Contents

Contents

Dedication1

Foreword2

Acknowledgements4

Bhakti Vriksa, an introduction5

Introduction on the Bhakti Vriksa modules8

Directives and vision of the programme14

Financing the program15

Starting a Bhakti Vriksa group17

Conducting a study class22

Some Krsna conscious games for picnic24

Samples of Bhagavad-gita quiz 29

Some problems you may face35

Maintaining a good sadhana40

Sadhana chart41

Recommended reading for different levels of Siksha48

Siksha ceremony49

Siksha application form for Shraddavan51

Siksha application form for Krsna Sevaka53

Siksha application form for Krsna Sadhaka55

Siksha application form for Srila Prabhupada Asraya57

Sample of a siksha certificate61

Seminar on first initiation62

Seminar on chanting67

Seminar on Vaishnava etiquette78

Seminar on devotee marriages94

Submitting reports and attending meetings 101

Some Testimonies102Dedication

These modules are dedicated to the lotus feet of my Spiritual Master HH Jayapataka Swami, who is the congregational development minister of ISKCON and is anxious to see that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhus prediction of a golden age becomes a reality soon with the spread of congregational preaching.

He is constantly empowering people to take up preaching and give out Lord Nityanandas mercy to all the fallen souls. These modules are a very small attempt at developing this mood of compassion and selflessness in disseminating Krsna bhakti in an organized way.

Foreward

Their Graces Vijaya Venugopal das and his good wife Prema Padmini dd along with their team of Mathuradesa Bhakti Vriksha Group Preachers have developed a nice tool for training the devotees who are members of their Bhakti Vriksha Groups. This tool is called a Bhakti Vriksa Module. Basically, it is an aid for the Bhakti Vriksa Servant Leader (A Group Leader is called a "Servant Leader" since he serves the Group and its members) to conduct the group meetings in a systematic manner. This Bhakti Vriksa Module is recommended for a group which is serious about their spiritual progress.

The modules have been developed after seven to eight years of Bhakti Vriksa preaching. It has already been tried in Mathuradesh as well as other parts of the world and the initial reports are very positive. It seems that the needs of the devotees have been adequately addressed. It has also been tested in several places all over the world with very good results particularly in the Middle East countries, a few cities in India, Canada, USA, S. Africa and Bangladesh. It makes it easy for new Bhakti Vriksa Group Servant leaders to conduct meetings in a very dynamic and systematic way. These modules have already incorporated suggestions from different people and the organizers express their keen desire to receive your suggestions and feedback in order to keep the modules updated and relevant.

I am told that the curriculum includes all the basic knowledge in Krishna Consciousness which a person needs to have in order to practice the same seriously and also to preach it to others. This has been done in a graded way so that the lessons take one through the Spiritual Achievers Club or "Siksa" levels from Shraddhavan to Krishna Sevaka to Krishna Sadhaka, etc. till they reach Guru Ashraya. The curriculum gradually provides training for the members to become leaders themselves.

The publishers have informed me that:

1) The modules include not just study material but personal insights on how to care for the people week after week, with a lot of suggestions on how to encourage them and get them going steadily in Krishna Consciousness. There is also a chapter dealing with solving potential problems that one could encounter while conducting a Bhakti Vriksha group. So, even complete beginners can easily conduct a Bhakti Vriksha successfully if they follow the week by week guidance given in the modules.

2) Apart from the weekly meetings, the modules give detailed guidance on how to conduct study classes, seminars with seminar material, vyuha or joint programmes with other Bhakti Vriksha Groups (a variant from the regular Bhakti Vriksha meetings). They also provide guidance on how to arrange for prasadam, how to keep reports, how to keep records of the progress in sadhana of the advanced members with the help of the sadhana charts that are provided along with. There are separate checklists for each module to see if your Bhakti Vriksha is doing well and how to keep in touch with the members through the telephone, home visits etc. and how to train the members in preaching via step by step method, how to take the people to the next level of siksha with siksha seminar, how to conduct a siksha programme and give out certificates etc., are also described based on practical experience.

3) A course on Vaishnava etiquette has also been included in the concluding weeks, so the devotees imbibe the Vaishnava qualities as well.

4) There is time allotted for training the members in the practical aspects of the devotional service like arathis, kirtan and learning slokas during the study classes.

The Congregational Development Ministry is always trying to facilitate ISKCON around the world to develop their congregations. We hope that the Mathuradesh Bhakti Vriksa Modules will be something from which you can get some good help. We are eager to get your feedback and find out about the results. The publishers are even more eager for this. They inform me that using the modules in many places have produced serious devotees so fast that many of them are ready to accept leadership responsibilities fairly early in their devotional career. I will let the publishers explain about this in their own introduction.

Yours in devotional service,

Jayapataka Swami

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to HH Sacinandan Swami for allowing us to take points on improving our chanting from his book The nectarean ocean of the holy name

We are grateful to HH Mahanidhi Swami for allowing us to take points from his explanation of the Sikshashtakam from his book Art of Chanting Hare Krsna .

We are grateful to HH Satsvarupa das Gosvami for letting us use excerpts from his book Vaishnava Behavior- The 26 qualities of a Devotee.

We are grateful to ISKCON Chowpatty for allowing us to use a part of their compilation of quotations on Vaishnava etiquette.

We also thank them for their inspiration and example for developing our Sadhana chart for monitoring the sadhana of devotees.

We are very grateful to the Mathuradesh devotees who have selflessly and tirelessly been trying to implement the principles of this module not only in Mathuradesh but in also many parts of the world.

We are also grateful to them for all the help we have received in producing this module.

We are also grateful to all the other preachers world wide who continue to use these modules. Their sharing of practical experiences helps us in making these modules as relevant as possible.

Your servants,

Vijaya Venugopala das

Prema Padmini dd

Bhakti Vriksha, an introduction

Bhakti Vriksha, the tree of devotional service is the name for small groups of people meeting weekly for about two to three hours. It is very interactive and helps the participants to discuss the Krishna Conscious philosophy, develop close and friendly relationships with devotees, and progress very happily in Krishna Consciousness. It also trains them to become competent preachers. It is based on the principles of congregational preaching of the Nama Hatta devised by Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakura.

It takes care of the social, psychological, intellectual and emotional needs of a devotee to firmly establish himself in his spiritual need of bhakti and his eternal service to Krishna. It is, thus, a holistic approach to training a devotee, laying a firm foundation in his devotional service which will keep growing unlimitedly throughout his entire life. Since proper understanding and faith is established in his heart through studying Srila Prabhupadas instructions in a systematic way, where practical application of those principles are stressed, the devotee progresses undisturbed by various onslaughts of Kali, with a firm faith in the Krishna Conscious process and instructions.

It consists of an ice- breaker or Satsanga session, kirtan, japa, spiritual edification or the discussion of some Krishna Conscious topic, preaching session and prasadam.

In a gradual and systematic way, the members are helped to advance in Krishna Consciousness. Members are given certificates to acknowledge each level of advancement.

The Lesson modules, which are ready-made preaching plans, will help the leader/facilitator to conduct the programme week after week. These are simple to follow and help in conducting the programmes very well.

The study classes conducted for the members on a different day of the week, after a few months of starting the group programme, will further ensure that the members are well versed in Srila Prabhupadas books.

When the group has completed the modules in 64 weeks, normally they should be ready to multiply. This involves the trained and qualified members of the group to become leaders themselves. Those who are not yet ready to be leaders could be regrouped to attend these new leaders programmes and they can act as senior devotees assisting the leaders in preaching and taking care of the new members, while making further advancement themselves . When they make the required progress, they could be encouraged to lead new Bhakti Vrikshas themselves.

Mood and method of the Bhakti Vriksha:

Bhakti is the goal of the Bhakti Vriksha and Bhakti involves applying practically the Krishna Conscious principles not a dry discussion of philosophy alone. Ideally, anyone who has firm faith in Srila Prabhupada and is practicing all the principles of chanting 16 rounds, following the four regulative principles and is observing Mangala Arathi, reading Srila Prabhupadas books, observing Ekadasi and has a basic understanding of the Krishna Conscious philosophy can become a Bhakti Vriksha group leader.

One does not have to be a scholar to be able to answer all the questions. One can always refer back to the seniors or to Srila Prabhupadas books and get back to the members if one is not able to answer some difficult questions. The members will be made aware of the family of devotees in different levels of advancement who are there to back the leader. The Bhakti Vriksha leaders main qualification is his sincerity in desiring the spiritual advancement of his members.

