Monday, February 5, 2007
(Reporting: Tattvavit Dasa)
Devotees assembled as Bhanu Swami offered an arati to Srila Prabhupada and Vijaya Prabhu led a kirtan.
The GBC chairman, Bhaktivaibhava Swami, opened the well-attended meeting. Only a few members were absent this year, some because of illness. The day’s agenda: a summary of the autumn GBC meetings in Italy and a discussion of book distribution.
2006: An Overview
The chairman first presented an overview of the GBC’s work in 2006.
Regarding the departure of Sripada Bhaktiswarupa Damodara Maharaja, the chairman asked some GBC members to eulogize him. Later, a day will be set aside in his honor.
Jaya Pataka Swami strongly lamented the loss of Bhakti Swarupa Damodara Swami’s unique contribution in the field of scientific preaching. He mentioned a Nobel Prize winner who said that twenty years ago he never expected to have dialogues with religionists. Bhakti Swarupa Damodara Maharaja perfected the art of gathering top scientists for congresses, and he also brought Manipur culture to an international audience.
Bhakti Caru Swami expressed how much he regretted not being able to meet Bhakti Swarupa Damodara Swami before he left this world. Bhakti Caru Swami was the temple president of the Manipur temple in the early days, and he said that all the Manipur people took great pride in Bhakti Swarupa Damodara Swami’s accomplishments as a scientist and devotee.
The chairman continued his overview by saying that ISKCON needs to develop a justice system, just as any government has such a system. He also pointed out that GBC Executive Committee requires more secretaries and offices.
Last year the GBC dealt with the Kazakhstan crisis, and Bhakti Bringha Govinda Swami will be making a presentation.
The Tirupati temple successfully opened last week. Some GBC members who were present at the opening spoke highly of it. Bir Krishna Goswami complimented the Tirupati devotees for meeting the needs of every single guest. Lokanath Swami said that seven to eight thousand devotees went to the opening and that most of the funding came from book distribution. He praised the Revati Ramana Prabhu, the temple president, for making the project a success over the past eight years. Gopala Krishna Goswami said the temple is attractively designed and that Bhakti Swarupa Damodara Swami played a role in both getting the land there and providing a strong foundation for the community while he served as the GBC for Tirupati.
Jaya Pataka Swami said that the renowned priests of the Tirumala temple did the initial installation procedures. And the present acarya of the Tirupati/Tirumala branch of the Ramanuja sampradaya came to the ISKCON temple for the first time; although scheduled to be there for one day, he visited during all three days of the ceremonies and praised ISKCON for making foreigners devotees through the process of chanting the holy names of Vishnu, which, he said, is more powerful then rituals alone.
The GBC Meetings in Italy
Bhaktivaibhava Swami, who called the GBC meetings in Italy last autumn, gave his impressions: The GBC body needed to relieve itself of its somewhat stifling annual format. The additional meeting in Italy brought out ideas concerning the future development of ISKCON and ways that these ideas will be put into action. He stated that the GBC’s performance as a group needed strengthening and cited Srila Prabhupada’s indications that holding more than one meeting a year may be necessary for the proper functioning of the GBC. He concluded that skepticism about the amount of time invested in special meetings should not dissuade the GBC from meeting the challenge of thinking about the whole world. The members need to invest time and resources in plans that lead to more action.
Gopala Bhatta Prabhu, who facilitated the meetings in Italy, summarized them: A beginning of more effective leadership emerged out of a certain fuzziness at the start of the meetings, which were about the future of the GBC and ISKCON. Now, taking things a step further towards the sphere of action will be taken up during three days of this annual GBC meeting.
Kavicandra Swami said that all the GBC members who attended those meetings were happy with the outcome and agreed to have more additional meetings. Jaya Pataka Swami appreciated Gopala Bhatta Prabhu’s role in helping the GBC members open their hearts, build teams, and focus on issues. He asked the body to thank Gopala Bhatta Prabhu. He also thanked the Prabhupada-desh devotees for their hospitality and wonderful prasadam.
