BASIC MANAGEMENT BOOK FOR ISKCON TEMPLES

Presented for the GBC by Srila Harikesa Swami Visnupada

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. What is a Temple?

1.1 The Temple

1.2 A Preaching Center

1.3 A Nama-hatta Center

1.4 An ISKCON Center

2. Basic ISKCON Management Structure

2.1 The Temple President

2.2 The Department Heads

3. General Guidelines for a Good Manager

3.1 Srila Prabhupada's Unique position in ISKCON

3.2 The Best Manager is the Best Preacher

3.3 Satisfaction of the Spiritual Master

3.4 Sadhana

3.5 Advance Notification

3.6 Honesty

3.7 Caring

3.8 Dealing with the GBC

3.9 Group Efforts

3.10 Considerations of the Asrama of a Manager

4. Pitfalls in Daily Management

4.1 Expansion Beyond One's Means

4.2 The Paraphernalia Trap

4.3 Lust, Anger and Greed

4.4 Boredom

5. A Brief Description of the Relevance of Varnasrama in ISKCON

5.1 Engaging Devotees According to their Propensities

5.2 The Role of Brahmanas in the Temple

6. The Temple Spiritual Program and Spiritual Standards

6.1 The Temple Programs

6.2 Training Programs for Devotees

6.3 Engagement of Others in Devotional Service

6.4 Deity Worship

6.5 Standards for Worship of Gaura-Nitai

6.6 Temple Preaching Programs

7. Temple Maintenance

8. Preaching

8.1 Book Production and Distribution

8.2 Hari-nama Chanting Parties and Prasada Distribution

8.3 Festivals

8.4 Institutional Preaching

8.5 Programs Arranged by Other Organizations

8.6 Congregational Preaching

8.7 Bhakta Program

8.8 Guest Reception

9. Vehicles

10. Devotees Health and Welfare

11. Cleanliness

12. The Sunday Feast

13. The Kitchen

13.1 Standards of Cleanliness

13.2 Purchasing Foods, Storage, and Garbage Disposal

13.3 Recipes

13.4 Management of Cooking

14. Prasada Serving

15. India Festivals and Other Communication to the Outside World

16. Management and Administration

17. Bookkeeping and Accounting

18. Legal Affairs

19. Public Relations

20. Asrama Life

20.1 Celibate Life

20.2 Grhastha Life

21. Problem Solving

22. ISKCON Farm Communities

Introduction

Management is an art. To properly manage a temple requires skills.

These skills have to be learned before a temple may be properly managed.

Sometimes these skills are learned in the school of hard knocks, where hit

or miss management gradually trains the temple president to understand

what can be done and what should be avoided. But such schooling takes

time, energy, and unfortunately costs a lot of money as wastage is high. A

superior form of training is to learn from those who have already gone

through enough schooling to understand what is the actual standard of

temple management.

This book is meant to be a manual for training new temple authorities

in their duties. It will not be the comprehensive and final edition on the

subject, but rather a beginner's guide to ISKCON management. Those who

systematically go through this book will get enough information to learn

how to manage a temple even if they are complete managerial neophytes. Of

course, a prospective candidate for the position of temple president must

have certain prerequisite qualifications to manage. This book cannot grant

one those qualifications if one does not have them, but it can help one

who is basically qualified to learn.

As the preaching expands the number of centers in the world increase

and the need for training temple presidents and other temple officers also

increases. Originally this manual was written for the Soviet Union as

there were many temples rapidly developing without proper leadership.

Later on it was adapted for usage by ISKCON around the world. This book

cannot be complete, for situations can arise which we cannot now foresee.

The purpose of this book is to create a course of management. It is

meant to educate neophytes into the basic principles of temple management,

as they were understood from Srila Prabhupada and developed over the years

in ISKCON. This book might also serve to help even an experienced manager

see something which he missed over the years. In any case it is meant to

help one successfully manage an ISKCON temple in most of its aspects.

Our simple advice is: read this book from cover to cover, then go back

over the sections which you require to immediately improve and study them

in great detail. Make the required changes in the temple you manage, and

then move on to the next section and repeat the process until the temple

is fairly well organized. If you have a hard time understanding some

portion of the book, then address the questions to your local GBC who will

most likely satisfy you.

I wish you the blessings of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna in your attempt

to increase your management skills, and pray that this work will both

satisfy the Lord and accomplish its goals.

Harikesa Swami

Mayapur March 25, 1991

1. What is a Temple?

Since this book is about temple management, the first thing that we

should understand is, what is a temple? There are various forms of

preaching units in ISKCON. There are large temples, small temples,

preaching centers, nama-hatta centers, and even householder flats.

Although each of these units is somewhat different in its structure, we

will not make much distinction between these centers while writing this

book. We will simply speak about temple management understanding that

basically the same principles will apply in all cases. It is up to the

temple authority to adjust the principles for his own particular instance.

Later, we shall discuss these different preaching units in greater detail

to distinguish one from the other where the differences require specific

explanation.

1.1 The Temple

A temple is an ISKCON center of preaching activities wherein devotees

gather together to worship the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna under the

direction of the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, His Divine Grace A.C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The devotees all follow the four

regulative principles, chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra on beads

each day, and follow all the regulated temple programs. A temple will

usually have Deities of the Lord in a temple room wherein kirtana and

classes are held. A temple will have temple officers, at least a

president, and treasurer, and sometimes also a secretary, temple

commander, and department heads such as a sankirtana leader, head pujari,

head cook and so on.

