Book Distribution Asylum Seeker Centre, Cork

All Glories to Sri Guru and Guaranga! I started the book distribution on 6th December 2010 from the main reception of the centre. During this time, one lady refused to take one initially saying she was a Christian. I told her I also love Jesus Christ and that there is only one God, she took the book. Another resident of the name Charles spoke about how he never ate beef but ate other meat such as chicken. He was happy to receive a book.

I gave a book to a lady who faces deportation, she was very happy to take a book and posed for photos with it. Another lady took one but refused to be photographed. One Brahmin asylum seeker from Mauritius was thrilled to take a book and asked for 5 more to distribute amongst his friends in the centre.

That evening, when I was finishing my shift I left some books in the reception area. I was delighted to see that the next day, 7th December, they were all gone. When I was going for my lunch, I left more on the table in reception and when I was finishing that day, I left more there.

On the 8th December, there was a lot of fighting in the centre, two ladies were arguing all day and it was really taking a lot of time and energy to restore the peace. The arguing was going on two days.

One of the ladies involved came to the office to speak to the manager and when she was waiting to go in I handed her a book. She left it to one side while she went in and spoke to the manager. When she came out, I said to her “Don’t forget your book”. She replied, “You want me to read this?”

I was surprised when the security guard next to me said to her “Yes, go read it, it’s a book about peace, love and harmony, you really need that now! Go read it!” I was amazed at the power of a pure vaishnav, Gurudeva is truly merciful!

I realized that leaving the books in the reception area was an ideal place, as the centre is open 24 hours a day and this gives residents a chance to take a book when I am not here. Sixty books out of a hundred have been distributed and I am sure that they will be gone by next week.

I am thinking of keeping some to one side to give to people in times of strife such as the arguing this week that turned to violence and assault and terrified the children of those involved who were present at the time.

I will be in touch soon with another update!

Your lowly servant

Tarini

Faridibad Book Stall

Last weekend a group of 3 devotees including me & 2 others organised a book stall in one of the biggest shopping mall in Faridabad. By Srila Gurudev's mercy I got the approval to organize a stall without any charge for 3 days. During these 3 days we Distributed about 300 Books from little ones like the way of love (50 Copies), beyond liberation, Secrets of the undiscovered Self, Chamatkar Chandrika, Damodrashtakam, Prem Samput to Big ones like Bhagawat Geeta (10 Copies), Raas Panchadhyai (2 Copies), Journey of the Soul (10 copies) & Jaiva Dharma (3 Copies). Along with that We Distributed lot of Transcendental Pictures.



I would like to share some of the wonderful experiences. A man named, Jamuna Prasad left his home to pick his children from the tudoring. He was delayed in being able to pick up his children so He was passing his time at the mall. He landed himself in front of our book stall to buy Jaiva Dharma, Raas Panchadhyayi, lot of other small books along with one year subscription to our monthly magazine "Bhagwat Patrika". Srila Gurudev brings Jivas to the Transcendental world through so many ways.



I also came across a school teacher who worships Lord Shiva. When I showed her the position of Lord Shiva through the map of the worlds printed in "Journey of the Soul", She was so happy. She bought a copy of the Journey of the soul along with Siva Tattva.



The most amazing part about this book distribution was the ISCKON book stall next to us. When I ran out of my BG I distributed few of Prabhupada BG & Krishna Book. The ISCKON leader (Gopeshwar Prabhu) & Others showed love & affection towards Srila Gurudev. He said Together we can fulfill the mission of our Acharyas & Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. At the end of the 3rd day they gave us Prasadam & Milk to us. It was a heart melting experience with them.

Puri Book Distribution

Today 2 girls from our book distribution seva team – Taruni dasi and Yamuna dasi – went out for an experiment. We wanted to distribute books near the Jagannatha Temple. We thought it would be a great chance to meet very pious people from all over India, who came especially to take darshan of Lord Jagannatha. We cannot go inside due to our fallen condition, so we were doing kirtana just near the main entrance. There was a big crowd there – hundreds of people searching for spiritual experience. We found distributing books there really easy. Yamuna was surprised, “I didn’t have to do anything. The books themselves did everything, books and kirtana, and Srila Gurudeva, and Sri Jagannatha.” While we were singing the maha-mantra, people were crowding around us and asking for books. We were non-stop giving them Ways of Love, Damodarastakas and especially Jagannatha Ratha Yatras. This constant flow was interrupted time to time only by dwarfish South Indian cows who were suddenly knocking their cute muzzles on our hands asking for some caresses.