Building up relationships in a very close and personal way is most important, as it helps people to surrender to Krishna due to devotee association.

Developing service attitude and humility are the primary requirements of a successful Bhakti Vriksha leader who can convince his members to commit themselves more and more to Krishna Consciousness.

Love and trust is built up if the leader acts as a facilitator and not as a controller. This will also lead to the empowerment of the members to quickly advance and preach.

The art of listening is required in the leader to encourage and facilitate a lively discussion in which every one takes part and benefits.

The goal is the spiritual advancement of everyone, including the leader. So by catering to the spiritual growth of others, the leader becomes more and more selfless and progresses quickly and wonderfully in Krishna Consciousness. This gives him a higher taste and he enjoys the nectar of devotional service.

Regular meetings with the other leaders as well as with the programme coordinator are very essential. It enables each one to learn from one anothers successes, sort out problems, and co-operate together for the overall success of the Bhakti Vriksha programme.

Advantages of conducting a Bhakti Vriksha:1) It is interactive and so is more interesting. Thus, it helps people to retain what they have learnt.

2) Fosters close and lasting spiritual relationships and family feeling with the other devotees.

3) Empowers everyone to be a preacher and a leader.

4) It has the potential to multiply quickly while ensuring good training of devotees.

5) Engages everyone in absorbing devotional service.

6) Leadership skills are learnt and developed by everyone.

7) Helps one to develop true Vaishnava qualities of tolerance, humility, efficiency, selflessness, etc.

8) It supports the seven purposes of ISKCON as given by Srila Prabhupada and helps in achieving them. (We have dealt with this in greater detail in the next chapter.)

Summing up:

1) Conducting a Bhakti Vriksha is easy and simple if you follow the techniques.

2) The results, both in terms of quality and quantity, make it worthwhile to apply the Bhakti Vriksha System.

3) With experience you gain expertise. You can discuss your problems with those who have learnt to conduct it successfully.

4) One can fulfill Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhus desire and prediction of flooding the world with Krishna Consciousness. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said that if even one percent of the population becomes devotees, the golden age will set in! Bhakti Vriksha has the potency to accomplish this.

5) The modules facilitate the application of Bhakti Vriksha as presented in the manual and will make it easy for all preachers to follow, even those without any previous experience.

Introduction to the Bhakti Vriksa Modules

Dear devotees,

The Bhakti Vriksha programme material is intended to facilitate your application of the Bhakti Vriksha principles very systematically. It is simple and easy to follow. After seven to eight years of experience in conducting the Bhakti Vriksha programme successfully in Mathuradesh, in the Middle East, we have designed these modules.

To give you an idea about the congregation of Mathuradesh, here, most of the devotees are of Indian, Bangladeshi origin and are expatriates. They are, here, only to work for their livelihood and their jobs are renewed every two years. So it is a highly changing population, as almost everyone is not a permanent resident of the country. Many devotees who have been trained in this system here have left and started it in other places.

We would also like to share with you that these modules have been implemented in many countries all over the world as well, and have brought about outstanding results.

In Bangladesh, where they are following these modules, it has led to a rapid growth of Bhakti Vrikshas with many devotees being able to conduct them successfully.

In Toronto, in Winnipeg, in Johannesburg, in Northern Virginia, USA, in a few other middle east countries, also a few cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore in India, they have proved very successful in generating the enthusiasm and desire for progress in the members while systematically training them in the philosophy, practice and preaching the Krishna Conscious principles, as well as in interacting with people very effectively and very quickly. We have also included the experiences of some of these preachers in the book.

We will be discussing some additional points of consideration for the cultivation of the people; also common difficulties and doubts that preachers normally encounter.

We will be dividing the entire course into 5 modules according to the level of progress a group goes through. At the end of each module, there will be some questions for you in the form of a check list, which will help you gauge which level your group is at. The topics for discussion in the different modules have been designed according to the knowledge required for the members to commit themselves to the next higher level.

The levels are determined by the commitments they make in Krishna Consciousness. The siksha programme developed by the Congregational Development ministry ISKCON, assigns different commitments for different levels of Siksha. For example, one who is regularly attending an ISKCON programme at least once a week and is chanting one mala of japa will be acknowledged as a Shraddhavan. The acknowledgement is in the form of a certificate, which could be issued by the local ISKCON authorities. This could be awarded to the participants either at a public gathering at the local ISKCON temple or during the special programmes like the Vyuha programmes held for the Bhakti Vriksha groups. The siksha application forms as well as a sample siksha certificate are available at the back of this book.

We have allotted eight weeks for people to commit to the level of Shraddhavan, the next eight weeks for people to move to Krishna Sevak(Chanting four rounds of japa, accepting Lord Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, no meat eating, offering some regular service and starting to read Srila Prabhupadas books), and the next eight weeks for people to move to Krishna Sadhak(chanting eight rounds of japa, following the four regulative principles, offering bhoga to pictures, establishing an altar at home and generally accepting the process of Sadhan-bhakti ), the next 12 weeks to move to the level of Srila Prabhupada Ashraya (Chanting 16 rounds of japa, following regulative principles, showing a strong conviction in Krishna Consciousness like attending/ performing Mangala Arathi, studying the scriptures seriously, etc, and the last 12 weeks of the modules are for the people to move up to Guru Ashraya( accepting a living Guru in ISKCON ).

At the end of every module we have assigned the succeeding week for presenting a seminar to motivate the participants to commit themselves to the next siksha level. We have included the seminar material in the texts. These are very inter-active sessions and have proved very effective in enlightening and inspiring the members to move to the next level.

One important point to note is that the focus of the regular weekly programme of the Bhakti Vriksha is to instill faith in Krishna in the members and give them the basic understanding of Krishna Conscious philosophy in order that they can be engaged in pure devotional service. The emphasis is thus on the practical application of Krishna Consciousness and the development of bhakti or devotion.

The Discussion sessions are geared towards understanding the goal of Krishna Consciousness and to engage oneself in realizing that goal, which necessitates a lot of participation from the members. For learning shastra in a more systematic way, we have advised that the members attend a study group on another day of the week. We have also described the format of the study group. We have recommended that this be done by the sixth month of starting the group. In actual practice, members become very enthusiastic even before the fourth month to attend the study classes! Truly, Bhakti is the source of Jnana and Vairagya.

The two parallel programmes of the Bhakti Vriksha and the study classes fortify the aspiring devotees faith and knowledge in Krishna Consciousness in a very strong and deep way. We find that very soon members become enthusiastic to attend the weekly Friday (weekend in the Middle East) programmes of the yatra as well. This helps them to associate with senior devotees and also integrate with the larger devotee community of the yatra. They get a chance to participate in the different services, festivals, samskaras and other programmes very quickly.

If you were to substitute the Discussion sessions with a more study-based material, there could be a compromise on their participation, enthusiasm and practical application of Krishna Conscious principles.

The members will also be trained to preach effectively and also become group leaders themselves in 64 weeks. Those who do not make it to the minimum requirement for leading a group, which is Prabhupada Asraya, or are not ready to lead a group themselves can continue attending one of the groups that the parent group multiplies to. Each of these groups will be lead by one of the trained members, and the remaining members of the group could be assigned to attend these different groups and participate as a senior member, assisting the new Bhakti Vriksha leader and thus acting as interns.

In case these members seem to be too advanced to go through a Bhakti Vriksha again, they could just continue attending the study classes and be gradually trained to lead a Bhakti Vriksha group. Or if after some time of attending the Bhakti Vriksha they feel confident of leading a group, they could be helped to do so.

If you are following the same pace as the material, you should be able to multiply the group within a year and three months and train quite a few leaders.

This has been our experience at Mathuradesh, that by following these modules, we have been able to make the pace of progress of the members in different groups more uniform. By following these modules, all of the groups reported very good results; in fact even better results than what we have anticipated in the modules themselves.

There are some important points that you must bear in mind and must take special care about which will greatly enhance your preaching, and make it a very satisfying experience:

1) Please read the material a few days in advance. Be sure that you know the answers for the questions in the passage. If there are any doubts, you can clarify it with your senior. You can also read additional literature relevant to the topic under consideration. This will help you clarify their doubts, as well as make your summing up very interesting. Also kindly go through the instructions for every session given each week, even though they may be repetitive some times. As and when some change is required, it has been added, and so lest you miss them, kindly go through them every week.

