Welcome to the pelagic regions of the ocean of faults that wise men call the kali yuga. None of us is immune to the influence of this demoniac age of darkness unless we are completely the servant of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga with no tinge of selfish motivation. As such it will represent quite a challenge to us to complete this temple building project without many upheavals since we ourselves are issuing a substantial challenge horse to Maya Devi. Yet by so doing we will learn what we require if we are to become the loving servants of our precious Lordships. Maya Devi will not permit our acts of surrender to the order of Sri Guru without imposing considerable opposition to our plans. We cannot expect this temple building project to be without obstacles, and the best obstacle, the most insurmountable obstacle is to divide our ranks, thus turning friend against friend, and weakening us to the point of standstill.
           We can be abundantly optomistic about our future progress as long as we remain under the umbrella of shelter delineated by sadhu, guru and sastra; and to be truly within the shelter of our sampradaya, we need to accept a fair level of surrender to the structure of said sampradaya. Otherwise we are enlisted as pawns in the ranks of the battalions of Maha Maya and the best assistance that we can give to Maya Devi is to form teams, each in opposition to the other(s). This way we will waste our time quarrelling and achieve nothing. Do not permit sanctimonious pride to blind you to the fact that this is not only possible, it is inevitable. At certain stages during our sojourn together as members of the Gaudiya Matha, Maya Devi will hamstring our efforts; She knows our every weakness and will exploit every crack within our defences. As followers of the most bona-fide system of self realisation (ie: the philosophy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu via the brahma-madhava-gaudiya sampradaya), we represent a clear and present danger to Maya Devi mataji's strategic plans to serve Her beloved Lord by keeping conditioned souls completely in illusion and imprisoned within the material world. She will leave no stone unturned, and has an infinite array of tactical responses available for Her disposal: we would be well advised to be vigilant as all prisoners of war in the uprising against the dominion of lust to enjoy separately from Sri Krsna recieve the death penalty. Insurbordination is treated with extreme prejudice. She will offer all manner of distractions, each more enticing than the one that went before with each resulting in the same spiritual necrosis, and as false ego is so "safely" hidden well away, behind the realms of the disarray we call our body, mind and intelligence, it represents an obvious achilles heel, quite capable of diverting our focus from everything for which we currently aspire.
           Yet forearmed with knowledge of the tactics of our common enemy and instructed as we are by Sadhu, Guru and Sastra; we are aware that these attacks will eventuate, thus if we act according to the instructions of our well wishers who are arranging for our escape from the prison house of Durga, we can rest assured that nothing will stop us from pleasing Srila Gurudeva despite the enormity of the task wherein a handful of relatively impoverished, somewhat unskilled, ordinary persons are charged with building and maintaining a beautuful Vaisnava temple.
           By the will of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga anything is possible:
           mukham karoti vacalam pangum langhayate girim
          yat-krpa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarine.

   "I offer my respectful obesiances to my Spiritual Master, the deliverer of the fallen souls, whose mercy turns the dumb into eloquent speakers and enables the lame to cross mountains".
    We are actually very fortunate to have each other; each and every individual devotee is a really wonderful person, so dealings between the devotees are mostly quite sweet, yet, as happens to all groups, group dynamics can often leave a little to be desired, but we know that despite the fact that although there will be problems, frustrations, misunderstandings, mistakes and personal failures, anger, disenchantment, discouragement, discontent and dissapointment, because we are servants of our beloved Gurudeva, prone, as devotees are, to acts of tolerance and forgiveness, none of these things shall dishearten us thus keeping us from fulfilling the will of Guru and Krsna as long as we remember to always act as perfect gentlemen. And since we already understand how to interact with others we are at a distinct advantage.
           We should treat all persons with respect according to each one's qualification. To persons below our station (persons requiring assistance to serve the Lord), we offer kindness together with instruction and example so that they may become inspired to reach towards a higher level. To persons who are on a similar level of consciousness to ourselves, we offer our best of friendship and acceptance, whilst if one is above our level of consciousness, we humbly offer our service.
   Everybody with whom we have any dealings at all fits into one of the above catergories and as Sriman Mahaprabhu Himself has stated in Siksakstaka 3, tolerance, humility, the giving of respect to others and not demanding respect for oneself are of paramount importance to sadhakas, travellers as we are upon the bhakti-margha.
   Srila Gour Govinda Swami so often stated that if a list of all persons' names were to be compiled, then his name would appear at the bottom. By this I can understand that he saw himself as the servant to everyone. It has been the gift of his loving kindness that has kept me struggling along this bhakti marga for so many years despite my obvious disqualifications. I personally believe that it is the respect that Vaisnavas so freely give that solidly locks the door on maya.
           So when our brothers and sisters act in ways that we ourselves would prefer not to act, whether due to ignorance or simply due to being overwhelmed with too many commitments, too many distractions, or other overload, we can always extend the hand of forgiveness for we well know not to judge our brothers since we are aware that everything is under the complete control of Lord Sri Krsna Himself, and after all, forgiveness is a good part of what brotherhood is about. We know that we are all drowning in the same ocean of misery and if one or more persons is lacking in perfection then that is to be expected. If we can understand that this is just maya's trick to keep us from cooperating, then nothing can prevent us from achieving our goal. No need to see faults in others when we have plenty of our own. And it will be difficult, especially for us here, fighting at the front lines. None of us is immune, but for the pleasure of our beloved Srila Gurudeva who has tolerated so much difficulty to bring us to this path of Krsna consciousness, let us preach by our example, let us make the effort to offer him this gift of our tolerance and cooperation so that by our achievements we may offer him concrete glorification (pun intended) that demonstrates to the skeptics that our Gurudeva is amply bona-fide and is extending the mercy of Sri Gourangadeva by engaging the lowest of the low in the actual service of Sri Sri Radha Govinda.
           Service to our Gurudeva is our only wealth. As long as we take his instructions seriously, we will make progress and he will bless us with peacefulness and enlivenment.