Sunday feasts, school programs, devotee making and training, and a

regulated temple program of kirtanas, classes and prasada are some basic

elements of temple life. Asramas for sannyasis, brahmacaris and

brahmacarinis as well as certain qualified householders, are available for

the devotees. Books are directly purchased from the BBT and sold on

sankirtana and through the temple bookstores.

In short, a temple is a place where Krishna is worshiped and devotees

live and are trained, with the goal of preaching Krishna consciousness

throughout the area.

1.2 A Preaching Center

A preaching center is like a temple, but it is of a smaller size and

stature. A preaching center may be manned by one or two initiated devotees

who are trying to preach Krishna consciousness in the area. The center

will perform basically the same functions as the temple, but without

elaborate Deity worship and other larger programs. It is a small unit

meant for preaching whose goal is to gradually grow into a full scale

temple with all forms of worship and training of new devotees.

1.3 A Nama-hatta Center

A nama-hatta center is different from a preaching center or a temple in

that there are initially no initiated devotees, regulated temple programs

or expanded preaching. This kind of a center is a place where interested

people, most of whom do not chant 16 rounds a day or even follow all the

regulated principles, may gather together and occasionally chant kirtana

or hold programs when travelling preachers come by. Later on, some members

of the nama-hatta may come to the standard of being full time devotees and

get initiated wherein the status of the center may change to that of a

preaching center.

1.4 An ISKCON Center

All temples, preaching centers, nama-hatta centers, restaurants, shops

and so on, must be recognized by ISKCON before they may use the trade

marked names of ISKCON such as "ISKCON", "The Hare Krishna Movement",

"Govindas", and so on.

A unit may be a part of ISKCON if it:

* Recognizes that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is

the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON and that the instructions found in his books

and other works form the basis of all direction in ISKCON and that they

follow these instructions.

* Recognizes that the Governing Body Commission is the ultimate managing

authority for ISKCON and that the constitution of ISKCON is the guiding

authority for the structure of the movement.

* Works under the authority of the designated GBC representatives in the

region.

There are a few other important items which every ISKCON center must

follow. Every temple that owns property must have three property trustees

recognized by the GBC Executors Committee to insure that the property

cannot be sold or mortgaged without the approval of these trustees.

Further, each temple president must sign an Oath of Allegiance to ISKCON

and this must be on file with the local GBC secretary. In addition, each

temple must pay yearly fees to the GBC Communications Office for services

provided by the GBC and must also pay a fee for the ISKCON Board of

Education. Later, each temple will be licensed to use the name ISKCON and

be a recognized part of the society. In this way, by following all the

above items, one gets official recognition as a part of ISKCON.

2. Basic ISKCON Management Structure

ISKCON has a basic structure which must be understood and maintained in

all respects. If a temple or other unit disregards this basic structure,

they cannot expect to remain a part of ISKCON for long. Therefore a clear

idea of what is ISKCON and what is its structure is essential for proper

temple management.

First of all, the instructions of Srila Prabhupada form the basis for

all aspects of temple life. His words and directions hold the society

together and keep it in the same basic direction. In the early 1970's,

Srila Prabhupada created a basic direction of management wherein he

created the Governing Body Commission of ISKCON. This Commission, known as

the GBC, was meant to take over the burden of management from Srila

Prabhupada during his lifetime, and, after his departure, to manage all

the affairs of ISKCON. In Prabhupada's final will, he stated that: "The

Governing Body Commission shall be the ultimate managing authority for all

affairs of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness." Thus the

GBC today functions as the ultimate managing authority for all activities

in ISKCON.

The GBC body meets at least once a year in Mayapur at its annual

meeting. During this meeting resolutions are passed giving direction to

the society. Part of these resolutions deal with designating GBC

representatives for the different areas of the ISKCON world. These

officially designated GBC secretaries then act as the representatives of

the entire GBC body in their specific zones. For the devotees in their

zone, they act as the highest authority in terms of the spiritual

management. They are responsible to the GBC body for the spiritual

standards of the temples and devotees in their zone.

To efficiently deal with the management requirements within a smaller

geographical area, some GBC men have created Regional Councils wherein the

temple presidents and senior preachers within a specified region meet

together regularly to cooperatively make sure that the temples are

maintaining their standards and that preaching is going on in a

coordinated manner. They can also expand their duties as they desire to

manage things more properly. Other GBC members have instituted the system

of regional secretaries who assist the GBC in the performance of his

regional duties.

The next stage of ISKCON management is the temples. The temple is the

basic unit of ISKCON's structure. These temples are meant to be self

sufficient preaching units where devotees may live and prosper. Within

each temple there is a temple president, and usually a treasurer. There

may also be a secretary and other temple authorities. The authority

structure in the temple descends from the temple president to the temple

commander and then through the department heads such as the head pujari,

head cook, sankirtana leader and so on. Sometimes the temple commander is

considered as a department head. These department heads are responsible

for all the activities within their department.

Since the temple is the basic unit of management in ISKCON, it is

important to know the specific duties of the temple officers and

department heads.

2.1 The Temple President

The Temple President is directly responsible for all the affairs of the

temple. He may be of two types. The first type is a brahminical leader who

works through a temple commander of the ksatriya nature, or he may be a

ksatriya leader who allows the brahmanas of the temple to lead the temple

spiritually. Either role model can work if the relationships are seen in

terms of the varnasrama-dharma system.

The brahminical type of temple president is one who manages mainly

through preaching and giving a good spiritual example to the other

devotees. He gives good classes and inspires the devotees to serve Krishna

and thus easily gets the devotees in the temple working for Krishna out of

their own voluntary desire. He doesn't have to force anyone to do anything

since they do everything out of their own spiritual desire being convinced

by his preaching.

