20250208 Address to Congregational Development Ministry

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: I am addressing you all from Māyāpur, Navadvīpa dhāma. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He wanted to deliver all the people. And His process is harināma saṅkīrtana. When we read the sacrifices of our previous ācāryas, we can see how Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he worked hard to revive Nāma-haṭṭa, the congregational expansion. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, his message to his disciples, he also mentioned Nāma-haṭṭa and congregational expansion. And Śrīla Prabhupāda, he took the Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, so now we see most of our devotees don’t live in the temple. They are congregational members and live around the temple. I went for a morning walk in LA (Los Angeles) with Śrīla Prabhupāda. He stopped in front of the church and said in the future we would be like this: we will have more congregational members who would come to the temple on weekends and festival days. He predicted that this chanting expand all over the world – Russia, China, Middle East, all over Asia, Nāma-haṭṭa from Māyāpur. We want to contact the people, cultivate them. I was thinking how to expand the preaching further. If you have any ideas, please write on the chat box. Collecting contacts, educating and training them, caring for them. Actually, Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityānanda, Advaita Ācārya used the system through kāruṇika. Kāruṇika means having mercy. Lord Caitanya, when He heard that Amogha, the son in law of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya was sick, suffering from cholera and about to die, He immediately went to his house. He put His hand on his chest, and he became a pure devotee!

The CDM, Congregational Development Ministry wants help from all preachers like yourselves. Our congregation is where most of our devotees comes from. We want to grow the congregation and want to help them become pure devotees. We want to use all the modern facilities for preaching. Still, we have certain strategies to expand on our Bhakti-vṛkṣa and Nāma-haṭṭa. There are many ideas to be utilized. His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami, he started a program called āśraya group. Where devotees learn to chant 1,2,3 rounds. Bhakti Home, how we can recognized all these people and establish Bhakti Homes and help them to advance in devotional service. Small Bhakti-vṛkṣa with about 15 people, they have manuals and modules and training kits. His Grace Caitanya Avatārī and some other devotees have established Mañjarī groups, because people may not be ready to engage in Bhakti-vṛkṣa immediately. So they have different modules which are Mañjarīs. [audio break] successful coaches. If you would like to be one of those [audio break]

In Nāma-haṭṭa one person lectures to a big group. We have Nāma-haṭṭa manual and then we have Dāmodara Outreach programs in the month of Kārtika. I think Malaysia have may be 100,000 or 500,000 people offer ghee lamps in Kārtika. These are all programs you can utilize. If you have any other ideas you can see how they can be adapted. Even Lord Caitanya and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura they were present. Lord Caitanya maybe had three brahmacārīs in Navadvīpa. Everyone else was a congregational member and they were also chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So you are preaching to the congregation, it is a very dynamic thing. In this way we can expand Kṛṣṇa consciousness unlimitedly. So we are seeing how the people organize. During the centennial of Śrīla Prabhupāda we had one of the events in CDM, to expand preaching. After that I was asked by the GBC to be a member. So, we are trying to organize some standard programs. And we want to provide services to all of you. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Any questions? Please write on the chat box related to the talk.

Question: Are we planning in the future to train devotees to help elderly devotees, family members, who may or may not have proper family support to provide proper Kṛṣṇa conscious needs and health needs.

Find someone who is eager for her it, we are trying some may take it up some may not. Those ‘Bhakti Kids’ Challenge, I heard that 33% are all new devotees.

Gāndarvikā Gaurāṅgī Devī Dāsī: Usually we have around 50% children under 19 years and above 20, 50%. 33% are not part of any spiritual organization and 7% are from other spiritual organizations outside of ISKCON. So almost 40% are not ISKCON members.

Jayapatākā Swami: Are the 50% above 20, adults? This challenge challenges everybody! Young and old!

Question: What is the best way to encourage Bhakti-vṛkṣa to improve their chanting and participate in temple services?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, we are in Navadvīpa. Navadvīpa has nine processes of bhakti-yoga. One of them is pāda-sevanam. You tell the devotees, you can teach them how these services are important. Pāda-sevanam means serving the temple. Chanting the holy name – śravaṇam kīrtanam. Our first island is śravaṇam. Here Durgā Devī realized her connection with Rādhārāṇī. Second is kīrtanam. You can tell the people how they can engage in some sevas to Kṛṣṇa. They may be expert to do some sevā.

Question: What is your vision for congregational preaching five years from now? – Caitanya Avatarī dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya said that it would be expanding in every town and village of the world. So we would like all the congregational members to start chanting. ‘Bhakti Steps’ is a systematic way to help people increase their chanting. If we take shelter of Lord Caitanya, worship Rādhā Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, we become protected by them. Like Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was protected, the Lord came as Narasiṁhadeva. Congregational preaching should be spread all over the world. People should practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness from their homes.

Question: Is it possible to expand this for all adults, youth, teens, so it will beneficial to inspire all age groups?

Question: We preach in a very catholic city. Will it be possible to do either Bhakti-vṛkṣa or some of your prayers or a comparative study of Bhagavad-gītā and the Bible. So people can feel safer in the planet.

Jayapatākā Swami: Whatever appropriate in your place you can use that. Lord Jesus said His First Commandment is to love God. But actually, the Christians they do not know much about loving God. Bhakti-yoga can teach them how to love God. Hare Kṛṣṇa!