           Furthermore: His Divine Grace Srila A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has said in his purport to Bhagavad Gita, verse 4:34 " Satisfaction of the self-realized spiritual master is the secret of advancement in spirital life."

           Thus, the way I see things is that we must realise our dependence upon Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga and understand that if we are to achieve the pleasure of Sri Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mahaprabhu and Srila Gurudeva, then we must do everything Their way. Doing things according to the normal material world modus operandi will lead us to the usual material world dysfunction, politics and discontent. After discussion with various devotees as to what they feel is necessary for us to function as a well-oiled social machine together with some research into my Lord Srimad Bhagavatam, it is clear that we must adhere strictly to vedic social structure, such that those who are inclined to act as brahminas can function happily as brahminas, those who are inclined to act as ksatriyas are able to do so optimally, without resistance, and the devotees who have adopted vaisya habits will be contentedly engaged in guruseva according to their own abilities, and last but not least, the sudras are in a peaceful, inspired frame of mind in their service to the community. Thus the organic whole functions smoothly for the benefit of one and all, permitting us all to get on with our work of completing this project on the land that Srila Gurudeva has sanctioned, both for his pleasure and for our own spiritual sustenence.
           If I might be so impertenent as to offer a fully functional managerial structure, in line with vedic thought, I would be inclined to state that we need a brahminical advisory comittee, a ksatric managerial group, plus a team of vaisyas suppling the requirements of Srila Gurudeva's temple (both current running costs and future expansion needs), and a committment from everyone else to serve the temple in whatever capacity their status permits (including a small but regular financial contribution), with no section of the community assuming more importance than any other, each humbly offering within the constraints of her adhikara. The members of a team need to recognise each others' strengths and limitations, and thus by accepting each other as we are with no expectations beyond the abilities of the individual team members, we are in a position to realistically estimate our goals, and in a spirit of belonging to an organic reality, wholistically larger than the sum of its parts, we are poised for success. This can only happen if we remain adamantly focussed on the instructions and the guidance of sadhu, guru and sastra; if we allow the whimisical mind to assume control, thus succumbing to the egotistical, neurotic acts of criticism, self-importance, and other anticivism we will come to no real success as a group.
           Vedic social structure summarised below:-

•                            Advisory comittee headed by a local senior brahminical vaisnava, who is joined by mature and dedicated devotees who can offer level headed, intelligent and pertinent direction tempered with wisdom. A clear understanding of and dedication to the wishes of Srila Gurudeva would be a distinct advantage to consolidate any devotees within this social strata.



•                            Administrative group of devotees with both a powerful comittment and demonstrated basket of managerial skills commensurate with our level of activity as a yatra to head functional and dynamic leadership team. We need devotees with a proven record in the critical ability to work together and get things accomplished. This means those who have previously displayed actual ksatriya tendencies not merely sudras who like to believe that they are ksatriyas.



•                            Acquisition team of fund raisers with the ability to serve our Srila Gurudeva by collecting the large amounts of funds required to permit a yatra to function as a front line battalion in the war against maya, without testing our supply lines and to initiate, maintain and expand sustainable strategies for cow protection programmes. Here we can only be referring to those who have demonstrated a passionate commitment to making money, farming/agriculture/living from the land and practical cow protection.
     Whilst not everyone can fulfil this duty, I'm sure that there are more than one or two devotees who have definitely exhibited the required vaisya talents necessary for such an esteemed and important position.
     Of course, this team would hardly stand in the way of any group or groups of devotees who have a special fund raising venture such as prasadam distribution at fairs etc.
     We also need an affordable but regular monetary committment from every person coming to the temple.
•                            A regular and inspired committment from all the rest of the yatra as cleaners, cooks, bottleswashers, garland makers, bookkeepers, musicians, designers and producers of Deities' outfits, gardeners, etc. which can only be achieved when the yatra is happily governed in a vedic fashion, all under the guidance of Srila Gurudeva liasing as required with our most distinguished devotee as our local Chief of Operations, spearheading the battle against Maya Devi.

