Last Sunday morning, as with most Sunday mornings, I gave the Srimad Bhagavatam class at the temple. For the past two weeks first time visitors have come to the class, so I have had to adjust my presentation accordingly. At the moment it seems that many schools are doing projects on comparative religion, so students have been coming to the temple all through the week.
I was in charge of receiving a lot of students while in Peru, and I found that they generally asked the same questions. At the same time, different persons, even within the same group, would be satisfied with answers at different levels. Some would be satisfied with a general, superficial answer and would lose interest if I went into more detail. Others would demand to know why, why, why?
I developed succinct ways of answering the question that would leave the person either satisfied, or wanting to know more. If they wanted to know more, I would have the next answer that would either leave them satisfied, or lead them on. Sometimes devotees will answer inquiries by starting out: “Well, in the beginning of the universe Maha Visnu lies down in the causal ocean, and then Lord Brahma is born from a lotus flower that springs from his navel, then…….. and that’s why we shave our heads.”
Of course we’ve completely lost the audience in the meantime. Today’s generation lives and dies by the “soundbite”, the “schlogan”, the tasty sample that succinctly summaries the siddhanta.
So I could see some value in training devotees to handle these kinds of inquiries. I made a photo album up with photos of all the things that people would ask about: initiations, weddings, children, street chanting, etc., and I would go through that with them. I figured that a resource like this (the photo album), along with a book of Frequently Asked Questions about Hare Krishna and their Answers, would empower even a relatively new devotee to be able to expertly handle inquiries from the public.
My idea to create this Hare Krishna FAQ book was to compile frequently asked questions, and get experienced preachers to chip in with their ten cents worth. Each question would then be treated in the following way: First the question is given. Then one or more “sound bites” are given. These are the answers that you give if you are interviewed for the television or radio. You have seconds to respond there. You do not have time to build a case. Because people are used to receiving their information in this way it is often also like this even in face-to-face conversation with a group.
Next comes discussion of which sound bite to use in which situation. Then there is further elaboration with reference to the scriptures and Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, as well as statistics and facts relating to history and the present day society.
I’ve started the project as a wiki. You can see it here. The devotees here who are fielding the current wave of interviewers are collating their questions, and we will update the wiki with those, soon.
Today I talked with the director of Bhaktivedanta Children’s Home, Nandarani, about some of the children that come to her care. She told me a story of three children, all from the same family.
Nandarani (left) explained that when they first sat down for a meal at the Home, the children voiced concern that there would be enough food the other children. She told me that the children had earlier spoken to her of times when the food ration line near their previous home would run out, and they along with others had to go without. Never before had they experienced a time when they could eat as much as they liked!