2) Please do not explain the passage to them after it has been read out. Let them try to understand the passage by answering the questions themselves.

There are questions given at the end of each passage of the spiritual edification to enable them to cover all the important points in the passage.

Your role is to facilitate their discovery of the passage, by acknowledging and accepting or gently correcting their answers in an informal way; not as one would do in a classroom. If you were to give out all the answers yourself, or just lecture to them in advance about it, they will not apply their minds to understand it. Hence their learning will remain superficial. So please do keep all the explanation and extra points that you would like to share with them for the end of the session, when you will be summing up the discussion.

3) Please make sure that every body participates in the application questions, since it will not only aid everyone to apply the principles in their daily life, it will also give you a first hand knowledge of any obstacles that they may be facing and about their spiritual progress. It is the application session, which enthuses the devotees to make real spiritual progress and not remain stagnant on a theoretical level.

4) The preaching session is also a very important part of the program. In the first few sessions you need only read out the passage on Preaching is the essence as it is mentioned in the material. Once they will be a little familiar with the mission and its purpose, there are instructions to start getting everyone involved in preaching through small steps, and in this way training them to be effective preachers and leaders themselves.

5) Please make sure that you speak to the members during the week informally some time. This will greatly encourage them. You can also visit them in their homes. This helps tremendously, as you get a first hand and personal knowledge of them. So you can help them progress in their spiritual lives even better. Your suggestions will be more relevant and practical for them, thus building up their trust in your spiritual care.

6) While caring for them and making them grow, you yourself will grow by leaps and bounds. For example, you will be motivated to read Srila Prabhupadas books, and follow the principles more carefully in order to set a good example. Besides, it gives you so much of devotional service to do while training you in the principles of humility, tolerance, service attitude etc. So do take up the Bhakti Vrksa preaching very seriously, since your own spiritual life is woven into it.

7) The ice- breakers mentioned in the ice- breaker/ sat sanga session will help the people to open up and relate to the group, concentrate on what is happening during the program, and participate freely. There are also ice- breakers, which foster their team spirit. So after some sessions, when the group is likely to feel comfortable with one another and a good team spirit has also developed, we will move into discussing what they read during the week from Srila Prabhupadas books and their realizations. So this will encourage them to read as well as promote understanding them personally. Though we have chosen the ice- breakers for you, you can have more choice from the The Book of ice- breakers compiled by HG Kaunteya das and published by the Congregational Development Ministry.

8) If there are any heated arguments with regard to the philosophy, or if somebody tries to disagree on some issue, it is better to discontinue the particular point and request them to discuss it separately with us. This way we can avoid wasting time and disturbing the minds of the new comers. If they deviate from Srila Prabhupadas teachings, we can request them to keep to the text and later discuss their doubts/ opinions with us. This can be done very politely and gently, but firmly.

If there is some question we are not able to answer, we can tell them that we will come back with the answer the next week. We have to make sure that we find out the answer and let them know in the next meeting.

9) We have to set an example with our service mood, but at the same time we have to let them render services too, only then they will mature in their devotional service. If we give them services, so that it will benefit them spiritually, they will accept it with great eagerness. But if we think in terms of sharing our burden, they will begin to resent it.

10) Another aspect that we may encounter is that what to do if when we have progressed to heavier topics in the spiritual edification and we have a new visitor to our Bhakti Vriksha. How do we make him understand and participate? So then, we must take a few minutes off and explain to him the basics in Krsna consciousness and an introduction to what is being discussed. Later we can assign some senior and steady member to give him association, and familiarize him/her with the sessions already covered by the group. You can also make sure that he is comfortable participating in the group. If there are a few members who have joined late in the group, say after 6 months, then it will be difficult for them to integrate in the Discussion session with the others. So we can have them sit separately and discuss the earlier Discussion sessions.

11) Every three months, it is important that we let the group members have a break from the routine and have a different programme, which we call as the Vyuha programme. It may comprise of a long Kirtan, a lecture by a senior devotee, an interactive session among the members with games, quiz, entertainment of music, drama, sharing realizations, etc. so that they are enthused. It is also a programme to which new members will gladly attend as it is like an outreach programme. It is also an opportunity for the members to have the association of senior devotees. This is very important for their progress. We have assigned the weeks periodically for such programmes at regular intervals. We will also give you reminders for going on picnics together, for attending the yatra programmes, etc.

12) Picnics and other informal gatherings like home programmes to celebrate occasions like house-warming ceremonies, birthdays, inaugurating a new altar, etc, are very important in helping the members come close together. We have a separate chapter on games that could be played during picnics.

13) The importance of performing regular sadhana systematically is emphasized through a meeting and discussion on sadhana for the members. All devotees who have reached Srila Prabhupada Ashraya are also requested to enter their sadhana details on a chart every day and submit it every week to their leaders during the study classes. The study classes also set aside half an hour for training them in different devotional activities like learning slokas, Vaishnava songs, performing arathi, playing the karatalas, etc.

14) We have seminar materials on topics like chanting, Vaishnava etiquette, devotee marriages, importance of sadhana, etc which are included in this book . Leaders (could be sector leaders or other seniors in the hierarchy) are requested to conduct these seminars periodically for the members.

15) Please fill up the Bhakti Vriksha report form at the end of each lesson, every week immediately after the programme. This is easy to do and will help you and your seniors in the Bhakti Vriksha programme to analyze the growth of your Bhakti Vriksha members. A sloppy approach will not yield the desired results, nor help you take proper measures to improve your preaching.

16) We request you to give us a feed back on how you are progressing with the modules, as well as any difficulties if you encounter. We are at your service and will reply you promptly.This will also enable us to improve the modules. Please contact us at the following e-mail addresses:

dvenugop@omantel.net.ompremajps@hotmail.com; premajps@yahoo.comThank you very much,

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,

Vijaya Venugopala das

Prema Padmini dd

DIRECTIVES OF THE BHAKTI VRIKSHA PROGRAMME BASED

ON THE SEVEN PURPOSES OF ISKCON BY SRILA PRABHUPADA

To give people spiritual knowledge

To make them study Sri Bhagavad gita and Srimad Bhagavatam

To train them in the techniques of devotional service

To instill Krishna Conscious values in them

To build close relationships with one another and with Guru and Krishna

To train and encourage them to preach

To distribute relevant books, magazines, periodicals and other writings

To live a Vedic life

To help them develop Vaishnava qualities

Vision

Systematically educate people in Krishna Conscious philosophy

Train them in devotional service

Care for them

Empower them

Grow geometrically

Ensure rapid spiritual advancement

Train people in organizational skills

Plan, set targets and review progress periodically

Financing the programmes

The wonderful aspect of Bhakti Vriksha preaching is that it requires very little expenditure at the start but later on when the programmes grow bigger and the need for funds increases, there is a self-generating facility of funds from the committed members, who both contribute themselves as well as collect from outside to the extent possible by them. Hence, the burden of financing is easily shared by everyone and ceases to be a burden anymore.

The initial expenditure for running a Bhakti Vriksa is the prasadam that to be distributed every week to the members. The Bhakti Vriksa leader can plan his prasadam according to his means. Since all the members are new, it is not appropriate to ask them to share in the expenses. But seeing the selfless service attitude of the Bhakti Vriksa leader, members are automatically inspired to also share in the expenses by either sponsoring the prasadam or bringing some raw materials for cooking etc. If the Bhakti Vriksa leader looks upon the expenses (which should suit his means) as a burden of love that a parent undertakes for his children, then the same attitude will be more than reciprocated by the members. The Bhakti Vriksa leader can keep the prasadam simple if he cannot afford an elaborate one, but the members will be satisfied with it, if it is offered to them with love. On the other hand, if he were to ask them to share in the expenses, the members will start to resent it and be suspicious of his motives in collecting the funds.

So once love and trust is generated among the members, funds are not a problem at all as more and more leaders are trained to start a Bhakti Vriksa themselves. The initial Bhakti Vriksa leader, when he becomes a Upa chakrapati (sector leader), does not spend regularly on prasadam except maybe when he convenes meetings himself and hosts prasadam as a special gesture.

The other expense in conducting a Bhakti Vriksa is incurred in making copies of the passages for distribution to the members. This again is not much as it is quite inexpensive to copy them. The Bhakti Vriksa leader can, after a few weeks, request to the group members if anyone could volunteer to get copies for everyone. Telephone calls are a necessary expense but more so in the initial months. As the members settle down in Krishna Consciousness, not so many phone calls and certainly not long talks may be necessary to encourage them. Calling up contacts and junior devotees can also get distributed to the different members attending the preaching session.

