Malini devi dasi: Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you!!
Here are the results of our Monthly Sankirtana Festival (MSF) of Miracle on Latham St, which was held over last three months here at ISV (Iskcon Silicon Valley, Mountain view, CA)
It is a miracle how the planets stay in the orbit, it is a miracle how the ocean does not cross its bank and it is also a miracle that we have air to breathe every moment.
Similarly, it is a miracle how we moved from a small storefront on New Jersey Avenue to this beautiful place on Latham Street. It is also a miracle how we are making our first December marathon offering on Latham Street. It is a miracle how souls come to Krsna consciousness just by receiving a book.
In one of your conversations you mentioned that Kṛṣṇa is the highest miracle man.
In Srimad Bhagavatam SB 3.5.42
yac chraddhayā śrutavatyā ca bhaktyā
sammṛjyamāne hṛdaye ’vadhāya
jñānena vairāgya-balena dhīrā
vrajema tat te ’ṅghri-saroja-pīṭham
Simply by hearing about Your lotus feet with eagerness and devotion and by meditating upon them within the heart, one at once becomes enlightened with knowledge, and on the strength of detachment one becomes pacified. We must therefore take shelter of the sanctuary of Your lotus feet.
In the purport you mentioned that: The miracles of meditating on the lotus feet of the Lord with eagerness and devotion are so great that no other process can compare to it.
Taking your instructions we started upon a seemingly impossible task for this marathon but with full faith that by the grace of a bona fide spiritual master even that which is impossible becomes possible.
mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ
paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande
śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
(Madhya 17.80)
By the mercy of the guru, even a dumb man can become the greatest orator, and even a lame man can cross mountains. As advised by Lord Brahmā, one should remember this śāstric injunction if one desires success in his life.
The goal for this MSF was:
To distribute at least 19,065 Bhagavad Gita’s.
To realize this goal, Team ISV distributed Bhagavad Gita’s at different venues and publically chanted the holy names.
Highlights of this MSF are:
• Vedic Academy Sunday school kids are back with 10% of the goal.
• Motel Gita team headed by Mayapur Bihari Prabhu dispatched 16,653 Bhagavad Gita’s for this marathon.
• A well-organized fire yagna for Bhagavad Gita was conducted at the temple, which attracted many new people.
• Bhagavad Gita was read in corporate offices on Gita Jayanti.
• For the very first time Bhagavad Gita’s were placed in airport chapels as part of Chapel Gita
• Hundreds of Bhagavad Gita’s were distributed at western festivals like pumpkin festival, Green festival, Haight Ashbury, and Santa Cruz
• Huge amounts of books and Laxmi were collected at Diwali festivals.
• Bhagavad Gita’s were placed in prisons.
• Hospital Sankirtan team placed 191 Bhagavad Gita’s in hospitals.
• Travelling sankirtan party also distributed books in Utah and Southern California.
• Books were distributed at Diwali festivals, dance concerts, annakut festivals, corporate offices, Indian stores and many other places.
• For the very first time, we have eHundi at the temple to make payments.
• Team ISV conducted a big Harinaam on day after Thanks Giving and distributed hundreds of Bhagavad Gita’s
• Soup prasadam was distributed at a festival which attracted a lot of people to get books.
• Online publicity team came up with the mystery wall consisting of 800 cases of Bhagavad Gita’s. They came up with creative messages and video’s to get sponsorships. (Iskconsiliconvalley.com/campaign)
As we make this offering of the MSF results, we are pleased to report that all the goals had been successfully met, surpassed and smashed.
In all:
· More than 75 devotees participated in book distribution
· Team ISV distributed 27,376 in book points which includes
• 22,411 Bhagavad Gita’s surpassing the goal of 19,065 Bhagavad Gita’s.
(Kids Sankirtan team distributed 2,363 Bhagavad Gita’s)
· Team ISV raised $105,771.94 in Laxmi surpassing the previous year’s total of $87,000
(Kids Sankirtan team raised $11,203.03)
Acknowledgements
We thank all participating devotees, donors and our Sankirtana leaders who contributed to this MSF. We express our deepest gratitude to our beloved Temple President HG Vaisesika Prabhu, the storehouse of ideas, who inspired us to tax our brains, encouraged, guided and showed us how to please you.
Today we pray at the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan, Sriman Mahaprabhu, Sri Sri Laxmi Narasimhadev to continue to shower Their blessings on team ISV.
MSF of Miracle on Latham Street Ki Jay!!
Your servant,
Malini devi dasi
(On behalf of ISV Sankirtan team, Mountain View)