The Swing Ceremony

Tridandisvami Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja
THE SWING CEREMONY
Rupa-Sanatana Gaudiya Matha

[This year Jhulan-yatra begins on August 20th. Every year there is a five day festival all over Vrndavana called Jhulana-yatra, at which time the vijaya-vigraha (small) Deities of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna are swung by hundreds of thousands of Vrajabasis and others, in their various temples or homes, on a beautiful swing attached to long ropes. Srila Narayana Maharaja yearly leads this festival at Sri Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha and Sri Rupa Sanatana Gaudiya Matha, at which time he gives a short talk about the significance of this festival. The following is a translation of both his Hindi talks, given on August 8, 2003:]

In the month of Sravana (the rainy season), the clouds in the sky begin to make a thundering sound and extremely fine mist-like rain drizzles everywhere. The atmosphere is very beautiful and pleasant after the heat of the summer months, for at that time all the forests of Vrndavana begin to bloom. Many types of flowers on both sides of the Yamuna, such as beli, cameli, jui, and madhavi begin to bloom. The bumblebees look here and there and chant, “Radhe Radhe” and the cuckoos also call out, “Radhe Radhe.”

The peacocks and peahens all call out “Keka keka.” Ke means: “Which male person has the ability to do a very wonderful thing? Srimati Radhika’s maan (Her sulky mood of transcendental loving jealous anger), as well as Her shyness and patience, are like a very tall and immovable mountain. Which male person, ‘Ke,’ can crush that mountain into powder so that there is nothing left? This person is Sri Krsna.” Ka means: “Which female person can do a very wonderful thing? There is a powerful, mad elephant named Sri Krsna whom no one can control. One person, however, by the goad of Her maan, can catch that elephant, bring Him under Her control, and then bind Him in the shackle of Her prema. Who is that? It is Srimati Radhika.” In this way the peacocks and peahens glorify Srimati Radharani and Lord Krsna.

At the time of Sravana, everything becomes green. The summer was dry, but now the rain has come and everything has come to life again. All the young brides are taken at this time from their mother-in-laws’ homes by their brothers, and they return to their fathers’ home.

Srimati Radhika was still at Her in-laws’ home in Yavat, however, because Her brother, Sridama, had not come. Much time passed and finally he arrived there on the full moon day, with some clothing and ornaments to pacify Srimati Radhika’s mother-in-law, Jatila.

Seeing Her brother Srimati Radhika wept, “O My dear brother, why have you come so late? Only a few days remain of this Sravana month. Why did you come late? Did you forget Me?”

Srimati Radhika then very happily left Yavat and went to Varsana, Vrsabhanupura, with Her brother; and there She met together with all of Her sakhis, Her intimate friends, as they had also returned to their maternal homes at that time. It was a very beautiful meeting and reunion in the place of their childhood play.

The sakhis made a jhulana (swing) for Her. They always make the swing on a kadamba tree and not on a tamal tree. The significance of a kadamba tree is that it carries the complexion of Srimati Radhika and the tamal tree has a complexion of Sri Krsna. The tamal tree is not very powerful, but the kadamba tree is very strong and beautiful. This signifies the superiority of Srimati Radhika – She can control Lord Krsna by Her love.

jhula jhule radha damodara vrndavana men
kaisi cchayi hariyali ali kunjan men

["Radha-Damodara are swinging on the swing in Vrndavana. O friend, how very green the kunja is!" (Jhula Jhule Radha Damodara, verse 1)]

We sing this kirtana at the time of swinging Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. It describes how Lord Krsna has come and is waiting at the swing with folded palms for His beloved to come. Srimati Radhika is in maan, and Her sakhis try to persuade Her to come by saying,

“Please give up your sulky mood and come at once to your beloved Krsna. He is waiting for You.”

In this way we are observing Jhulana-yatra and remembering the sweet pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna.

