1. Keeping the students alive in Krishna consciousness during examination period and vacations

The exam period, holidays and home visits are extremely dangerous for the Krishna consciousness of the students. Knowing this, the preacher should prudently wind up the program during the preparatory leave and let the students peacefully study. But although the weekly programs are not being conducted, we should not leave these upcoming devotee-students alone to be in Maya for 2-3 months. The preacher or CC follow up senior preacher can go to the students a few times even in the preparatory leave, give them some prasadam, do kirtan for 10-15 minutes and enliven them in their Krishna consciousness. The purpose of this meeting is to remind them of Krishna and explain to them the importance of always remembering Krishna, even in their exam period.

And before the students go home after their exams, it is important for the preacher to give them some suitable advice, as per their nature, regarding how they should behave at home. It is generally seen that, in the initial days of their Krishna consciousness, students are over-enthusiastic. So when they go back home, they don't see television, don't go out to do any household work and don't mix with their old friends in order to avoid bad association.

But when the parents see their son sitting silent and alone at home, they become disturbed and alarmed. The parents are generally very concerned about the body of their son, about how he behaves with others and about how he is growing in his material life. Therefore the students should be given prior intimation that when, they go home, they should behave properly with their parents and co-operate with them by doing the required household chores etc. At the same time, they should not compromise with their basic Krishna consciousness. This is especially applicable for the students who are chanting more than 6 rounds.

One specific problem that the students may face at home is avoiding onion and garlic because the parents strongly object to this. Since the parents are very concerned about the body of their son, he can say, "Since onion and garlic are tamasic, they make my brain dull and they may even affect my studies. So I want to avoid it." Or instead of making a big show about not taking onion and garlic, the student can quietly go his mother in the kitchen and request her to not put onion and garlic in a portion of the sabji and keep it aside so that he can have it.

Thus the student should very intelligently keep his parents happy without compromising on his basic Krishna consciousness.

2. Neglecting studies

The devotee-students should be warned not to neglect their studies in the name of becoming serious in Krishna consciousness. Poor results of devotee-students are blatant anti-preaching since the other students start feeling, "This is what will happen to me if I take to Krishna consciousness." On the other hand, if a devotee-student gets good grades, he can attract many, many of his co-students to devotional service. Therefore the devotee-students should be educated to see their studies as a Krishna conscious duty.

3. Problems from neighbors

When the serious devotee-students start staying together in a room, they should be sensitive to their neighbors. Loud early morning kirtans with mridangam and kartalas or other unnecessary disturbances (from chanting Hare Krishna loudly, making noise with cooking vessels) may make them hostile towards devotees, thus leading to needless anti-preaching and complications. So the students should be gentlemanly in their behavior with their neighbors and regularly give them prasadam.

4. Over follow up

• The CC follow up senior devotee and the preacher should not be over-enthusiastic in following up or preaching to the upcoming students. Otherwise they may feel harassed and may stop coming for the program.
• Similarly they should not expect too much from the students pre-maturely. We have to undoubtedly fan the spark of their Krishna consciousness so that it brightens, but not so much that it gets extinguished.
• No student should be encouraged to leave his studies and become `full time' in the temple. This will damage both his material and spiritual career and may claim the spiritual lives of many, many other students. Other students become guarded and leave the association of devotees. The devotee preacher should always encourage even those who appear to show an inclination for joining the temple, to still continue their studies and pass out successfully. After working for a few months or years, they can decide with maturity regarding whether to become a full time devotee or a congregation devotee.

5. Sensitivity to students' schedules

Sensitivity to the schedules of the students is very important for the preacher, who should be informed about this by the follow up devotee.

• The program should start and end on the scheduled time.
• Question-answers with inquisitive students can be continued on an individual level after officially concluding the program.
• Moreover, if the students are having pressing college commitments such as submissions, tests etc, the preacher can even curtail the program.

When the students see that we are sensitive to their academic pressures, they will also reciprocate and come readily to the program without being afraid that too much of their time will be swallowed up.

6. Peer problems

When students take to Krishna consciousness, they are often jeered and ridiculed by their peers. This often inhibits them to such an extent that they leave devotional service entirely. Such an unfortunate state of affairs can be pre-empted by giving them so much love and care in the devotee circle that they prefer leaving their old friends to leaving Krishna consciousness.  The more the devotee circle grows stronger in their relationships, the more the devotee-students will become free from all fear and ridicule and become firmly situated in Krishna consciousness.

7. Joining full-time

The serious students in a program may often ask the preacher, "Is it necessary for everyone to become a brahmacari?" This question can be answered as follows:

"No. Arjuna himself was not a sannyasi. There were also many great devotees who were also kings. For example, the Pandavas, Parikshit Maharaj and many others. Srila Prabhupada himself was a grihastha before he took sannyasa and preached all over the world."

All our IYF preachers in Pune are engineers by background. Then a question that naturally follows is, "Then why did you renounce the world? After studying so much why did you also not be a part of the world and at the same time continue with your devotional life?" The answer to this is:      "In society there is always a need for a small fraction of people who completely dedicate their body, mind and words in the service of the Lord and the service the general mass of people. This was the system even in the Vedic times when the brahmanas completely dedicated themselves to the service to God. By so doing, these devotees can take the message of the Vedas to thousands and thousands of people. And by not doing the Vedic culture cannot be propagated to the masses. When the raja vidya (spiritual knowledge) is not propagated people's mentality and life-style will be dragged down to the level of cats and dogs. So first we should appreciate the necessity of sadhus in society.

Now, can everyone become a sadhu? No. For example, in a class there may be 60 students, but how many of them will come back to the same college as teachers after passing out? Only a tiny fraction of them. Similarly, although thousands and thousands of people visit ISKCON, a small fraction of them live in the temple as full-time preachers of Bhagavad Gita. But just as it is necessary that some of the students become teachers for the school to function, similarly it is necessary for a few devotees to dedicate their lives to preaching."

Further we should make it clear to them that, as students, their prescribed duty is to study and, while studying, they should also learn to become Krishna conscious. Lord Krishna also told Arjuna in Bhagavad-gita "tasmat sarvesu kalesu mam anusmara yuddya ca "At all times, you should remember Me and perform your prescribed duty of fighting." And similarly they should also do their studies and, at the same time, become Krishna conscious.

Even if a student is very detached and is strongly inclined to join full-time, we should encourage him to somehow continue with his studies, pass out of the college successfully, work for sometime outside and then join full-time after becoming sufficiently mature. By so doing, the regular college program will not be affected.

Some students may have a strong natural inclination for becoming brahmacaris. Such students should not be forced to accept grihastha-ashram. But before they join, they should be told to go home and tell their parents that they want to take one year training in the brahmacari ashram, after which they will decide their future. So they can take their one year training as brahmacaris and after that, depending on their inclination, they can take to the grihastha ashram or continue their life as brahmacaris.