To be Heard 

It takes opening to existing culture and appreciation of whatever is valuable in that culture. I think we often repeat the famous mistake of Mahatma Gandhi. When he was in London he was asked, “What do you think of Western civilization?” He said, “It would be a good idea.” It is a nice quip, but there are aspects of Western civilization which I would not throw out with the bath water. I think there is a lot that is valuable in every culture. 
 
In preaching, spreading Krishna consciousness, there is always some kind of integration, some responding to the local culture and it takes time and involves challenges. 
 
—From the conversation of HH Krishna Kshetra Swami with Chaitanya Charan Das from The Monk’s Podcast on “Using our imagination in Krishna’s service,” August 22, 2020

Following the Tradition is Using Creativity

The guru’s duty is twofold: to maintain and represent tradition and simultaneously to innovate, to make tradition accessible to new audiences. The guru has to be innovative, one way or another. He invents ways and means, as Srila Prabhupada said, and it is not a stereotyped process. 
 
So, using creativity is actually following the tradition. Look at the whole story of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s preaching. I can argue that he was being innovative.  
 
—From the conversation of HH Krishna Kshetra Swami with Chaitanya Charan Das from The Monk’s Podcast on “Using our imagination in Krishna’s service,” August 22, 2020

Cultural Conquest

Prabhupada said, “By cultural conquest this movement will spread.” He used this expression. The cultural conquest. 
 
I always remember one devotee in New York. He was saying that in those days every Sunday feast they would have a short skit, a short drama. Typically, it was based on something Prabhupada said in a lecture, there would be a boatman or a professor or a fish out of water… These little skits or stories that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur would tell to illustrate Krishna consciousness. And they would kind of throw it together as a skit. They would not spend a lot of time to prepare, but they would put on the skit for the Sunday feast and devotees said the temple was packed every Sunday. It was the highlight of the week. People loved it. 
 
What often prevents us from doing such Sunday dramas is because we think: “Oh, it takes too much time to prepare.” But it doesn’t have to take much time if we do it in the format of what is called a radio play. “Radio play” means everybody is holding the script and reading from the script. You do not have to memorize. But you read dramatically and act out. You can even make some adjustments, there can be a lot of improvization. Drama is very much about imagination. Because you are asking the audience to imagine the scenery, to imagine so many things. You do not need even costumes. You do not need anything. All you need is a script, the parts and maybe you do one practice before you perform it. We want more of this. 
 
—From the conversation of HH Krishna Kshetra Swami with Chaitanya Charan Das from The Monk’s Podcast on “Using our imagination in Krishna’s service,” August 22, 2020