20130330 A Talk at the International Bhakti-vṛkṣa Convention.

Following is a talk given by H H Jayapataka Swami Maharaj on the 30th March 2013 in Sri Dham Mayapur India on the day 2 of the International Bhakti Vriksha Convention.

That was a nice show from Damodar Desh. We know that where there are youths engaged in Krishna Consciousness it is very enlivening. In the northern Malaysia, the youths around the BCC they have organized themselves nicely. In England they have the Pandava Sena ,who marched on the parliament a few years ago, that was the biggest manifestation ever in the history of the UK. To ensure that, the temple Bhaktivedanta, Manor was kept open. Now the Pandava Sena has different college and university preaching programs. What we want to see is that, Bhakti Vriksha can also be useful for the youths.  There is a letter from Srila Prabhupada to a youth, Durgesh written on 16th December 1974,” By all means you should continue practicing Krishna Consciousness everyday but that does not necessarily mean that you have to move into the temple immediately. Thank you very much for your sentiments. It appears that you have understood our philosophy very nicely and that is a very great boon for someone who is as young as yourself. The perfection of human existence is to somehow or other to develop Krishna Consciousness and the sooner that one can develop Krishna Consciousness the better. Now that I will wait until I become old man, then I will become spiritually advanced. No, it is better if it one starts immediately. So there is no question of your discontinuing your efforts in Krishna Consciousness. By all means you should continue practicing Krishna Consciousness everyday, but that does not necessarily mean that you have to move into the temple immediately. It is also important to get some education, so for some years you should remain studying in school. But on weekends with your parent’s permission you can go to the temple and stay there but do not fall behind in your school work. “So here Srila Prabhupada was encouraging a youth on how he or she can develop his or her Krishna Consciousness. Someone was reading to me quotes, and then I said mark it and then I can never find them anymore. In one place Srila Prabhupada told that the youth should preach to the hostels. So when he or she stays in a hostel, he or she can preach to the hostels mates. He gave the example of Prahlad Maharaj. How Prahaad, his  teachers were against and children were also demons or sons of demons. But he preached to them anyway. And he got all of them chant and dance. If the youths are engaged in preaching, then they automatically will get a taste. Otherwise they like dramas, they like music and they have lot of energy. And we need to utilize that energy in Krishna’s service. There is another quote from Srila Prabhupada on changing the world.  So this is a letter to Krishnadevi dated 21st August 1968,” Regarding the child problem. I may inform you that all our children born out of Krishna Consciousness parents they are welcome. And I want hundreds of children like that. Because in future, we expect to change the face of the whole world. Because, child is the father of man. “ So here Srila Prabhupada reveals his actual purpose, In 1968, at that time there were only three temples. I know I saw all of them. After I joined. In San Francisco, New York and Montreal. Soon after that there was Los Angeles, Vancouver. So Srila Prabhupada said that our purpose is to change the face of the world. He had a very big vision. And the youths should be inspired that they are a very important part of that vision. One Bhakti Vriksha member in Chennai, he told me that he did not want his children to accuse him that, “father we were children , we were youth and we did not know what to do and what not to do. So naturally we did the wrong and you let us to go to hell, it is all your fault. I want to teach my children the best I know. And when they grow up, they are free to go anyway they want. But at least I gave them what I believe is the best. So within all these things we see that our youth need some Krishna Conscious engagement. Radhe Shyam Prabhu in Pune, he found that for the university students Bhakti Vriksha was more useful. Although they practice a lot the councillor program it was not so interesting for the youth. It was more applicable to the initiated devotees. So he has Bhakti Vriksha groups for youths. So in this line other organizers in different temples should also see that the youth may be more inclined to the Bhakti Vriksha system. It is highly interactive. Lot of discussions. Organized group outings and programs. So if they get taste for preaching  then that will stay with them. To actually help other youths. So otherwise ,our youth may think that only way is whatever that everybody else is doing. And they may think that the purpose of life is just to enjoy the senses. And real purpose of life is to develop  our Krishna Consciousness, to solve the problems of birth, death, old age and disease. I also saw when I was giving a seminar on Bhakti Vriksha, that we have a children group just to keep them busy, but the adult I was with ,he was saying  that the young children had many ideas and questions can be very active in a Bhakti Vriksha group. So this is one of the programs to keep youths engaged in Krishna Consciousness. It will be nice to devote some time at every convention on how we engage the youth.  I am sanyasi, what do I know. I know theory but you know practical. I see how much time, how much energy, how much love and how much care parents give to the children and in the time that you have with them with you ,you give them maximum interest and maximum experience in Krishna Consciousness. Because it is understood that the association of non-devotees and goals of challenges would be very negative. Unless they also use the opportunity to engage all their colleagues. I saw in Chennai how the ladies organized a fashion show ,amongst the youth and it attracted thousands of youth girls. And there are programs in different colleges around India, also I saw in Russia they have some thing called Friendship University which has international students from Malaysia, India and various parts. So they are also happy to engage in some kind of Krishna Consciousness programs. Like that we see that in South America, the youths put up dramas and they like to engage in different activities together. In some places the Sunday program is a project that the youth take up. They distribute prasadam, they do everything but the cooking.  They help plus if they can do little things together that itself is an enjoyment for them. Even though some are menial tasks but these are for Krishna ,all the youths were engaged together, they are somehow happy to do that. So this aspect of our convention is kind of put together at the last minute. Although, I am sure that in many cities of the world there are different programs for the youth. And it would be nice to show you some and to give you all ideas how to engage  your youths and how to engage them in Bhakti Vriksha and into awakening other youths. 

Thank you very much. 

Hari Bol!!