Vyuha programmes are arranged by two or three Bhakti Vriksa Groups together once in three months. Since it is like a common programme, the expenses can be mutually shared by the Bhakti Vriksa leaders for the first Vyuha programme. The expense is only on prasadam, which again can be adjusted according to ones means. The subsequent programmes will generally find ready sponsors. In any case, it is not on a separate day from the regular Bhakti Vriksa programme and so it is not exactly an extra burden. The study classes, being of a short duration, do not require any prasadam to be distributed.

The costs of picnics can definitely be shared between all the members. Festivals are normally part of a central programme and hence the Bhakti Vriksha leader does not incur any expenses individually. Also, donations can always be got for celebrating festivals, so that the burden does not fall on only a few people.

Therefore, the Bhakti Vriksha programme really does not require much expenditure, though it brings in enormous results.

Starting a Bhakti Vriksha Group

The thought which is in the fore front of every preacher is Where do I get a receptive audience?

It is but natural that we are perplexed about where we will find a group of committed members who will come week after week to our Bhakti Vriksha meetings.

This holds true only till you start a Bhakti Vriksha. For, once you start a Bhakti Vriksa Group, all members are gradually trained to invite their friends and acquaintances to the programme. Even when the group multiplies into more groups, it starts with some of the members from the parent Bhakti Vriksa Group, who share the responsibility of bringing in new people.

If you are already attending some devotional programs in the temple, then inviting some of the visitors there to your program would be very easy and effective. Some regular visitors to the temple might also be interested to attend a supplementary program that is for a smaller group where the interaction and attention is bound to be better.

Festivals are a good time to encounter a lot of new visitors. Even if two out of the 10 or 15 people you approach actually make it to the Bhakti Vriksha meeting, you can consider your effort successful.

Book distributors are a good source of contacts that need to be further cultivated.

If you are keenly looking for potential members, you will find them! It may be in a super- market, a bus stop, a clinic. you name it. It is not difficult to find people to attend our meetings, if we know how to approach them.

The first strategy is to understand how much they need what you are going to give them. (Every one needs it!) Then you will have the confidence and determination to approach them.

If there are already some senior devotees in your yatra who are ready to lead Bhakti Vriksa groups, then you can meet together for a few weeks, while inviting some of the junior devotees as well. Each one of the trainee leaders can take turns in conducting the Bhakti Vriksha. After a few weeks / months, when everyone feels confident to lead a group of their own, the junior devotees and new comers can attend these programmes. It is advisable to distribute them according to geographical considerations, so that it becomes easier for them to attend the programmes and the leaders to care of them well.

Some people may already be attending programmes of other faiths and so if you invite them to attend an ISKCON programme, they may hesitate to accept it. Indians can be invited for a talk and discussion on the Bhagavad-gita accompanied by a few hymns or chants. Among Indians who are Hindus, Bhagavad-gita is equally respected among all the communities. After attending the programme and appreciating it, they are normally willing to come for an ISKCON programme.

For other nationalities from different cultural backgrounds, there can be other ways to attract them. Every one is looking for peace and happiness and so you can invite them to a programme of Vedic chants to bring peace and happiness to them and to discuss the philosophy behind it. If you also mention the feast at the end of the programme, that would help!

Whatever be the culture and special circumstances of your place, there are certain common features that people have all over the world which makes this approach universal. Globalization has occurred in the material sphere of life in such a pronounced way; Spiritual globalization should not be difficult either!

1) The ideal situation would be to invite people of your local neighbourhood to attend your programme, for several reasons, chief of them being the accessibility. If they live close to your house, staying in touch becomes very easy. For the members too, attending your programme will be easy and comfortable. They can, thus, be regular at your meetings. Your prasadam can also be greatly simplified and informal as they are not traveling great distances to attend your programme. The members will be able to interact amongst themselves periodically as they all live close by. You will be able to visit them frequently and be able to care for them well. It will also be very easy to organize an extra day for study classes, picnics, etcAlso the feeling of neighbourliness may be an impetus for them to attend your programme.

2) Make a flyer inviting the members to attend a programme at your house.

Things to note while making the flyer:

a) Do not mention that you are planning a regular weekly programme. Before knowing what it is all about, nobody likes to commit themselves. So make the invitation only for the first day. In an Indian setting, you could call it a Bhajan Satsang along discussions on the Bhagavad-gita. In cultures unfamiliar to the Vedic culture, you could phrase it differently. If you are going to have a mixed gathering then you can invite the Indians too with the same flyer that you are giving the others.

The following is a flyer that was distributed in the USA in two places and it had a fairly good response among the neighbours.

Youre cordially invited

To a small gathering of our neighborhood for a programme on

Universal culture and brotherhood

Hymns and chants that bring happiness and good fortune to everyone as well as short readings from ancient scriptures.

Time:

Date :

Venue:

It will be most effective if you have two people to go and invite them personally. This has a much better response than just dropping the fliers in their homes.

If even two out of fifteen people that you have invited attend your programme, you should consider it a good response from your neighbourhood.

The programme:

1) Seat them all in a circle facing one another. Introduce yourself first and request them to introduce themselves.

2) Give a short address on how music and religious chants are highly essential in todays competitive world to soothe the peoples minds and to give meaning to their otherwise mechanical lives. Discuss how television as an alternative has destroyed peoples creativity and finer feelings and made them more impersonal.

Mention how all religions advocate the chanting the holy names of the Lord in order to bring peace and happiness to the people. Talk about the Hare Krishna mantra as an ancient Vedic chant which is very soothing and inspiring. Ask them if they would like to try it. If they are not against it, then you can start a soft kirtan and request them to also repeat the mantra after you. Please keep copies of the Mahamantra written and distribute it to all the members during the kirtan.

3) If they request you to include some chant that they are familiar with, include it also for a few minutes.

4) Read out from Bhakti Vriksa module - Week 4, the spiritual edification passage which has the explanation of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra as given by Srila Prabhupada. If you find them receptive, you can conduct a discussion among them by asking the questions at the end of the passage in the modules.

Alternatively, if you find any of the Namamrta passages in the modules to be appropriate for reading, you could do so. If you have the book on Namamrta or the Nectar of chanting the holy names of Krsna which is an ISKCON compilation of the different quotations of Srila Prabhupada, as well as a few quotes from scriptures, you can read appropriate verse/verses from that.

Set aside a few minutes for questions or comments from the participants.

5) Serve prasadam to the guests and make sure that you are engaged with them in an informal talk. The discussion during the program will most likely continue during prasadam time.

6) If they show a lot of interest, you can tell them about Srila Prabhupadas books and show them a few small books.

7) Decide when you want the next programme and ask them if they would like to come for it.

8) For the subsequent six or eight weeks, you can have icebreaker or the sat-sanga session, kirtan and reading and discussion of the spiritual edification/ namamrta from the Bhakti Vriksha modules or any other passages that you find suitable. You can gradually include japa if you find the people showing interest. You can enquire from them if they would like to chant on the beads before actually including it.

9) You can make the transition to conducting a full-fledged Bhakti Vriksha very easily after about six to eight weeks or even earlier if you consider them sufficiently enthusiastic about the programme.

Alternatively, you could start other forms of Outreach Programmes to attract prospective Bhakti Vriksha members. The content of the Outreach can be highly variable according to what or how much you think your guests will accept Krishna Consciousness.

If it is an Indian gathering, you could straight away start with a kirtan, some short lecture/ readings from Krsna book and teaching them Bhagavad-gita slokas and gradually introducing them to chanting etcand prasadam with some video shows of different ISKCON ITV recordings like the Hare Krishna world, the spiritual oasis, and so on.

You can make the programme more interactive as time goes on and slowly introduce the ice breakers. Once they enjoy the interactiveness, you can progress to conducting the Discussion sessions as well as the rest of the modules as well.

For non-Indians, you can have varied Outreach Programmes with vegetarian cookery classes, Bhakti yoga classes, etc. and then gradually get them to the regular Bhakti Vriksha programme in a matter of seven to eight weeks time. When making the transition, do not announce that you are making any changes rather introduce the changes very naturally, so that they accept it as they get to experience it.

