ISKCON

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ISKCON

• Membership and Social Development

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• Member A person who belongs to a group of
  people.

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• Q Why do people want to belong to a group?
• A To get their needs met.
• Q What are their needs?
• A Physical, Mental, Social, Spiritual.

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• If they get their needs met by being a member of
  the group, they remain a member.
• If they dont get their needs met, or if their
  needs are threatened, they will leave the group.

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• Q What makes people decide to join a particular
  group in the first place?
• In a survey, 85 of people who had recently
  joined a religious group said they had joined
  because A friend was already a member.

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• Two reasons people will join ISKCON and stay
• 1. They feel they are getting their needs met.
• 2. Friends are already involved, or they make new
  friends quite soon

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The Membership Pyramid
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• Q Who is in our ISKCON Membership Pyramid?
• A As many members as we desire and as many as we
  can accommodate
• Q Who are they?

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Who are members of ISKCON?

• People who like us (lots of people at the base of
  the pyramid)
• People who sympathise with our beliefs and aims
• People who make a contribution
• People who practise our sadhana
• People who practise and preach
• People who have taken up full-time responsibility
  for leadership and management

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• Fact Initiated members of ISKCON are in the
  minority
• Fact Many initiated members do not live in
  temples and are independent in finances and
  accommodation.
• Question What percentage of initiated members of
  international ISKCON do not live in temple
  communities?

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• In a recent survey of 23 ISKCON gurus, the total
  percentage of disciples not living in temples was
• 96

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• Fact Yet we still continue to present ISKCON as
  A confederation of temples..
• This was true perhaps in 1987 but not now.
• Our true size is bigger than we may think

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• Members of any organisation need to know where
  they fit into the structure
• How they can make a contribution and accept
  responsibility

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• Consider the humble cucumber
• 96 water
• 4 organisation
• Can we learn anything?

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• ISKCON does not need to have a huge
  organisation to care for all of its members.
• 4 will do
• But it must be good, intelligent, organisation
• With adequate systems as well as a structure

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• STRUCTURE The way in which a thing is organised
• SYSTEM A set of connected things, or parts, that
  form a whole, or work together
• ORGANISATION The sum total of the system and
  structures

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• The structure of an organism may be simple
• But the systems - the exchanges between its
  constituent parts - may be relatively complex

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• ISKCON requires a system and structure wherein
  our members are
• 1. Connected by firm friendship
• 2. Provided opportunities for increasing
  involvement
• 3. Given empowerment (guidance, education,
  coaching, responsibility)

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• FACT Many large organisations, especially those
  in which personal and spiritual growth are
  essential, are comprised of a large number of
  small groups.
• These groups are small enough, and friendly
  enough, that members will want to remain members
  of the group.

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• Question What size should a group be in order to
  optimize the feelings of friendship, to enhance
  productivity, and to maintain good communication?
• Not too small and not too big
• Some examples from history

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Army organised in groups of 8 or 9
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Moses divided his followers into groups of 10
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Jesus and his disciples made a group of 13
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• In the Vaishnava tradition there have always been
  small groups.
• Often a small group would look after a group
  each.
• Each member of this sub-group would care for yet
  another group.
• In this way thousands were cared for in a group
  system.

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Ramanuja created 74 groups
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Each of the Six Goswamis cared for several groups
of followers
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Let 5 or 10 of you sit down by your houses and
chant the Holy Names
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• Bhaktivinoda Thakura worked hard to create
  defined groups in each place where he preached
• Many group members were given specific
  responsibilities

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• Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati created five
  layers of administration to care for thousands of
  disciples
• Disciples cared for by Upadeshaka
  Maha-upadeshaka Sanyasi Acarya

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• When Srila Prabhupada was asked How many
  families in a Vedic village? he replied 15
• He created 108 centres, average number of
  devotees 15.

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What happens if you dont create groups for
friendship and support?

• Spiritual life of members is hard to sustain
• Members feel not part of the movement
• Communication is ineffective
• Organisation is chaotic
• Members susceptible to drifting away to other
  groups
• Entire movement becomes weak
• Growth is slowed down

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• Two examples from English history
• One, a preacher who created a network of small
  groups in addition to centres
• One who simply gave great classes

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• John Wesley (1703-1791) preached throughout
  England for 60 years, creating congregations
  which were then divided into smaller groups

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Hundreds of preachers and 80,000 members at his
passing
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• George Whitefield (1714-1770) was the better
  preacher but did not form groups.
• He said Because I did not fashion my followers
  into groups, as did Wesley, when I called upon
  them to act, it was like pulling on a rope made
  of sand.

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• Srila Prabhupada to Tribhuvanatha Dasa
• Do not make me another Alexander the Great
  (Preaching everywhere and conquering but with
  the people remaining unchanged)

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One preacher can create 12 groups by training 12
group leaders (Mother-daughter)
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Who can then create the next generation of groups
(grand-daughters)
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Questions for ISKCON leaders

• How many members in your region have received
  initiation in the last ten years?
• How many are still practising?
• How many are still contributing their time, words
  and wealth to the mission?

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• A movement that knows how many books it has
  sold how much money it has but does not know
  how many members it has what they are doing or
  whether they are happy is a movement that may
  not actually want more members.
• And if a movement does not want more members it
  places a limit on what it can achieve.

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Big Movements come from Small Groups
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