Report 2013 - ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry

Report 2013

ANNUAL MINISTRY REPORT 2013

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Gaura Purnima Seminars 2013

  • New Tools for Preaching: “Sraddha-kutir” and “Bhakti Steps”
  • Damodar Program “Kartika Month”

Second International Bhakti-vriksha Convention in Mayapur, March 2013

  • 300 leaders from 12 countries attended.

Activities by the Ministers

Co-minister H. H. Jayapataka Swami

  • Kolkata Annual Bhakti-vriksha Convention in Mayapur with 1500 devotee
  • Congregational Development Annual inspirational day in Argentina
  • Meeting with Congregational Leaders in Chile
  • Second International Bhakti-vriksha Convention in Mayapur.

Co-minister Kaunteya Prabhu

Tools for preaching “Sraddha Kutir & Bhakti Steps”

Second International BV Convention

India:

  • Tamil Nadu
  • Chennai: Bhakti-vriksha seminar (9 hours).
  • Andhra Pradesh
  • Tirupati: ISKCON Leads, 4-day seminar, “Building Vibrant Vaisnava Communities”; 34 participants from all over India.
  • Karnataka
  • Bangalore: Bhakti-vriksa presentation, talking with leaders
  • Kerala: various presentations, talking with leaders, etc.
  • Trivandrum
  • Ernakulam
  • Cochin
  • Maharashtra: seminars, discussions with leaders or lectures in:
  • Nasik
  • Govardhana Eco Village (Wada) (also present for the WIDC meetings)
  • ISKCON Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir, Chowpatty
  • Aurangabad
  • Ahmednagar
  • Baramati
  • Nigadi (Pune)
  • ISKCON Pune (new temple)
  • ISKCON Pune (old temple
  • ISKCON Juhu, Mumbai

UAE:

Seminars/lectures in:

  • Shyamdesh
  • Gauranga Desh
  • Srivas Angan

USA:

  • Presentations/seminars/lectures/talking with leaders in:
  • ISKCON DC, Potomac, Maryland
  • ISKCON Baltimore, Maryland
  • ISKCON Columbus, Ohio
  • Canton, Michigan
  • Novi, Michigan
  • ISKCON Detroit, Michigan
  • Cleveland, Ohio
  • New Vrindavana, WV, Festival of Inspiration seminar; meeting with Congregational Development Department
  • Pittsburgh, PA
  • ISKCON Atlanta, meetings with congregational leaders
  • Cincinnati, Ohio, ISKCON community
  • Cintamani Dham, Kentucky
  • St Louis, Missouri
  • Tulsa, Oklahoma, ISKCON community
  • Tucson, Arizona
  • ISKCON Phoenix, Arizona

Activities by South East Asia Regional Coordinator (Rasika Murari Prabhu)

  • January – May 2013: Sourcing and gathering related journal, paper and manuals on various social and welfare ministry
  • February 2013: Discussion with ISKCON Malaysia leaders on the proposal, inputs and planned implementation works on Social and Welfare Ministry in ISKCON Malaysia
  • April – July 2013: Promoting CDM related courses. Conducted seminars and motivational talk at various Yatras in Malaysia and local Universities
  • September – October 2013:  ISKCON Malaysia National Convention and ADC meeting with GBC (HH Bhanu Maharaj and HH Jayapataka Swami Gurumaharaj)
  • Prepared and presented ISKCON Malaysia preaching report to NC members and GBC.

Damodara

December 2013: Damodara Preaching Activities in Malaysia (Programs=5366, Ghee lamps=58,665, Prasadam=41450 and Books=2042 – updating still in progress) 

  • Programs (home programs and public programs) 8000
  • Ghee Lamps offered 185,000
  • Prasadam distributed 80,000 plates
  • Books distributed 1700

BHAKTI-VRIKSHA

Activities by South American Regional Co-ordinator (Manohara Syam das)

  • February 2013: Argentina, visit Bhakti-vriksa groups. Seminars in Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata.
  • October 2013: Established contact with Brazil Yatra for helping to organize Congregation development
  • November 2013: Organized first visit Of H.G. Mataji Prema Padmini to Argentina.
  • November 2013: Seminars at Buenos Aires temple for devotees interested in developing Vaisnavas communities
  • November 2013: Seminars about Bhakti-vriksha in Buenos Aires.
  • November 2013: Seminars about Grihasta Ashram and woman in Krsna Consciousness.
  • November 2013: Seminars for Bhakti-vriksha leaders Mar de Plata
  • November 2013: The art of Bhakti-vriksa Rosario

Activities by bhakti-vriksha senior coaches (Vijay Venugopala Das and Prema Padmini Devi Dasi)

