be a similar problem for those, who are not sannyasis or gurus. It is simply a lack of proper culture, Vaisnava culture. I feel that we really need to get seriously involved in the social studies of ISKCON to start improving the relationship between junior and senior devotees, the performance of GBC members, creating facilities for junior members to take up serious managerial responsibilities, etc. I don’t want to drag this on too long. These are just some thoughts off my chest. Yhs, AC. Bhaktivaibhava Swami Full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.