           For further reading on this topic please see what HDG Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada says regarding democracy: for example SB 2.7.9. For information regarding the instructions of the manu-samhita concerning the vedic social structure see SB 4th Canto chapters 14 and 16, for elaboration on this topic.
   Furthermore, our success depends entirely upon the degree that we are willing to, in a caring and understanding manner, cooperate with each other as Krsna conscious devotees submissive to the framework of authority, within which Krsna has sanctioned our work. As Krsna Himself points out "As they surrender unto Me I reward them accordingly..." BG 4.11.
  Whilst varnashrama is not bhakti marga per se, and can in no way replace actual sadhu sangha (mahat sangha) or the loving devotional focus of bhakti, and in the Kali yuga it is impossible to properly follow the varnashrama system, we can at least embrace the principles of our varna if not our ashrama for it offers the advantage of a smooth interface between those of diverse natures and abilities; a powerful advantage in this evil age wherein our minds are always disturbed (See SB 1.1.10. and 1.1.11. Purport, second paragraph). We must be willing to recognise ourselves as we are so that we may effectively employ our talents in the service of our Gurudeva. To profess a desire to live on the land merely to get out of paying rent is not sufficient, neither is the subterfuge of desiring an administrative post as a device to compensate for our lack of self esteem; service to our Lord must stem from a genuine desire to engage ourselves as far as we are capable (permitted), in the service of the personification of actual loving, Srimate Radhika Herself and Sundararaja Sri Krsna. All self esteem flows from contact with reality; humility is not a predicate to lack of self esteem, in fact, the reverse is true. Actual humility is a strength not a sign of weakness. If we are quite willing to take full responsibility for all of our own choices by humbly accepting all of the resultant consequences, then where is weakness to dwell? Certainly not in the same abode as bravery of this calibre.
  The peace, love and organic brown rice, happy hippy, great big family brotherhood concept cannot work and it does not work, otherwise Krsna would have recommended it in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Srila Gurudeva wants us to be all brothers but not at the expense of decorum; that is not even brotherhood. Those who are willing to be brothers by all means should be brothers but those who lack the understanding of responsibility within brotherhood and simply exploit, need to be governed and to make it equitable, we all are governed. The only difference is that the brothers are governed voluntarily whilst the rest are governed against their wishes.
  Even in the dvapara yuga the ksatriya ruling class had to deal with upstarts, what to speak of the kali yuga.
  The iron clad jackboot of an earlier era is actually a bona-fide governing device, provided it is administered with the love, wisdom, justice, mercy, equity and restraint of the brahmina class. (Of course, when it is deployed to elicit personal gain it becomes another form of evil, the result of which is mayhem and distress.)
   Ultimately Srila Gurudeva is the final say. He is our final authority on this and any project, in fact, our very lives. Whether we accept or not is up to us, but success in any endeavour depends upon the degree of our surrender to the will of the Lord, as instructed by our Srila Gurudeva in accordance with sadhu and sastra.

           My humble efforts to describe for the benefit of one and all, a workable management structure based on vedic guidelines is not in any way intended as an attempt to contol people, as it is not up to me to decide how other people should act, in fact the original idea was not mine at all, it was offered to me by another and I've deliberated upon it for some time till now when I simply offer it to the members of the yatra as a gift of advice; this entire website is for the benefit of devotees of the yatra, the product of the fluid, though albeit somewhat ruminating intelligence with which my Lord Sri Krsna has blessed me to utilise in His service, and as such, it is an offering to my beautiful Srila Gurudeva, that may or may not be utilised by the devotees to facilitate their efforts at seva, according to their wishes. I humbly apologise if I have offended anyone, for offence has not been my intention. Let this entire page be a mere suggestion to the devotees, but nevertheless, due to the serious extent of our committment, I myself believe that in this day and age where Maya has us tightly in the grip of her claws, that tight but humane government, administered according to the abilities of individuals and respected by those of the lower echelons, will prove to be a necessity.
           So, as we are all beggars in this material world, begging for the crumbs of actual happiness, spiritual happiness, I humbly beseech you to do whatever you can to further the construction of the Sri Giriraja Goverdhana Gaudiya Matha Temple here at Murwillumbah, Australia. Thus many devotees from all over the world may gather together, both now, and in future generations, to worship their Lordships, hear sadhu sangha, and raise their children in a happy, loving, co-operative, krsna conscious atmosphere.
                              Your servant
                              tarunkrsnadas
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