University Preaching
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By Nitai Kirtan das
When I was at school, I remember
reading in one of Prabhupada’s
books that the modern educational
system was like a slaughterhouse. “He’s up there!”
Nitai Kirtan das
To be completely frank, I thought
ahem, scientifically
Srila Prabhupada was exaggerating. locates God to the
I was thinking, “Its not that bad …a university students
slaughterhouse? That’s a bit of an
extreme statement!” It’s only until I went to university, and
I saw first-hand the things that go on, did I realise that
Prabhupada was in no way exaggerating, he was 108%
right, as always.
At that age, they are in the prime of their youth – the
hormones agitate the senses, their minds are all over the
place, and the sexual appetite is very strong.
Slaughterhouse means killing, and at university, most of
the youth are killing their bodies through so much
alcohol, drugs, unrestricted sex life, and irregular eating
and sleeping habits. But because they are young, their
bodies are able to take it, and they feel invincible! If at
this age however, they are somehow directed towards
spiritual life, and they channel their youthful energy in a
positive way, they can create a revolution in their own
lives and in society.
In the Midlands, we have 4 universities with such
students channelling their energies towards creating a
spiritual revolution. We have a Krishna Consciousness
(KC) Society in DMU (Leicester), Coventry, Aston and
Birmingham Universities. Srila Prabhupada was very
keen to make devotees from the university class of
people. In one letter, he wrote: “In this way, try to
recruit some men from the student class for joining
us as future leaders of our Society. If we go on
expanding and there are no qualified men to lead,
then everything will be spoiled eventually.”
--Letter of January 5, 1973
At the recent Retreat to the Manor, the
Midlands university Girls visit the Goshalla
By Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, we have developed a team
of university preachers who are responsible for training
the students in KC at each university. Our team has
developed a lot of experience, learnt through creative
thinking, and through trial and error. Preaching KC is
what makes this movement a movement. It’s moving,
expanding, and maturing, and it’s exciting. In whatever
walk of life we are in, we can spread the glories of the
Holy Name. We have already seen in previous issues of
this magazine how Nilesh Prabhu’s Prabhupada CD
touched the lives of so many people, and how one of Lila
3
Sakti Mathaji’s clients chants Hare Krsna to her son.
would like to present some of the lessons that we have
learnt from our experience of university preaching, to
hopefully inspire our readers to also find ways of
preaching to others in new and creative ways.
When KC Society first started in Birmingham University,
we called the local devotees from the temple to come
and give the talks. I found they would present the
philosophy as it is, straight up: this material world is
Maya, illusion, there is no happiness here, etc etc. We
found this approach to be not so well received by the
students. They’ve come to university to enjoy their youth,
to enjoy their mind and senses, and then all of a sudden
be told that there is no enjoyment in this world was not
what they wanted to hear! This is when we realised
probably the most fundamental point of effective
preaching: make KC relevant to the person you’re
preaching to. The students want to enjoy their mind and
senses – great, so tell them that spiritual life is all about
enjoying nice music, called kirtan, it’s about enjoying nice
food, called prasadam. Those students who are looking
for peace or to control their minds, teach them to chant
on beads, and develop internal peace through mantra
meditation. In other words, we learnt to adapt the KC
philosophy to make it relevant.
“In this way, try to recruit some men
from the student class for joining us
as future leaders of our Society.”
–Srila Prabhupada
KC Society programs are held once a week, with a
different topic each time. The team advertise by putting
up posters, sending texts and emails, and even flyering
around university campus. Then, at the program, we
present the KC philosophy on that particular topic. Some
of the topics covered include “stress management,”
“relationships,” “karma and reincarnation,” etc etc. Once
we got the students to come to the programme, the next
aspect that we thought about was how to present the
material. The topics are relevant, but if we simply sat
there and lectured for 1.5 hours, how many of them
would really pay attention the whole time, and learn from
it? Many of the students have sat in lectures all day long,
so the last thing they need to finish off their day, is to sit
in another lecture, no matter how interesting the topic.
Another strategy was required. We decided to make the
classes interactive.
I first got the inspiration to do interactive talks when I
attended a class by my Guru Maharaja, His Holiness
Jayapataka Swami. He was doing a talk in the temple
room at the Manor about congregational preaching, and
then all of a sudden, he split the whole audience up into
groups and we had a competition to see who could come
up with the most ideas of how to preach KC. I found it
such a fun way to learn. Not only did I have to actively
think about the topic, but it also gave me a chance to
interact with other members of the group. So we have
introduced this method into our university presentations.
Sometimes we have group dramas, and sometimes
group discussions or different exercises, and in this way
the presentation engages their minds and channels that
youthful energy into thinking deeply about spirituality.