This type of president manages the temple through the temple commander

and the department heads. He instructs the temple commander and department

heads to accomplish certain goals and they execute these goals by making

plans and carrying them out. In this way all management is done by others

and the brahminical temple president sees that their goals are Krishna

conscious and met.

The second type of temple president is himself a great manager and

leader of men. He will work intimately with all the members of the

community and directly manage their activities. He may also have a temple

commander and department heads, but he is managing their affairs in a very

"hands on" manner through active participation and direct intervention.

This ksatriya type of temple president will depend on his brahmanas or

sannyasis in the community to do the bulk of the preaching and spiritual

leadership. He will give them all facilities to preach and present Krishna

consciousness in the temple. The temple runs through their spiritual

example and power. He depends on these brahmanas, and may even have a

brahminical council to give him occasional direction, when it is required,

for problems which are too difficult for him to solve personally.

Both types of temple presidents should understand that their basic mood

is to serve their spiritual master, the Deity, and the devotees. This

service attitude is very important. The more the president thinks of

himself as the servant of the devotees the better the management will be.

When a president thinks himself the servant of the devotees then it is

easy for him to engage the devotees in service, for this is his service to

them. He knows that a devotee cannot be happy unless he is nicely engaged

in devotional service. He will also want to please the devotees by

supplying their basic needs for their maintenance and preaching. Such a

president is loved by the devotees and will always succeed, whereas one

who thinks himself the master of the devotees will always run into

difficulties and conflict with others who are not fully surrendered souls.

2.2 The Department Heads

The department heads are responsible for their particular department's

activities. For example, the sankirtana leader is responsible to see that

all the devotees engaged in sankirtana are going out each day; are getting

good spots; are paying for their books; are following the temple programs

for spiritual strength; are getting proper clothes appropriate for the

weather; are getting good prasada for bodily health; are getting medicine

when sick, and so on. In other words, he is responsible for their daily

needs and requirements. He must carefully manage the department to make

sure that every one of the devotees dependent on him is happily engaged in

their service. At the same time he must act as a liaison with the temple

president to inform him of the activities and results of the department

and get further input, funding and manpower to accomplish his goals.

In the example of sankirtana, there are also group leaders. This

principle exists in other departments as well when the department is large

and spread out over a wide area. A group leader represents the authority

of the department head and will basically take care of the same things as

the department head but on a smaller scale.

3. General Guidelines for a Good Manager

In this chapter we will speak in a general way about certain principles

which will help any temple manager regardless of his particular position.

These principles are essential for success in managing an ISKCON temple.

3.1 Srila Prabhupada's Unique position in ISKCON

The first and foremost principle is the recognition of Srila

Prabhupada's position as the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON. Being the

Founder-Acarya is no ordinary position. Others may act as spiritual

masters within ISKCON, but only one person and no other, may hold the

position of Founder-Acarya. Founder-Acarya means that this individual has

created a society which is a significant branch of the Caitanya tree.

Srila Prabhupada has created a society which was so significant that it

spread all over the world within a very short period of time. No one else

ever performed such a preaching work and therefore he is glorified as the

Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, and indeed, the whole world.

Because Prabhupada has such a unique position, his teachings and

writings form a unique body of knowledge which will guide and direct the

activities of all the devotees of ISKCON for at least the next 10,000

years when Krishna consciousness is flourishing on this planet. Therefore

all temple managers must read and study the books of Srila Prabhupada in

order to clearly understand the basic standards of ISKCON. Every temple

leader must read regularly the books of Srila Prabhupada in order to know

the philosophy. Without knowing the philosophy of Krishna consciousness no

one can preach. And, as the next point will show, without preaching, there

is no real management in this spiritual movement.

3.2 The Best Manager is the Best Preacher

Srila Prabhupada once told me: "The best manager is the best preacher."

What he meant by that is simple. If one preaches to the devotees in the

temple in a nice way, they will develop a service attitude and want to

render service to the Lord and the spiritual master. They will be properly

motivated without the requirement of some extra special endeavor.

Therefore it is incumbent on every temple president to carefully and

enthusiastically preach to the devotees at every opportunity. The better

he preaches, the more the devotees will respect him and then naturally

want to serve under his instruction.

Srila Prabhupada wanted his temple leaders to always think of newer

ways to inspire the devotees. Therefore the temple presidents, in

conjunction with the GBC, should think up newer and newer projects which

will inspire the devotees. Of course, the sankirtana mission requires that

the temple remain fixed in book distribution, but the president can set

goals such as increasing the number of devotees and then training them to

go out on sankirtana. This will certainly inspire the devotees. Further,

he can create a number of marathons during the year which will inspire the

devotees before special festival days. There are other programs which will

enthuse the devotees, such as the observance of large festivals in the

cities. In this way he should think of ways and means to inspire the

devotees.

The nice thing about the preaching manager is that he never orders

others on his own account. He never says: "I am saying this and therefore

you should follow me!"; rather, he simply represents the will and desire

of the previous acaryas who have already given us the orders of what to do

to spread the mission of Krishna consciousness. Because he is a

representative of the previous acaryas, he will be loved by the devotees

and the devotees will also love to follow his instructions because they

can see that these instructions are not motivated by personal desires for

name and fame, but are motivated by the pure desire to simply serve the

previous acaryas. There is a wealth of difference between a devotee who

orders others to satisfy his personal whim as compared to one who wishes

to satisfy the spiritual master. This brings us to the next point.

