By Malini devi dasi
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you!! All glories to transcendental books!
We are gathered here on the most auspicious occasion, which is your appearance day, to offer the results of our Monthly Sankirtana Festival (MSF) of “The birth of perfectly complete”, which was held last month here at ISV.
oḿ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaḿ
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya
pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate
The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.
According to Lord Chaitanya:
aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam
ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhu-vargena va kalpita
srimad bhagavatam pramanam amalam prema pum-artho mahan
sri-caitanya mahaprabhor matam idam tatradarah na parah
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, the son of Nanda Maharaja, is worshipped along with His transcendental abode Vrndavana. The most pleasing form of worship for the Lord is that which was performed by the gopis of Vrndavana. Srimad Bhagavatam is the spotless authority on everything and pure love of Godhead is the ultimate goal of life for all men. These statements, for
which we have the highest regard, are the opinion of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. (Caitanya-matta-manjusa by Srila Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Following the instructions of Lord Chaitanya, you came to America with spotless Srimad Bhagavatam to give pure love of God for all the people. You have spent days and nights translating transcendental books and your disciples have carefully edited and published them for our benefit. You have now left the task of distributing this literature to us.
In an attempt to fulfill the task, team ISV distributed Srimad bhagavatm sets, Bhagavad Gita’s, Krishna books, perfectly complete library sets and many more books.
Goals of this MSF were:
· read pastimes about Lord Krsna leading up to Janmastami
· distribute at least 2,500 Bhagavad Gita’s
· distribute at least 25 Srimad Bhagavatam sets
· distribute at least 5 Perfectly complete library sets (PCL)
To realize these goals, Team ISV distributed books at different venues and publically chanted the holy names in Harinaam at Palo Alto
Highlights of this MSF are:
· We distributed huge number of books at the Ratha Yatra festival in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
· Many teams including the kids Sankirtan team and smart box team participated in this book distribution.
· Srimad Bhagavatam sets were distributed in a new location, which turned out to be a potential for hundreds of sets.
· Devotee Connect program headed by Sri Gopal Prabhu and Vrindavan Priya Prabhu was launched at ISV with the additions of welcome booth and temple phone answering system.
As we make this offering of the MSF results, we are pleased to report that all the goals had been successfully met and surpassed
· Reading of Srimad Bhagavatam led by HG Vaisesika Prabhu was held on phone conferences.
With respect to the books:
In all:
• More than 70 devotees participated in book distribution
• Team ISV distributed 14,429 in book points which includes
· 6 Chaitanya Caritamrta sets
· 6 “Perfectly Complete library (PCL)” sets were distributed.
· 2,769 Bhagavad Gita’s surpassing the goal of 2,500.
· Total of 38 Srimad Bhagavavatam sets were distributed surpassing the goal of 25.
• Team ISV raised $26,880 in Laxmi surpassing the previous year’s total of $20,521
Acknowledgements
We thank all participating devotees, donors and our Sankirtana leaders who contributed to this MSF. We express our deepest gratitude to our beloved leader HG Vaisesika Prabhu for encouraging and guiding us at every step.
Today, we pray at your lotus feet to continue to shower your blessings on team ISV.
With gratitude,
Your servant,
Malini devi dasi
(ISV Sankirtan team, Mountain View)