Srila Prabhupada created a ‘voluntary’ society in which people were expected to ‘rise to the occasion’ [his words] and do the ‘impossible.’ Srila Prabhupada is also on record as saying that management will follow preaching like a shadow. Of course, there are many different interpretations as to what ‘preaching’ means. But the point here is that Srila Prabhupada created a natural urge to chant the holy name, to realize the existence of the soul and Krishna, and to dive into the sublime philosophy of Krsna consciousness. In other words, Srila Prabhupada gave SUBSTANCE (chanting, Srimad Bhagavatam, a morning program, preaching) as the essential feature of life. The movement, the temples, and the festivals came later. These are the FORMS. My objective in speaking in terms of substance and form is to illustrate that without substance there can be no form, and that sometimes we get caught up in form, and forget substance. In this way devotional service can deteriorate into karmic activity.
Form and Substance