Srila Prabhupada Marathon 2012
Dear Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada set aside December as the time where as many devotees as possible should make an extra endeavor to distribute as many of his books to the conditioned souls as possible. Why was this so important to him?
Srila Prabhupada rose in the middle of the night for many years translating and writing his purports to share his personal ecstasies for our understanding and upliftment. He arranged the book printing and organized the book distribution worldwide driven by his Guru Maharaja's order and by his deep compassion for us. Devotees would write to him to tell him how many books they distributed, and he always asked that they double the numbers, especially in the month of December. In this connection big numbers were important to him, and they gave him great happyness. The more books distributed; the more souls could hear about the Lord and His devotees.
If we think about how much these books have done for us, how they are our only shelter, and how they have so deeply touched the hearts of so many people in the world, then we will want to share them with those who are bereft of this knowledge and are suffering without any hope for relief.
December is especially favourable for book distribution because in this month Krsna had the transcendentally powerful dialogue with Arjuna on Battlefield of Kuruksetra so mystically presented in the Bhagavad-gita. The Indian people have great respect for this historic occasion. In the West of course Christmas falls in December, and people are very inclined to buy books either for themselves or as Christmas gifts. Devotees worldwide distribute many more books in this month than in any other month. Srila Prabhupada and the guru parampara shower special mercy on any devotee that enters this marathon mood.
Book distribution requires concentrated surrender every moment we are out on the street approaching people. Some say they already have the books, which may be true, but then we ask them to please take them as gifts for their family members or neighbors.
If they say they dont have time to read, we ask them to sit down in the morning, after their morning bath, and devote 5 minutes for reading a page or two from Bhagavad-gita. Sometimes we open the book and ask them to read a page right on the spot. People like this and they often become inspired to take the book.
We tell them these books will answer all of their questions and make them happy. They pick up our motivation and conviction about these books. They are very sensitive to this. When we approach them with a business mind, they will immediately reject the offer. Connecting with a person's heart depends on the distributor's Krsna consciousness and the mercy of guru and Krsna. It is not an act of selling items — rather book distribution means lovingly connecting people with the purest knowledge coming from Krsna's purest devotee, Srila Prabhupada.
December is an opportunity to dive deeply into the mercy that Srila Prabhupada showers over all his sankirtan devotees.
I remain as always
Your servant in Srila Prabhupada book distribution mission,
Samkalpa Dasi