3.3 Satisfaction of the Spiritual Master

The most essential principle that operates in spiritual life is total

dedication of one's life, wealth, words, and intelligence in the mission

of one's spiritual master. Dedication to the mission of the spiritual

master is the perfection that fulfills all desires. If one wants to have

success in spiritual life, the secret is to fully dedicate himself to

following the instructions and fulfilling the mission of the spiritual

master. No other principle in spiritual life works as effectively in

developing all spiritual success.

We should all understand that the mission received in ISKCON descends

from the original mission presented by Srila Prabhupada and therefore the

mission of all future spiritual masters must be in accordance with the

mission of Srila Prabhupada. If one acting as a spiritual master deviates

from the mission of Srila Prabhupada then he becomes asara, or useless.

Prabhupada had many goals for this ISKCON movement, but all of these goals

were to be accomplished through preaching. Simply by increasing the

preaching, of which book distribution is the most important part, one can

automatically fulfill all the other goals within the society. Therefore we

stress so much on book distribution and preaching since it is the life of

ISKCON and the source of all success in spiritual life. When the book

distribution and preaching is going on nicely, then all the other aspects

of spiritual life will also go on nicely with the minimum of management.

This is not only a theory of good management but it has been practically

seen in temples where this principle is sincerely followed.

3.4 Sadhana

Every temple authority, and indeed, every devotee within ISKCON, should

strictly maintain their standards of sadhana-bhakti. Sadhana means the

regulative principles of devotional service. Every temple authority must

always rise early in the morning, take his bath, put on clean cloth and

then come to the temple for the full morning program. If he does that, he

will personally be Krishna conscious throughout the day, and he will be

able to properly lead the devotees in their own spiritual sadhana-bhakti.

One who does not properly follow sadhana will have a hard time convincing

others to do so. This sadhana forms the basis of spiritual life upon which

all spiritual perfection will grow.

Sometimes a temple president will not follow the temple program using

his heavy work load as an excuse. But working all day without following

the temple program is activity in the mode of passion and will not

increase the management efficiency in the long run. Actually, it will

decrease the effectiveness of the management for without spiritual

strength no one can go on taking up heavy managerial responsibility for

long. Therefore the temple presidents must be sure to follow the temple

programs strictly. They should properly chant their 16 rounds of the Hare

Krishna maha-mantra each day and carefully hear the mantra. This will give

them the spiritual strength to go on with their managerial duties.

Although the temple president must be strict in his following of the

sadhana process, he will still be faced with various emergency services

throughout the day. Sometimes these emergencies will arise during the

morning program and he will have to deal with them. If someone approaches

him with a problem during the japa time, for example, he should politely

direct that person to another temple authority who can deal with the

situation, or he should propose a means by which the problem may be solved

without his having to become personally entangled in it. He should not

become angry at the person approaching him and deal with the situation as

far as required. Sometimes the situation is so serious that it demands his

immediate attention. He should then surrender to Krishna and take care of

the situation as quickly as possible. However, if he is approached with a

routine matter during his japa or the morning program, he should declare

that the matter can be taken care of later on during the normal working

hours and that now is the time for chanting and hearing. He should strive

to keep his sadhana intact despite occasional disruptions.

3.5 Advance Notification

Devotees don't like to be surprised with unexpected services. This is

natural. They like to know what they have to do before they have to

actually do it so they can arrange their lives in such a way as to best

accomplish the tasks before them. Knowing this, a wise temple president

will assist the devotees by notifying them well in advance what their

devotional service will be in the future.

For example, if there is going to be a special kirtana party on the

streets on Saturday, the temple president should notify the devotees on

Monday of the planned kirtana. He should also repeat it on Wednesday and

again on Friday. In this way all the devotees will know that on Saturday

they will be expected to come to the kirtana and they will plan

accordingly. The temple president who gives advance notification will

minimize the possibility that he will hear from the devotees: "I can't go,

I have other things to do."

If the temple president is planning a sankirtana marathon, let us say

in the month of December (the traditional time for an ISKCON marathon), he

should start informing everyone of the marathon in October. He should

mention it a few times until everyone is informed that in December there

is going to be a marathon and everyone should take part in it. His

preaching about the marathon should increase in November to expand the

sankirtana fever so that by the end of November the marathon is in the

front of everyone's consciousness. There should be no surprises or the

sudden introduction of a new activity on the devotees for this will be

counterproductive.

This is also true for smaller things such as a cleaning marathon in the

temple. If there is to be a cleaning marathon on Friday, for example, then

it should be announced on Monday so everyone can prepare their schedules

to accommodate it. This is important for the smooth management of the

temple.

3.6 Honesty

A temple president must be honest with the devotees. If he makes a

statement to the devotees, he should back it up with action. For example,

if he states, "If you work nicely in your department all year long, then I

will send you to Mayapur for the festival", then he should actually carry

out that promise. If he does not, he will risk losing all the faith of

that devotee and others as well. Certainly the devotee who has been

promised will speak with others and this will cause a general diminishing

of the faith of the devotees in the temple president. So when the temple

president makes a promise to the devotees, he should fulfill it, even if

it is hard to do so. His credibility as a leader to be trusted and

believed depends on it.

Besides, the golden rule in the material world is: "Do unto others as

you would have them do unto you." If someone made a promise to us and then

broke it, we would not like it at all. Commonly a president might think:

"We are all devotees, so the others should just understand that I cannot

fulfill my promise and accept it as Krishna's mercy." But this is a lot to

expect from neophyte devotees. In fact, one should not even expect it from

advanced devotees. To mislead a devotee to whom a promise was made is a

very bad thing and is against the etiquette of vaisnavas. If one keeps his

word he will become known as a person who can be trusted. This is an

essential quality for a successful temple president.

