In His Own Words

Dear Prabhus, Please accept
Submitted by Harivilas das on 22 April, 2010 - 04:54. (this was submitted to www.iskcon.com - by HG Harivilas Pr.)

Dear Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
The following is an article I wrote documenting quotes from Srila Prabhupada about the difference between a cultural and religious approach to presenting Krishna Consciousness.
Religion and Culture are different
There are different approaches to presenting the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness to the public. I have come to understand from reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and from direct experience over 38 years that there are two main approaches for the presentation of Krishna Consciousness. One is religious and the other cultural. I will discuss these too methods by first presenting quotes from Srila Prabhupada and then elaborating from my own experiences and realizations.
Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter (July 9th, 1970 – 70/7/15) in which he explained the difference between culture and religion, “Culture is never religion. Religion is a faith, and culture is educational or advancement of knowledge.”
“Religion is faith,” echoes the dictionary meaning of religion; system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith. One accepts on faith certain things to be true. Faith can be the basis for believing anything to be true. It is often not possible to discuss questions of faith. Most of the time one either believes or doesn’t believe something to be true. There may not be any rational basis for one to believe something is true.
An example that may shed further light on this question of religion as faith is that of an interfaith conference. Usually the procedure in an interfaith conference is that each participant is given an allotted time to explain his religion or faith. I attended one such meeting and the following transpired. A lady representing the Wiccan religion came to the podium.
“Hi, I’m Jennifer Jones and I am a Wiccan. Wiccans believe that you can have any conception of God you want or not want and still be a Wiccan.” She spoke for ten minutes and said over and over again I believe or the Wiccans believe. After she concluded her address everyone politely clapped and she sat down. The next person to the podium was a Muslim. He proceeded in the same way to explain what he believed to be religious truth according to the Muslim faith. In fact, each speaker presented his or her beliefs in the same way. When I was asked to speak, I said, “Today, I am not going to tell you what I believe as a Hare Krishna devotee. I am only going to tell you about verifiable facts that all of us have experience of by virtue of the human existence. Such facts are the basis of verifiable spirituality.” What followed was an educative talk that did not submit the listeners to politely listening to what I believe. Rather, they heard irrefutable facts about the commonality of human experience and a method of logical thought by which any person can understand the existence of God. It was educational as opposed to religious. (I will develop this method of preaching in a separate paper.)
Now I want to explore the statement “Culture is never religion….Culture is educational or advancement of knowledge.” When a Krishna Conscious devoteeattempts to explain what is the Bhagavad gita, he becomes a teacher. The process of teaching is not only to explain the truth. As Srila Prabhupada has repeatedly said one must give a practical example of what he is teaching. He often quotes the proverb, “Example is better than precept; or, apani acari bhakti sikaimu sabare, one must first become perfect and then preach.” Preaching is much more than explaining the truth. It also requires a practical example which Srila Prabhupada demonstrated by his sterling example.
Previously, I have developed the thought that when a new person comes into the association of devotees, the first things that they notice apart from the philosophy is organization, behavior and degree of cooperation. The authenticity of the philosophy is demonstrated by these three things that any person regardless of their background can see and gauge. In general, most people are not convinced by philosophy. However, they are convinced by the behavior of people. The expression of love and affection through the sharing of prasadam, gifts and endearing thoughts about Krishna are defining moments for people whether materialists or devotees. How to share such moments on a sustained basis is the art of Krishna Consciousness.
Further, most people that approach the temple have families and children. Their primary concern is the welfare of the children, both spiritual and material. If their children are reluctant to attend the temple, they will most probably not be eager to come. Children like adults need to make friends with other children and also have a fun, educational experience every time they come to the temple. In other words, to imbibe the Vedic spiritual culture, children need to experience it in a entertaining and educational way so that their attention does not wane. This is a challenge. However, when the parents see their children becoming enthused and enlivened by the association and cultural, educational experience in the temple, they also become enthusiastic to attend regularly the temple programs.
Therefore, the cultural, educational approach to presenting Krishna Consciousness can be most rewarding for building up a strong congregation of families who regularly attend the temple programs. Culture is expressed through art, drama, song, dance, music and all forms of communication arts. The advantage of the Vedic culture is that the spirituality is infused throughout it in an integral way. The dance styles, such as Bharat Natyam, the traditional folk songs (Bhajans), the art (temple art), the epic literature (Ramayan, etc) are all integrated with the daily culture of the Vedic lifestyle.
