“Preaching is the Essence.”:What role does preaching play in the life of a sadhaka???

[krsna]

Many of us are familiar with a version of Krsna Consciousness in which “Preaching is the Essence.” But I wonder if anyone on this forum thinks about his or her spiritual life like that.

 

I'm curious to hear different perspectives on the role of preaching in Krsna Conciousness.

 

What role does preaching play in the life of a sadhaka?

 

Is it the essence of sadhana?

 

A part of sadhana?

 

A type of service favorable to one's sadhana, without directly being an anga of sadhana?

 

Something that can be unfavorable to sadhana?

 

How much trouble and inconvenience should a sadhaka take for preaching?

 

Is preaching just meant to be the bi-product of one's regular hearing and chanting?

 

It's easy to establish from Caitanya Caritamrta that the external desire of Mahaprabhu was to preach. Sri Caitanya had a number of His associates, including the Goswami's, dedicate themselves to certain types of preaching. Jiva Goswami sent Narottama, Srinivasa and Shyamananda out for book distribution. Clearly preaching has played a role in the lives of many of our acaryas and is not outside the scope of Krsna Consciousness.

 

Still, when I consider Srila Rupa Goswami's 64 angas of sadhana described in Bhakti rasamrta sindhu it's difficult for me to see where preaching fits in. I think that preaching is not mentioned directly anywhere in his list. I would think that if preaching were integral to spiritual advancement it would have been more explicitly described as a part of sadhana in the way, say, hearing, chanting and remembering have. Have I missed something obvious?

 

In my own humble experience I've wondered if making big endeavors to “preach” is sometimes a type of distraction to my spiritual life. Preaching to people who have no faith in or understanding of Krsna Consciousness, or even God and religion in general, is especially challenging and may require endeavors and discussions which feel especially divorced from the activities and subjects I would like to be most focused on for my own purification and advancement. Hasn't anyone ever struggled to complete his or her nama-vrata because of being involved with some type of time-consuming “preaching program?”

 

I'm impressed by the extent to which some of the members of this forum go to preach. Some of you have elaborate websites, publish books, write many essays and have certainly taken a lot of trouble to try to offer the gift of Sri Caitanya to others. I imagine you don't just think you are wasting your time by doing this and that you have intelligent perspectives on this subject. Would anyone care to share either personal thoughts or scriptural references on this?

 

[Yesu_Bhaktan]

My so-called sadhana relies almost entirely on trying to inject God-consciousness into public debate and the minds of others.

 

Because my sadhana is so sporadic and weak I can't emphasize much more than trying to remember God and be appreciate of Him and obedient to Him.

 

But this helps me alot anyway. If I can help one jiva remember the Lord then the Lord in his heart, who is also the Lord in my heart, will be pleased with me.

 

On the flip side if I can't be bothered to help another then why should I expect continued help to come to me.

 

I make a very concentrated effort to not exceed my sphere when trying to share Krsihna consciousness. JNdas recently gave the example of it being one thing to point to the sun and another to actual journey to the sun planet. I am a pointer only. And as such I avoid trying to explain intimate rasa's with Krishna which coming from me would only cause confusion.

 

I stick to:

 

We are all spirit.

The Lord is the one Supreme Spirit.

We are dependent eternally upon Him.

We are part of Him and meant to love Him as our Dearmost Friend.

And etc.

 

I find that more than sufficient for me at this time.

 

We should remember that supporting preaching is also preaching.

 

Prabhupada made it clear that it was certainly his mood and alloted service to preach. So I can understand why his disciples place so much importance there.