Do not worry too much if a few of the members leave your group. This sort of sifting continues till you are left with steady and committed members. For those who fall away, you can still keep their contacts and continue inviting them for big festival programmes, other Outreach programmes, etc. so that they can gradually progress in their Krishna Consciousness. Actually, once the programme is well established there can be regular weekly Outreach programmes catering to people with less commitment. But till such time, you can focus your attention on training people who are most ready to attend the Bhakti Vriksha Group.

Conducting a study class

Time : 90 minutes(minimum)

.

We have mentioned that you start the study class after 6 months or roughly 24 weeks of conducting the program, but in several instances we have found that the members are ready for it much earlier , say around the 3rd or 4th month. So you can gauge the mood of your members and put forward your proposal of keeping aside another day of the week to attend the study classes.

Of course, the entire Bhagavad-gita cannot be covered in the study classes, due to lack of time, but the purpose is to give them sufficient taste and knowledge and encouragement to make a thorough reading of the entire book by themselves.

Sit in a circle and the leader can recite the sloka in Sanskrit with the translation repeated by the memebers. Then request the members to read a paragraph each and mention the main points from the text. The leader can give further insights if any on the text. If there are any doubts, they can also be cleared immediately.

The leader has to give them an overview of what the Bhagavad- gita contains, make them learn the titles of each chapter. Before starting to read a chapter, he has to give an overview of the chapter. If he reads the chapter in advance, then he can be well equipped to do so.

You can have periodic quiz and tests from each chapter from the Bhagavd-gita to see how seriously they are reading it.. A sample of a quiz and a question paper for a written test have also been made available in this book.

Also make them learn by heart some of the important verses (These are listed in this chapter.). This can be made interesting to learn. Go through the word for word meaning for the verses and familiarize them with the meaning of the words. Then go through the translation of the verse. Make them recite each sentence of the verse a few times together as they repeat after you. They can each try to recite the sentence loudly before everyone. You can proceed with the next verse till you have covered the whole verse. Let them write the verse down themselves. They can look at the verse and the translation during the course of the week and try to memorize it.

There are also few important verses that they should learn to refer to to from the Bhagavad gita. They need not memorize them , but they should be able to find them when they need to substantiate the Krishna conscious philosophy to others. A table containing different themes and the verses relevant to them have been given. This has been taken from the Bhakti shastri study material and will be help them to gradually become familiar with the contents of the Bhagavad gita.

You can have periodic sloka reciting competitions to promote their enthusiasm for learning the verses. Ultimately when they are preaching directly to people they will find these verses most valuable.

.

You can set aside half an hour for learning slokas, vaishnava songs, learning other aspects of practical devotional service. The practical etiquette of Vaishnava behavior which are given in the supplementary material can be taught during this time.

It is ideal if the leader conducting the study class(could be the sector leader or the circle leader) can attend a Bhakti shastri course conducted either by the VIHE Vrindavan Institute of higher education) at Vrindavan, or MIHE (Mayapur Institute of Higher education) at Mayapur, or if somebody is conducting it in your own yatra. They also have some postal correspondence courses from the VIHE which can be taken as an alternative, if the leader is not able to personally attend any of the above mentioned courses. Sincce the Bhakti shastri course does a very systematic study of each chapter of the Gita in sections which has a common theme and analyzes the main points of each verse and practical applications and realizations from the verse, this course can help the leader to make the Bhagavad Gita more effective and interesting to the members.

But in the absence of such qualified devotees, you can still conduct the study classes as has been explained, so that they get into the habit of reading Srila Prabhupadas books and get a firm foundation in Krishna conscious philosophy.

They also need to get an idea of how to study and understand the Srimad Bhagavatam, especially the first two cantos. So at least after the 9th month or roughly 36 weeks you can ask them if they are agreeable to sparing another day exclusively for studying Srimad Bhagavatam. If that is not possible, then you can replace Bhagavad gita study with Srimad Bhagavatam after 46 weeks of the BV modules.

Some interesting Krsna conscious games to play during picnics with your Bhakti Vriksha members.

A few games have been suggested here from the bookThe book of Krsna conscious Games, as well as a few from the Book on ice- breakers.Most of them are action oriented group games and a few thinking games (at the end of the list) have also been given.1) Jara Kala kanyaA ball represents Jara kala kanya(Jara, or old age the daughter of time), who is looking for a husband.(an episode from the Srimad Bhagavatam).

The players stand in a circle. They are all the personalities who do not want to marry the inauspicious Jara.

By reciting one Hare Krsna mantra a player is chosen to be Narada muni, whom Jara has asked to marry.Narada muni refuses and throws the ball to a player. Then he turns his back to the circle so he cannot watch the action. The ball is quickly passed from player to player, as noone wants to marry Jara.

At one moment Narada muni shoutsKing of the Yavanas!

Anyone caught holding Jara at the moment becomes king of the yavanas. He must carry Jar and is out of the game. The game goes on until everyone is out except one player, the winner, who becomes the next Narada muni.

2) Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!A player is chosen by reciting one Hare Krsna mantra. He is then blindfolded with a cloth and given a stick. The other players march around him in a circle chanting HareKrsna.As soon as he taps his stick loudly on the floor, everyone stops walking and chanting. The blindfolded player points his stick at someone and says, ShrilaPrabhupada ki ! That persom must answer Jaya!

The blindfolded player tries to guess who it is from the sound of the voice. If he guesses correctly the first time, he trades places with that player, who is then blindfolded and given the stick; but if he guesses wrong, everyone marches around him and he tries again.

2) Shrila Prabhupadas kit-kitShrila Prabhupada describes this game that he played during his childhood. There are two teams of eleven players each.

It is possible to play with more or less than 11 players on each team, but there should be the same number of players in each team.

Each team stands behind its demarcation line. , about 10 yards apart. A person from team A runs to the camp of the other team chanting Hare Krsna. The players from Team 2 must try to stop him from entering their camp by touching him all at once. Then he is out of the game.

But if he manages to enter their camp without being tagged by all of them at once, he then runs amongst them and tags one of them. Whoever is tagged is out of the game.

Then he returns to his camp and another person from his camp does the same.But if the second player fails to enter the enemy camp, he is out of the game, and a player from Team two takes a turn at trying to enter the camp of Team one to tag someone there.

By chanting one Hare Krsna mantra the players choose which team will start the game.

The first team to tag all 11 players from the opposite team, wins.

4) Swans and crowsA leader is chosen by chanting one Hare Krsna mantra.

Then the other players form two teams of equal number.One team is called Swans and the other crows.

The game represents the swan like devotees trying to bring crow like men to Krsna consciousness, while the crow like men try to drag the swan like devotees into material consciousness.

Each team draws a goal line about one hundred feet(30 m)from the other. Both teams line up behind their goal lines.

The leader stands in the middle of the playing area to one side.

When he calls start walking!, both crows and swans walk slowly towards him.

Thw swans chant Hare Krsna loudly while walking, but the crows do not. When they are quite close to him, he calls out, crows! or swans!.,and whichever team he names starts to run for its goal line.

The other team chases them and tries to tag as many players as possible before they are safe behind their own goal lines and the leader calls again. The game is won by the team that tags the most players after a fixed number of calls.

5) Maha Rathas

This game is for two teams with at least six players each. The players hold hands very tightly to form a line , facing the other team, with about 50 feet(15 m ) between them.

The two teams represent the pandava and Kaurava armies on the battlefield of Kurkshetra. The players are Maha- ratha warriors.

One army clls out, Kuru army, let maha- ratha ____________ come over, and they name anyone they wish from the oppsosing army. That warrior runs towards them and tries to break through the clasped hands of the players. If he succeeds, he returns to his own army. But if he fails, he joins hands with one of the players on either end of the opposing army. While their army is trying to break through, the rest of the army chants very loudly and encourages him to fight strongly.

Then the other team calls out, Pandava army, let maha ratha __________________ come over.

Each team takes turns calling out in this way, and the game is won by the army that succeeds in taking the most players from the opposing army.

6) The churning of the ocean of milk

Two teams are formed. One team represents the demigods, the other team represents the demons. A long, strong rope is the serpent Vasuki. A line is drawn at an equal distance between the two teams. Both teams pull on the rope in opposite directions with as much strength as possible. They are churning the ocean of milk. The team that succeeds in dragging the first person of the other team over the line wins. While pulling, both teams chant Hare Krsna very loudly.

