The last Book Distribution Seminar in Mayapur
Hare Krsna Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
On the third and last day of the 2011 book distribution seminars in Mayapur. Kavichandra Swami said, "There's never enough book distribution. Sometimes devotees say, 'We've distributed so many books, so where are the devotees who are supposed to come from book distribution?' But we're distributing for the pleasure of the spiritual master and the previous acaryas, and that is all we really need to do. If there is a result — if devotees come from book distribution — then wonderful, but if there is no apparent result, then it is still wonderful because we are following the order of the spiritual master. If we please Srila Prabhupada, then our life is perfect. And he wants us to distribute books. We don't know what the long-term effect will be. We hear so many stories of a person having a book for twenty years or more and then he or someone else reads it and becomes a devotee.
"We want these books to be distributed in every town and village all over the world. Not everyone can go out individually, but as Vaisesika Prabhu has been encouraging devotees to do all over the world, if you have a Monthly Sankirtan Festival where a lot of people do a little bit, it becomes a lot and many more books can be distributed.
"When we go out we meet so many nice people. Sometimes people are actually looking for the Bhagavad Gita, but mostly people are happy to meet devotees and take books from them. Everyone is looking for Krsna. He's the reservoir of all pleasure.
"The Bhagavad Gita teaches people about what to do and what not to do. The demons don't know what to do and what not to do; they're not clean — their minds are filthy dirty, so the activities they think of are unclean. But by reading Prabhupada's books they get purified.
"Prabhupada said that even if they just touch a book they get purified. I remember distributing books in the Chicago airport, one of the busiest in the world. Most of the people we would approach wouldn't take a book. In fact, very few would. We would hand them the books and try to get them to take them and give a donation, but they would almost always hand them back. But we became very enlivened by remembering Prabhupada's statement, since so many people were touching the books every day. So we would try to get more people to touch the books, without worrying whether they took them or not. But we found that more people would take the books because they touched them; they had come in touch with Krsna.
"There was a lady devotee named Radha Kunda Dasi who was distributing outside the Vrndavana temple. She met a man who taught the Bhagavad Gita. He purchased Prabhupada's 'Bhagavad Gita As It Is' from her, and then after some time he came back to tell her, 'I'm a professor. I've been teaching the Bhagavad Gita for many years, but I did not understand it until I read this Bhagavad Gita by Srila Prabhupada.'"
I was the next speaker and started by asking the devotees attending the seminar a question: "Does anyone know the theme of this Mayapur Festival?" No one answered, so I let them know. "It is the Festival of Loving Exchanges. Book distribution is also a festival (the best experiences I've had in this life have been on book distribution), and when we meet people we are giving them an opportunity to experience the best loving exchange they have ever had, because we are giving them Krsna. These books give direction on how to experience real love. They are guides on how to love. The nondevotees don't know that love exists only on the spiritual platform, between the pure soul and Krsna and other pure souls. So we should try to help people experience real love. It's described that love is compared to gold and lust to iron. Both are metals, but gold is very valuable and beautiful and iron is inexpensive and unattractive.
"We have to dedicate our lives to something, so why not dedicate it to helping others understand their spiritual nature and the nature of Krsna? There is so much speculation about God throughout the world, but here we have God (Krsna) as He is, the most beautiful, the wisest, the most knowledgeable, etc.
"We don't know who will become a devotee from the books we distribute. I was once at a festival in Canada and a devotee came up to me and said, 'Vijaya, I want to thank you.'
"I said, 'You're welcome. Now, what are you thanking me for?'
"He said, 'Twenty years ago you gave a book to a friend of mine in the Miami Airport [I used to distribute books there], and he wasn't interested so he gave it to me. I read it, and now I have been a devotee for the past twenty years.'
"A similar thing happened about a year later. I was at a temple in the USA and a devotee came up to me and thanked me for making his wife a devotee fifteen years earlier. They are both here in Mayapur now. It is such a nice feeling, to know that you were an instrument in helping someone else become a devotee.
"When I joined in Miami my sankirtan leader, Raghunatha Puri Prabhu, once told me, 'Our determination to distribute Prabhupada's books should be so strong that even if everyone in the movement leaves Krsna consciousness we should get the books printed and go out and distribute them.' When I heard that I was thinking, 'Wow, that is determination.'
"Once a devotee asked Prabhupada, 'Prabhupada, what if a devotee doesn't have determination?' Prabhupada said, 'Then he is an animal.' There are some devotees in our movement who have been distributing books for over four decades. That is determination. Sometimes devotees ask me, 'How have you been distributing books for so long?' I tell them, 'I can't think of anything better to do. Give me something better to do and I'll do it.'
"Book distribution is so nice. It changes peoples lives. Just recently in Southern California I was distributing at a university and one student came to the table and I spoke to him and distributed a book to him. He was so enthusiastic that from the time I spoke to him he stopped eating meat, and now he's living in the Denver temple. Prabhupada gave the example of a spark touching dry grass, a hard surface, and water. If the spark hits water it goes out immediately; this is compared to the mode of ignorance. If a spark falls on a hard surface it gradually goes out; this is compared to the mode of passion. But if a spark touches very dry grass, then immediately a fire will ignite. So this person was like that: immediately he was enthusiastic. So I got his e-mail and phone number and kept in touch with him. Prabhus, we have to keep in touch with the people we find who are into what we have. Otherwise we won't be able to bring them closer to the lotus feet of Prabhupada and Krsna. Or if they do come, it will take longer.
Thank you very much,
Hare Krsna
