BASIC MANAGEMENT BOOK FOR ISKCON TEMPLES

PROPOSED DRAFT

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

What Is A Temple?

The Temple

A Preaching Center

A Nam Hatta Center

An Iskcon Center

CHAPTER TWO

Basic Iskcon Management Structure

The Temple President

CHAPTER THREE

General Guidelines for A Good Manager

Srila Prabhupada's Unique Position in Iskcon

The Best Manager is The Best Preacher

Satisfaction of The Spiritual Master

Sadhana

Advance Notification

Honesty

Caring

Dealing With The GBC

Group Efforts

Considerations of The Asram of A Manager

CHAPTER FOUR

Pitfalls in Daily Management

Expansion Beyond One's Means

The Paraphernalia Trap

Lust, Anger and Greed

Boredom

CHAPTER FIVE

A Brief Description of The Relevance of Varnasrama in Iskcon

Engaging Devotees According to Their Propensities

The Role of Brahmanas in The Temple

CHAPTER SIX

The Temple Spiritual Program and Spiritual Standards

Training Programs for Devotees

Engagement of Others in Devotional Service

Deity Worship

Standards for Worship of Gaur-Nitai

Temple Preaching Programs

CHAPTER SEVEN

Temple Maintenance

CHAPTER EIGHT

Preaching - Book Production and Distribution

Harinam Chanting Parties and Prasadam Distribution

Festivals

Institutional Preaching

Programs Arranged by Other Organizations

Congregational Preaching

Bhakta Program

Guest Reception

CHAPTER NINE

Vehicles

CHAPTER TEN

Devotees Health and Welfare

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Cleanliness

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Sunday Feast

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Kitchen

Standards of Cleanliness

Purchasing Foods, Storage, and Garbage Disposal

Recipes

Management of Cooking

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Prasadam Serving

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

India Festivals and Other Communication to The Outside World

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Management and Administration

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Bookkeeping and Accounting

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Legal Affairs

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Public Relations

CHAPTER TWENTY

Ashram Life

Celibate Life

Grhastha Life

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Problem Solving

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Iskcon Farm Communities

INTRODUCTION

Management is an art. To properly manage a temple requires skills. These skills have to be learned before a temple may be properly managed.

Sometimes these skills are learned in the school of hard knocks, where hit or miss management gradually trains the temple president to understand what can be done and what should be avoided. But such schooling takes time, energy, and unfortunately costs a lot of money as wastage is high. A superior form of training is to learn from those who have already gone through enough schooling to understand what is the actual standard of temple management.

This book is meant to be a manual for training new temple authorities in their duties. It will not be the comprehensive and final edition on the subject, but rather a beginner's guide to ISKCON management. Those who systematically go through this book will get enough information to learn how to manage a temple even if they are complete managerial neophytes. Of course, a prospective candidate for the position of temple president must have certain prerequisite qualifications to manage. This book cannot grant one those qualifications if one does not have them, but it can help one who is basically qualified to learn.

As the preaching expands the number of centers in the world increase and the need for training temple presidents and other temple officers also increases. Originally this manual was written for the Soviet Union as there were many temples rapidly developing without proper leadership.

Later on it was adapted for usage by ISKCON around the world. This book cannot be complete, for situations can arise which we cannot now foresee.

The purpose of this book is to create a course of management. It is meant to educate neophytes into the basic principles of temple management, as they were understood from Srila Prabhupada and developed over the years in ISKCON. This book might also serve to help even an experienced manager see something which he missed over the years. In any case it is meant to help one successfully manage an ISKCON temple in most of its aspects.

Our simple advice is: read this book from cover to cover, then go back over the sections which you require to immediately improve and study them in great detail. Make the required changes in the temple you manage, and then move on to the next section and repeat the process until the temple is fairly well organized. If you have a hard time understanding some portion of the book, then address the questions to your local GBC who will most likely satisfy you.

I wish you the blessings of the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna in your attempt to increase your management skills, and pray that this work will both satisfy the Lord and accomplish its goals.

Harikesa Swami

Mayapur March 25, 1991