Hare Krishna,
My respectful obeisances to all Vaishnavas. One important issue is being introduced by me by the mercy of my beloved spiritual master Srila Prabhupad.
Question asked below is the situation faced by me many times in my life while preaching & trying to cultivate people in Krishna Consciousness.
Question:
Many times, during our preaching hours we meet with some pious man or woman or family. Here "pious" means that the concerned person is not reluctant to Krishna Consciousness, generally not engaged in major sinful activities & most importantly,they are listening to us very interestingly.
We spend some time with them, give them some Prasadam & books, invite them for temple festivals etc. Then by a phone call, we arrange 2-3 meetings with them in order to cultivate them. Then-after we introduce chanting of holy names of the Lord. At those moments, we are generally not conscious about Krishna or Srila Prabhupad but we have a high level of anxiety to make "that person/those people" Krishna Conscious. In days & nights, many time we think of them & try to draft out a plan to make them to chant.
If by investing a good amount of time & energy by preacher, they don't become Krishna Conscious, then preacher's heart breaks down.
Is this right to be conscious of any person except Krishna & his pure devotees just for sake of preaching? What should be our proper attitude while preaching & giving people final touch to chant? If after lots of endeavor, someone don't become interested in KC, then what should be our reaction? What should be a legitimate limitation of efforts invested on a single person?
Summary of Question: Sometimes it becomes highly difficult to be Krishna Conscious while preaching to a potential person having good chances to become a Krishna Devotee & as a preacher we put our life and soul to make him devotee at any cost & meanwhile we forget Krishna & Srila Prabhupad completely.
Dandwat.
Replies
The success in growing plants depend on many factors, mostly depend on quality of the seed, soil and water. If one put the seed on stones, then it wont grow. Also if the quality of the seed is bad, then the plants will be weak, unable to give a desirable fruits.
From thousands who reads the books, maybe some of them will be convinced. From those who are convinced, some of them start to follow the process. From those who follow the process, only those with firm faith in Lord will progress.
Considering all that, it can take many life times to achieve the goal, but those who get mercy of those with waken love for Lord, can go trough the process with the speed of light.
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
You have answered your own question prabhuji. "We" are no one to introduce anyone to KC, it is simply the mercy of guru, acharyas in parampara and Gauranga. At such times, when you are making efforts to introduce someone to KC, you should be internally praying fervently to guru and gauranga to shower Their mercy on this soul. If that soul starts chanting, it is not to your credit at all - the mercy passed through you, you are no one to give mercy. Its like a straw feeling proud it is providing cold drink to the drinker. What is the credit of the straw - it is only the medium. Whatever is there in the bottle or glass will flow to the drinker. Same way, we have to simply repeat what we have learnt from books, lectures and personal realisations when we are preaching. Whether someone accepts or not, is their part of the work.
Yes, we can be vigilant and ask questions on what difficulties are being faced to accept and if required, tell them its ok to take time to accept the philosophy. What is important is start walking down the path. We can even offer help in terms of counselling, financial (loan) or emotional support etc. However, all this has to be done without expecting anything in return. What will appeal to their hearts is the selfless service you are rendering. If there is a hidden agenda, nobody is fooled, they will figure out sooner or later and that will take them away from this path.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD
Hare Krishna Mataji,
Very very thanks for your answer. Yes! Ultimately mercy comes from Guru & Gauranga only, we are just a medium.
Dandwat.