Nectar
Hare Krishna. Please Accept my Humble obeisances.
All Glories To Srila Prabhupada and His Most Wonderful Book Distribution Mission.
In Late September I left my motor home in the U.S. and travelled around the globe to distribute books in Australia. On the way I stopped off in L.A., one of my favorite stops. I met Brgupati, Vijaya, Partha Sarathi, Prem Sankirtana, Sacitanoi, and many other great Sankirtana devotees. The New Dvaraka community is quite large and a little difficult to manage for that reason, plus being in such a large city as Los Angeles but there are so many sweet devotees and so much preaching of Krishna Consciousness going on there that I always have to visit when I can. for many years I did book distribution there also so I really got to like the place. Srila Prabhupada spent a lot of time there also and empowered the community.
After Los Angeles I went to Bali Indonesia. My wife and I stayed there for ten days as a sort of spiritual Holiday. There are over 3,000 devotees in Bali. Bali has only a few million people. The population is majority Hindu, so the piety of Hindu people combined with a tropical climate makes it a nice place. The devotees there are amazing. Plus Navina Nirada prabhu was there doing a book distribution seminar so it was especially ecstatic. The Island of Bali is a huge tourist destination so Navina Nirada prabhu was taking the devotees out on Book Distribution and training them up in a very nice way for the first time. The tourists and the locals alike were taking books like never before. That was so inspiring.
The Balinese culture is very ancient so the devotees took my wife and I to an ancient temple complex in the Jungle at the foot of Mount Agung-A 3000 foot Volcano. The legend is that Lord Siva Himself lives in the Volcano. While my wife and I explored the temple one of the devotees who drove us was so fired up he distributed books to the temple visitors.
This temple was built over 1200 years ago. It's a temple to Vishnu and some Demigods. It's located in a Tropical Rainforest, so it's a very beautiful and auspicious atmosphere. The history goes that Markandeya Rishi himself came from the Heavenly planets for the opening ceremony. The temple is in the process of being renovated because it was neglected for some time. This temple is the mother temple of Bali and many people there believe that since the worship has been neglected Bali has had to suffer as a result. In 2004 there was the Bali Bombing etc. Now that they are reestablishing the temple they hope that Bali will enter into a new age of Peace and Prosperity.
After a restful, but ecstatic trip my wife and I farewelled the nicest devotees we'd ever met and flew onward to Perth, Australia. Only 2 and a half hours away by plane. My wife is from Perth, so we stay here occassionally. The book distribution and preaching is very good in Australia so it's always a pleasure to come here for a visit. People here are quite easy going and approachable unlike some of the developed countries. It's actually easy to preach here. The temple has moved to the outskirts of the city where there is more room for development, so we only see the devotees once a week for the Sunday feast which they hold at their inner city restaurant. My wife and I have rented an apartment in the downtown area near the action so we can distribute more books. It's quite a challenge though without a temple for morning program and association, but by Krishna's grace we are distributing a lot of books. We do mostly small books for practicality so we usually don't have big book scores as far as book points, but as far as number of books distributed, we do well. The first day out I had an old copy of Teachings of Lord Kapila that was slightly water damaged. I had run out of books and no one seemed to want it until I met an Indian student named Kapila! He was glad to take it after he found out how much I new about Lord Kapila.
Another day during the marathon I saw a man approaching. Just then I had a Deja Vu. Within a split second I knew this man was going to come over, talk to me, and give a donation. I knew what he was going to say and everything. It was amazing. Then I met a group of Teens that get books from me from time to time. They said that they have a special box on their table where they put the books into and they take turns reading from them and having discussions about the contents. They said one girl in particular is always reading the books. I invited them to the Sunday preaching programs and they were thrilled. Another man was a psychic and Medium and he said he knew he was going to meet someone like me that day so gave 20 dollars for a small book.
Over all, the response is very favorable and the Book distribution wherever I go is just getting better and better. I hope that the leaders of ISKCON and the devotees in general will renew their efforts to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books all over the world and create a revolution. It is so needed. The environment is in peril, so many wars, famines etc. all can be solved through Sankirtana. It's so ecstatic, that if your not engaged 100 percent in the Sankirtana mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu you are truly missing out on the topmost nectar.
Just like while I was doing the marathon here in Perth (The only devotee doing the marathon in Perth unfortunately). There were some devotees coming from other states in Australia distributing stickers and then giving me a hard time for doing books. It was so ridiculous, I didn't even bother saying anything since it was so absurd. To stop the tide of Kali Yuga that is threatening to Tsunami the world preaching and book distribution must be given the most emphasis. Then the golden age of Mahaprabhu can really manifest and there will be no more trouble.
Your Servant,
Devaki Nandana Dasa
