00
BASIC MANAGEMENT BOOK FOR ISKCON TEMPLES
PROPOSED DRAFT
**
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