There are occasions when a promise simply cannot be fulfilled, and such

circumstances teach us what to say when we promise something. For example,

if a devotee was promised that he could go to Mayapur for the festival,

yet the temple is completely broke at the time of departure, or the price

of the air fare has increased enormously, then it might be that the

promise cannot be fulfilled. Of course, the new situation can be explained

to the expectant devotee and perhaps he will accept that, but it is a

risk. Therefore it is better not to make promises that might not be

fulfilled later on. One might say something like: "I can't guarantee

anything, but we can try and arrange it if all goes well." Such statements

do not constitute a promise yet give hope to the devotee who has a desire

to fulfil. Sometimes one can confidently state something more specific if

he is sure that it can be fulfilled.

3.7 Caring

A good temple president always thinks about the welfare of the

devotees. He will make sure that they are well taken care of at all times.

He is concerned that they have a proper place to rest, that it is peaceful

and well heated, as well as comfortable. He should make sure that the

residence of the devotees is as nice as his own.

The ideal president is a perfect host for visiting devotees. He should

always make sure that a new guest in the temple has been given prasada, a

nice place to stay, as well as whatever things he needs to be comfortable.

Of course, this means within reason, but if one just greets a new guest

with sweet words and the basic facilities needed for devotional life, he

will satisfy that guest and get his blessings. A president who cares for

his guests will find that more and more guests will come to the temple.

This is very important when one wants to attract senior devotees to come

to the temple and preach. They remember more than anything else the

reception they are given, and the word will spread, either good or bad.

Nothing ruins a temple more than the reputation that one will not be

treated properly there. If such a reputation gets out, then it will be

very hard to attract travelling preachers to come and stay for some time.

Therefore one should always endeavor to be a perfect host to attract more

and more travelling preachers to the temple.

One may ask what is the use of having travelling preachers come to the

temple? But it is seen in those places where senior devotees come and

preach that the devotees are always enlivened and happy. Whenever a new

person comes and preaches it is a kind of mini festival and the devotees

feel satisfied that someone new is there to give the classes and lead some

kirtanas. After all, variety is the spice of life. The realizations of the

new preachers keep the atmosphere from getting stale and keep everyone

enlivened.

One of the most important features in caring for devotees is to make

sure that the prasada is always good, on time, clean, and hot. If prasada

is nice, and well served (see the section on serving prasada) then the

devotees will always feel satisfied and they will be enthusiastic to

perform their services. Srila Prabhupada once spontaneously wrote me a

letter thanking me for the nice prasada that I was serving the devotees in

the temple. He considered this as most important for the spiritual lives

of the devotees.

If a guest comes to the temple, he should be always greeted with some

nice prasada. This will satisfy anyone who has come from a long distance.

Srila Prabhupada also said that anyone who comes to the temple, at any

time of the day, should be offered some prasada. Some sabji can be always

available, and some puris can be quickly prepared from puri dough ready in

the refrigerator and ghi in the pan quickly heated up. A sweet should be

available and this will satisfy any gentleman.

An important part of caring for the devotees is giving them proper

medical care. If they are sick, it is essential that someone take care of

them. Giving them water, or fruit juice, if that will help them in their

particular sickness, as well as bringing a doctor if required and

supplying them medicine, will go a long way to both helping the devotees

in their time of crisis, and also endearing them to the management. If the

managers care for the devotees when they are sick or injured, the devotees

tend to become very grateful, as any person would be, and then they will

increase their service when they get better.

It is only common sense to take care of the devotees when they are

sick. It is a kind of reciprocation. When they are well, they are working

hard for the temple, and when they are sick, the temple takes care of

them. Often we hear of devotees who were just left neglected somewhere

during some illness. They often become bitter and want to leave that place

as soon as they can. This is certainly a good way to lose devotees. By

simply taking care of them, they can expand their service to Krishna and

their spiritual master more and more. This is also true of a devotee who

is not a devotee of your temple. If a guest is sick, one should treat him

with all the facilities of a temple devotee for the guest is helpless and

dependent on the temple at that stage. Someday you will be in another

temple, and you may also fall sick.

Sometimes temple managers are extremely austere. When they fall sick

they do not feel that any special attention is required and they just go

on serving despite their illness. This is not good from two points of

view. The first point is that when one is sick and does not take care of

himself he tends to get sicker or the disease becomes chronic and cannot

be easily cured later on. This causes a disturbance in his service. Do not

neglect the body thinking it to be merely maya. One should rather see the

body as a temple of God and carefully take care of this valuable tool for

self realization. It is our responsibility to take care of the body and

keep it healthy. The second point is that when one neglects his own bodily

illness he tends to become callous to the illness of others. He thinks: "I

would not care if this were happening to me, so why should we waste time

trying to cure others?" This attitude is impersonal and will create many

troubles for the devotees in the temple. One should take care of himself

and others as well.

It must be noted here that sometimes devotees become overly concerned

with their bodies. Although we must take care of the body, we also know

that the bodily problems we face are a product of our past sinful actions

and there is sometimes not much we can do about it. If, after repeated

attempts to cure ourselves, we find that it is impossible or extremely

difficult, we should give up the endeavor and simply depend on the mercy

of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who can reduce the heavy burden of

our karma if He so desires. Knowing how far to endeavor to take care of

the body is a difficult subject requiring a lot of maturity. If the temple

president possesses that maturity he can nicely take care of the devotees

in the temple according to their actual needs. Such maturity can only be

gained over time, but it should be the goal of all temple managers.

