Lord Krishna in the 21st Century
Chapter 11 -Don't Put the Cart Before the Horse
Before unrolling this blue print and taking a detailed look, I would like to pause for a moment to again reming you why this book is being written.
As I have stated from the very beginning, “Lord Krishna In the 21st Century” represents a specific strategy that I am suggesting is an excellent way for Krishna Disaster Relief to quickly and efficiently bring about the fulfillment of Srila Prabhupada's heartfelt desire: "Let us try to make them Krishna conscious. That is our only interest. Because I love Krishna, I want to see all; everybody in the world to become Krishna conscious."
I have also mentioned the highly successful Meals on Wheels program in Australia. Although modest in scope, it nonetheless received outstanding recognition from the Australian government. This proves that it is QUALITY and not the QUANTITY that counts.
I have written about appreciation and how, when this appreciation is awakened for Lord Krshna & His devotees, that the fulfillment of Shrila Prabhupada's dream takes place. I have said that the best place for this appreciation to occur is right inside the very homes that we are trying to reach; reaching a worldwide audience as they are reclined in their favorite easy chairs and doing what they enjoy most: watching television, reading their favorite newspapers, magazines, looking at their cellphones, or sitting in front of their computers.
More than any other single advantage that Krishna Disaster Relief has at its disposal for the fulfillment of Shrila Prabhupada's dream is that EVERYONE LOVES A HERO.
Because "Krsna is the Greatest Hero," I have suggested a formula. When a disaster strikes, shouldn't the Greatest Hero be the first one to the rescue? Isn't this showing the world Lord Krishna “as He is?” The following blueprint will explain how to do this. But first let me say a little something about building things. After all, this book is about building a disaster-relief agency.
A blueprint is nothing more than a detailed drawing of something that can be constructed. When I was building furniture I used to create blueprints all the time. My wife was fond of saying that “if he can draw it, he can build it.” However, there are also serious pitfalls that I want to point out. They apply to many endeavors and should be highlighted in the back of your mind to constantly remind you of their presence and danger.
The first pitfall is pointed out in the title of this chapter: “Don't Put The Cart Before The Horse.” Examples of this pitfall are plentiful. A person is thinking how they would like to open a restaurant at a certain location. This person totally thinks that a certain building is going to be rented to him. But before this actually happens, he goes to a printer and spend over a thousand dollars on fancy business cards, envelopes, stationary, and menus, all printed with the name of the restaurant and its address.
However, later he sadly discovers that the deal on the building has fallen through. Now he looks very foolish and has wasted so much time and money on a bunch of worthless stationary. Unfortunately, people do this sort of thing all the time. A lot of it probably has to do with being over enthusiastic.
Anyhow, this pitfall is a serious one and I was fortunate to have it explained to me when I was in college. For example, I have a letter in my filing cabinet from the American Red Cross/NOVAD inviting Krishna Disaster Relief to join America's premier disaster relief organization. "This is fantastic," you might say. "Here is our stage pass!" But rather than accepting their offer, instead I sent back a polite letter thanking them for the honor, but I had to decline. This was because Krishna Disaster Relief first needed to develop beyond the "paper-tiger stage" before joining.
So this is how I left things, other than a donation I gave Mr. Banes at the annual American Red Cross gala in Washington, D.C. This was really the right action to take because how could I accept this honor when all I really had was the name, Krishna Disaster Relief? However, among other things, this book is going to show how to properly join NVOAD. It is very important that this is done the right way and not to put the cart before the horse.
Speaking of the proper way, another important thing whenever building something is to be sure to complete each step as perfectly as possible before going to the next. This takes patience but in the long run it will help you to avoid many problems.
Carefully completing each step is kind of like adding a column of numbers. You may add most of the column correctly, but if you then add 53 + 7 and compute that you have 61, then by that much will your final answer be off the mark. Even a small error can be a enormous mistake.
Consider the Hubble telescope. After it was built and sent into orbit, to the dismay of the scientists back on Earth they could see that the telescope could not focus properly. Why? Because way back during the string of steps that went into building it, someone had made a small miscalculation. The error was not detected and got built into the telescope. So how Krishna Disaster Relief participates with other disaster relief agencies is very important. In the blueprint that follows, I have tried to make it free of any errors.
It is my sincere wish that someday devotees will use this book to fulfill Shrila Prabhupada's dream. As I said, this can be done in our lifetime. It is a piece of cake, but by using illusions or trickery. All that is required is a logical presentation of Lord Krishna, as He is: the world's Greatest Hero. The rest will follow automatically in a real and genuine way.
"Placing the Cart Before the Horse"
Ai photo created by the author