The role of a spiritual leader is to inspire, not to repress

By definition, devotional service must be voluntary; it must be out of love. Once there is coercion, it becomes something else.

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The role of a spiritual leader is to inspire, not to repress

Devotional service is based on the idea of voluntarily sacrificing something for Kṛṣṇa, be it our time, money, intelligence, or any other asset. By definition, devotional service must be voluntary; it must be out of love. Once there is coercion, it becomes something else.

In the Jaiva Dharma, Śrila Bhaktivinoda Thākura mentions that free will is precisely what differentiates living souls from inanimate matter. Material objects have no free will; they are just manipulated by superior forces. Souls, on the other hand, have free will, and this is what makes relationships and rasa possible. It’s not possible to have a relationship with an inanimate object: relationships can be cultivated only with living beings. From this, we can understand why Kṛṣṇa is so careful in respecting the free will of the souls, allowing us to continue our material activities until we are ready to surrender unto Him.

Love can’t be imposed. If someone were to put a gun to my head, I would surely say that I loved him, or anything else he wanted to hear, but this would not be true love. This brings us to another point: Kṛṣṇa Consciousness and service to Kṛṣṇa can’t be imposed. We can’t force anyone to love Kṛṣṇa; such love can only be inspired through our personal example. If one were forced to serve, this could hardly be called devotional service.

In a letter to Karandhara (22/07/72), Śrila Prabhupāda wrote some interesting advice about leadership: “… our leaders shall be careful not to kill the spirit of enthusiastic service, which is individual and spontaneous and voluntary. They should try always to generate some atmosphere of fresh challenge to the devotees, so that they will agree enthusiastically to rise and meet it. That is the art of management: to draw out spontaneous loving spirit of sacrificing some energy for Kṛṣṇa.”

Above anything else, the role of a spiritual leader is to inspire this spirit of devotion and sacrifice for Kṛṣṇa in his followers, present a mission, and let them come forward to fulfill it. A good leader will inspire his followers to sacrifice something to Kṛṣṇa and use the effort and resources in an appropriate way. He will create an environment of love and trust, so others can get a glimpse of what spiritual life really is, and from there become inspired to give more of their time and energy to Kṛṣṇa.

Often, we get into a mentality of scarcity, thinking that we need to brainwash the few people we have to keep them around and thus maintain our projects, but we can practically see that this doesn’t bring good results in the long term. Instead of fostering the attitude of spontaneous and voluntary service mentioned by Śrila Prabhupāda, it creates an oppressive environment that eventually kills it. People may be kept in line for some time through manipulation and coercion, but sooner or later, they start looking around and seeing they have other options. At this point, they usually go away and never return.

Good spiritual leaders are the ones who are able to create the “atmosphere of fresh challenge” mentioned by Śrila Prabhupāda so that devotees will “agree enthusiastically to rise and meet it”. As he mentions, “That is the art of management” that can “draw out spontaneous loving spirit of sacrificing some energy for Kṛṣṇa.”

The problem, of course, is that such leaders are rare; therefore, one who has the idea of creating something may be tempted to use negative means to mobilize people. One may have good intentions, but the long-term result of such efforts will always be negative: people will be burned and disheartened. Śrila Bhakti Thirta Swami used to say: “Use your project to help devotees, and not devotees to help your project”.

Many of us may have the impetus to become leaders and have followers. This tendency is not necessarily bad if properly directed. As almost everything else, it can be used for Kṛṣṇa. However, we do better when we first become qualified and then try to be a leader, instead of the opposite. Spiritual life and spiritual institutions are not a toy for our false egos; they are not a place to exert our dominance, but to sincerely sacrifice our time, energy, and resources for a higher cause.

Here is the full text of the letter of Śrila Prabhupāda I quoted earlier. It serves as a brilliant sketch of a plan of management for a spiritual society:

