Mayapur and Service to Lord Caitanya
Hare Krsna Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
By the mercy of Lord Caitanya I'm in the holy dham of Mayapur. We just finished the Nama Yajna, four days of ecstatic twelve-hour kirtans with the best kirtaniyas in the movement. Last night was the last kirtan, led by Madhava Prabhu. It went on till 11:20 PM. Imagine thousands of devotees being swept up in a kirtan. It was indeed a very attractive part of the festival this year.
We also had three days of seminars on book distribution. They'll be put on iskcondesiretree.net within the next few weeks. The one thing that sticks out in my mind the most is a story by Bhakti Sundara Govinda Maharaja. When he joined in the mid-seventies in Caracas, Venezuela, he was sent out on book distribution the first day. A professor who was coming to the Sunday Feast every week asked Jagat-caksur (Maharaja's former name) if he would like to give a lecture at his class at the university. Jagat-caksur agreed and went. He also brought some books. At the end of the class he asked if anyone would like to have some books. No one responded. The professor then said, "We are going to have an assignment on the book 'Sri Isopanisad,' so you'll need to get the book to pass the course." Every student bought a book. Then the professor said to Jagat-caksur, "I have many friends here in the university whom we can visit, and maybe they would also like to have their students get books." Jagat-caksur eagerly agreed, and in two hours he distributed over 500 books!
The all-auspicious appearance day of the most merciful Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is fast approaching. Many devotees will give presents to Lord Caitanya on His appearance day. I would like to suggest a present to Him. As you know, I'm trying to get a sankirtan van for the devotees in Nigeria to spread the glories of Lord Caitanya. We are still stuck in the $5,000 area. If you could help in this way, that would certainly be very pleasing to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Your servant,
Vijaya Das