7) Hari ball

Material : a volley ball (or similar ball), a body of water(river, lake, sea or swimming pool) and strips of clothes (long enough to be tied around the head)

Form two teams(you can give colourful names to the teams). Have wach team tie a different color around the head(or just one ties the cloth and the other stays without) keeping it visible on the forehead.

The idea is to pass the ball among team members, each time calling a name of Lord, trying to complete the Panca tattva and Hare Krsna maha mantra, while the other team tries to intercept and capture the ball.

When a team captures ball they have to begin the mantras anew. The team that can chant the whole two mantras scores a point. When a group makes a mistake in the sequence of the names of the mantras, the possession of the ball passes to the other team.

8) Assist Lord Chaitanya to Capture them all.!

Materials: nothing.

You can introduce this game with this quotationfrom Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta, Adi lila 7.31-32 . TranslationSeeing that the Mayavadis and others were fleeing, Lord Chaitanya thought:I wanted everyone to be immersed in this inundation of Love of Godhead., but some of them have escaped. Therefore I shall devise a trickto drown them also.

From the purport: Here is an important point.Lord. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to invent a way to capture the Mayavadis and others who did not take interest in the Krsna consciousness movement it is He who proposed to invent a way to capture those who strayed from Krsna consciousness.

One volunteer will represent Lord Chaitanya trying to catch all the conditioned souls who are traying away from Krsna consciousness.When he / she tags someone, (simply touching the person), they lock arms and jointly attempt to tag some one else.Whoever is tagged locks arms with them and they continue to try to catch the remaining players. The game is over when the last person is captured.

In the open you should set boundaries to keep people from going too far.

9) Thinking gamesa)Famous Personalities

By reciting one Hare Krishnamantra a person is chosen to think of a famous personality such as Brahma, Balarama, Yashoda, Kamsa, Putana. The other people sit in a circle, and in turn, ask a question to find out who that personality is.

The person who decided the name must answer only Yes or No. Whoever guesses correctly selects the next personality to be guessed in the next game. Lets say that Mother Yashoda is chosen. The questions ansd answers could be as follows: Is it a woman? Yes. Is she a demon? No. Is she living in Dwaraka? No. Does she have children? Yes- and so on. You can set a limit of upto 20 questions, or to make it more difficult , 10 or even 6.

b)Hare Krsna, Hare Rama

Everyone sits ina circle. Then each count one number out loud: the first child counts one, the next childTwo, and so on. Whoever counts number 5 or any multiples of 5 must say Hare Krsna instead of the number. To make the game harder, players can say Hare Rama every time 7 or any multiple is reached.Any player who says a taboo number instead of Hare Krsna or Hare Rama is out of the game. A player is also out of the game if he says Hare Krsna instead of Hare Rama, or vice versa. Any taboo number can be chosen for the game.

c) Compliments

Material: many small pieces of paper and envelopes(one envelope for each participant.)

The whole group sits in a circle. Give everyone an envelope and various pieces of paper(three, four or more). Tell them to write one compliment on each piece of paper, possibly in readable hand writing. For instance:

You are a good listener.

You are very humble.

I like your sincerity.

The group meeting is more fun when you are here.

I like that you are soft spoken.

You never lose temper. And so on.

After a few minutes tell them to put pieces of paper in the center and mix them. Divide equally all the pieces of paper among the group members.

Then tell them to write their name on the envelope they received at the beginning and put it in the center.

Nopw ask them to put each of the compliments in their hands in the envelope of the person who deserves it. At the end, they will all receive their envelope.Give them a couple of minutes to check what compliments they received.

Bhagvad Gita Quiz

Chapter 1

A. Tick the Personalities who belong to the Parampara that received the Bhagavad Gita and arrange them in chronological order:

1. Madhavacharya

2. Iksavaku

3. Six Gosvamis

4. King Prthu

5. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura

6. Brahma

7. King Janaka

8. Loed Krishna

9. Brihaspathi

10. Ssrila Pprabhupada

11. Viswamitra

12. Vyasa

13. Caitanya Mahaprabhu

B. Tick the correct answer:

1. The word Dharmakshetre Kurukshetre is being used in the 1st verse of bhagavad Gita to indicate:

a) No Particular significance.

b) The war was held to uphold religion

c) The outcome of the war would be favourable to the pious Pandavas..

d) Kurukshetra is a religious place.

2. Duryodhana was confident of victory because:

a) He had Krishnas mercy

b) He was the rightful heir.

c) The Pandavas were weak

d) They were protected by Bhishma

3. Match The Following:

CONCHSHELLSPERSONALITIES

PancajanyaSahadeva

Ananta VjayaNakula

Manipushpaka Krishna

Devadatta Bhima

Paundra Yudhishtra

Sughosha Arjuna

4. When the Pandavas blew the conchshells, the Kauravas became afraid bacause:

5. Arjunas flag had the emblem of ___________________ which signified victory.

6. Krishna is addressed as infallible by Arjuna because

a) He is always victorious

b) He has no faults

c) He attracts everyone

d) He never fails in His affection for His devotees.

7. The word Guda Kesha means:

a) The noble one

b) One who has conquered sleep.

c) One who is spiritually advanced.

8. The self interest of every living entity lies in:

a) Performing austerities

b) Krishna

c) Serving others

9. Arjunas Gandiva bow was slipping from him because:

a) He became very impatient

b) He found a better weapon

c) Krishna ordered him to remove it

10. Mention 2 types of men who enter the sun planet.

11. Why did Arjuna call Krishna Govinda ?

12. Why did Arjuna call Krishna Madhava ?

13. Which are the six types of agressors who can be killed according to the vedas? Fill up the missing ones:

a) _____________________

b) One who sets fire to the house.

c) _______________________

d) One who plunders riches.

e) ______________________

f) One who kidnaps ones wife.

13. Arjuna did not want to attack the Kauravas even though they were aggressors because :

a) He was afraid

b) He could not enjoy the kingdom without them

c) They were his relatives, so he wanted to overlook their mistakes

d) The result of war was unpredictable

15.

Tick the reasons Arjuna gave for not wanting to fight:

a) Whole dynasty will be destroyed

b) The opponents were not so sinful

c) He was too soft hearted

d) Family traditions will be lost

e) The rest of the family will be involved in irreligion

f) So many talented people will be lost

g) Felt great material attachment

h) Women will become degraded

i) They will have illegitimate children

j) Epidemics will be caused due to so much bloodshed

k) We are not sure of victory

l) Family traditions offering Pinda will be stopped

m) The ancestors will suffer in hell

n) We dont want violence

o) Family and community welfare projects will be stopped

p) These fallen people will go to hell

q) We will be cursed by the relatives we kill

16. Was Arjunas excuse to not fight the war based on his own mind or was it based on scriptures? How do you know?

Bhagavad Gita Quiz

2nd chapter

1. Why did Arjuna address Krishna as Madhusudhana when his mind was disturbed?

2. Absolute Truth has 3 phases of understanding which are B_______________ , P_____________ , and B_______________.

3. What are the six opulences of Bhagavan?

a) All riches

b) ________________

c) ________________

d) ________________

e) ________________

f) ________________

4. Krishna called Arjuna Anarya because

a) He belonged to a low class family

b) He was a Dravidian

c) He was not talking from a spiritual platform

d) All of the above

5. Arjuna was qualified for liberation because:

a) He is self controlled

b) He is surrendered to his guru

c)

d)

e)

6. Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you , nor all these kings. This verse can be used to defeat which theory? How?

7. We must tolerate both happiness and distress and continue with our ___________.

8. The symptom of the soul being present in our body, is our _____________.

9. The size of the soul is _________________ the tip of a hair.

10. List 10 qualities of the soul:

a) Eternal

b) Unborn

c) Immutable

d)

e)

f)

g)

h) Cannot be cut by weapons

i)

j)

11. The soul and the super soul are compared to two ___________ sitting on a ______________. This is mentioned in the ________________ and ___________________ Upanishads.

12. What are the soul and Super Soul doing inside the heart?

13. Even an atheist should not lament for the loss of life because :

Matter is ______________ at the beginning, ________________ at the middle and _______________ again at the end

14. Some people even after listening to lectures about the existence of the soul cannot understand its presence at all because

15. Can Ksatriyas take Sannyasa? Why?

16. A Ksatriya who dies fighting goes to the ___________________.

17. Why is there no loss or diminution in Krishna Conscious activities?

18. We should rise above the Vedas because they only deal with _____________.

19. All Purposes served by a small well can at once be served by a great reservoir of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them. B.G Chp 2 Text 46

The purpose of the Vedas is to _______________________ .