3.8 Dealing with the GBC

The GBC of the local area is the appointed representative of the entire

Governing Body Commission of ISKCON and is thus the representative of

Srila Prabhupada's will. Therefore he should be well taken care of. He

should have a proper room, proper prasada, and also someone to take care

of his needs such as washing of clothes and bedding.

Besides the normal bodily maintenance of the GBC member, there is also

the relationship of managerial cooperation that must be maintained. The

GBC member is there to help the president do his job better. He is meant

to train the president if there is some lacking on his part, and to help

him make the decisions which are essential to success in management.

Therefore one should be open and friendly with him. It is not the time to

be closed up and unfriendly when the GBC member is coming. If one deals

with his GBC member with hostility, this is counterproductive to the

Krishna conscious ideal of vaisnava humility and etiquette. Usually the

GBC member is very senior and therefore he should be respected by the

temple authorities.

If there are problems, for example if the GBC member asks the temple

president to do something he doesn't want to do, then they should discuss

the situation together and come to some mutually acceptable conclusion. If

there are very serious problems, then perhaps another GBC member can be

called in to help mediate the situation and come to some conclusion. But

one should never openly fight with the GBC member or criticize him to the

general devotees. This would be the worst thing to do since it will cause

irreparable damage to the faith of the devotees. Srila Prabhupada wanted

that the GBC and temple presidents work together in close harmony for the

overall benefit of ISKCON and it is up to the temple president to fulfill

his part of the bargain by fully cooperating with the GBC member as far as

possible.

The GBC member will correct any mistakes or deviations created by the

temple managers. This is part of their job. If the GBC secretaries, who

are capable of seeing what is right and wrong, see something improper in

the temple, they will usually correct it as soon as possible. Of course

there may be many things wrong in the temple, especially in these

beginning stages of management, and the GBC representative may not choose

to correct all these things at once. He will bring the temple up to the

proper standard over time. The temple managers should appreciate that they

have a guide to follow who will understand their needs and problems and

give good instruction where it is needed.

Later on, when the management is running more smoothly and up to the

proper standard of spiritual life, the GBC representative may take a more

advisory role and give instruction in a more brahminical fashion. The GBC

secretaries are actually meant to guide the presidents by giving them good

advice and direction where it is needed. They can also help the presidents

make good decisions. Naturally the GBC will want to assist the temple

presidents to expand the movement more and more. Therefore the presidents

should cooperate with the GBC secretaries in all ways.

3.9 Group Efforts

There are two basic ways in which something can be managed. One may

take all the responsibility on his own shoulders and singularly manage

something, or he may create a group to discuss and plan out the course of

action to be executed. Sometimes it is seemingly more efficient to do

things alone, for having to deal with many others on managerial affairs is

a difficult thing to do. But in the long run it is not really recommended.

If we make decisions which are wrong, or at least not appreciated by the

others in the temple, then the responsibility for those improper decisions

rests solely and wholely on our own shoulders. This can become quite

unpleasant and can cause one to become very discouraged. Therefore, making

larger decisions which give overall direction to the temple are better

made in small groups specifically designed to make such decisions. The

decision made by the group is usually a better one, as the subject being

decided would be considered from many different perspectives. And it is a

fact that those who participate in making the decision are naturally more

inspired to work to implement it. When all the managers in the temple are

moving in the same direction the management becomes quite easy and

powerful. But if individual managers have different ideas then there is

conflict and everyone's energy is wasted. Therefore group decisions are

more conducive to successful management.

3.10 Considerations of the Asrama of a Manager

A temple president usually has to deal with women. Formerly in ISKCON

this was resolved by having all the temple presidents marry. Although this

helps solve the problem to some degree, it is not a final solution.

Dealing with women is a difficult thing for a man and this sometimes will

preclude brahmacaris and sannyasis from managing temples. Still, one will

see brahmacaris and sannyasis running a temple now and then. It is

difficult, but it can be done if one is very expert and detached.

There is nothing wrong with a householder managing a temple so long as

he does not utilize the facilities of the temple for his own personal

sense gratification. Certainly the president may get his basic

requirements for living and eating fulfilled through the temple, and he

may also have his own place to live outside. However, he should not

exploit the temple for his own sense gratification, for that would be

taking more than his quota. The œsopanisad warns us that everything is

owned and controlled by the Lord and therefore one should not take more

than that which is allotted to him by the will of the Lord. A temple

president must be careful not to take more than what would be allotted to

any other householder who is working full time for the temple. For

example, he should not have specially prepared opulent meals when the

temple devotees are eating austerely. In fact he should eat with the

devotees. Neither should he use temple funds to buy himself a nice vehicle

while the other devotees are walking or taking the bus. He should take

what is needed to expand his service, but not for expanding his sense

gratification. This subject will be discussed in more detail later on in

the book.

Whether one is married or not, one must deal with married and unmarried

women. It is dangerous to deal with women since there is always the chance

that one may become attached and thus entangled with some other lady. We

have seen in the past temple presidents fall down because of having to

deal with women. Brahmacari managers have gotten themselves married due to

attachment to one of the girls in the temple and householder managers have

fallen down with another man's wife and run away from their position.

