The ideas and people behind Successful Vaisnavas.
At Successful Vaisnavas we help Hare Krishna devotees boldly follow their dreams so they can live abundantly and make a massive difference through Krishna consciousness using their own unique talents.
Our primary source of inspiration and wisdom is his Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
We’ve also taken ideas from the vast body of wisdom that’s been developed over the ages and put into books and other forms that we can apply to Krishna consciousness as well.
The basic idea is that we wanted to use these principles of success, wherever they come from, so that we can become Krishna conscious personally, help us to develop Krishna conscious communities, and spread Krishna consciousness to others.
You may wonder why we want to do this, what’s the need? Well, looking around the Krishna consciousness movement I’ve seen that there is so much potential that’s just not being tapped. There are devotees with such amazing talents that are not being fully utilized. The idea of Successful Vaisnavas to be able to help to empower devotees to reach their potential so we can achieve much more in our Krishna consciousness movement.
I’ve also noticed that there are some dynamics which are not helpful for being successful. Whether that’s the individual mindset that some devotees have picked up or if it’s the social environment and the social setting which is holding back the movement and holding back the individual devotees from being able to really achieve something great.
That’s where I see the need is and I’m very hopeful that while using these techniques we’ll be able to make a difference, that we’ll be able to help devotees to do great things and help our movement as well.
About Krsnendu dasa
So a little background about me… I come from Auckland, New Zealand; I went to some good schools. I had a pretty good upbringing. Never had to worry about money while I was younger and things were good. As this project is about success, you might ask “What are some of my achievements?
Triathlon Champion
When I was at school I was a triathlon champion. I came second in New Zealand for my age group and was selected for the 1990 Commonwealth Games training squad. Naturally to achieve at that level I had to put into practice certain success principles.
Book Distribution
When I became a devotee I helped to reintroduce Krishna conscious book distribution in New Zealand. At the time book distribution was not happening in a direct way. There was business, and money from the business was subsiding free book distribution, but I helped to get devotees on the streets actually selling the books on their merits and that was great fun.
Teaching at Hare Krishna School
Then when I moved on from there and I began teaching some seminars to the congregation and doing Sunday schools, which lead me to become a primary school teacher at the Hare Krishna school for almost 10 years.
After those 10 years, because the school had actually grown from 10 students to 100 students, I was no longer able to do a bit of everything like I had been doing. I had been the bus driver, the accountant, the computer guy, as well as a teacher.
When the school became bigger we had to specialize more and because the government was funding our school and I was being paid as a teacher I had to focus on that. I kind of lost interest because for me I think the fun part was growing the school and marketing the school. Teaching alone just didn’t suit me so much so moved I on from that job and shortly afterwards my father passed away.
My Father’s Death
I went from the position where I was getting a regular salary and I had a wealthy father who I knew I could turn to when I needed him… to not having a salary and then not being able to access that security of that money that I thought I would always be able to access. It put me in a position where I had to struggle.
Those years were very eye opening for me; it’s given me a different perspective having grown up, as I mentioned, in quite a wealthy and privileged background to have to struggle for money and be in that position gave me a different perspective, made me understand much more the situation that many devotees go through.
Successful Vaisnavas Project
At that time I began chasing after different shiny objects, looking at different business opportunities just thinking how to get money. In that process I studied a lot of things and I got some insights which will make quite a difference for many people and hopefully save them from anxieties that I went through.
In particular, I learned a lot about business, marketing, investing and personal development that I think are very helpful for devotees operating in today’s world.
Business Model
At Successful Vaisnavas we provide videos, podcasts and articles for free. We also offer paid courses and other services which pay for the costs of running this website.
If you like what you see here please consider buying one of our courses or joining our membership program. Not only does this support the work we are doing, but also helps us to build a community of devotees committed to personal growth and thinking big. Through this Successful Vaisnavas project the aim is to help devotees live happy, abundant lives, spreading Krishna consciousness effectively. Each of us can make a difference in our own way, but together we can move mountains!
I hope you find what we share on this site useful.
Your servant,
Krsnendu dasa