20. we should not desire the fruits of our action because it will cause ______________________ ________________________ .

21.Madhavendra Puri became indifferent to Vedic rituals because he was absorbed in ___________________________.

22. The highest perfection of self realization is to understand that___________________________________________ and to discharge ones duties in _________________________.

23. the self realized man is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects like the _________________ which draws its limbs into its ________________.

24. The secret of a devotee losing taste for dead material things or for sense enjoyment is that he _____________________________________________________________________________________0

25. !n order to gain steady intelligence, one has to restrain ones ____________ and fix our __________________ upon _________________.

26. Mention the engagement of each of the senses of King Ambarisha:

a) His mind:

b) His words:

c) His hands:

d) His ears:

e) His eyes:

f) His body

g) His nostrils

h) His tongue

i) His legs

j) His head

k) His desires

27.A person develops attachment to an object by _________________ about it.

28. From attachment ____________ develops, then ______________ develops, then ______________ develops, then _________________ develops, then ________________ is lost, then one falls again into Maya.

29. What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.

Give an example of the night of materialistic men being the day for the devotee.

30. How can a devotee not be disturbed by the flow of desires which come to is mind?

Some problems you may face

1. What do you do when you are sick, too busy or unavailable to lead your group on a particular week/s?

A vrinda, once started, should never cease functioning even temporarily. This is because meeting once a week is the minimum requirement for the members to progress steadily in Krishna consciousness.

The Bhakti Vriksha is a well-integrated program with senior leaders available for consultation and help. And as they are responsible for those under their care, it is possible to maintain a vrinda at least once a week on a continuous basis.

Whenever it is genuinely not possible for you to conduct the program, you can consult your sector leader well in advance so that he can suggest the necessary steps to fill in the gap. He may either, himself, volunteer to conduct the program, or suggest other leaders and locations where the group members could meet in your absence.

In case your program is not big enough to have sector leaders or that there is nobody available to fill in the gap, then you can find out some persons from within the members of your group who may be willing to hold meetings in their homes. In case more than one volunteers, the members could take turns in meeting in the different homes.

They could have kirtan, japa, and watch a Krishna conscious video together. If they have sufficiently progressed in their Krishna consciousness, they could read a passage from Bhagavad-Gita together.

In this way you can ensure that their weekly association is not disturbed.

2) How does one monitor the progress of members when they take a break (like students during examination time), or when they take a break for a vacation?

You can discuss with the member who is taking the break as to what minimum program of sadhana he can maintain on his own during this time-span. Alternatively, if it is feasible, you can periodically telephone him and keep in touch with him so that his fragile creeper of devotional service is not harmed in any way. You can even request a senior member of your vrinda to keep in touch with him and give him association from time to time.

The spiritual edification passage and questions that were discussed during the week could be sent his way either by electronic or ordinary mail so that the member is kept enlivened by the philosophy. In this way, by caring for the member during his temporary break from the weekly program, you can ensure that the member does not lose his Krishna consciousness and that he rejoins the group.

3) Empowerment of women:

Women are excellent Bhakti Vriksha leaders for they naturally possess and exercise many of the characteristics expected of a Bhakti Vriksha leader. They are good in taking care of people, in nurturing them and making them grow in Krishna consciousness; in other words, all these are extensions of the qualities of motherhood. Therefore, women also make good teachers for children and can conduct weekly programs for them.

At first women can conduct vrindas for other women and children, but as they gain maturity in Krishna consciousness, the grihasta women can also conduct a vrinda for grihasta couples. For giving close association to the husbands, either her husband or some other devotee could help out.

Women also make excellent assistants to their husbands who may be holding different responsibilities in the Bhakti Vriksha program. So, women members find it very easy to advance as they get close devotee association from the wives.

As their services and responsibilities expand, women can also become sector leaders, supervising and coordinating 03 or more vrindas, collect reports from the leaders and be a responsible and valuable link in the Bhakti Vriksha hierarchy.

They can also conduct study classes, Bhakti shastri courses, help in organizing festivals as well as in the creative services like art, music, writing, etc to sustain the program. The service opportunity for women devotees is unlimited in the Bhakti Vriksha program.

Women constitute half the population. So inclusion of women in various aspects of the Bhakti Vriksha program ensures its success. The women will be well represented and can contribute greatly to the expansion of preaching.

4) Members shifted to a place where there are no ISKCON centers.

Due to various reasons, devotees maybe relocated to different cities or countries. Sometimes there may not be any devotional association available in these places. It is always good to maintain records of all the members of the program including their contact numbers, e-mail addresses etc., so that there is an ongoing relationship with them to give association and to help them in their spiritual advancement and progress in preaching.

There are 2 categories of Database in this regard-

First, the Vrinda leader notes down the details and progress of his members regularly in the forms given at the end of every week in the modules. This can be entered into a common Database of the yatra.

Second, there is also a need to also maintain records of confirmed devotees (those who are on the level of Srila Prabhupada Ashraya and above) with their photographs, personal information regarding their addresses, occupation, family members, services rendered and spiritual status.

More details can be taken from these senior devotees including their photographs for maintaining permanent records.

5) Regulative principles, the vrinda leaders approach

Material attachments are very hard to give up, but powerful Krishna consciousness can loosen those attachments because of the higher taste that it provides to people. The leaders can promote this higher taste by their loving encouragement and patience knowing well that it is the powerful force of Krishnas and His devotees love that can melt the hearts of everyone and give them the higher taste.

In spite of the best care, there may be a few who take longer to give up their bad habits.

Leaders can avoid the tendency to force people or reject people or show non- acceptance of people if they maintain certain weaknesses. (Of course offenses to vaishnavas and deviation from parampara can never be tolerated). As long as they do not justify their weaknesses and deviate the philosophy, and are sincerely trying to advance in Krishna consciousness, they cannot be a source of disturbance to other members, and sufficient time should be given to them for them to come up to the proper platform of devotional service. Though the leaders should promote the highest spiritual standards, if they force or reject people because of their slow progress, we risk losing them altogether in Krishna consciousness.

6) Initiation- GBC authorized Guru

It is natural for the vrinda members to gravitate towards their leaders guru for initiation but this need not be the rule. Spiritual life is totally free, voluntary and personal. Disciples of a number of Gurus can work in co-operation if they understand the fact that helping a soul advance in their Krishna consciousness is service to their Guru and that they should continue to facilitate a persons progress even if the person being helped decides to accept a Guru different from their own. Helping them in their spiritual life continues to be a service to their Guru, other Gurus and Srila Prabhupada.

As ISKCON is a vast, rapidly expanding extended family of multiple Gurus, all under the shelter of Srila Prabhupada, this understanding of ecstatic, selfless service mood is very essential if we want the Bhakti Vriksha program to expand and flourish. Such co-operation exists in Bhakti Vrikshas in certain yatras.

The 63rd week has a seminar on Guru Ashraya. After the seminar, the devotees will have to be asked from which ISKCON authorized Guru they would like to take initiation from and their choice should be respected.

7) Protecting members from deviant philosophies.

As vrinda members will tend to be quite indiscriminating in their early days of spiritual life about whom to hear from and whom not hear, they are prone to getting confused in their proper understanding of Krishna consciousness. Added to that are lingering attachments and influences of old philosophies that they were following earlier.

So Mayavadis, rthviks, offenders and apa sampradayas are dangerous threats towards cultivating the garden of Bhakti.

The vrinda leader has to walk on a tight rope of protecting them from these deviant philosophies and at the same time not to be found too critical as they may be misunderstood as being too dogmatic or fanatical.

Fortunately, the spiritual edification sessions are bound to bring out any deviations in understanding and the vrinda leader must take every opportunity to gently correct these during discussion time, advising them to first understand Krishna consciousness from Srila Prabhupadas books so that they will not be confused listening to conflicting theories. It takes a little time for the members to settle their speculative and restless minds. But by softening their hearts through the process of Krishna consciousness and by winning their hearts with our friendship, it becomes easier for them to perceive the truth.

8) Confidential friend - the vrinda leader

The vrinda leader must protect the confidentiality of the members when they seek counsel from him regarding various personal matters and must not reveal it to others.

He should be equal to all the members and be their well-wisher and friend.

