Book Distribution in England
Dear Book Distributors, In May I went to England to do some book distribution, for two or three days a week. I kept a few notes in my diary, which I am presenting here.
May 5th
I got in a van and got dropped at a train station near Bhaktivedanta Manor. (I didn’t want to go to London during my first day in England, so I just distributed in Borehamwood, where I was dropped.) It’s a small town, where some devotees live. I met a Tamil man tending a shop; his father had died two weeks before, and he was in the mood of wondering about the soul. I showed him a Krsna book, and he said he’d read these stories as a child. So naturally he purchased the book to read the stories again. I met an Indian lady from Africa, new to the UK, working in a photocopy shop. I sold her a small book and invited her to visit the Manor as soon as she could. I then sold small books to some British people: a lady shopkeeper who does yoga, an elderly couple who followed the legal case about closing the Manor. I found a nice park in which to take a midday break. Then on the street I met some of the devotees who live in that town and talked with them. Then I met an Indian who runs a pharmacy and who said it’s really hard to get out of business once you put a lot of money into your inventory; he bought a book. At six, I met up with other book distributors back at the train station: Sofia, a bhaktin, had her book bag and passport stolen in London – and her Muslims parents are worried because she joined ISKCON.
May 6th
I went to Aylesbury with two devotees and distributed small books to teeny-boppers out shopping because it was Saturday. I was surprised at how many nice teenagers Krsna sent to take the books.
May 8th – Canterbury
I went by van with devotees in the festival group: Ananda Hari, Gaura-hari, Tom and Neal. First, we ate lunch in the hall rented for the festival. Then I distributed invitations on the street, around a bhajan group, from three to five. People passing our bhajan group seemed really happy to hear our chanting and get invitations to our festival. We were only a block from the Cantebury Cathedral, so when the bhajans stopped and the devotees walked back to the hall to prepare for the festival, I went into the Cathedral. (It was established by St. Augustine in 600 A.D.) I spoke with two virgers (attendants) and gave one of them a book. I also attended Evensong: an inspiring men’s and boys’ choir singing Psalms in English.
May 10th
I visited London and went to an Air India travel office and presented the new Interactive Bhagavad-gita CD. I invited the manager to buy copies for his employees. He was interested and asked me to return in a few days so that he could speak with the director. Then I had darsan of Radha-London-Isvara and attended noon arati and ate lunch. In the front window of the Soho Street temple there is a TV constantly playing a video of Srila Prabhupada lecturing – dubbed for easy following – and a speaker is mounted outside the window so that passersby can hear his voice. I ran into Bhaktin Sofia at Govinda’s, and we rode the tubes and train back; she was elated to get a letter from someone who liked a book she had sold him. I studied Brahma’s prayers. He says material energy comes from God; therefore it’s pleasing. I realized this is why people I meet say “I’m fine.” But they go on to say, “I’m fine. I don’t need your book.” I can tell them they feel fine because they’re getting God’s mercy, and then maybe they will become interested in the book.
May 12th
I distributed in Borehamwood again and had to be friendly and interactive – not just hiding behind a beadbag in the temple. I met a devotee family on the street -an old friend- and he invited me to visit his family soon for prasadam. I entered a travel agency and took a brochure about India off the rack and found a nice picture of the Sri Rangam temple, so I took the brochure with me.
May 13th
I went on harinam all Saturday afternoon in a town on the southern coast – oceanside chanting and also chanting in the shopping streets and a park.
May 15th
Out distributing again on Monday, I met a young man from Hungary who had heard about us there, and he took a book. So did a middle-aged, respectable British man. I was just standing on the sidewalk, and Krsna was sending nice people.
May 16th
I received a sixty-pound donation from the manager of the Air India office in exchange for six BG CDs.
May 17th
I visited the Oxford Center for Vaisnava Studies for a few days.
May 20th
Rode back to London and joined the harinama on Saturday night through the theater district, with its huge marquees. People danced with us. We used a powerful amplification system, but people tolerate it.
May 24th
I distributed books in London, near the temple, on the street and in some shops. I met some Indians: A lady who is a commercial artist took a book, and a young shopkeeper who sells just Indian paraphernalia had a Light of the Bhagavata next to his cash register and said he is reading it regularly. Because I was distributing near our Soho Street restaurant and temple, I first gave out restaurant invitations and then handed people books.
May 25th
I rode into London and distributed some books: to a sailor taking a train, to a student, to a Muslim who has taken up Krsna consciousness and just gotten his pilot’s license.
May 29th, Ekadasi and Bank Holiday
I went to a Mind, Body and Spirit fair and sold lots of books and prasadam from our booth. The place was packed because of the legal holiday. Our “Japa Experience” section of the booth was busy: people paid two pounds and got to sit cross-legged in front of a devotee and learn to chant japa. The people got to ask questions and got to keep the beads and beadbags that they used. Three or four people an hour were doing it, for the first time.
June 1st
Tonight we had a festival in Camden Hall – Prabhupada spoke there and in eight other halls around London. Tribhuvanath Prabhu organized the festivals then and now. Jayadvaita Swami, with freshly shaven head, spoke, and the crowd loved his talk. He got many questions; one was about why there are 8,400,000 species (he said it’s just like the exact formula for water: it’s H20 not H40 – finite and precise). We had a big kirtan (forty devotees on stage) led by Abhimanyu on accordion, then prasadam. I stood at a table for a short time and helped two young men buy bead bags and beads.
That's all, prabhus.
