Los Angeles Sastra Dana Newsletter Volume 3, Issue 21
VANCA KALPA…
ALL DECENT MEN
By Mahat-tattva däs
What follows is a summery of Dravida Prabhu’s talk delivered at the last Sastra Dana program on October 5th.
Sastra Dana means giving charity of books. Srila Prabhupada was so successful because he was constantly giving. He didn’t come here to take but to give Krishna consciousness to as many as possible. Srila Prabhupada said that all DECENT men want to give service to humanity, but the only thing is they don’t know what that service is. Hospitals, feeding the poor, Red Cross; are services to the bodies only. To serve humanity means to give people the knowledge about sambandha (relationship between the souls and the Lord). Therefore Srila Prabhupada wanted us to disseminate the Krishna consciousness propaganda anywhere and everywhere mainly by distributing his books. When someone has the Bhagavatam in his house it is non-different from having Lord Narayana in the home.
According to Srimad Bhagavatam, sound vibrations that do not describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but rather deal with the temporary mundane matters are simply false; useless. They are polluting the consciousness, inviting death. They are compared to a place of pilgrimage for crows, and are never resorted to by those situated in transcendental knowledge. On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes and so on of the unlimited Supreme Lord is full of transcendental words directed towards bringing about a revolution in the impious lives of this world’s misdirected civilization. When people simply hear this knowledge the Lord personally enters their hearts and cleanses away every trace of misfortune. By attentively hearing the recitation of the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Lord one can remember His lotus feet. Remembrance of Sri Krishna’s lotus feet destroys everything inauspicious and awards the greatest good fortune. It purifies the heart and bestows devotion for the Lord, along with knowledge enriched with realization and renunciation.
On the strength of all the above listed facts we can conclude that Sastra Dana activities are very glorious and auspicious. Distribution to libraries is very important because people that go there are searching for knowledge. People sankirtana devotees meet in the Los Angeles streets, are not necessarily after knowledge and, very often, we need to endeavor hard to change their minds, firmly fixed on so many plans for sense gratification.
