By B.A. Paramadvaiti Swami - http://www.vrindavan.org

Here is a transcription of a chat that took place recently

The theme of today is a topic which comes from the heart of Srila Sacidananda Thakur Bhaktivinoda directly. He worked so hard to establish Nama hatta centres everywhere. The key book for this topic is Godrumna kalpa tavi. The book is full of nectar and Srila Bhaktivonoda thakur describes himself as the street sweeper in the marketplace of the holy name.

Today our work to built up a congregation is so important and as it used to be very hard work. We cannot get anything done nicely without a great amount of dedication. A few days ago in Bogota I was sitting in the temple reception and a very elegant lady saw me and asked if she could talk to me. She looked Colombian but when she talked her Spanish was bad. She told me that she was from India. I asked “What are you doing in Colombia”. She said she was with her husband here. It turned out her husband was the ambassador of India in Colombia. Then she asked me why we did not invite them to the Janmastami festival in our farm. I was very embarrassed. You see we even forget to make a congregation with people who are already devotees or real friends. It turned out that she was looking for three japas; one for her and two for her two children. Actually she is a devotee of Lord Krishna from childhood but we forget, forget, forget about most of what we have to do.

Rule number one: If you want to make a congregation - have a book of the congregation, all details about them like family names wife children age interest E mail telephone. Nothing can miss.

Rule number two: One month before any important event such as Janmastami, Guru visit etc. - send a written invitation or e mail to all of them asking them to come and participate. Also that paper can have a bank account number, if they like to give some service donation for the organisation of the event. That was the style of Srila Sridhar Guru Maharaj

Rule number three: Do not loose misplace that congregation book. Keep a file on your computer. There are programs which keep track of groups and send out mails to all of them almost automatically. System is very helpful to serve better.

I welcome all the devotees from all over the world to work very hard and to built up a devotional congregation. It is not happening automatically. Automatically we only loose our contacts, loose interest, forget friends, sleep a lot and think about eating. That is about all what happens automatically.

Only the highest devotees experience spontaneous devotional attraction for good service and even forget about eating and sleeping. Congregation is a question of love, love, love and work, work, work. And all other service like sankirtan, pujari temple construction is also in the same way.

Nama hatta has three goals. To establish nama hatta sanghas. That is a place where devotees think so much about Krishna that once in a week or in a month they want to make a preaching program in their home. They learn how to read from the Bhagavat Gita or try to invite a devotee from the nearby temple. They invite all their friends and family, especially those who have not yet gone to any temple. They organize everything. That is their service. Nama hatta is not a devotee meeting where the temple goes to have a free prasadam feast and gossip amongst themselves .

Then when a Nama Hatta Sangha gets very serious it becomes a Nama Hatta Kendhra. That means there will be daily hours of study and lecture kirtan in that place. That is almost a Nama Hatta Mandir. But in a mandir devotees can live permanently and do service. It is a community ashram, while Sangha and Kendhra can be normal homes of devotees who are very advanced or have a strong desire to preach. Some devotees have built up a super congregation program with group leaders etc. In Iskcon London for example and in chaupatti Bombay they have groups who are powerful and well organised. There is no limit to the preaching if there is love and GOOD ORGANISATION.

We have to wake up. Jiv Jago PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEE. IT IS TIME TO UNDERSTAND THAT FAMILY AND FRIENDS MEANS WORK AND SERVICE ATTITUDE ALL THE WAY. ALL THE WAY UNTIL YOU DIE. That is devotional service. Service attitude. We want to help others to come and to meet our spiritual master and worship our Istadeva. But we have so little system that even the intimate friends loose interest sometimes. For example they are not invited to istagostis, they are not informed about plans of the community. Their donations are not reported on any donation list or the temple expenditures are not transparent. Effect: Nobody knows, very few care and we are meeting only to revive some old fraternity sentiments with a little local gossip about wife, children and may be politics.

It is very nice to be organised. Like cleanliness is next to godliness. That means work hard , have your temple clean, clean, clean, and then loving attention to all that come and remember those especially, that for some reason do not come.

