By Vaishnavanghri Sevaka Das
“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna……..” ringtone buzzed. Krishna Das nervously took his mobile from his pocket and looked at caller name. Govinda Das, a senior devotee is calling. There is no other option than to take the call.
“Hare Krishna Prabhu, what are you doing?” Govinda prabhu’s voice echoed in the ear. Krishna Das became restless as he is already late for a program. However, he maintained composure and replied the call.
“I am just leaving for attending goal-setting work shop by Vaishnavanghri prabhu today morning. I am already late” Krishna Das said.
“What Goal setting? Going back home, back to Godhead is our goal! Why any other new goal setting exercise?” Govinda Das gave a happy laugh on the phone.
“I can’t answer your question? But, if you want to clarify your doubt you may also attend for the workshop” Krishna Das suggested.
“Okay, I am joining you. Wait for ten minutes” Govinda Das said over phone and arrived as promised. Both jumped in a car and reached the venue just in time. Already all the devotees assembled there in a hall and started reciting invocation verses. Then with prema dhavni the initial proceedings are completed.
“Desire and goal are two different things. There is a gulf of difference between them” Vaishnavanghri started his seminar. “Desire is an activity of mind, whereas goal is an activity of intelligence. Krishna Consciousness means intelligence activity.”
Everybody is hearing with enthusiasm and deep concentration. All are taking notes seriously. Govinda Das and Krishna Das are also hearing happily. Govinda Das is very happy as the first topic itself is of his choice.
“Devotees say that going back home, Back to Godhead is their goal. But, they should analyze whether it is their desire or goal” Vaishnavanghri said very clearly.
Govinda Das just got stunned to hear that statement; Krishna Das looked at him smilingly.
“First, desire for an achievement develops in mind. But, to convert that desire into a goal one has to use his intelligence. For that purpose an action plan has to be devised. Time frame for the activity, identification and acquiring resources, review of the progress, etc. become the important points. When all these are nicely arranged, then the desire gets converted to goal. When the goal is achieved it results in great enthusiasm in the performer, who endeavors to set further higher goals. If these things are missed out, desire remains just as a desire. This is the difference between desire and goal” Vaishnavanghri said.
Govinda Das understood the point. He could realize the difference between desire and goal very clearly.
“In the corporate world every year individual goal setting activity is done religiously. This activity is done very meticulously, reviewed periodically and evaluated thoroughly to decide the yearly increments. This process is done at all levels without any discrimination. What is the reason? What is the purpose of that activity?” Vaishnavanghri raised the point.
“It is business. It’s all about money” one devotee answered.
“But, Krishna Consciousness is a more serious business. It’s all about the deliverance of soul. The struggle is going on for millions of years. Do you think goals are not required? Is progress monitoring not required?” Vaishnavanghri asked seriously.
Everybody nodded their heads in positive mode. “But, in corporate world all goals are linked to only business growth. That is they are linked only to intelligence. There won’t be any goals pertaining to mental status or body. But, these two factors influence a lot the intelligence of the employee. It means action of intelligence depends on body (health and freedom from bad habits) and mind.”
“All devotees desire only one thing. That is going back home, Back to Godhead. But, if this desire is not converted to goal it just remains only as desire or remains in words. However, this goal can’t be achieved in one day or one year! When we achieve some goals every year we move towards our ultimate goal. There is a process for achieving the same. It is called ‘inverted pyramid model.’”
Vaishnavanghri started drawing some pictures on white board with colour pens.
“This is called inverted pyramid model. Setting yearly goals and achieving them is a process that acts as a driver for transforming normal pyramid model to inverted pyramid. This transformation may take around 15 to 20 years, if one is very serious. Otherwise, as usual it takes unlimited lifetimes.”
“However, if you try to set goals only on intellectual platform, as corporate world does, it will be inadequate in Krishna Consciousness, for we have four platforms with us in total. They are body platform, mental platform, intellectual platform and soul platform. All these contribute towards the final goal achievement. Hence we have to set yearly goals for all these platforms to enable them to play their role. Then we can surely achieve our final goal.”
“In the beginning years goals setting follow a normal pyramid model. It means there will be many goals at body platform, as we are all embodied souls. Number of goals progressively reduces from mind to intelligence to soul. However, every platform shall have some goals every year. But, after a few years, say 4 or 5 years later goals for body platform almost become nil. But, the number of goals now progressively increases from mind to intelligence to soul. In this way the normal pyramid starts getting transformed to inverted pyramid model. When the devotee actually achieves this inverted pyramid model he will be completely situated on soul platform. He is very close to his long cherished desire of going back home, Back to Godhead” Vaishnavanghri continued his talk.