  • April 2013 – Siwan – inspiring preachers
  • April 2013 – Mathuradesh – Ratha Yatra & leaders meetings
  • April 2013 – Nagpur – Strategic Planning
  • May 2013 – Germany
  • June 2013 – Moscow – Relationships
  • July – Aug 2013 – Nizhny Novgorod – BV Festival and School
  • Aug 2013 – London – Birmingham – Seminars
  • Sep 2013 – Chennai – Bhakti-vriksha Seminars
  • Oct 2013 – Nagpur – Bhakti-vriksha seminars and training
  • Nov 2013 – Argentina – Buenos Aires, Rosario, Mar del Plata – Grihastha
  • Seminars, BV seminars, Strategic Planning, Community Development Seminars,
  • Counseling
  • Nov 2013 – KK Desh – BV seminars, Counseling
  • Dec 2013 – Moscow – BV Winter School 
  • Devotee Care meetings in Gaura Purnima (Mayapur) and October in Mumbai.

Activities by Bhakti-vriksha coaches (Advaita Chandra Das & Kalasudha Devi Dasi)

  • Creation of 20 New Preliminary Edifications which are primarily geared towards Westerners and also can be used for Indians.
  • Created videos on how to approach, contact and invite westerners to a Bhakti Vriksha Gathering.
  • Initiated a 10 Roles Document for all Bhakti Vriksha groups so that members are engaged from the very beginning in active service on behalf of the group. We have seen that it helps in easy multiplication of the groups.
  • Formed a Bhakti Vriksha Academy in Houston for training new servant leaders in Bhakti Vriksha.
  • Total of 13 Bhakti Vriksha groups in Houston. 10 Indian groups, 2 Western groups and 1 Spanish group. The Spanish group will multiply in couple of weeks.
  • Once every 3 months, Houston temple honors and recognizes the devotees who are chanting some rounds in the “Path to Perfection” Shiksha program. Around 15 devotees participate every time.
  • We were invited to Atlanta in the month of April for a 2 day workshop on the implementation of Bhakti Vriksha. They have started 2 groups and are in the process of starting one group for westerners. Atlanta is also implementing the “Path to Perfection” Shiksha program and the Sraddha Kutir program.
  • Charlotte invited us in July for a 2-day workshop. It was very successful. The congregation is very vibrant and they conducted 35 Damodar Month Programs and as a result of that, they have now started 3 groups.
  • Boston temple invited us in August for a Bhakti Vriksha workshop over 2 days. They have started 1 group for westerners and 2 groups with Indians.

Special note about Bangalore, India

  • As of Jan 2014, there are102 Bhakti-vriksha Groups (1326 devotees) and 50 Manjari Groups (Potential Bhakti-vriksha groups)
  • Achieved 4th place in India for the 3rd consecutive time in Congregational Development
  • Around 600 + devotees accepted SHIKSHA commitments at various levels in a year
  • During Bhakti-vriksha MAHAMELA (Congregation Devotees Meet) in May 2013, around 800 + BV members assembled
  • Around 75,000 + general public attended the Janmastami festivals conducted in 6 places in Bangalore
  • Around 1 lakh people have been induced to offer lamps to their lordships during Kartik
    programs
  • Around 21,000 + Bhagavat Gitas have been sold during Book Marathon 2013

Videos

We created a video for the importance of the month of Kartik and the Damodara Program

ISKCON Prison Ministry

  • Srila Prabhupada’s Books: 3,475
  •  Books by Other Devotees: 332
  •  Total of 3,807 books
  • Tapes: 104
  • CD’s: 343
  • DVD’s: 24
  • Japa Mala Sets: 97
  • Neck Beads: 25

PUBLICATIONS

  • Bhakti-vriksha Brochure for Leaders
  • Damodara Brochure
  • Bhakti Home (Sraddha-kutir) Brochure for Leaders
  • Gita Program Brochure
  • Gita Program Course DVDs

Our books on Amazon Kindle:

  • The Sector Leader
  • Free to Preach
  • The Bhakti-vriksha Leader
  • The third Partner (Eng/ Spanish)
  • The Bhakti-vriksha Manual second edition
  • Sri Godruma Kalpatavi
  • The nectar of Congregational Preaching
  • A Vaishnava in every neighborhood
  • Counselling in Bhakti-vriksha,

Ministry YouTube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/iskconcongregation

With 110 videos in English and Spanish presenting different ideas in how to expand the congregation development. We had a total more than 8000 views.

Facebook page

 (https://www.facebook.com/iskconcongregation)

www.facebook.com/ISKCON.BV?ref=br_tf

This networking tool is allowing us to have daily contact with several devotees around the world who are interested in Bhakti-vriksha. For several hours every day, they are guided and directed by a devotee who is trained in the Bhakti-vriksha program.

Shopping Cart
Scroll to Top