01 Introduction – Following in the Footsteps – Successful Vaisnavas Podcast
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Hare Krishna! Welcome to Episode One of Successful Vaisnavas, the podcast series dedicated to helping Hare Krishna devotees to be more successful by studying those who have already done great things.
I am your host Krsnendu dasa and I’m very excited and feel very privileged to be able to present this podcast to you.
In this first episode, I introduce the podcast, where the idea came from, its purpose, and what to expect.
Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page http://facebook.com/SuccessfulVaisnavas
Also feel free to contact me by email: krsnendu@successfulvaisnavas.com
Transcription:
Hare Krishna and welcome to Episode One of Successful Vaisnavas, the podcast series dedicated to helping devotees to be more successful by studying those who have already done great things.
Learning from Successful Vaisnavas
I am your host Krsnendu Dasa and I’m very excited and feel very privileged to be able to present this podcast to you.
A while ago, I began thinking that there are so many talented devotees within our movement, this Hare Krishna Movement. And I just thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if there if we could meet these successful Vaisnavas and interview them and find out what are the secrets to success. I was just thinking it would be really amazing if we could get inside their mind so to speak of these devotees and find out what are some of the things that they do differently that’s allowed them to be successful so the other devotees can learn from them, can get inspired and follow the footsteps to achieve great things as well.
There’s a famous quote that Prabhupada quotes. Originally it’s from the Mahābhārata spoken by Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, (MB Vana-pārva (313.117)) and it is quoted by Lord Caitanya in the Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta. It is a very popular quote that Prabhupada used to say many times “mahajano yena gatah sa pantha”
The essence of this quote is that we follow successful people, we look for the great people who have already had success and we follow in their footsteps. We try to copy what they’ve done and understand the essence of what they’re doing so that we can also be successful.
Srila Prabhupada wanted the devotees and his Krishna Consciousness Movement to be successful. He wanted them to be expert. It is one of the qualities of a devotee and there is one quote which I really like from Srila Prabhupada which focuses on this particular point. This is in a letter to Karandhara (72-12-22)
“Krishna Consciousness Movement is for training men to be independently thoughtful and competent in all types of departments of knowledge and action”.
So through this interview series and through this podcast we’ll be meeting different devotees who have lived up to what Prabhupada has presented here. They are people who have used their initiative to do something great, who have developed knowledge and skills and the right attitudes in order for them to do great things.
Once again I feel very privileged and honoured to be able to speak to so many wonderful devotees and find out their inner secrets. I am also feeling excited about the possibilities that can come from this podcast as well.
I feel that by doing this service, if I can just inspire a few devotees to take a bit more initiative or to just try to do a little bit more to spread Krishna Consciousness or to help them be more successful in their own application of Krishna Consciousness, I will feel that that this podcast has been successful. Because the real essence of presenting this podcast is to inspire.
Balanced Approach to Success
When I look around the Krishna Consciousness movement today I see so many devotees who are extremely talented. I see so much potential amongst the devotee community, which is not being used for various reasons. Many times I see that the devotees they feel “Who I am? I am not really qualified. I can’t go and do anything.” Devotees minimize their capabilities. They are thinking too small.
Other times I can see a disempowering attitude which is “Well, you know. Who am I? I shouldn’t do anything. First I have to be told by someone to do something. If my guru tells me then I’ll do it, but otherwise I’ll just be a humble devotee and I’ll just chant my rounds and do some small service.”
I don’t think this is really what Prabhupada had in mind for us. He wanted us to be independently thoughtful, not to depend on others to tell us what to do at every step. And as you’ll see through the interviews that come out through the series, devotees are always taking guidance from seniors but it’s not that we have to wait for every little decision from the seniors. We want to develop our own inspiration and start thinking big and then we approach our seniors and other devotees for advice and guidance on the best way to do those things.
This is a balanced approach to success. So anyway, I’ll jump off my soapbox now. As you can hear I feel very passionately that there is a lot of potential amongst the devotee community and I’m hoping that by hearing from these devotees in this podcast that more devotees will step forward and use the amazing talents they have for spreading Krishna consciousness.
Overview of Podcast
So in this podcast series it will mostly be interviews with devotees who have been successful. And from time to time we might also have some discussion about some different ideas separate from the interviews but the essence is to highlight devotees who are doing great things in our movement today and then learning from what they’ve done and the way that they have been able to achieve their success.
So without any further speaking by me, I welcome you again and thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to listen to this interview series and I please ask you to learn from these devotees, go out and do something great for Srila Prabhupada.
To conclude this first episode of Successful Vaisnavas I have two requests for you. The first request is to please go to https://successfulvaisnavas.com and please enter your name and e-mail address so that you can be kept up-to-date with the latest interviews and podcast episodes as well some other exciting projects which are in the pipeline. That was my first request.
Now my second request is to please apply the lessons we learn through the interviews. Don’t just take it as some theory or some philosophical discussion. Please look at it and think yourself “how can I apply this in my own life?” How can I use what I am learning in this interview to make a big difference through Krishna Consciousness. How can I use this to help myself and my own Krishna Consciousness and how can I use it to spread Krishna Consciousness and share it with others. So these are my two requests please go and enter your e-mail address and name over at https://successfulvaisnavas.com and please make the most use of what you learn through the Successful Vaisnavas podcast series and I look forward to speaking with you on the next episode which will be our first interview. Hare Krishna!
