Door to door book distribution.
Bhakta Akshay: Since the start of this year, in the mood of Haridasa Thakura and Nityananda Prabhu, I’ve been doing a lot of what I think is an under-rated form of book distribution: door to door. I was inspired by a devotee friend, who used to be a Jehovah’s Witness.
She said that they are really systematic. They keep notes and even revisit favorable people they’ve met. I adopted this systematic approach in distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, and I now make notes on the favorable people I meet. I revisit them and bring them gifts, prasada, and beads.
It’s been less than half a year, and I’m really pleased with the results.
While the quantity of books going out may be less than through other forms of book distribution, door to door may be more powerful, because you can cultivate the really favorable people you meet in the comfort of their homes.
Already, by Krishna’s mercy, I meet regularly (roughly once a week) with a really nice lady and discuss the Bhagavad Gita in her own home. I simply revisited her and brought her gifts like prasadam and beads. Before I knew it, she invited me into her home and wanted to discuss the Bhagavad Gita with me on a regular basis.And this isn’t the only case like this. I’ve met dozens of people who receive me favorably when I revisit them.
By Krishna’s mercy many of them are willing to let me in to talk about Krishna conscious philosophy. You can really feel the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura, the original door-to-door book distributors. It’s also great for those of us who aren’t full-time sankirtana devotees. Right now I’m a student, and I mainly go out when people are getting back from work and on weekends. I really wish door-to-door book distribution would catch on. I’ve seen too many devotional creepers wither away, because no one watered them. Door-to- door book distribution solves this problem by letting us cultivate the people we meet.
Your servant, Bhakta Akshay