Decentralised Networks

The surprising truth about what motivates us

The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organisations

First of all I offer my dandavat pranaams at the lotus feet of my beloved Gurudeva, Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja.
All glories to Sri Sri Radha Govinda! All Glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga!

Srila Gurudeva wrote to me two years ago when I was organising a workshop called co-operation for a common purpose here in Auckland New Zealand. He had a message for the devotees attending:

“Take 100 % responsibility for your services and
respect each other and not think you are the master of others”

How could I help encourage devotees to take %100 responsibility for their seva?

When I thought deeply about it and did some research on the relationships in traditional hierarchical management models, I learned that control flows downward and responsibility flows upwards. In other words traditional hierarchical models do not encourage devotees to take responsibility for their seva.

I think an understanding of this is important for volunteer organisations such as ours. Volunteer organisations have few channels to give punishment and reward for wanted or unwanted behaviour. One of the challenges that volunteer organisations such as ours face, is how to inspire and encourage members to work for the organisations purpose. Srila Gurudeva often says we should be controlled by love. Is seva done within a hierarchical management system/ in other words for a reward or to avoid a punishment, being controlled by love?

What are other organisations similar to ours are doing to inspire their sanga?
From my study two examples stood out clearly:

• The local Christian Mega Church

• The Loft – a preaching initiative that Sita Pati prabhu a disciple of Devamrta Swami pioneered in Australia and New Zealand (Many of the devotees currently moving into ISCKON temples and distributing books have come through the Loft. I also came to KC through the Loft programme)

The common denominator among these two successful organisations was their management model – they had network models for leadership. Their decentralised models focussed on engaging and empowering everyday people to mobilise their skills and energy to serve a particular purpose.

Focus around purpose and not people or position
The network model does not mean there are no leaders. On the contrary it empowers hundreds of leaders to contribute their skills. What it doesn’t have are ‘formal positions’ which tend to encourage people to jockey to fill a position and then relax (or corrupt) into once they achieve that position.

There is a lot more too this idea that you could read about in The Starfish and the Spider
http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=be_4LRyepS8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false. I don’t see that this model of management interferes with the spiritual principles of the Guru and disciple relationship in our Sampradaya. I think as a leadership model we could learn from, and possibly join the unstoppable expansion of organisations that use this leadership model.

It aligns with Seva Teams: the first step by giving:

“members and groups of members the authority and self-confidence to be self-directing within the framework of Srila Gurudeva’s instructions and mission; i.e. send the message that initiative is expected and desired.”

And also with Srila Prabhupada’s statement “That is the art of management: to draw out spontaneous loving spirit of sacrificing some energy for Krishna.”

Perhaps this leadership model will help us become unstoppable in spreading Krishna Consciousness, especially in Western contexts where. Perhaps it could help us to the mood of Srila Gurudeva and encourage us to “take 100 % responsibility” for our services?

Aspiring to serve Srila Gurudeva and the Vaishnavas
Venu Gopal Das
New Zealand
Benhc1@gmail.com

Some of my sources:

Seva Teams Seva-teams: the first step
by BV Vaikhanas and BV Nemi

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AdOXVT4GbkqUYWpqNWtraHFuYjRoXzczanMydzh2d2o

Sita Pati’s Blog
www.atmayogi.com
The Starfish and the Spider

http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=be_4LRyepS8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Simply Strategic Stuff

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=oAhhXCuD9DwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=simply+strategic+stuff&source=bl&ots=vcN5JAv038&sig=DE9oNy_D0nA1iuqL58EoMf3wYc0&hl=en&ei=slLyS9i2BoH66QPsxIWODA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=true

Prayers to Lord Nrsimha

Building the foundation before we build the Palace

Building a foundation before we build a palace:

Ideas for a healthy local IPBYS

By Venu Gopal Das

In this brief article I address the question: 

1.      How can we create a healthy and prosperous division of the International Pure Bhakti Yoga Society (IPBYS) here in Auckland, New Zealand?

