Devotional service is based on the idea of voluntarily sacrificing something for Krsna, be it our time, money, intelligence, or any other asset. By definition, devotional service must be voluntary, it must be out of love.
In Jaiva Dharma, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura mentions that free will is precisely what differentiates living souls from inanimate matter. Material objects have no free will, they are just manipulated by superior forces. Souls on the other hand have free will and this is what makes relationships and rasa possible. It’s not possible to have a relationship with an inanimate object: relationships can be cultivated only with living beings. From this, we can understand why Krsna is so careful in respecting the free will of the souls.
Love can’t be imposed. If someone would put a gun in my head, I would surely say that I loved him, or anything else he wanted to hear, but this would not be true love. This brings us to another point: Krsna Consciousness and service to Krsna can’t be imposed. We can’t force anyone to love Krsna, such love can only by inspired through our personal example. If one were forced to serve in a temple or group, this could hardly be called devotional service.
In a letter to Karandhara (22/07/72), Srila Prabhupada wrote some interesting advice about leadership:
“… our leaders shall be careful not to kill the spirit of enthusiastic service, which is individual and spontaneous and voluntary. They should try always to generate some atmosphere of fresh challenge to the devotees, so that they will agree enthusiastically to rise and meet it. That is the art of management: to draw out spontaneous loving spirit of sacrificing some energy for Krishna.”
Above anything else, the role of a spiritual leader is to inspire this spirit of devotion and sacrifice for Krsna in his followers, present a mission, and let them come forward to fulfill it. Let them decide how much they want to sacrifice and use the effort and resources in an appropriate way. Create an environment of love and trust, so others can get a glimpse of what spiritual life really is, and become inspired in giving more of their time and energy to Krsna.
Often we get into a mentality of scarcity, thinking that we need to brainwash the few people we have to keep them around and thus maintain our projects, but we can practically see that this doesn’t bring good results in the long term. Instead of fostering the attitude of spontaneous and voluntary service mentioned by Srila Prabhupada, it creates an oppressive environment that eventually kills it. People may be kept in line for some time through manipulation and coercion, but sooner or later they start looking around and seeing they have other options. At this point, they usually go away and never return.
Good spiritual leaders are the ones who are able to create the “atmosphere of fresh challenge” mentioned by Srila Prabhupada so that devotees will “agree enthusiastically to rise and meet it”. As he mentions, “That is the art of management” that can “draw out spontaneous loving spirit of sacrificing some energy for Krishna.”
The problem of course is that such leaders are rare, therefore one who has the idea of creating something may be tempted to use negative means to mobilize people. One may have good intentions, but the long-term result of such efforts will be always bad and by the end, people will be burned and disheartened. Srila Bhakti Thirta Swami used to say: “Use your project to help devotees, and not devotees to help your project”.
Many of us may have the impetus of becoming leaders and having followers. However, we do better when we first become qualified and only then try to be a leader than when we try to do the opposite. Spiritual life and spiritual institutions are not a toy for our false egos. They are not a place to exert our dominance, but to sincerely sacrifice our time, energy, and resources for a higher cause.