If you had $ 1,000,000,000 US how would you preach ?

[krsna 3]

yeah,you've heard it said many times,

'If I had the money,I'd preach...'

 

O.K. so let's say you had the money,say a cool billion or so,what would you do to spread Sriman Mahaprabhu's Movement around the world?

 

How many books printed,temples opened and prasadam would you distribute?

 

'If you ever get money,print books'--Bhaktisiddhnata to Prabhupada.

 

I'd get myself a big helium Blimp with the Maha-mantra written all over it and drop maha-prasadam on people's heads along with 'Reservoir of Pleasure' booklets.

[gHari 0]

And let all you buttheads go to hell.

 

[Govindaram 1]

 

Moneys not everything is it.

[Kulapavana 0]

with that money I would first create a legal endowment for permanent financing of the preaching. the annual earnings of the endowment would go towards subsidizing book distribution and paying decent salaries to householder devotees engaged in the preaching effort full time. so many devotees have no time for full scale preaching because they spend all their time and energy trying to maintain their families. we have a lot of very mature devotees who could be engaged in that way. fill the temples with mature devotees and hit the streets with books and harinama every day! get the best devotee cooks prepare the most awesome prasadam and distribute this prasadam freely.... /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

(anybody with a billion or two to spare? /images/graemlins/wink.gif )

[Guest guest]

Not that I'm pointing anyone in particular with this following question.

 

What about deeds and not words?

 

Let me explain, I know some devotees who like to talk and especially about money if they had a lot they would use it for preaching purposes ... blah blah blah... nice talk, no deed because with the little money they make, they spend it on useless things like going out to the local high-end pubs. Or buy new clothes thats "in mode" right now.

 

What will be the difference when you have all your millions or billions? Nothing.

 

Instead of hoping to have so many things ($$$$$), it is better to be content with what we have and DO the best we can. Sincerity counts, not the size of the achievement because Krishna ultimately decides the achievement.

 

BTW I was not pointing fingers at anyone

[Kulapavana 0]

"What will be the difference when you have all your millions or billions? Nothing"

 

not true at all. money is time. time devotees can put into preaching. that is a lot more than nothing. money is energy. if it is applied properly for Krishna's service it makes a HUGE difference.

[vanamali 1]

Probably I would pay some qualified people to preach for me. Open a big South Indian style temple with my Venu Gopala as the main deity, a large Venkateshwara swamy, small Venkateshwara with Sridevi and Bhudevi. Ram Darbar should also be there. It would have the tirupati-style gopuram and gold shikharam. There should also be small statues of Ganapati, and many of the great bhaktas like- Ramanujacharya, Meera, Andal, Hanumanji, etc. I would like to put a day care so people won't bring their small kids inside if they are not interested, so no little children running around durning aarthi.

 

New clothes for deities at least once a month. A separate hall for: Hindi lessons, Sanskrit lessons, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, and Kathak lessons, Gita and Bhagavatam classes, and discourses every two weeks.

 

Library with TV where you can actually sit and watch episodes from Mahabharat serial, or old NTR religous movies.

 

Big kitchen and dining hall and stage area which can be rented out at cost to devotees for functions such as marriages, arangetrams and other dance and theatrical (devotional) programmes.

 

Okay, this is getting out of hand now. Anyway...

 

/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Jahnava Nitai Das 2]

 

What will be the difference when you have all your millions or billions? Nothing.

 

 

This is a good point. We like to imagine that if we won the lottery we would suddenly be able to surrender it all to Krishna. But the reality is that with the little money most of us have now we aren't willing to sacrifice much of it to the Lord, instead preferring material things. There is no reason to believe that when our money becomes greater we will suddenly be surrendering it all to the Lord. There are many very rich devotees with millions of dollars, and from what I see, they basically do the same things the not so rich devotees do. No world changing preaching just because they are rich.

 

No amount of money will satisfy our material desires for wealth. Krishna says it is like pouring fuel onto a fire. It will only increase the burning, not extinguish the fire. As we become more wealthy our imagined needs increase and we begin planning for our future expanded lifestyles.

 

What will most people do when they get a billion dollars? Probably use the same percentage for Krishna's service they are using right now. It may then be in the millions, but that isn't much when one has a billion dollars. If someone earning 5,000 Rs. a month isn't willing to donate 100 Rs. to Krishna service now, then there is no reason to believe he will be donating much when he gets a billion dollars. The point is what are we doing today with what Krishna has given us.

 

I once heard a sadhu say, "Krishna does not see how much you give, he sees how much you hold back in the other hand."

[Kulapavana 0]

yes these are valid points. but it is also a fact of life that we lose scores of trained up devotees who have to go outside to make a living. energy is needed but it must be used properly. when people see their donations being used well by the temple they are inspired to give more. when they see waste - they hold back.

 

"Krishna does not see how much you give, he sees how much you hold back in the other hand."

 

it also depends who manages these earthly donations. the list of bad experiences is very long and includes my own experience.

[Jahnava Nitai Das 2]

 

"Krishna does not see how much you give, he sees how much you hold back in the other hand."

 

it also depends who manages these earthly donations. the list of bad experiences is very long and includes my own experience.

 

 

Sometimes one needs to utilize one's wealth in Krishna's service directly without depending on others to manage the use for us. If we can't trust our selves, then there is no one we can trust.

[ancient_paztriot 0]

… someone who will actually spend fabulous wealth for the propagation of KC using modern marketing techniques.

 

Should be easy since Prabhupada is the best product.

 

The facilities certainly seem to be now in the hands of the incompetent.

 

As in most anything, a little sincerity goes a long way. What is more important than what you know is how you use the knowledge. But even this simple understanding is lost on big hypocrites.

[Kulapavana 0]

I do both to some extent. We are building a temple locally and these monetary issues are very relevant.