I suggest three steps:

2.      We form the healthy habit of respectful, recorded, open and transparent meetings.

3.      We re-think the current procedure for decision making.

4.      We actively make all financial aspects of our activities visible to participants in our local IPBYS.

Lastly I request you to give online feedback by:

5.      Adding your comments to this article on my blogpage.

1.      How can we create a healthy and prosperous division of the International Pure Bhakti Yoga Society here in Auckland, New Zealand?

To flourish, I think we need to rethink our old habits and co-operate to form balanced plans, which accurately represent the needs and wants of our community members.  Any entity that wishes to survive and flourish learns to constantly adapt and change in response to suit the environment.  Here in Auckland, there are new challenges, and we need to adapt and change in order to survive and flourish. We have: new regular members; Krishna school for kids; and the ever-important task of spreading Srila Gurudeva’s message of pure devotion.

2.       I suggest we form the healthy habit of respectful, recorded, open and transparent meetings.

Respectfully conducted, focussed and short discussions which are recorded enable transparency.  Transparency promotes accountability.  To discuss what transparency looks like further is outside the scope of this article but is important.  There are a number of helpful books and websites dedicated to describing how organisations can become more transparent. 

Free online Books:

What is transparency by Richard W, Oliver

How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media to Maximize … By Shel Holtz, John C. Havens, Lynne D. Johnson;

Websites:

 The art of Transparency in Business

Show and Tell: The Importance of Transparency

3.      I suggest we re-think the current procedure for decision making.

 

What do you think healthy decision making procedures looks like? As a sanga, how have we made decisions? How do we make decisions? Decisions that affect everybody.  Decisions about money, programmes, schedules and our future.  

In an open workshop which I organised in January 2008, called co-operation for a common purpose (based on Seva teams: the first step by BV Vaikhanas and BV Nemi), I argued that we move away from the hierarchical model and move towards a network model.  This in basic terms means that groups make decisions, not individuals. Where there are differences in opinion, win-win solutions are sought.

4.      I suggest we actively make all financial aspects of our activities visible/transparent to participants in our local IPBYS.

How do we deal with money? Who deals with money? Are money matter and decisions about money made visible to all? If not, are they secret decisions made in unrecorded meetings? Transparency requires numbers and records to actively be made available to members.  If these details are not visible and therefore secret, my question is: who is accountable for the outcomes of the decisions made?  I believe transparent financial accounts are essential and promote trust.  

Transparency  fosters accountability and sends the message: ‘We value the members of our group enough to include them and give them information, so that they can keep their fingers on the pulse of society projects and make informed suggestions and contributions appropriately’.

 “If you feel a growing pressure within you to build a facility, be sure to check your motives. Is it for image? Is it for personal reputation? Is it to prove that something significant is going on at your church? Is it to give you something to brag about at gatherings of area pastors?

Make sure that having a facility will serve the purposes of God in your community. Make sure that it will facilitate reaching more and more people for Christ. Remember, the church is a living organism made up of the people Christ died for. A building is only beneficial if the people are thriving.”

Above a relevant quote from Tim Stevens, in his free online -  Christian – but equally applicable book Simply Strategic Stuff.

Many of us are aware that SG wants his disciples to build the International Pure Bhakti Yoga Society (IPBYS).  I think the society would greatly benefit from agreed upon protocols – lets learn from the problems that other have had and work together to implement a healthy change of habit.

5.      Please comment on this article on my blog page.

In the interest of open discussion and transparency please add any short or long comments, recommendations and criticisms  to my blog at ‘Heart of Devotion’. I value your feedback.

Your in the service of Sri Guru and Gauranga

Venu Gopal Das

The Yoga of Living and Loving

Achieve new breakthroughs in you spiritual life. Learn practical skills for living and loving.

Nemi Maharaj is fascilitating a seminar on the 12th and 13th of December at Wellpark College for Naturl Therapies Albany Campus.

More info to come.  Visit www.yogaoflivingandloving.com for more info.

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