Gopala Bhatta Prabhu said that he was not driving an agenda but pulling an agenda out of the GBC members by encouraging a team spirit of service to Srila Prabhupada.
Ravindra Svarupa dasa Prabhu said that many people gained realizations through the open-ended process and analysis at the meetings in Italy. It was a relief to talk about things that the GBC rarely gets to talk about. Two areas were especially important, he said: clearly establishing the preeminent position of Srila Prabhupada and the position of the GBC body as the head of ISKCON. Individual GBC members are respected within ISKCON, but there is a lack of respect for the GBC body, and it should be even more respected, for it is the sum total of the individual members and, according to Prabhupada’s will, the successor to Srila Prabhupada at the head of ISKCON. Establishing Srila Prabhupada’s position in ISKCON is intimately tied to inspiring confidence among the devotees in the GBC body. We have to create and pass down this legacy of respect for the GBC body before all the disciples of Srila Prabhupada on the GBC pass away, he concluded.
Gopala Bhatta Prabhu confirmed that this is “mission critical.”
Anuttama dasa Prabhu mentioned that the GBC needs to plan strategically so that it does not continue just “missing trends”: for example, multiple independent musicians are now world famous for chanting Hare Krishna instead of us; yoga is on the cover of TIME, while we are busy reacting to problems. Anuttama Prabhu said that the meetings in Italy helped the GBC think about putting their hearts and intelligence together to gather momentum and get out front by long-term planning as well as heading off problems.
At this point the GBC deputies excused themselves to hold their own meetings.
Book Distribution
Gopala Bhatta Prabhu facilitated this section. He asked the GBC members to speak about how they really feel about book distribution. This is a sensitive topic, for book distribution is not as prominent as it was during Srila Prabhupada’s time. Three years ago, the GBC began putting this topic first at its annual meetings.
Brahma Muhurta Prabhu, the BBT Trustee for North Europe, read a few of Srila Prabhupada’s statements on book distribution.
Gopala Bhatta Prabhu said that good managers can get a clear picture of how their organization is doing just by hearing some numbers. He read out financial figures and said that the BBT’s worldwide revenue went flat about ten years ago, though there are still high and bright spots distributing more than ever. He pointed out that there are approximately 350 temples and 100 preaching centers worldwide. Of these, 208 units reported doing some distribution last year, which is a little more than half. Just one-third of the temples distribute books; two-thirds don’t do much. Moreover, we have not implemented systems for accurate score-keeping in every region.
He said that we want to investigate reasons why book distribution is successful in some areas and not in others. But first we want to find out how each member feels about book distribution and its current status. We want to take an inventory of that. And we also would like to hear what the GBC members want to tell the BBT trustees (four trustees were present).
The GBC members, one by one, began stating their ideas and eventually mentioned dozens of them, too numerous to list here. (All the comments were noted down, to be used later.) Having been requested to openly express themselves, they revealed how their hearts and energies are directed toward book distribution, their concerns about it, and even their doubts, if they had any. They brought up a wide range of topics: ensuring that street book distribution is ethically done; considering how the public perceives book distribution; mobilizing devotees in our congregations and making the best use of sastra dan programs; reviving BBT councils composed of devotees in various services; maintaining Srila Prabhupada’s desire that book distribution be at the center of ISKCON’s preaching activities; finding new, improved ways to design, advertise and distribute our books and bridge books; following up on interested “customers”; and helping devotees read and appreciate our books.
After this detailed discussion, Svavas Prabhu, a BBT trustee from America, said that he heard many ideas today that he has not heard from GBCs he has known a long time, and he will try to put them into action.
