I’m not perfect, and I’ve learned as much from my own personal failures and failings as from my successes (as well as the failures and successes described by the saints and the scriptures). I’ve been caught in the self-destructive cycle, but I’m struggling hard to get out. Now when someone says to me: “Have you heard what so-and-so said / did / is doing” in a scandalized tone, I say: “Who cares. I don’t want to hear about it” if it’s someone on my team speaking to me, or else just change the subject if it’s not. Actually, people don’t really talk to me like that so much, because I don’t send out the signal that I’m available for such katha.

There may well be information that I would benefit from knowing - so that I can adjust the trim of my sails - but that kind of thing has to be discussed in appropriate clinical terms and settings, not emotive tirades or scurrilous gossip sessions.

Those kinds of conversations simply whirl the mind around without doing anything. It calls to mind the verse from the Bhagavat:

“Whatever you desire to describe that is separate in vision from the Lord simply reacts, with different forms, names and results, to agitate the mind as the wind agitates a boat which has no resting place.” - Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.14

Srila Prabhupada referred to it as “shop talk”, and it is the scourge of any organization. This kind of talk is unproductive and defeatist. I remember a conversation that I had with my spiritual master in Ecuador a few years ago. Here is verbatim a segment that burned itself into my memory:

You notice that I am emphasizing the positive. I’m not saying “don’t do this, don’t do that”.

Listen, I know that you live near a temple where you disagree with the management and what they are doing. Welcome to reality - “Everyone does”. Don’t waste your time trying to define your situation as unique and somehow special. Every city that has a temple has an alienated sector.

(I’m not speaking to anyone in particular with that, and if it doesn’t apply then let it pass over you. If you’re feeling a little hot under the collar right now, then yes, it’s probably you, among many other readers of this blog. )

We have to do one or two of three things - lead, follow, or step aside. If you know what to do, then do it (lead). Your positive example will speak for itself. If not, then find someone who does know, and follow them (follow). If none of the above, then whatever you do, don’t waste time fruitlessly criticizing others (step aside).

But the fact of the matter is that you must lead. In fact, everyone is leading all the time. Everyone influences other people by what they do and say - so no-one can say: “I don’t want to be a leader”. You are one, so take responsibility for that. In some areas we lead, in others we follow. In some areas we follow some and lead others. Whatever the case, we cannot escape the responsibility for influencing other people, for better or for worse.

So synchronise your concern with your influence. Forget about what temple manager X is doing in your city or in another city or another country. Figure out what you can do, and execute. If you don’t know what to do (and even if you think you do) find people you respect and get advice.

I personally get my advice from HH Ramai Swami, who is the local GBC representative, HH Devamrita Swami, my spiritual master, HG Tirtharaj Prabhu, ISKCON Brisbane temple president, and Akrura das, the founder of the Bhaktivedanta Leadership Institute.

Where you get your advice from is up to you. Take it from where you are inspired to take it, but take it from somewhere, and act on it to create positive change.

Not everyone can “change the world single-handedly”. I’m very inspired by Dhruva, one of the stalwart Brisbane brahmacaris. Through thick and thin, through administrative changes and upheavals, he has continued to apply himself to the distribution of Srila Prabhupada’s books. He reasons: “What can I do about all that? Here, however, is something I can do.” And he just keeps on keepin’ on, acting in the sphere that he is able to influence. As you do that, your sphere of influence and capacity to effect change will increase.

As we were discussing at the opening night of Atma Yoga, whatever good result we are able to see here is a direct result of this action of Dhruva’s, and others who have kept on keepin’ on, trying to create positive change through doing what they can to move things forward.

Forget about what’s going wrong and stop disempowering yourself with talk about how the management is bad. Just get on with life - shrink your sphere of concern to exclude what you can’t change, and work on creating positive change. Start from where you are.