Los Angeles SD Newsletter VOL. 3, ISSUE 13
VANCA KALPA…
THE BOOKS
By Nitika Thapar
Please accept our greetings from the Sastra Dana newsdesk. We all hope that you are doing well with regard to your Krsna conscious activities.
Our last program was held at Kakudmi Prabhu's home. Although the crowd was small, it was nevertheless a very sweet and simple gathering characterized by wonderful Vaisnava bhajans sung by the host himself. This was followed by an interesting and inspiring talk by Vijaya Prabhu, a veteran in book distribution who reminisced his experiences over the past several years.
We may regard book distribution as a routine and monotonous activity if we view it at the mundane level but when veteran book distributors enlighten us with their experiences, we are hit with the transcendental nature of this service and the wonderful potency of the books in changing a person's life! For this reason, it is very important that we carefully listen to these devotees who have dedicated their lives in Srila Prabhupada's service, in order to set our lives on the right track. You may distribute a book with a feeling of mixed apprehension and curiosity thinking that the book may not be read and just accumulate layers of dust in a remote corner of someone's home or worse, even sold for a paltry sum of money. In either case it has been observed that the book finally is opened and read by a fortunate soul, it is just a question of time. A lotus flower grows and blooms in muddy waters but people still value it for its beauty and purity, similarly, Srila Prabhupada's books appear as pure jewels in the muddy waters of material living and beckon people to partake of their contents freely. So, really one need not fear about the outcome of their efforts, for, the nature of this activity guarantees that benefit is certain for the distributor as well as the receiver.
As Sruta Kirti Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada's personal servant writes in his memoirs…
1. Recently Srila Prabhupada said that our real preaching is to distribute books. He said, "What can you say to a person in three minutes?" he asked. "But if he reads one page of a book it may turn him around. However you have to do it, that is okay; but if you get the person angry and he doesn't take a book, then that is your foolishness." Srila Prabhupada's statements mark the difference between our words and Srila Prabhupada's words. Purity is the force. Srila Prabhupada is the pure devotee, we are his humble servants. It is our good fortune to distribute his words in book form.
Srila Prabhupada said, "My Guru Maharaja daily printed a small paper. The paper cost a few cents and whenever a brahmacari would come back from the streets and said he had sold one, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati would become very happy and say 'Oh, that is very nice what you have done. You are a very good boy.'"
2. Entering Srila Prabhupada's quarters was always an enlightening experience. Sometimes Srila Prabhupada sat and read his books. Whenever he read, it seemed as if someone else had written his books because he didn't read with the mind of an author who might be looking for editing mistakes or grammatical errors. He read them with the relish of a pure devotee reading the pastimes of the Supreme Lord to whom he was completely attached.
3. One day in Los Angeles I went into his room to perform my duties and he was sitting and reading Bhagavad Gita As It Is. After I offered obeisances he looked at me and said, "If you just read this one book and understand, you will become Krishna Conscious in this very life." A few months later when I went into his room, he was reading Nectar of Devotion. He looked at me and said, "This book is so nice. Just by reading this one book you can become Krishna Conscious." Srila Prabhupada teaches us by example. He does everything he asks us to do. He requests us to read his book and he does, too.
The faith that Srila Prabhupada had in his books speaks for itself after reading his instructions. We all hope and pray that you can follow your eternal spiritual master's instructions and relish the nectar more and more. All glories to the Sankirtana movement!