Sometimes illicit sex can take place when no one is looking and this

causes the destruction of that devotee's spiritual life. If the president

gets entangled in this manner the temple can become destroyed, so one must

avoid such entanglements by all means. Some hints are as follows. If he is

dealing with unmarried ladies, then the oldest, and hopefully the most

capable, among them should try to take care of the girls. If the ladies

are married, then the temple president should engage the ladies either

through the husband of the lady, or he should have his wife engage the

lady directly. This will avoid the unsavory situation of the temple

president having to intimately deal with someone else's wife. Being the

wife of a temple president has its responsibilities for the wife of the

temple president must act as his representative in dealing with the other

ladies in the temple.

Sometimes the wife of the temple president does not want to, or cannot,

deal with the management of the other ladies in the temple. If this

happens then the temple president has no choice but to do it himself. This

is not so bad if he is just giving simple instructions to the ladies for

their service, but if they have more mental problems, as ladies often do,

then it will become more difficult. The wife of the temple president may

then act as a messenger between the ladies with the problems and her

husband, carrying good instructions to them with the hopes that this will

satisfy them. If they still require more attention, then the wife of the

temple president may sit with her husband while he speaks with the lady

with a problem.

If the problem that is discussed is one of a marital nature; that is, a

problem between husband and wife, the temple president should recommend

that the couple work out their problems amongst themselves. He might also

recommend that the problem be brought up to their spiritual master for his

opinion. It is important that married couples work out their interpersonal

problems as best they can amongst themselves, for it is extremely

difficult for anyone else to do it for them.

If the temple president is dealing with someone else's wife through her

husband, and the husband is in maya to some serious degree, then the

temple president will have no choice but to deal with the wife directly.

But this must be done in a most discreet manner. Sometimes it has been

seen that a temple manager is lusty to enjoy the wife of another devotee.

To do this he might proclaim her husband to be in maya in order to bring

the woman under his control. This is a most disgraceful affair and it can

have nasty repercussions. Therefore, before the temple president decides

if the husband is in maya and he must manage the wife directly, he should

get the authorization of the GBC or the temple council. In any case, even

if the manager must deal directly with the wife of another they should

never speak or meet in a closed place and always there should be others

around to make sure that no illicit activities take place or no unwanted

attachments develop. For example, if they are meeting in the office of the

temple president, the door should be open and another man, or the temple

president's wife, should be there. Again, if the wife of the temple

president is available for management services then she should deal with

that lady directly.

It is important to note here that although the temple president might

utilize his wife to deal with the other women in the temple, the wife

should not take this as an opportunity to start to control the temple. It

is essential that the wife not try to manage the brahmacaris or other men

as this would create a great disturbance to the temple atmosphere. The

wife of the temple president should only pass instructions from her

husband to the other ladies in the temple and should not try to manage the

temple on her own.

4. Pitfalls in Daily Management

There are many activities which, if performed, can throw a temple off

the course of expanding the Krishna consciousness movement. We are meant

to preach and deliver the message of Krishna consciousness throughout the

world, but sometimes we become sidetracked and diverted from our real

duties. Therefore we have to be careful to avoid the following basic

mistakes. These mistakes have been recognized over long periods of time in

ISKCON. They are not at all obvious. Formerly large segments of the

movement were engaged in such activities with seemingly great success, but

the ultimate failure of the temples and their leaders showed without a

shadow of a doubt that good management means following strictly the

formulas given to us by Srila Prabhupada.

Of all the formulas coming from Srila Prabhupada, the one relating to

book distribution and temple economy seems to be the most practical and

important. Prabhupada often said that the economic basis of the movement

is the sale of our books. He created the formula that the temple would

give half of its income to the BBT and the other half would be used for

temple maintenance. This becomes clear when we understand that the

temple's will sell the books for at least twice the BBT price, thus

automatically half of their income goes to the BBT to pay for the books

and the other half goes to the temple treasury. Prabhupada wanted this

formula to be followed by all his temples for it was the means of all

spiritual and material success. Keeping this in mind, we can discuss some

of the pitfalls in temple management.

4.1 Expansion Beyond One's Means

Expanding the Krishna consciousness movement is one of our aims. We

want to expand the preaching and temples all over the world. However, when

an individual temple president decides to expand the temple, or even a

temple council, often they will expand it far beyond the capacity of the

temple finances. We have practically seen this occurring in some parts of

the world.

This is one of the most serious traps the temple managers can fall

into. If the temple managers are not mature in their spiritual

realization, they may equate the material opulence of the temple with

success. They may see that the more opulent the temple is, the more

successful they are as temple managers. Sometimes a temple president will

also compete on the subtle platform with other temple presidents. If

another temple president has got an opulent temple, then the first temple

president will think that he has got to have one as well. This will cause

him to want to expand the temple's opulence more and more to keep pace

with the other temple. Such competition is not on the transcendental

platform. Real success means increased preaching, devotees joining, and

books distributed, and not necessarily the increase of material opulence.

Misconceptions can cause a temple manager to start to expand the temple

even if he does not have the means to do so. He may buy a big building at

great expense thus greatly increasing his monthly operating expenses. He

may take out big loans from the bank with large monthly payments. And in

order to pay for this, he will have to push the devotees more and more to

collect large sums of money. This is not the way to expand the Krishna

consciousness movement.

One should not get a big facility unless he really requires it. When

there are so many devotees in the temple that there is hardly any room to

sleep, then one really requires a bigger facility. But if that is the

case, then one should have enough devotees to collect sufficiently to pay

for the larger facility. If one buys a big place unnecessarily, then he

runs the risk of having to maintain a large, opulent, and empty temple.

Therefore do not expand unless there is a real need to do so. Every dollar

spent on a mortgage payment may mean many times that in fewer books to

distribute.

