The Missing Link…The Follow Up and Character Cultivation
Below is a sample of one form of follow up. What can be noted here is that 'the cultivation' does not only involve the persons that are contacted on the street level, but those who can come to a regular medium of public interaction where they can get to know you(one day a week will not suffice). For example in LA most of the books distributed are at the airport where in most cases you will not see those individuals again within the local region. However yajna is being performed which in turn brings in quality persons to visit whatever outreach programs that you may have available. Of course the best scenario is the three point touch of book in hand then later sound in ear and prasadam in mouth. With repeated exposure it is only a matter of time.
Below is part of a letter sent to the devotees in Melbourne:
Lately our service has been to try and enliven the brahmacari crew here. I am distributing books 3-4 days a week at the airport and am cultivating various professionals in and around the New Dwaraka enclave. We have our Gaura Yoga Center which is the Californian version of your 'Loft' urban preaching center. A unique difference here is that it is has a broad range of persons but most are of an older crowd. The venue is out of a doctor's office and caters to actors and actresses, martial artists, yoga teachers, college students and even one head district attorney for the LA County. Many of these persons come to the Govindas restaurant at the temple but have no outlet for adding Krsna into their life apart from our 'evening adventures' 3 days a week. These are persons are making advancement in these outside programs before they are ready to investigate our more traditional temple arena. The other night we experienced a major shift in one of our unique guests named Karmine, an elder afro-American heavy weight soul gal, a mystic channeler, past life regression therapist and devote Christian, who is generally depressed, leave her chair and her normal foot tapping asana to waltz around the room with percussion weapons in hand during the increase tempo of the kirtan. She whacked me on the shoulder as she later left saying" Yes I liked it tonight. I am perceiving increasing good energy here and this evening it was especially a good one". Name Prabhu ki Jaya!
At Govinda's restaurant I spend some time at one table in the corner over a vegetable smoothie while restaurant devotees, who know the individual frequenters, bring them over to the table and introduce them to me. This allows me to access the interested guests without polarizing the proficient woofers that congregate their daily. From movie stars to nearby hospital staff they come to get their Prasadam. In the past there has been no medium to take these persons further. Shortly, following the steps of the Gaura Yoga center, there is another cultivation angle of a large yoga center to be established in the basement of the brahmacari building that will run 7 days a week with classes than would accommodate 20-40 students. We have one new devotee who has opened schools in the past and with our Vedic follow up should be a major attraction. Bhakti yoga workshops will attract the cream of these visitors who like to come on a regular basis.
The most important task is that after we attract we take care of those that we meet. In this way 'characters' will come to stay. That is our needed future.
