Why establishing temples can sometimes be a mistake
Temples are important as places where devotees can go to perform devotional service and thus increase their spiritual standards, but a temple in itself does little to attract new people.
It may not look like it, but for several years, I was doing the worst job in the world, being (or at least trying to be) a temple president. During this period, I learned a few things that I try to share in my articles.
The first point is that, shocking as it may sound, temples are not always necessary to spread Krsna Consciousness. Temples are important as places where devotees can go to perform devotional service and thus increase their spiritual standards, but a temple in itself does little to attract new people. Depending on how things are organized, a temple can actually be more of a liability than an asset.
The main question to ask is if local devotees are eager for a place where they can regularly go to serve the Lord, or if they are happy with just having regular meetings. If this desire for service is present, a temple can be a good way to direct it, but if this attitude is not present, a temple can become a distraction, consuming resources that could be better utilized if used to implement or improve other projects, such as bhakti-vriksas, courses, festivals and so on, that have a more direct effect in attracting new people. When serious people appear, establishing a temple becomes natural, because they will be interested in donating and working for it. As long as such serious devotees are not there, we don’t gain much by trying to impose a temple on the group.
Another point is not to establish deities too soon, before there is a sufficiently mature and committed congregation desiring to participate in their worship. It’s better to introduce deity worship only after the temple is well established and there is a group of mature devotees who are seriously engaged. Proper standards of deity worship can only be established with time, as devotees progress in their commitment, receive first and second initiation, become more organized, etc. Often, we have some sentiment and want to rush things, putting devotees who are not initiated to worship, having irregular standards, etc. This usually does more harm than good. There is no point in inviting the Lord to reside in a place where He will not be well cared for. It just gives a bad example and creates friction with devotees who will not be comfortable in seeing the Lord neglected in such a manner. Many congregations fall into conflict and split because of lax standards of worship of the temple deities. We can avoid the whole situation by just waiting and establishing deities at the proper time.
In a letter to Karandhara (22 December 1972), Prabhupada explains:
“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.”
Devotional service can be only voluntary; therefore, the best practice for a leader is to detect what devotees are inspired to do and direct this desire and inspiration for service in the proper direction, presenting every new stage as a fresh challenge, so that devotees will be inspired to rise to the occasion. Often, however, we have a fixed idea of what we want to do, or how things should be established, and we try to fit the devotees we have around into this project, instead of trying to adjust our project according to what is needed for the particular group we are trying to assist.
Another problem in establishing deities too soon is that once deities are established, there is a strong need to maintain the standards of worship, which means not only worship but also cleaning, cooking, buying products, collecting funds, and so on. For maintaining all these activities, devotees are needed. If there is not a congregation of committed devotees around the temple to help with all of these activities, the only other option is to get devotees living in the temple.
The problem is that devotees willing to dedicate their lives to Krsna are very rare nowadays. In a pinch, one may be tempted to make compromises and accept people who are not very serious about spiritual life, or people who just want to do the minimum to have a place to live, just to be able to keep things going. The problem is that when the temple is run by devotees who are not committed, the standards go down quickly. As the spiritual standards go down, sincere people are driven off, and the temple is caught in a vicious cycle of getting more and more people of dubious character to fill the ranks, just to be able to maintain very low standards of worship. When things become like this, maintaining the temple becomes just a chore, and no one is happy, because the Lord is not happy.
On his purport to SB 7.13.8, Srila Prabhupada makes an interesting point on this connection:
“Temples and monasteries should be constructed for the preaching of spiritual consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not to provide free hotels for persons who are useful for neither material nor spiritual purposes. Temples and monasteries should be strictly off limits to worthless clubs of crazy men. In the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we welcome everyone who agrees at least to follow the movement’s regulative principles — no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating and no gambling. In the temples and monasteries, gatherings of unnecessary, rejected, lazy fellows should be strictly disallowed. The temples and monasteries should be used exclusively by devotees who are serious about spiritual advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”
It works much better when, instead of establishing deities, one focuses first on developing a smaller group of like-minded devotees dedicated to missionary activities like book distribution, harinamas, prasāda distribution, festivals, and outreach programs. Such dynamic programs nourish the right mentality in the devotees and attract other like-minded people, who will also want to sacrifice their energy to spread Krsna Consciousness. At this stage, programs can be done even in public parks, as Prabhupada was doing in the beginning. When the essence is present, and devotees are enthusiastic in practicing and spreading Krsna Consciousness, many options appear, but when this spirit is lost, even an opulent temple will not help.
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