The Trolley Preacher

Thursday morning I had to park at the East campus parking lot at Kean, because the main lot was full. When you do this you have two choices: walk a long distance to the main campus or wait for a trolley/shuttle to drive you there. Having once walked and experiencing first hand the misery of the trek, I decided to wait for the shuttle. The first five minutes of the shuttle were uneventful. Students chatting, some sitting in silence, starring out the window. Then all of a sudden a black, West African woman starting talking really loud.

At first I thought she was talking on her phone, but then I realized she didn't have a phone, nor one of those wireless earpieces. And then I finally could understand what she was talking about: how Jesus is our salvation and the only way to God. She started talking louder and louder and becoming more passionate and fiery. You could feel a collective uneasiness and tension on the trolley. Some people just fazed her out and continued talking to their friends. I sat there starring at her and listening to what she was saying. It was the same old born again type of rhetoric and propaganda. At one point I wanted to say: "So then all of the Muslims, Jews and Hindus are going to hell? What kind of God is that?" But I couldn't do it.

And then it got me thinking: why can't I have that kind of passion for telling others about Krishna? Sure, preaching on a trolley by loudly telling everyone, "Krishna loves you! You're not your material body! You're an eternal spirit soul! You're just serving your senses and becoming more and more entangled in the cycle of birth and death! Give up your selfish, material desires and just serve Krishna!" I would probably look like a loon and no one would take me seriously. So obviously it's not the most effective form of preaching or sharing Krishna Consciousness, but I had to appreciate this woman's conviction, devotion and passion.

Perhaps the problem is that I don't have that kind of conviction? Perhaps I don't feel that sense of urgency to share Krishna with others because I myself am not fully convinced of the process? I don't know. I don't feel like that much of a doubtful, faithless agnostic, but maybe there's some connection as to why I don't feel the need to actively "preach". One of my dear god brothers said to me, "What is preaching? What does that even mean anymore?" when I had told him of a dream I had in which we were preaching together. And it's a good question. What is preaching in this 21st century?

Do we really need to go out into the streets performing kirtan and distributing books? Is that even the most effective way to share Krishna Consciousness with others? Or does it make us look like the trolley preacher, loudly proclaiming the glory of God, but everyone looking at us like we're crazy and unable to relate to practical reality? Is it better to "preach" as a devotee just by being a decent, humble and service oriented person? And then if people become receptive we then share deeper aspects of Krishna Conscious philosophy and practice? To me that seems the more effective way of going rather than stirring up people's collective consciousness stereotypes of the Hare Krishna's as fanatical, robed cult members who pass out roses in airports.

Perhaps that way of preaching, i.e. - the preaching style and method of the late 60's, 70's and 80's was also related to desa-kala-patra or time, place and circumstance. In other words, what worked then won't necessarily work now. Can't we adapt our methods of sharing Krishna Consciousness without diluting or altering the essential principles and message? I believe we can and I believe it's inevitable that we constantly have to come up with creative ways of sharing Krishna Consciousness. Being in the line of my beloved Guru Maharaja, HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami Maharaja, he was all about the spiritual espionage; finding unconventional and "sneaky" ways of getting others to accept and practice bhakti-yoga. How glorious is this kind of preaching.

I feel that as devotees we have a duty to share Krishna with others. In a sense we have to "pay it forward" (I hate that term, but it's applicable and necessary). We have to give back what Srila Prabhupada gave to us. He went through so much austerity and inconvenience (from a material perspective) to bring us Krishna. How can we ignore or deny it? How can we be so callous and hard-hearted that we don't care or bother to carry on his legacy? We all just have to find our own little way of spreading Krishna Consciousness, just as the tiny spiders and chipmunks were tossing their tiny stones into the bridge that Sri Ramacandra built to Lanka. We have to make that kind of humble offering.

I'm sure I won't stand up on the trolley next week and start belting out the prayers to the Six Goswamis, but perhaps I can be more conscious of the opportunities to share with others the benefits of vegetarianism, yoga, restraint from intoxication, the need for spiritual awareness, etc. And of course the more conviction and faith I develop in the process of Krishna Consciousness the more I will be enthused and able to share it, thereby pleasing my Guru Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada and ultimately Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.