Astonishing things happen on Book Distribution!
The other day I was at a tech school, one of the best and most expensive in the country (about $40,000 a year). It’s very difficult to get into that school, so naturally all the students there are quite together and smart. It was really nice to have the opportunity to give them a look at the most valuable piece of education – Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Everyone I met was very respectful towards me and what I was doing. Even the people who didn’t take any books appreciated that the wisdom I was offering is at least valid and important and by this appreciation they too made advancement.
I stopped one young man and presented the books to him. He patiently and attentively listened to my spiel. Usually I can immediately tell if someone is interested or not, but with this guy I could not tell at all what he was thinking.
But he was very attentively listening so I spent a little extra time with him. Basically I just went over some of the pictures, and explained very scientifically how we are not the body because we are conscious, and our bodies are 100% composed of dead inert matter. I explained how our senses are dragging us around, trying to get us to spend our valuable lives serving the objects of each sense organ instead of our real goals in life, and how these books give us scientific answers on all this and more. When I got to the part where I asked him to please take the books home, read them and give a donation to help with our efforts to publish and distribute the books, he looked at me in a very soft way but very serious and dead in the eyes. He said, “I am an atheist. I have always been an atheist my whole life. But this is interesting.” He gave me a donation and took a copy of all the books. I guess he just needed someone to put things in a way that he could understand, and to be introduced to the potency and mercy of Srila Prabhupada. With Srila Prabhupada in the center I guess anything can happen!
Later I met one guy that seemed like a real hipster and as I explained the books to him he appeared very interested. When it came to the part where I ask him to giving me a donation for the books he looked me deep in the eyes and said, “I am a Christian”.
I immediately explained to him that these books are not a religion, these books simply help us to see our inherent nature beyond any designation, even religion. These books bring us to the essence of all religion, pure love of God. His eyes lit up at this and his wallet was whipped out, he handed me $20 and took three of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Then he grabbed my hand and shook it very strongly and hard. He again looked in my eyes very deeply, and repeatedly expressed his gratitude to me in various ways. He told me, “What you’re doing is such important work. We need more people like you in the world. It’s so admirable. You should come here more often.”
In one sense these things are not at all astonishing, actually they are very simple, brief exchanges that only last a few minutes at most, and they happen so many times every day. There are so many stories like this that anyone can tell. All they have to do is three things:
1) Get some of Srila Prabhupada’s books.
2) When you meet people in your normal daily life – at the grocery store, in a parking lot, on the street – say some pleasant greeting to them.
3) Hand them a book and somehow or other describe the book to the person and ask for a donation (or let them have it for free if you like).
The astonishing thing is that a normal conditioned soul gets Srila Prabhupada’s books – personal invitations to dance with Krishna in Goloka, through these simple exchanges.
That is always astonishing!
If you would like some of Srila Prabhupada’s original, authorized (pre-1978) books to bring with you in your daily life to distribute, please go to:
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This is a wonderful story! When I ordered the Prabhupada library from the Krishna Store, they put a bunch of copies of “Krishna- the Reservoir of Pleasure” and “On Chanting Hare Krishna” booklets in the box, so because there are no devotees in my area, and I live several hour’s drive from a temple, I figured I would spread the mercy in my area, and hopefully bring Krishna to the people here. So I started simply approaching people and giving them these booklets for free, to test the waters here. I was surprised at how receptive people are!
I lived in an ISKCON temple in Colorado back in the 90’s, but never did Book Distibution back then because I was shy and insecure about my beliefs, so I rationalized that how I could I share something with someone else when I wasn’t 100% sure of it myself? I realize now that this attitude was just Maya, and if I had just surrendered all those years ago, perhaps I would have developed then the love for Krishna that I have now. But live and learn, you know?
So I ordered a bulk supply of “Perfection of Yoga”, because I ‘ve noticed a lot of hatha yoga studios popping up around here recently, so I figured that this would be a good book to introduce people to our philosophy. People have been very appreciative and accepting, though only donating a dollar or two because it’s a very small book. So I’m collecting that money to buy a bulk amount of Bhagavad Gita As It Is books to distribute and see how this goes.
I really love this very informative website and find it and Madhuvisa prabhu’s writings in the emails are so very inspiring in my practice of Krishna Consciousness! Haribol!
Oh Prabhu! Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! You are truly an inspiration for me…
Hare Krishna, all glories to Srila Prabhupada!!
Bhakta philip you are performing a wonderful service for the entire world