I saw nearby one honorable looking Indian family and approached them with books. I was surprised to know that they came from New York. I asked the young gentleman, why didn’t he go inside the temple to see Lord Jagannatha. “My mum went for darshan,” he said, “but I didn’t go, because I feel bad they don’t allow foreigners to come inside. I think the Lord is for everybody, not only for Indians”. He bought the Jagannatha Ratha Yatra book.

Yamuna met very sweet children, with such a very natural and playful mood – she was just charmed by them.

In about two hours all our bags became empty and we managed to come back to Srila Gurudeva’s temple in time for evening prasadam. Now we are waiting for the rest of the girls who should soon come from the book fair, looking forward to hear their news. We’ll write more tomorrow.

Bhubaneswar Book Fair

BOOK DISTRIBUTION SEVA IN BHUBANESHWAR
07.12.2010 – 09.12.2010












Haribol devotees! Dandavat pranams and greetings from Bhubaneswar and Jagannatha Puri! Yesterday 6 young devotees in our ladies seva team travelled to the annual Bhubaneswar bookfair to continue the distribution of Srila Gurudeva’s transcendental literature. After an auspicious morning of parikrama of Sri Jagannatha Puri Dhama under the senior guidance of Sripad Bhaktivedanta Damodara Maharaja, the ladies seva team arrived infused with an exalted mood from the dust of the holy Dhama. Jaya!
With more than 500 publication groups participating in the book-fair, in various genres such as yoga, philosophy, literature and education, we were met with a crowd that was open and eager about reading, ideas, and spiritual life. Many young people gladly accepted “The Way of Love” and “Journey of the Undiscovered Self” which opened many a lively conversation on the nature of the soul and for contact with other amazing books. For half the team, this bookfair marked their first book distribution seva. Taruni dasi observed an upbeat and brave spirit in the new ladies as they approached book browsers for the first time. Despite certain language barriers we realized that sincerity and trust in Gurudeva and the books empowered the strong connections we made with others.
Sita dasi shared that many were astonished and curious to encounter Western women distributing books on Krishna. “Why have you left your country of opulence and wealth (so many conceptions of USA and Russia) to come to India? Who are you? How do you know Lord Krishna?” We shared about the power of Srila Gurudeva’s mission distributing the true wealth to the lost jivas – pure bhakti. Just as the bee is attracted by the nectar of the flowers, so our hearts are searching for the highest love and affection. In many of our encounters, Indians expressed moods of deep appreciation and honor toward the power of the Vedas to speak to souls all over the world. Such is the nature of the Absolute Himself! The sakti of the transcendental literatures lifted our energies to continue book distribution late into the evening and periodically we checked in with one another to exchange inspiring anecdotes from those who received books.

Yamuna Flood

Dear All,
The Yamuna River has not been so high in over 30 years. This year she kept growing and growing until she finally flooded homes and unfortunately, after devotees watching and watching - she flooded our basement book storage room. The water came in through the drains, so that is why no one caught it in time. The Yamuna was not all the way up to our building yet - but the drains were overlookedS.

The devotees did a Titanic delve into the water and got all of the boxes out of the water. Then so many devotees helped with taking all of the books out of the boxes and packages and lying them out one by one all over the temple room, empty rooms (under the fans) and all over the building. We are still doing this and so many of the books have been saved. Some are wrinkled or have some blemishes now in the cover, and some we could not save.

We all realized that the Yamuna flooded the bookroom so we can flood the world with Srila Gurudeva's books. He has said so many times he does not want them sitting in cold storage.

So, a group of us plan to go to Delhi next week for the Commonwealth Games and to distribute as many books as possible for any donation.

