Last night we had the Sunday feast. It was quite mystical how it all came together. After Saturday night’s Full Moon festival and Engagement ceremony at Atma Yoga we were all quite worn out. We left Atma Yoga around midnight on Saturday night.

No-one was there to help Param Satya cook until 3pm - usually a couple of people are there from mid day. Somehow, in spite of this, the prasadam was ready on time.

There was no-one organized to give the class, and no theme set. On Saturday I worked all day. I didn’t have much time to prepare for the Saturday night program and the talk I gave. I thought about it for a while, and decided to use the time for prayer rather than preparation. I think a balance of the two is the best. Prepare as if it all depends on you, and pray as if it all depends on the Lord.

Anyway, I had no time to prepare anything. I was quite worn out from Saturday night, and also in anxiety about my 6 am yoga teachers training class on Monday morning, followed by another week at work.

First of all, I thought of a tactic that I’ve used before when asked to handle the presentation at the Sunday Feast with no notice - ask for questions up front. It’s actually a good angle to take. Part of preparation is to try to understand the audience in order to tell them what they need to hear. It’s difficult, because the audience changes each week with new people coming all the time. Asking for questions up front allows the audience to do the targeting for you. Asking for questions at the end can be intimidating, as people don’t want to appear ignorant. Asking up front allows people to ask whatever they want, and to dictate to an extent, the direction of the presentation.

Of course, once you start answering you can direct things from there, but it allows people to participate and contribute - two essential elements of authentic community.

Over the last few days I have been repeatedly watching this video of a debate on O’Reilly, a TV show in the States. It’s a great study in how not to get slaughtered in a debate. Be clear and consistent about what you stand for. Have your own positive agenda - don’t simply try to negate or oppose the opposition. Don’t respond to your opponent - simply repeat the main points of your message.

I really liked the way that the presenter handled the interaction. It was an interesting, engaging presentation. Mash-ups are the rage right now, so I mashed up the two ideas.

We convened a panel of three devotees - one young brahmacari, Matsya Avatara das, who has been studying and teaching Sanskrit in Vrndavan for the last three years. Rasika-seva devi dasi, our singing and dancing guru, and Yadavendra prabhu, Brisbane’s book-distributing disciple of Srila Prabhupada.

I played the part of the presenter and fielded the questions from the audience with a wireless mic. Each of our panel members spoke to the question, then I gave a synthetic summary before taking the next question. It was a lively interaction, very stimulating for the audience, who had the opportunity to interact and influence the presentation.

Being open to influence opens influence.

Having three different personalities on the panel enabled us to address the questions from a variety of perspectives. No one answer will satisfy everyone. There are infinite ways of understanding and appreciating things, and some people will be more attracted to one presentation than another.

Afterwards we had a nice kirtan with beautifully choreographed dancing. When the dancing is consistent and predictable, and there is clear direction, lots of people will join in. If it is too difficult, or requires too much individual initiative, then people will be reticent. The idea is to perform the dancing as a service, with the goal of involving as many people as possible. As more people join in the momentum builds. It is beautiful, and a creates a real sense of community. The idea of community is involve others, to give everyone an opportunity to participate and contribute. When people experience this they feel the common bond, the experience of authentic community.

Then of course we had dinner. Everything fell together nicely, by the arrangement of the Lord.