Example… Srila Rupa Goswami expierienced some difficulties in his lila smaranam meditation. He had been laughing about some sweet lila while a handikapped devotee was passing in front of him. The handicapped devotee thought How can Rupa Goswami such an advanced soul laugh about my handikept walking style. He lost faith in Rupa, and Srila Rupa Goswami without knowing the cause, could not enter into that meditation again. He asked his Guru Sanatan Goswami what to do about it. He was told that he must have offended some Vaisnava. Srila Rupa Goswami went to all the devotees and asked if he had offended any one of them. They all denied. But he was still disturbed so he was given the advise to make a feast and to invite all Vaisnavas and try to see which one does not come to his feast. That was done, and the handicapped devotee did not go to the feast. Then, “Why did you not come to my feast?” Then the devotee revealed his mind. You were laughing when I walked by and I felt that you laughed about me. Srila Rupa Goswami said: “No dear Prabhu , I was laughing because in my meditation I was seeing lord Krishna hiding in a tree and Srimati Radharan was trying to pluck flowers from the tree. Then Krishna pushed a branch down into her reach but when she tried to pick the flower Krishna let the branch jump up and she could not reach the flower to her estrangement. That made me laugh.” Then the devotee could understand it was all a misunderstanding.

You know that word. Write it big into your agenda. MISUNDERSTANDING. THE AGE OF KALI OF MISUNDERSTANDING. 95 OF ALL PROBLEMS JUST COME FROM MISUNDERSTANDINGS BETWEEN DEVOTEES BECAUSE THEY ARE ASPIRING FOR THE SAME GOAL. ALL ASPIRE THE LOVING SERVICE AND THE PLEASURE OF SRI SRI RADHA GOVINDAJI.

Try the same system to start your congregation with great enthusiasm. Invite all devotees and friends to a feast to reignite the spirit of congregation. And those who do not come to your feast visit them personally and asked what offence you did to them that they do not want to even eat the prasadam mercy you offer to them. Prasadam pizza is known to be very effective to get some enthusiasm aroused.

And then after you do that do not forget to let all of them participate. We all want to feel needed. We all want to know what is going on, where are the donations going to I renounce from my personal expenditures. We want to see that devotees are actually behind their local leader. Nama Hatta group leaders get special mercy like a temple president. It is the hardest job no doubt , but it is also the sweetest.

You know , you get mercy because you try hard to serve. And if you really try to give that mercy to others you really will get a lot of mercy from Srila Prabhupada. That is only natural. And those who really help the leaders are getting the same happiness and mercy. I think our life is really valuable because we are aloud to participate in this process. Preaching is life, and will always remain to be our life. Congregation work is preaching at its best. Because you preach to others to also preach and in this way the nectar waves are expending everywhere.

One day Srila Prabhupada was sitting in his room with a group of his disciples. All of a sudden one devotee asked the impossible question:" Srila Prabhupada what will happen to all of us after you leave this planet?" There was a silence that you could here even a needle drop.

Srila Prabhupada responded very softly: ”You all, you all will be hippies again." Then after a long pause Srila Prabhupada raised his voice very strongly an said: "If you do not go on preaching, that is what will happen to you."

So let us work please very hard to make the congregations strong. Otherwise we preach and then later the new members will not find a way to remain connected. That is not easy. It is a real effort to make it possible. Let congregation members feel all the time how important they are. Let Indian Community members feel how much we count on them. Let artist feel how much we want to see their devotional art. Let everyone feel that the devotees they care for me,

E-mail is very helpful in this connection and Pancha Tattva does a great job with his list of mails to keep everyone informed. He should be sending that information to at least 1000000 people every week. But for that you and me we have to collect all the emails to purify the Internet. We shall all try to get more responsible in this connection. That was the plan of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur. The Prapanashram started by him, and the Nama Hatta centres about 500 I heard, have transformed so many people and today we can continue this work because all people hunger and thirst for Krishna Katha and Kirtan.

Just do the necessary in your local situation. The Nama Hatta computer centre is the Narada Muni department. Cyber music vina sound carries Krishna Katha and sadhu sanga around the globe. Global village is the idea. Make a place so sweet that all want to be part of it. Affection not despotism. Vrindavan , the land of love, that is the nama hatta goal and Sri Nityananda Prabhu is the mercy agent to inaugurate this market of the pure holy name. Let us all go there and buy with the currency of faith and determination to serve a lot of goods so that we can at least be retailers of if possible even join the wholesale service department.

I finish this official chat here today. It was nice to meet all of you. Any urgent topic send in telegram style via private message. I am so happy you all exist in this mission of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya. You all keep me going in my attempt to serve. That is wonderful and when I go to India I will try to always remain connected to chat with all of you. Next chat we can have from Hawaii. I will be there a few days and Pancha tattva can fix the time with Sriniva and announce. Looks like this chat was not to well known. Next topic will be: What is the real meaning of the word Prabhu or didi. Didi =sister = mataji=