One should have a temple room large enough to accommodate a reasonable

number of guests. It may not be possible to hold all the guests who come,

but an attempt should be made to allow as many as possible to join in the

temple programs.

Not every person who is becoming Krishna conscious need live in the

temple. For example, householders might be better off living outside the

temple in a nearby flat. They can come to the temple every day for the

temple programs and engage in service as they can. If they are not engaged

in essential service in the temple, where they will then be maintained by

the temple, they will have to work outside in order to support their

family. If they are living outside and working they can perform a valuable

service by donating to the temple some of their monthly salary for its

support. This is the actual varnasrama principle: the householders live

outside the temple and give as much as they can for the support of the

temple's preaching activities and devotees.

In the Upadesamrta (The Nectar of Instruction) of Srila Rupa Gosami,

there is a verse which states, atyaharah prayasas ca. Prayasah means to

over endeavor for mundane achievements. This is something which can

destroy spiritual life. Therefore, striving to expand the temple when

there are no resources to do so, is one of the impediments to successful

spiritual life and must be avoided by any responsible temple leader.

4.2 The Paraphernalia Trap

When the temple managers have fallen into the trap of overexpansion of

the temple's facilities, they will require some means to keep the project

functioning. Because they have expanded far beyond the capacity of the

present devotees to maintain using the traditional methods of book

distribution, they have to create some other form of income which will

have a high return for a small effort. This requirement gave birth to

paraphernalia distribution in ISKCON.

Paraphernalia means any product which is not books. In the past ISKCON

leaders have induced the devotees to sell paintings, rugs, tee shirts,

bumper stickers, and so on, to raise the necessary funds to pay the large

overheads of their temples. Such collection programs become critical when

brahmacaris are performing such activities as a temple organized affair.

Some temple presidents justifiably argue that they only recently became

the president of the temple and that they inherited the temple with its

large expenses from the previous administration. This may be true, but it

does not change the point. Although one may be sincere in his utilization

of paraphernalia, still it means that the temple is supported in an

artificial manner similar to the methodology of the materialistic society.

Prabhupada wanted his temples maintained by book distribution, for this

would be the best way to expand the preaching of the Krishna consciousness

movement and at the same time it was the safest means of creating economic

stability. Paraphernalia has gone a long way to ruining book distribution

in some parts of the world.

Paraphernalia is seemingly an easy way to make money. Devotees, instead

of having to preach and present themselves as devotees, could now wander

the streets, offices, and homes, and sell items which were in demand by

the materialists. Books about God consciousness are hard to sell since the

people basically do not want such literatures (at least in the opulent

West) but material goods such as paintings or rugs are in high demand and

easy to sell. Besides, one can purchase these items wholesale in Asia and

sell them for many times their original price making a fantastic profit

without much effort.

Because of the great success of paraphernalia, temples were becoming

more and more opulent on the basis of material goods. Temple presidents

saw this as a means to expand their temples more and more, and even

purchase large buildings which were formerly far beyond their means. It

seemed that now things would become easy to manage.

However, what happened was that once starting on this paraphernalia,

one was attached to it, just as one gets addicted to drugs. Since the

temple was expanded beyond the normal expected facilities for the number

of devotees, one must continue with the paraphernalia to pay for the

temple expenses. This meant that the devotees would have to continue with

the paraphernalia at all costs.

The real problem with paraphernalia is that it really does not produce

more income to expand the preaching. As the income from paraphernalia

increases, so do the expenses, and these inflated overheads cause the net

profit to remain the same. Although one tries to maintain the program over

longer periods of time, he runs into problems as the devotees doing

paraphernalia need "vacations" and breaks from the hard grind of

collecting, which causes breaks in the flow of income. Sometimes devotees

become exhausted and require extensive breaks. All in all, the overall

increase in income is negated by the increase in expenses and decrease in

efficiency of the individual collector.

After some time, the devotees become spiritually weak. Staying out late

at night to visit people's homes, far away from the temple association,

wearing karmi clothes and never speaking about Krishna, the devotees lose

their taste for spiritual life and become contaminated with material

desires. They gradually give up the essence of spiritual life, the

preaching mission, and consider that maintenance of their bodily existence

in their grhastha-asrama (since they all inevitably get married) is the

goal of spiritual life. Some go away from Krishna consciousness

completely, never to be seen again. Some take up the same paraphernalia

business they did in ISKCON but now completely in the material world.

Others just become useless and retire to an inactive life in the temple.

The net result is that book distribution becomes weakened and even

non-existent. The devotees lose all strength to actually present

themselves as devotees to the public and sell books. Thus instead of being

a panacea for all economic problems, it turns to be a great disaster.

After a while one is either forced to change the basic principles of

Krishna consciousness from preaching to collecting money to maintain the

temple, or a temple just withers away completely due to the basic lack of

enthusiasm of the devotees.

Krishna does not want to send new devotees who are sincere in spiritual

life to places where material economic means dominate the daily activities

of the temple. Some may still join, but they may be attracted to

maintaining bodily comforts and material opulence. When this happens

people come to ISKCON to solve their economic problems. This is not at all

satisfactory to the proper prosecution of spiritual life. We want devotees

to join who are eager to develop their love of God and serve Him through

the sankirtana mission of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus this

paraphernalia trap has to be avoided by all temple presidents who are

sincerely interested in prosecuting and preaching spiritual life.

It is important to mention here that the paraphernalia trap mentioned

above does not apply to householders working to maintain their families.

Srila Prabhupada even authorized the starting of an incense business,

called Spiritual Sky Incense, for the sake of the householder's

maintenance. They were to work in this business, selling the incense

wherever they could, and take a sha