9) Seeking donations from members

When someone is sufficiently motivated in Krishna consciousness, donating for the service of Krishna becomes natural, voluntary and a joy. But before they get the taste or conviction in Krishna consciousness, if they are pushed to donate, they may suspect our motivations in conducting the programs.

Hence in the initial months it is prudent to abstain from seeking any donations from them. When their commitment, enthusiasm and faith have developed and a relationship of trust and love has been built up, that they can be approached.

Also charity done in proper knowledge gives them greater spiritual credit than without spiritual understanding.

Devotees, according to their capacities, can then commit themselves to regular monthly donations for the yatra. Initiated devotees in particular can commit a fixed percentage of their income every month for Krishna consciousness.

When the primary concern of the leaders is the devotees spiritual welfare, this creates a wonderful reciprocation from them. On the other hand, insensitive handling of them could result in strained relationships and bad feelings.

When they are confirmed devotees (Srila Prabhupada Ashraya and above) and if need arises, then they can even be requested to raise funds from their contacts. But fund raising should never be the goal in the relationship.

10) Finding a place

Your own home could be the ideal place to start a vrinda because this would enable you to play the perfect host. However if this is not possible, another devotees home may be selected provided he is willing.

If this is unavailable, then a public location like a temple, or even a park can be considered till such time that you find a willing person to host the program.

If the vrinda is for students in a school or college hostel, or workers of a factory, then finding a place within their own premises would be ideal and easy to conduct the program.

11) Bhakti Vriksha leaders working together as one unit.

Vrinda leaders generally look for serious and permanent vrinda members. Sometimes two different vrinda leaders may approach the same prospective member and they may have friction about whose vrinda they should attend. The sector leader should then be approached to settle such issues. He can, in consultation with his seniors, be able to solve such problems.

Sadhana Bhakti

Devotees who have reached Srila Prabhupada Asraya level can be considered serious devotees as they have committed themselves to all the angas of Sadhana Bhakti, namely, chanting 16 (sixteen) rounds of japa, performing Mangala arati and other aratis, offering food to the Lord, reading Srimad Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, rendering devotional services including preaching and being committed to Srila Prabhupada and the parampara.

But they need to develop the habit of performing them regularly and this needs some supervision and motivation from the seniors in the beginning. With this end in view, we have developed the following procedure to keep track of their progress and to guide them to understand the importance of sadhana bhakti and to help them to be motivated and committed to perform their sadhana sincerely and regularly. They may be facing some obstacles, which needs to be discussed and helped to be removed. For example, they may be working late hours at work, or they may have programs in the late evenings, which may make early retiring to bed impossible. But somehow, they should ensure maximum priority to doing their sadhana as well as possible.

There could be wake up calls for those who find it difficult to get up on their own. There could be chain calls among the different devotees. One devotee is fixed to call another and he calls another until the chain finally reaches the leader. Then he knows that everyone has woken up!

As they are all being trained to be leaders, good standards of sadhana maintained by them will ensure the same thing to be passed on to generations of devotees to come.

A bhakti vrksha leader can keep track of the members of his group; an upa cakrapati can look after of all the bhakti vriksha leaders under his charge. Similarly the cakrapatis can look after all the upa cakrapatis. The maha cakrapatis can supervise the chakrapatis. The Mahacakrapatis can give their records to the program director and so on. The idea is to ensure that this process of maintaining records is never lost so that there is never any slackening in sadhana, which may occur due to complacency or oversight over a period of time. Moreover, when you know that others are doing it, you get doubly inspired to perform your sadhana perfectly and not be left behind.

To introduce them to the concept of maintaining a record of their daily sadhana, the bhakti vrksha leaders must convene a meeting of all the devotees who are at Prabhupada Asraya and above. Any devotee who they feel is serious but not on the level of Prabhupada Asraya may be included in this, provided the candidate is also willing.

Similarly, the upacakrapatis, cakrapatis, mahacakrapatis, etc. may convene meetings for their respective groups they supervise.

After the initial introductory meeting there has to be regular monthly meetings to submit these records and to discuss how they could improve their sadhana from whatever standard they are following.

Read out first this passage from the Nectar of Devotion, Ch.2, pg.20, on sadhana bhakti and its importance:

Here is a general description of devotional service given by Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Bhakti-rasmrta-sindhu. Previously, it has been stated that devotional service can be divided into three categoriesnamely devotional service in practice, devotional service in ecstasy and devotional service in pure love of God. Now Srila Rupa Gosvami proposes to describe devotional service in practice.

Practice means employing our senses in some particular type of work. Therefore devotional service in practice means utilizing our different sensory organs in service to Krishna. Some of the senses are meant for acquiring knowledge and some are meant for executing the conclusions of our thinking, feeling and willing. So, practice means employing both the mind and the senses in practical devotional service. This practice is not for developing something artificial. For example, a child learns or practices to walk. This walking is not unnatural. The walking capacity is there originally in the child and simply by a little practice he walks very nicely. Similarly, devotional service to the Supreme Lord is the natural instinct of every living entity. Even uncivilized men like the aborigines offer their respectful obeisances to something wonderful exhibited by natures law and they appreciate that behind some wonderful exhibition or action there is something supreme. So this consciousness, though lying dormant in those who are materially contaminated, is found in every living entity. And, when purified, this is called Krishna consciousness.

There are certain prescribed methods for employing our senses and mind in such a way that our dormant consciousness for loving Krsna will be invoked, as much as the child, with a little practice, can begin to walk. One who has no basic walking capacity cannot walk by practice. Similarly, Krsna consciousness cannot be aroused simply by practice. Actually there is no such practice. When we wish to develop our innate capacity for devotional service, there are certain processes, which, by our accepting and executing them, will cause that dormant capacity to be invoked. Such practice is called sdhana-bhakti.Every living entity under the spell of material energy is held to be in an abnormal condition of madness. In Srimad Bhagavatam it is said, Generally, the conditioned soul is mad because he is always engaged in activities which are the causes of bondage and suffering. The spirit soul in his original condition is joyful, blissful, eternal and full of knowledge. Only by his implication in material activities has he become miserable, temporary and full of ignorance. This is due to vikarma. Vikarma means actions which should not be done. Therefore, we must practice sdhana-bhaktiwhich means to offer mangala-arati (Deity Worship) in the morning, to refrain from certain material activities, to offer obeisances to the spiritual master and to follow many other rules and regulations which will be discussed here one after another. These practices will help one become cured of madness. As a mans mental disease is cured by the directions of a psychiatrist, so this sadhana-bhakti cures the conditioned soul of his madness under the spell of mya, material illusion.

Nrada Muni mentions this sdhana-bhakti in Srimad-Bhgavatam, Seventh Canto, and first Chapter, verse 32. He says these to King Yudhistira, My dear King, one has to fix his mind on Krsna by any means. That is called Krishna consciousness. It is the duty of the acharya, the spiritual master, to find the ways and means for his disciple to fix his mind on Krishna. That is the beginning of sadhana-bhakti.

Sri Chaitanya Mahprabhu has given us an authorized program for this purpose, one that is centered around the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. This chanting has so much power that it immediately attaches one to Krishna. That is the beginning of sadhana-bhakti. Somehow or other, one has to fix his mind on Krishna. The great saint Ambarisha maharaja, although a responsible king, fixed his mind on Krishna and similarly anyone who tries to fix his mind in this way will very rapidly make progress in successfully reviving his original Krishna consciousness.

Now this sadhana-bhakti, or practice of devotional service, may also be divided into two parts. The first part is called service. According to regulative principles one has to follow these different regulative principles by the order of the spiritual master or on the strength of authoritative scriptures, and there can be no question of refusal. That is called vaidhi, or regulated. One has to do it without argument.

Another part of sadhana-bhakti is called raganuga. Raganuga refers to the point at which, by following the regulative principles, one becomes a little more attached to Krsna and executes devotional service out of natural love. For example, a person engaged in devotional service may be ordered to rise early in the morning and offer arati, which is a form of Deity worship. In the beginning, by the order of his spiritual master, one rises early in the morning and offers arati, but then he develops real attachment. When he gets this attachment he automatically tries to decorate the Deity and prepare different kinds of dresses and thinks of different plans to execute his devotional service nicely. Although it is within the category of practice, this offering of loving service is spontaneous. So the practice of devotional service, sadhana-bhakti, can be divided into two partsnamely, regulative and spontaneous.

Rupa Gosvami defines the first part of devotional practice or vaidhi-bhakti as follows: When there is no attachment or no