Brahma Muhurta Prabhu thanked the GBC for discussing book distribution. He said that Krishna.com (a BBT-inspired Web site) gets 57,000 unique visitors a month (a “unique visitor” is someone not counted twice in the same month). These visitors come from 111 countries (US, India, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, South Africa, Netherlands, Singapore, Germany, Brazil and so on). He summarized the GBC’s comments to the BBT trustees and encouraged the GBCs to sympathize with the distributors. When Kavicandra Swami distributes seven hundred books during the marathon, that inspires the distributors, he said. When Sivarama Swami sends out SMS messages to the distributors, that also inspires them.
Gopal Bhatta Prabhu expressed appreciation for everyone’s statements, and the meeting ended.
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It is great to see the GBC focusing on book distribution, because we all know how dear it is to Srila Prabhupada’s heart.
This focus on preaching through book distribution should also help inspire greater respect for and faith in the GBC body (at least among those devotees who have strong faith in the importance of book distribution).
I would like to add a couple of ideas from the “peanut gallery”, both of which are aimed at the “demand” side of the book distribution equation. They may be impractical or not very well-considered, but here goes:
1. How can we improve follow-up after selling people books?
Some devotees on Dandavats were mentioning how successful it has been to offer regular coursework (such as bhakti sastri courses) for free at the temples and preaching centers, for example among Indian congregations in Australia.
It seems to me that if we have very good, in-depth programs to study the books, we may create a bigger demand. Many people buy books like Bhagavad Gita or Srimad Bhagavatam but may get a little puzzled by them and put them aside.
If there were more regular courses with strong teachers who understood the books thoroughly and could explain them in a relevant way (perhaps introducing some sadhana as well such as chanting some japa before class, emphasizing the importance of sattvik lifestyle for understanding the books, etc.), the students might become enlivened and urge their friends to buy the books, and create more of a groundswell of demand for them.
One example Prabhupada often used was how communists organized through distributing books of Marx, Engles, and Lenin. Those communists did not just distribute the books, but also organized study groups and discussion sessions. We should try to do the same thing.
If you spend time studying in coffee shops in a college town, chances are you will see groups of Christians meeting to discuss the Bible. They have such meetings and “fellowships” in homes and in churches, too. I have eavesdropped in coffee shops and was interested to see how carefully and thoughtfully they were discussing their inferior sastra. I thought, “When will discussion groups like this take up the serious study of Srila Prabhupada’s books?”
Dayananda Prabhu was recently talking about “follow up”, too. What could be the harm in offering free, academic style classes? It seems like a win-win, if we could get enough students. It will be good for the students, good for the teachers, and good for the book distributors.
2. How much have we considered different types of advertising?
I know it is expensive, but advertising the books (and classes) might be a good way to get the word out there, and increase demand. Some kind of small billboard advertising in appropriate locations might be particularly cost effective.
We have so many beautiful illustrations in the books (I am particularly fond of many of the paintings from the big old 1972 McMillan Gita). I would love to see some billboard ads featuring a nice picture of Krishna and Arjuna “sounding their transcendental conchshells,” or the great old Partha-Sarathi picture with the red clouds (“Wherever there is Krishna and Arjuna . . . “), along with a nice caption (perhaps a single verse translation), a big “Bhagavad Gita As It Is, by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada”, and perhaps a legend identifying where the Gita can be bought (and where the free classes are available).
Maybe we could advertise and give classes on more “esoteric” books like Nectar of Devotion and Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, too.
Anyway, I am no genius at designing advertising campaigns, but I think even modest ad campaigns like this in major cities would arouse public curiosity and demand for the books. If the temples cannot afford it, maybe some wealthy householders could donate some fixed amount to keep the ads in play.
These two ideas regarding increasing demand for the books (regular academic-style courses and advertising, particularly via small billboards in crowded places) may not seem to be worth the effort in the beginning, but it is possible they could yield long-term dividends.
They would inspire the book distributors, too, who would strive to learn the books more thoroughly and teach some of the classes, (just like we book distributors in the 1970s used to always love to see someone we had preached to during the week come to the Sunday Feast, and we would eagerly sit with them and try to get them to come “join” the temple.)