As devotees, we can incorporate all these cultural presentations to enhance the attention and interest of the families attending the temple. This is an educational experience that advances the understanding of Vedic knowledge in an artistic and non-confrontational manner.
One can be convinced by the Vedic culture which is gentle, full of love, transcendental knowledge, good behavior (sadacara), and myriad acts of transcendental goodness shared for the benefit of all.
One example of this non-confrontational cultural presentation was the Kumbhamela festival recently organized in Seattle. We decided to present our own displays of Vedic culture in the form of the Vrindaban Village. We made displays such as Mother Yasoda churning butter and Krishna stealing the butter. When the people attending the festival looked at the displays, they were charmed by the natural beauty and rustic setting. Mother Yasoda was very beautifully attired in a golden sari and she was toiling with the churning of the butter in a large clay pot. The whole scene was one of innocence, beauty, simplicity and happiness. Many people asked our devotee guides, “What is this all about.” The answer given was the following. “This is Mother Yasoda, Lord Krishna mother. She is churning butter. Nanda Maharaja, Krishna’s father, is a cow herder. He has wonderful surabhi cows that give unlimitedly abundant milk with rich cream. The cows are treated with respect and never in any way harmed. Therefore, they give abundant rich milk which is a miracle food necessary for the churning into butter and ghee. Ghee is used for the performance of all Vedic rituals which confers all desirable things. Naughty Krishna loves butter so much that he sometimes steals it from the storage plots and distributes it to his friends and monkeys. The Vedic economy is based on cow protection and land stewardship. The people lived simple and happy lives based on love and gentle companionship. They had a God-centered life living in harmony with nature.” Everyone who heard this explanation said, “That sounds very nice. I would like to know more about such a peaceful and happy culture.”
The difference between a cultural presentation such as the one explained above and a religious presentation follows. In a religious presentation one presents his belief system. “We believe that in Kali yuga, the age of hypocrisy and quarrel, the only way to reach God consciousness is by chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Lord Caitanya, the incarnation of God in Kali yuga, established the yuga dharma of chanting Hare Krishna. There is no other way, no other way, no other way.” A new person hearing this for the first time will have a challenge immediately to his belief system if he has one. He can very easily just say, “Well, I’m happy you believe that. But I have my own beliefs. But I respect your beliefs and I hope you will respect mine.” The discussion will either continue on the basis of challenging his belief system and he challenging our belief system, or he will politely just leave having made a determination that Krishna Consciousness is another religion with a different belief system than his own.
The cultural presentation opens the door to presenting the philosophy of Krishna consciousness without undue confrontation at the beginning. As the relationship continues if the cultural presentation also continues, a person is convinced not so much by our arguments but by the overwhelming cultural environment of good behavior, cooperation, organization and enlivening educational experience that is based more on verifiable facts rather than beliefs that predicate faith. All the facts of Krishna Conscious philosophy are verifiable when a person begins to purify their senses and mind through following the regulative principle and chanting Hare Krishna. The challenge for the Krishna Conscious preacher is how to convince a person to accept this educational process of self purification for attaining knowledge. It can be done more effectively by the cultural process in a wider group of people than just the devotee community. In other words, to enlarge the scope and breathe of the Krishna Conscious community, it is necessary to implement the cultural presentation of Krishna Consciousness.
Srila Prabhupada has written the following things in a letter dates July 16th, 1970 (70-7-31):
“The Society is registered in each and every country as a religious and cultural institution under specific statutes.”…….The India Government has a department for Cultural Affairs; if they would have taken this cultural movement as the background of Vedic civilization, then the whole world would be happy, and India’s glories would have been magnified many thousands of times than by simply imitating the Western technology which is on the verge of failure.”……(The Americans) understand that Krishna Consciousness Movement is neither Indian nor Hindu, but it is a cultural movement for the whole human society….”
I hope this line of thinking and preaching can be discussed and understood in the context of how to spread Krishna Consciousness to a wider audience. Please feel free to discuss and question these points with me. I will be happy to dialogue on this subject.
Your servant,
Harivilas Das