Sankirtana Ki Jai
I was in Northern Wisconsin fixing my RV for a week and then went to The Twin Cities in Minnesota for a while to distribute some books and see some family members. There is now a good group of devotees in Minnesota so I went to one of their nice programs. They rent a hall once a month and have a big program and invite many people. They also have a program at the University of Minnesota once a week. This is one of the biggest universities in America so it's quite an important place to preach.
I had gotten quite sick with a bad flu so I only managed to distribute books for four or five days but it went well. I met a lot of interested people and invited many more to the programs. I was really trying to approach everyone. In the heart of downtown Minneapolis there is a long street that is closed to only bus and taxi traffic and foot traffic. It's a nice place to distribute. I approached a man who looked disheveled and homeless but he took a book. An hour or so later he came back and said he read parts of it and it was good. He used to be into Transcendental meditation and thought that the,"Civilization and Transcendence" was great.
I met a lot of people who were really happy to meet a positive person who was smiling. They thanked me for being out there. I met a young couple who had been to India as a school research project and they had actually been to the ISKCON temple in Delhi. The girl said she had the Journey of Self-Discovery and had gotten it from a book table near the restaurant in ISKCON Delhi. They happily took a Higher Taste and a Chant and Be Happy.
When I started doing well, though, some people tried to interrupt the sankirtana. One man came out of a store and told me that I couldn't distribute where I was. I told him that I'm on a public sidewalk so I don't have to move. I got into a little argument but won since I was right. In the United States on any public street one is allowed to express his religion under the freedom of speech outlined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Any law that contradicts the Constitution is null and void.
It usually works when I say this, but a couple of weeks later in Madison Wisconsin I ran into trouble with the Police on the issue. I wish that more devotees would distribute books so ISKCON would grow more powerful again and we could reestablish the right to do xankirtana. It would be nice to have devotees preaching everywhere so we could challenge these crazy laws in court or with a team of expert Vaisnava lawyers so we could spread the xankirtana movement unlimitedly. With the present demonic political situation around the world, the rights of the people are being slowly eroded due to the lording over of materialistic leaders.
I know in the Middle East many devotees can't even preach at all. I know that if more devotees rise up and preach with renewed enthusiasm then Krishna conscious civilation will rise. It has to. Everything else has failed. Krishna consciousness is all that is left.
After Madison I went to Kenosha, Wisconsin and stayed with my Friend Bhagavan Acarya Dasa again. He used to travel with the Radha Damodara TSKP party, so he always tells nectar stories. He showed me a small box of rare Vishnujana swami tapes that maybe no one has, so when I get them digitized I'll post them on Vishnujan.com for the devotees pleasure. Bhagavan Acarya and I went to the Chicago Ratha Yatra yesterday, which was pure bliss. The parade was amazing, and the drama put on by the Vaisnava youth brought you right into Krishna's pastimes. It was such an ecstatic festival that it inspired me to write my realizations and hopefully inspire others to try to share Krishna consciousness more and more with as many people as possible.
Your Servant,
Devaki Nandana Dasa / Radha Damodara TSKP
"Caitanya Mahäprabhu has stated that He wants every village in the entire world to be a center for Krishna consciousness so that people can take advantage of sadhus and in turn become sadhus. This is the mission of this Krishna consciousness movement…. At the same time, we have to take compassion upon fallen souls by going from town to town to enlighten others in Krishna consciousness. This is a sadhu's duty.
"TLK Ch. 11, text 24
