Get out Your Wheelchair If You Have To
Hare Krishna. Please Accept My Humble Obeisances. All Glories To Srila Prabhupada.
Now that the Srila Prabhupada Marathon is here I just wanted to share some of my realizations that I've had over the last few days while distributing. I'm In Perth, Western Australia for the winter. It's summer here though so on Xmas day it can be over 100 degrees! Santa wears shorts here and can even be seen riding a surf board at the ocean.
The first day I went out was nectar. People in this part of the world are Isolated from a lot of the stress of the world so they are easily approachable. I met a man From Africa who went to a Hindu school there funded by Sai Baba. He took a book and gave a good donation. Hopefully Sai Baba will get some good fortune by helping to distribute one of Srila Prabhupada's books. Then I met a girl who named her Cat Krishna. She got a book too. Lot's of books have been going out due to the incredible mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya. Unfortunately there aren't any other devotees doing Sankirtana for the marathon for me to distribute with.There is a temple and nice community of Vaisnava's here but somehow like most parts of the world the preaching spirit isn't as strong as it should be. Now is the best time of year to rectify that. Most people around the world get into a charitable, festive mood during the Holiday seasonand are generally much more favorable towards Sankirtana. I'm seeing so many wonderful services and improvements that ISKCON has made, but Sankirtana is still too much neglected. I saw a lady the other day who was 85 years old in a wheelchair out distributing Watchtower Christian Magazines for 6 hours. She goes out everyday. You can't be a Jehovah's witness if you don't preach. Same with most other religious organizations. Srila Prabhupada gave us the topmost, divine Krishna Prema at the cheapest price ever. Our devotees should be more enthusiastic than old ladies in wheelchairs with tenth class religious philosophy. The Vaisnava's of the world should unite,get out their wheelchairs if they have to, and plunder and distribute the treasure house of love of God(The book room) like never before. Srila Prabhupada made Sankirtana the main service while he was here. We shouldn't have changed that. I know that over the years most ISKCON devotees weren't able to maintain book distribution over long periods of time. That is because of many factors. Many ISKCON leaders changed from,"Books are the Basis" to,"Bucks are the Basis" against Srila Prabhupada's desire. Also many times an immature understanding of Srila Prabhupad's instructions were to blame. Also many devotees being not very advanced etc. Many reasons there were, but book distribution is still the basis as Srila Prabhupada said it was. Book distribution is a demanding service but in my experience it's also the most rewarding spiritually due to the pleasing nature it has on Srila Prabhupada. It's not too late to save the world. To save the world for Krishna's pleasure. For Srila Prabhupada's pleasure. The world belongs to Krishna, but has been stolen by the materialists. The Sankirtana Yajna will make everyone happy in devotional love of God. At least for this month if every devotee could try to distribute as many books as possible we could start really helping Srila prabhupada to fulfill his mission of giving every man,woman and Child on earth at least one of his books. Tis the season to give. There's no better gift than one of Srila Prabhupada's books.
Your Servant,
Devaki Nandana Dasa. Radha Damodara TSKP