Another source of inspiration came from His Grace
Kripamoya Prabhu, when he gave a class at the Manor to
some of the Midlands Panadava Sena. He explained how
KC should always be packaged according to the
audience. The message is eternal – it will always stay the
same – but the package must be changed to suit the
audience. This is where we have to use our intelligence
and creativity to find different ways and means to
broadcast the message of KC. And especially to the
youth, the message must be packaged up to be attractive
to their mind and senses – it must be fun and
entertaining.
Finally, I feel it is important to mention another principle
that is very much prevalent in the mood of the preaching
team: we are not out to “convert” people. In today’s multi-
cultural, multi-faith society, one outstanding quality of the
KC philosophy is the fact that as devotees, we respect all
traditions and all faiths. In fact, our previous acaryas
have mentioned that we adore Jesus Christ. In many of
the university KC societies we have people from other
faiths coming and participating. The messages carried in
the talks are generally very universal, and anyone from
any religious background, can take inspiration to help
them in their spiritual journey. Sometimes, we even quote
from other scriptures where appropriate. Our aim is to
awaken people’s natural love for God, and elevate their
consciousness, whatever path they choose to follow.
Srila Prabhupada said that he has built a house in which
the whole world can live very peacefully. And the
university societies are small examples of this truth.
Over the years that university preaching has been going
on in the Midlands, it is amazing to see so many
wonderful transformations. With some people, when they
first start coming to the programmes, we may think, “This
person will never become a devotee.” But we should
never judge a book by its cover. We know there was one
boy who had been coming to KC Soc at DMU for 4 years.
At the beginning he was a typical “rude boy” into the
typical student things. But one retreat to the Manor
changed his life – he crossed that line, where you can
never really go back to the material world, the line of
faith. And now, after graduating, he decided to go on the
KC Sabbatical to Chowpatty, India. It just goes to show
how we never know. I remember the first time I saw him
at the Manor in dhoti and shaven head and sikha, I was
completely amazed, and was thinking, “Is this that same
boy from 4 years ago?” I don’t think anyone could have
imagined that he would become like the gentle and loving
devotee that he is now.
What is evident to me from university preaching, is that
Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada’s mercy is still very
much flowing down from the spiritual world. We just have
to be sincere and try our best to be instruments for that
mercy to flow through us and into the hearts of this
misguided population. And throughout the years, I’ve
realised never give up hope with anybody. I’ve seen
some people take up KC in less than a year, and others
may take many years. And with some people, they come
and go, and we may never see the result. But the seed
has been planted, and one day, one life, when they are
ready, that seed will grow in their hearts and they will join
Lord Caitanya’s family and go back home, back to
Godhead. We just have to play our part, and leave the
rest up to the Supreme Controller, Lord Sri Krsna.
Jay Srila Prabhupada ki jay!
On behalf of the University Preaching team in the
Midlands, your worthless servant, Nitai Kirtan das
If you want to help with the preaching in any way, either
through donations, cooking for programmes, or doing
posters, or anything else, please contact the local
university preachers:
 Aston (Birmingham) University KC Soc:
Shammi astonkcsoc@gmail.com
 Birmingham University KC Soc:
Chaitanya Priya bhamkcsoc@googlemail.com
 Coventry (University of Warwick) KC Soc:
Priya cov_kcsoc@hotmail.com
 Leicester DeMontfort University KC Soc:
Radha kcsoc@hotmail.com
 Team Co-ordinator:
Nitai Kirtan das 0787 794 1399
Memories from Uni Preaching: The
“Good” the “Bad” and the “Ugly”
One of the “good” moments this year was when we took some of
the Birmingham and Aston University students to the ISKCON
Birmingham temple for a cooking lesson. Jagannath Ram Prabhu
showed off his culinary skills: he made paneer from fresh milk,
vegetable subji, and puris. It was a wonderful experience,
especially the eating bit!
One of the “baddest” moments this year was at the Divali
programme at Aston University: The fire alarm went off in the
building and so we had to eat prasadam outside in the courtyard.
After eating, while waiting for the rain to stop, we spontaneously
started to have a kirtan. There were no instruments, just clapping
and singing, and we ended up dancing around in a big circle.
Many students living in the accommodation heard the holy name.
Aston University’s first harinam on campus!
It was the first Aston University Harinama!
One of the “ugliest” moments this year was at the very first
program at Birmingham University. At the end of the presentation,
the conclusion explained how every one of us have spiritual
needs. At that point, one of the students put his hand up and said,
“No, you’re wrong, we don’t have spiritual needs.” The whole
atmosphere changed and the presentation seemed to go pear
shaped – and it was our first programme! The amazing thing was,
after eating prasadam, that same boy joined the society, took a
book and has become one of our regular members. It just goes to
show the potency of prasadam, how it can change even the most
stubborn hearts.
See also Nitai Kirtan’s previous article, VC vol. 9 issue 2