People would start telling distributors, “I saw the ad and have been meaning to get this book.”
If intelligentsia or celebrities became interested in the books, by seeing ads in airports or whatever, they could also help get more people interested by talking among their friends and colleagues.
It seems to be that in the early years of book distribution we perfected techniques for selling books to people who had never heard of them and were not particularly interested in them. We focused almost exclusively on the immediate, face to face encounter, rather than the long range cultivation of public perception and interest.
Nowadays I find more Americans than ever have heard of Bhagavad Gita and recognize it as one of the world’s “great books.” That makes it easier to sell them, but the public still needs to be prodded a bit to take a serious interest in the Gita.
Maybe free classes and advertising, if not too big of a drain on scarce resources, could help create a bigger demand in the long run. When there is enough “buzz”, mail order sales as well as street sales will blossom, and people could even be drawn to temples for serious, in-depth study and association.
Just a thought….
From Krishna.com site, I was looking for some suitable books for my 2 sons one is 5 yrs old and another is 11 yrs. I could not find any suitable book to buy online or to get from nearby temple. Children are future for our societies and to become one to be Krsna conscious one have to become simple like a child. So definitely there is lots of demands on Krsna books for the children with various inspiring stories from Bhagavatam, Mahabharata, Vedas, Puranas etc. Even many modern simple life stories of great vasinavas and vasinava devotees may help children to grow in Krsna consciousness.
Thinking about the future and current mode of this material world communities I am very concern about children in devotees circle as well as in non-devotees circles. I am interested to participate fully into a project called “Krsna For Children” . If it is needed to work in this project full time I am ready to work. Krsna had performed lots of leelas in His childhood. It is known that Krsna in Golok remains in the form of child. So why not we work for children who is Krsna?
I am looking for interested devotees and vaisanavas who can actively participate for this project and can help us to develop different books on Krsna and many great souls including modern successful vaisanas like Prabhupada, Chaitannya Mohaprabhu, Ramanuja etc. I am interested to know various ideas how we can develop various Krsna related books for different ages of children that should be very simple stories with high moral such that we can prepare ground when it is very soft to mould with Krsna consciousness.
Currently I am in USA and working in software. I am thinking to coming back India and work for Krsna only. Please put your thoughts and comments on this project. Please write comments how we can make this project successful and can save many future souls from suffering in this material world by mercy of Krsna and Prabhupada. If ISKCON is kindly thinking about such project and currently working such project please let me know. It will be very helpful If GBC also think for our future children and we get help from BBT.
All glory to Prabhupada and His associates!
As it doesn’t seem to be ‘sankirtan houses’ like we used to have, how about training temple devotees to distribute book in the same organised and structured way as we were in the past?
Another ‘just a thought’ from the ‘peanut gallery’
Karuna Purna dasi
I am very inspired by HG Akruranath Prabhu’s response
1. As mentioned in your comments:
“One example Prabhupada often used was how communists organized through distributing books of Marx, Engles, and Lenin. Those communists did not just distribute the books, but also organized study groups and discussion sessions. We should try to do the same thing.”
Forming study groups and discussion groups is a very good idea. Of course, in order to facilitate discussion, the groups need to be small (maybe 15-20 members) and if we have to reach out to the masses. we will need many discussion groups. The format and goals of the Bhakti Vriksha program is similar to what you have suggested, where the discussions are based on the philosophy from Srila Prabhuapda’s books, focussing on practical Application of the philosophy in our day to day life.
Interested people who buy books from the book distributors can be invited to these discussions. If they have shown interest in taking a book, they would be surely interested in discussing their thoughts and realizations from the books.
2. “We focused almost exclusively on the immediate, face to face encounter, rather than the long range cultivation of public perception and interest.”
I agree with you that a shift in paradigm is required by some book distributors, based on your above quote.
Thank you very much Akruranath Prabhu for such inspiring thoughts…
Your aspiring sevant,
Advaitachandra das