IMAGINE
Imagine our worldwide ISKCON community where every single devotee has a sheltering relationship with a mentor to support and encourage them through the many spiritual and material life challenges. Mentorship is a benefit to all devotees new and senior, where they can open their hearts to someone who is there for them in a non-judgmental, confidential way to provide advice, compassion and assistance.
SHELTER
Giving and accepting shelter is a natural expression of loving exchange in our family of devotees. The many loving exchanges have been espoused by Sri Rupa Goswami and Srila Prabhupada has written in detail on the subject in The Nectar of Instruction.
Shelter is a vital aspect in spiritual practice and in the development and retention of happy and fulfilled long-term devotees.
Shelter requires encouragement and facilitation and is important even for advanced devotees.
BLOOPED, BURN-OUT
There are many instances where we see devotees leave the movement and it is important to understand why.
Are we nourishing devotees, caring for them, inspiring them, and maintaining them?
Keeping all devotees connected requires an understanding of their emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. Every devotee within ISKCON can benefit from a personal connection and a mentor.
IN GENERAL
ISKCON spends time and energy in Sankirtan and outreach activities to bring people to Krishna consciousness.
ISKCON easily attracts and brings people to Krishna Consciousness but it takes much more effort to provide ongoing nourishment, inspiration, and care.
Many of these 'new recruits' are very enthusiastic at the beginning and get very involved in the movement, taking on many services, absorbing the philosophy, etc.
But there can be a disconnect where devotees new and old are not getting frequent and continuous care and shelter and may be hesitant to seek guidance if there isn't a structure in place to facilitate this nourishment.
THE GOAL
The goal of the ISKCON Mentorship Initiative is to establish a framework, best practices, practicality, guidelines, content, knowledge and reference materials to assist every temple in having a strong and compassionate mentorship program.
This includes providing access to resources for mentors, mentees, temples and temple management as well as ongoing support, inspiration, and encouragement.
THE RESULTS
A good mentorship program results in devotee retention; happy and motivated devotees; devotees working together in harmony; and temple management being relieved from directly dealing with devotee mentorship and advice issues.
Please connect with the ISKCON Mentorship Team so that we can fulfill Srila Prabhupada's vision of a home in which the whole world can live.