Book distribution seminar:

(from Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta)
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Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Reading Mother Karuna's post about her experience distributing at Santa Monica College reminded me of an experience I had about two years prior. I was distributing books there when I saw the same person in the wheelchair. I think his name was something like Miguel. His body was very contorted and he could not speak. When I first went up to him my mind was saying, "Don't talk to this guy, he probably won't be able to understand anything." But, Krishna was inspiring otherwise. So by the time my mind began protesting my body was already showing him the pictures in the book. The book was either the Bhagavad-gita or the Nectar of Instruction. It was too long ago for me to remember clearly. After I showed him about the book I asked if he could even understand what I said. He proceeded to laboriously punch buttons with his big toe on the keyboard mounted by his foot. Then a mechanical voice said, "Yes, I can understand you." Since he was Hispanic looking I asked if he could read English. He punched a few more buttons and I heard a "Yes." I asked if he was interested in the books and he said he was. So he gave a small donation and asked me to put the book in his bag. Now, after two years he has boon looking for another devotee to get another book. Thus when he saw mother Karuna he became excited and went straight for her table. He got two more books from her.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Your aspiring servant, Omkara dasa

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Letter PAMHO:15556753 (28 lines) From: Partha-sarathi (das) KKS (Brooklyn, NV - US) Date: 25-May-08 18:42 (22:42 +0400) To: Vijaya (das) HDG (USA) [13711] Subject: Airport book distribution in Iraq ----

Dedicated to Srila Prabhupada, savior if the fallen souls!

Sankritan Tradition, working the airport:

On the 15th I received a skype message from HG Balaramacandra Prabhu and to my amazement HG Murti Prabhu. For those that don't know, Balarama is the college preaching acarya. His vegan cooking workshop is bringing so many to this movement. Murti Prabhu is an amazing sankritan devotee. He lives, breathes, eats and sleeps distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. We had such a nice conversation about preaching and Murti Prabhu offered to send two cases of books to me. I accepted and promise to somehow find a way to distribute them. By his mercy, we did, as the first annual Spring marathon began. Myself and a few bhakta's grabbed some books on a hot Sat. morning, and made a goal of distributing these two cases of books. As the day went on, we met very nice people, some took books, some did not. As I was leaving the air terminal, I saw a small crowd. I walked over a little curious about the scene, and to my surprise I saw Bhakta Kristopher in the middle of a crowd with a huge smile on his face distributing books to everyone around him! I just sat back and watched and as each person grabbed a hold of the Bhagavad-Gita, I could feel Krsna grabbing hold of them, and while He is doing that, grabbing a hold of Kris's heart.

Final scores: PsD/38, KB/27

Your servant, Partha sarathi das
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Jaya Srila Prabhupada!

On our Sri Narasimha marathon we were traveling in central and eastern Finland, in areas called Savo and Karjala. Different flavors of tamo-guna, mixed with a pinch of rajo-guna. Savo especially has a reputation for being a heavy place for distribution. One day we were in Kuopio, the main city of Savo. The fact that I needed to drive our car back and forth to the repair shop didn’t make things easier.

We had a 250km drive in the evening, so we had to stop a little early. I distributed for some four hours and got a not so glorious total of 3 books out.

I was carrying a Srimad-Bhagavatam set with me that day. Some 7 years earlier in Kuopio, at an office, a person of a right-wing political party had taken 6 books from me, and I had meditated since then on distributing a Srimad-Bhagavatam set to members of the party. The right person was not in the office and didn’t answer her phone either, but I tried a couple of other shops and offices besides distributing in the street.

I ended up at a new-age place where there was library of some hundreds of books, including some of our books. The ladies there where not much into it, but they gave me the cell phone number of the man who oversaw the library. Just before the end of the day I called him. He was just then driving from the city of Joensuu to Kuopio; Joensuu was where we were going, so we made an appointment to meet on the road.

When we met, the man immediately agreed to take the Bhagavatam set and gave a reasonable donation. (We have a special campaign for selling Bhagavatam sets, and I could give him quite a low price.)

Two thoughts came to my mind: If we make the effort to always keep a set of books with us, Krsna will arrange that someone takes it. Also, although I often use so much energy speaking for a long time about our books on the street, it is not always necessary. If Krsna arranges, people can take many books smoothly and easily.

Your servant,

Muniraja Dasa (Text PAMHO:15561893) --------------------------------------

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This happened in Aurangabad, India . . . .

Rasayatra Prabhu, one of our enthusiastic brahmacaris, loves to go out practically every day to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books. It's now the hottest part of the year, and he distributes at railway stations and on trains, as these are the most crowded places because of summer vacation.

One day he made announcements on a train and was showing books to everyone. He was doing quite well. He noticed someone at the door watching him. Most of the time TTE (Travelling Ticket Examiners) are unfavorable to book distribution, and they threaten us. Also, other hawkers see us as competitors, and they complain to the railway authority about us.

So Rasayatra ignored him and continued his activities. But ten minutes passed, and still this fellow was there standing.

When Rasayatra had covered the whole coach and was getting down, this fellow shouted and called him near. Then he pulled something out of his pocket: a new pen.

He said, "Maharaja, I want to give you this gift. Please accept it."

