Santipur Festival and Mayapur Brhat Mrdanga presentation
Hare Krsna Prabhus,
Yesterday was the annual Santipur prasadam distribution festival which commemorates the disappearance of Madhavendra Puri. Jayapataka Swami said it was the biggest ever, nine tons of prasad was distributed to over thirty thousand residents of the Dhama, it is said that if anyone distributes prasad on this day they achieve love of God.
The day before the Santipur festival all of the devotees had a maha harinam at the new Mayapur temple site which will be called the Adbhuta Mandira. A wonderful kirtan ensued beckoning Lord Caitanya to empower us to become instruments to fulfill the vision of Bhaktivinode Thakur. Lokanath Swami led a powerful kirtan with the devotees holding hands and dancing in concentric circles around the murti of Srila Prabhupada. It was a spirit of cooperation that was a foundation to an ernest call from one and all. Senior men ran back and forth from Srila Prabhupada's lotus feet then towards the open plains. Suddenly, almost as a confirmation of the Lords sanction, a large rain storm manifested, showering the party with torrents of rain. Then as quickly as it manifested the deluge abated and the sun came forth once again. What was to follow was another offering by the devotees that underlined future plans of how this project would become successful.
The rain stopped just in time to allow 300 devotees to attend a presentation by the North European BBT called, "Brhat Mrdanga". It was a multimedia presentation with a lot of footage of Prabhupada along with quotes from him expressing his desire to print and distribute books throughout the world. This created an atmosphere of allegiance to Srila Prabhupada's book distribution mission underlining positive turns in the future. There were many speakers giving their realizations. The speakers were Jayapataka Swami, Jayadvaita Swami (BBT trustee), Sacinandana Swami, Gopi Paranadana Prabhu (translator), Manidhara Prabhu (European Minister of Book Distribution), Brahmamuhurta Prabhu (North European BBT trustee), Rupa Raghunatha Prabhu (book distributor in Australia) myself, and others.
What captured everyone's attention more than anything else was a video showing some history of how books entered the former USSR. In 1989 Bramamuhurta heard that in Russia they were now allowing religious books in the country. The BBT decided to print 200,000 books and send them in. They were put in three semi trucks but when they got to the border the customs wouldn't allow them in, customs at the border hadn't heard of the new law. After three days of waiting the books were allowed to go in but they would be held in a warehouse. The devotees went to the warehouse and asked the persons in charge why the books would not be given to them. They replied to the devotees to come back in 10 days in which they will discuss the situation then they will let them know. The devotees went back in 10 days but only to find that nothing had changed. One mataji then told them in very strong words, "You are all living like dinosaurs, a hundred years in the past, don't you know there is a new trend in this country, don't you watch television!! (All the devotees in the auditorium where the presentation was being made, applauded with joy seeing the determination of this mataji). Then the devotees did demonstrations outside the warehouse until they were finally released. After the video I looked at Jayadvaita Swami to see tears coming from his eyes. A senior devotee named Bhakti Vijnana Maharaja who was there at the time, said that from these 200,000 books hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of devotees came to Krsna consciousness.
Your Servant,
Vijaya Das