“But, how to set goals for these four platforms?” one devotee raised one question.
“I will narrate them right now. Please give a patient hearing” Vaishnavanghri continued. “At bodily platform we are required to get rid of a few things and acquire a few things. They become automatically our goals. Body diseases, obesity, underweight, big tummy, over eating, eating more sweets, many such things need to be discarded; Exercise to body, walking or dancing, true fasting, good health and many more practices to be acquired. However, all these points add up to 15 or 20 in anybody’s case. But, if you convert them into yearly goals, say 3 per year, and achieve them, then within five or six years all body related goals will be finished. At the most within 8 years one can get complete control over the body platform. Try for yourself and see the result!”
Everybody is nodding their heads positively. The whole atmosphere is getting surcharged with new energy.
“Goal for mind is one and only one. That is steadiness. We have only one method to achieve it. That is studying Srila Prabhupada books. It requires nearly 18 years to thoroughly study Srila Prabhupada books completely. By steadily studying those books one can tame the mind without any doubt. In fact one gets so matured by this wonderful process that mind automatically becomes very friendly. One may adopt the below given spiral model for this endeavor. Based on the model one can decide the number of books for study purpose on yearly basis.”
“Goals for intelligence could be many. If one wants to engage in ‘continuous-Krishna work’ support from intelligence is warranted. Learning mridanga, karatals, harmonium, other musical instruments for participating in sankirtan; writing essays, drawing, song/poems writing, books writing, translation, contributing to BTG magazine; learning useful techniques and acquiring skills to render service to Vaishnavas; learning hundreds of food recipes for Lord’s cooking service; learning handicrafts; memorizing Bhagavad-Gita and Bhagavatam verses on weekly basis; learning Sanskrit language or other languages for preaching, etc. can become intelligence goals. By achieving these goals over some years gives ample opportunity for Lord’s service to devotees.”
“Service to Lord Krishna and Gurudeva becomes the goals for soul. That service may be through money or physical service or intellectual service or in any other form. Chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra without offences and service to cows also become the goal for soul. Book distribution, preaching and increasing the number of devotees come under soul’s goals. These are only a few examples. By the intelligence given by Krishna and Guru one can conceive many such goals for the soul. As stated by Lord Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita (18.56) ‘pure devotee, though engaged in all kinds of activities, under the His protection reaches the eternal and imperishable abode by his grace’. So, by goal setting and achieving the same, year after year devotees can transform their desire of going back home, Back to Godhead into an achievable goal” Vaishnavanghri continued enthusiastically.
“But, how many goals one should set per year? Because setting goals and achieving them for all the four platforms is not an easy task” one devotee asked.
“Indeed it is a nice question. In anybody’s case number of goals should not be less than 6. This is mandatory. At the same time the number should not cross 8. First, let’s get into practice of goal setting and achieving them. If you adhere to this practice a marked change will happen in 5 to 6 years’ time.”
“Okay. But, what is the procedure to be followed to start this practice?” another devotee asked.
“I made one format for this purpose. There is some space for all the four platforms in the format. Though there is space for four goals in every platform, in the beginning one may have 3 goals at body platform, 2 goals for mind platform, 1 goal each for intellectual and soul platforms. Later on one can adjust the goal number on different platform depending on the progress.”
“Goals should be written in the given space of the format, get them endorsed by some senior Vaishnava, take his signature; one should also sign and then paste it in the temple room. Then you won’t miss them. Your goals remain in front of your eyes throughout the year. Review process should happen once in three months with the senior Vaishnava who signed the document. If you follow this process victory will be yours” Vaishnavanghri concluded his talk.
“Every year if we religiously take up this process of goal setting with all seriousness, I am sure after few years inverted pyramid model gets established. At that time we will have only soul activities. Surely, that will be liberated state” one devotee said emotionally.
“No doubt about it. All the best” Vaishnavanghri said. “Please take an hour time and write your goals for all four platforms. Later one by one you can come forward and present your goal sheet. I will do the necessary moderation” Vaishnavanghri said.
Then forms are distributed to all participants and everybody jumped into action of setting goals. By the evening the entire goal setting workshop got concluded. Now everybody became so enthusiastic to invite new-year with confidence.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
H.G. Vaishnavangri Sevaka Das is an initiated disciple of H.H. Gopalkrishna Goswami Maharaja. He holds Ph.D. in Polymer science, working as technology specialist in Polymer Industry at Mumbai, India. He is actively serving BBT in translating Srila Prabhupada’s books into Telugu (South Indian language). He also contributes articles to BTG Telugu (Bhagavaddarshan) every month. He is actively engaged in preaching activity at ISKCON Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, India.
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