He was a Muslim. He gave Rasayatra the pen and started walking. Rasayatra thought it was a nice opportunity to give him a book. So he starting walking after him and calling out.

"Wait! I also I have a gift for you. Look at these books."

The man said,"But if I take this book, you will have to give an account to your authority, and I don't have money."

He showed all his empty pockets. The devotee thought for while.

He said, "No problem, you can give me money next time. "

There was another Muslim standing there, his friend, and he asked how much it cost?

"Ten rupees."

He said, "I will pay for him." The man went on after happily thanking the devotee.

Rasayatra was astonished to see how the Paramatma reciprocated. When this man gave whatever (& the only thing) he had as a gift, the Lord arranged that he received the most precious and best thing: Srila Prabhupada's book.

daso smi Raja Gopala das (Text PAMHO:15558453) --------------------------------------

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I had an unusual day on book distribution recently. I have had plenty of dull days but this was different. I feel very grateful to Krsna. I could only stay for three hours but so much happened during that time... First a girl who started out by photographing all of the pictures in the books as I showed them to her. She loved the pictures. Then she came back later and said she wanted to read the books so she bought three of them and gave a nice donation. I took her e-mail address. Next came a guy who said he read Civilization and Transcendence and he very much agreed with everything Prabhupada had to say. He had gotten it free at the airport because he could not give a donation for a bigger book. He next bought a copy of Bhagavad-Gita from the devotees on Harinama. Thn he asked me to choose what he should read next so I gave him SSR and he was in bliss. I took his e-mail address. Never underestimate the distribution of even the little books such as Civ. and Transcendence. Then came the paraplegic in the wheel chair. All he could do was point at the books and moan. I was wondering what to do so I just showed him the pictures. He kept moaning and squealing. I thought he liked the books but I could not tell from his sound vibration. Then he typed on his computer keyboard with his big toe (his only normal limb was his foot) that he liked the books. The computer had a voice. It asked how much they were, and he also had the computer tell me to take his wallet out of his backpack and take his money. There was $2.75. I put the book in his backpack. I showed him a dinner card and I told him our temple has a handicap ramp. From looking at the complexity of his keyboard I could see he could read the book. Then a girl came along and asked if I had any book about death. She was dressed in black and looked fairly morose. I showed her the first part of SSR which is The Science of the Soul. She said, how do I know this is what will help me? I said, well I really love this chapter called, "Soul Research," and so she stood there and read it for some time, although she seemed to be in a panic. We talked for a while and she revealed how her brother had just drowned in a swimming pool at his school due to epilepsy. She said she had actually spoken to me one time before but did not get a book. This time she got the mercy.

Your servant,

Karuna Dharini dd (Text PAMHO:15542648) --------------------------------------

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Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

This recent Nrsimha Caturdasi was a very auspicious time for book distribution. I had to be back at the Los Angeles temple by one o'clock for the festival, so that morning I was begging Lord Nrsimhadeva to engage me. During japa I was begging that since I could only go out for three hours that uses me to distribute twice as many books. As soon as I got out of the car and started walking towards the airport I could feel His extreme mercy. The first person I talk to took a book and gave a donation. Within a half of an hour ten hard-backed big books (Quest and Beyond Illusion and Doubt) have gone out. LAX is configured like a bull-shoe (an upside down U), so I always start at terminal seven and end at terminal one while approaching people walking along the sidewalk. By the time I reached the end of terminal one, the last person at the end of the terminal took my last book and gave a very nice donation. I felt bad because I wanted to give the person more books, but I had none left!

Many people received the mercy of Lord Nrsimhadeva -- some willingly and others unwillingly! One person I talked to was adamantly opposed to the books the whole way through our conversation. When I showed him the books he said, "No, I'm not interested!" "But these books are about meditation and yoga, I am a monk" I replied. His hand took the book while his face was in disbelief as to the actions of his hand. I showed him the changing bodies picture, enlightenment picture, and the karma picture and then asked for a donation. He emphatically said, "I don't have any money!" I replied, "It is a donation from the heart, just do the best you can!" With that, his hands went for his wallet and gave me a twenty while his eyes were wide with bewilderment that he was giving his last twenty to a monk. He was saying "NO NO NO!" and Krishna was saying "YES YES YES!"

In the International terminal I met someone from Switzerland. That person seemed interested in the books and I asked for a donation, but she could not understand the part about the donation. A TSA worker was smoking a few feet away from me and overheard the whole conversation. When she said she did not understand, he said in a loud voice, "He is a monk, he does not sell the books. You give him your money and he will give you the books!" So she gave me all the money in her purse!

In the next terminal, terminal three, I met a nice black bodied man from Compton. Anyone who knows the area knows Compton to be one of the poorest black neighborhoods, ghettos, in Los Angeles. He was interested, but very practical. He wanted to know what he would get out of reading the books and he wanted for me to give some personal examples of what I have gained from them. He was very intelligent and inquisitive. We talked about the four regulative principles of freedom (at his request), the laws of karma, the modes of material nature, and, most importantly, the loving dealings of Krishna. He felt very inspired and gave a modest donation and I gave him one of every book I had and invited him back to the temple. Lord Nrsimhadeva is so merciful!

Your aspiring servant, Omkara dasa

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