We have had to incur many costs to save these books as well as the losses we have taken with the unusable books and posters.

If you would like to make a donation, we would be so grateful. You can donate through www.gvpbookdistribution.com/Sponsor.html

Aspiring for the service of Sri Guru and the Vaisnavas,
Vasanti dasi

School Program in South Africa

by Vasanti dasi






On Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010 Syamarani didi, myself, Mukunda prabhu, Anupama prabhu, Asim-Krsna prabhu and Lalita didi went to a school in a rural town outside of Johannasberg. There were about 50 kids there and they were so incredibly sweet.
First we chanted and we gave them all a Way of Love so they could follow along with the Maha-mantra. They loved the book and we told them that the books are sacred so to keep them in a special place and not on the floor, etc.

Syamarani didi gave a sweet class for them which can be viewed on my youtube page:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vasantidasi1&aq=f

We heard that one kid even became a vegetarian after the program because he said he doesn't want to eat his brothers. His mother came into the school, and told the teacher my kid won't eat meat anymore. The teacher told her alternatives and she was pacified.

Some of the kids couldn't stop staring at the Krsna pictures in the books.

We had a kirtan at the end and we all danced together. Then, I asked the kids who could chant the mantra into the microphone and they all came to the mic with such enthusiasm - some learned the maha-mantra so fast, some needed help, and some used the book.

We then gave them all sumptuous prasadam and they ate to their hearts content (we've heard some of these kids don't eat much on weekends, when they are not in school.) We also gave them take home plates for their families.

Preaching in India

Preaching in India is challenging and inspiring. Everywhere people need Srila Gurudev’s books, in the West as well as in India. In our dealings with Indians we could understand, that Gurudev’s books are extremely necessary. Most of the Indians have the conception that all paths lead to Bhagavan, but they can not clearly define who is Bhagavan. For that reason, according to their birth, samskar and liking they choose demigods for their worship. In most of the cases they think that Sri Krsna is also like a demigod, but we detected that even though they can not understand Sri Krsna’s identity still they have some kind of special respect for Him. In other cases they know that Sri Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they still have the strong desire to worship demigods as well

In Hindu temples, the Sri Sri Radha Krsna murtis are generally centred in the middle, surrounded by Sivji, Durga, Ganesh etc. It is very helpful when we make programs in Hindu temples and speak about the cause and the centre of all causes, Sri Krsna. Indian people very quickly feel if the preacher is sincere or not, so equipped with Gurudev’s powerful books and the weapon for Kali yuga, the harinam mahamantra, we try to capture their hearts. We meet those who practice Buddhism, Sikh Religion, Shivaits, Christians, demigod worshippers, the Brahmakumaris and new age movements like art of living, etc., which forces us to study our philosophy deeply to be capable in philosophical exchanges. We have learned it is very important to be respectful and careful towards other religions and habits.

Preaching in India is challenging and inspiring. Everywhere people need Srila Gurudev’s books, in the West as well as in India. In our dealings with Indians we could understand, that Gurudev’s books are extremely necessary. Most of the Indians have the conception that all paths lead to Bhagavan, but they can not clearly define who is Bhagavan. For that reason, according to their birth, samskar and liking they choose demigods for their worship. In most of the cases they think that Sri Krsna is also like a demigod, but we detected that even though they can not understand Sri Krsna’s identity still they have some kind of special respect for Him. In other cases they know that Sri Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they still have the strong desire to worship demigods as well.

In general people have appreciation and curiosity if they see us Western people speaking about Krsna, which is an advantage for us and makes book distribution easier. Many times people invite us to their houses, we perform kirtan and speak harikatha. In nearly every house Krsna is present, mostly as Balgopal. We can not expect that the people will change their lives in one day. But by slowly going their again and again they become more attracted to Krsna consciousness. A few sincere people take harinam and diksa from Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja. For this reason we are inspired to go everywhere in India and to preach this wonderful message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

In the last year we have travelled to and distributed books in Sikhim, Darjling, Jaipura, Delhi, Mathura, Haridwar, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhara and trains along the way.

Srila Gurudev ki jaye

Savitri and Bakula d.d.