“I am little observing now, especially in your country, that our men are losing their enthusiasm for spreading on our programmes of Krishna Consciousness movement. Otherwise, why so many letters of problems are coming, dissatisfied? That is not a very good sign. The whole problem is they are not following the regulative principles, that I can detect. Without this, enthusiasm will be lacking. Even mechanically following, and if he gets gradually understanding from the class, he will come to the point of spontaneous enthusiasm. This spontaneous loving devotional service is not so easy matter, but if one simply sticks strictly to the rules and regulations, like rising early, chanting 16 rounds, chanting gayatri, keeping always clean—then his enthusiasm will grow more and more, and if there is also patience and determination, one day he will come to the platform of spontaneous devotion, then his life will be perfect. All of this I have told you in Nectar of Devotion. So I do not think the leaders are themselves following, nor they are seeing the others are following strictly. That must be rectified at once. Each centre remain independent, that’s all right, but the president and other officers must themselves follow and see the others are following the regulative principles carefully, and giving them good instruction so they may understand nicely why this tapasya is necessary. And GBC and Sannyasis will travel and see the officers are doing this, and if they observe anything lowering of the standard, they must reform and advise, or if there is some discrepancy I shall remove it. Of course, if new men are coming, they may not be expected immediately to take to our regulative principles cent per cent. Therefore we should not be so anxious to induce them to live in the temple. Anyone who lives in the temple must agree to follow the rules and regulations without fail. So if some new man moves in with us he may become discouraged if he is forced in this way. Therefore let them live outside and become gradually convinced in the class why they should accept some austerity, then they will live with us out of their own accord and follow nicely everything. It is very difficult to give up very quickly so many bad habits as you have got in your country, so educate them gradually, first with chanting, and do not be so much anxious to count up so many numbers of new devotees, if such devotees go away later being too early forced. I want to see a few sincere devotees, not many false devotees or pretenders.

So my point is that the regulative principles must be followed by everyone. Otherwise their enthusiasm dwindles and they again think of sex and become restless, and so many problems are there. There is some symptom of missing the point. The point is to be engaged in doing something for Krishna, never mind what is that job, but being so engaged in doing something very much satisfying to the devotee that he remains always enthusiastic. He will automatically follow the regulative principles because they are part of his occupational duty—by applying them practically as his occupational duty, he realizes the happy result of regulative principles. So the future of this Krishna Consciousness movement is very bright, so long the managers remain vigilant that 16 rounds are being chanted by everyone without fail, that they are all rising before four morning, attending mangal arati—our leaders shall be careful not to kill the spirit of enthusiastic service, which is individual and spontaneous and voluntary. They should try always to generate some atmosphere of fresh challenge to the devotees, so that they will agree enthusiastically to rise and meet it. That is the art of management: to draw out spontaneous loving spirit of sacrificing some energy for Krishna. But where are so many expert managers? All of us should become expert managers and preachers. We should not be very much after comforts and become complacent or self-contented. There must be always some tapasya, strictly observing the regulative principles—Krishna Consciousness movement must be always a challenge, a great achievement to be gained by voluntary desire to do it, and that will keep it healthy.”

As in many writings by Śrila Prabhupāda, the instructions in this letter are much deeper than they may seem at first glance. In his book “Apasampradayas, deviation of the disciplic succession”, Suhotra Maharaja makes an in-depth analysis of this letter, detailing the ideas given:

“I. To avoid the creation of “mad false devotees or pretenders:”

A. Recognize that bad habits are difficult to overcome.

B. New devotees should therefore be carefully educated, 1. First by getting them to chant the holy name, 2. and then by getting them to follow the regulative principles. 3. Unless one is prepared to follow the principles, he cannot live in the temple. 4. Attention should be paid to train a class of men, not a mass of men.

II. To avoid the defection of older devotees from the ISKCON camp:

A. The leaders must strictly set the example, and be vigilant to ensure that everyone is: 1. chanting 16 rounds daily. 2. rising by 4:00 AM daily. 3. and attending mangala arotika.

B. The “art of management” is to draw out the spontaneous loving spirit of sacrifice for Krishna. 1. Leaders should be careful not to kill the spirit of enthusiastic service, which is: a. individual, b. spontaneous, c. voluntary. 2. Leaders should always try to generate an atmosphere of fresh challenge to the devotees so that they will agree to enthusiastically rise and meet it.

C. As long as the regulative principles are followed by one and all, the future of the Krishna Consciousness Movement is very bright. 1. “Otherwise their enthusiasm dwindles and they again think of sex and become rascals and so many problems are there.” 2. In order to maintain their enthusiasm to follow the principles, the devotees must be engaged in satisfying occupations. 3. They should understand the principles to be part of the occupation; they will thus follow them automatically, realizing the “happier side of regulative principles.”

D. The mood of tapasya is vital to the health of ISKCON. “We should not be very much after comforts and become complacent and self-contented.”

Another reference is the Seven Purposes of ISKCON, a sketch for the goals of our society that Śrila Prabhupāda included in ISKCON’s incorporating document:

(1) To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all peoples in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world.

(2) To propagate a consciousness of Kṛṣṇa as it is revealed in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

(3) To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, and thus to develop the idea, within the members, and humanity, at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Kṛṣṇa).

(4) To teach and encourage the Sankirtan movement of congregational chanting of the holy name of God as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

(5) To erect for the members, and for society at large, a holy place of transcendental pastimes, dedicated to the personality of Kṛṣṇa.

(6) To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler and more natural way of life.

(7) With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and other writings”

All these references can give us some powerful insights.

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