So and so prabhu distributed x number of books and collected y laksmi points â JAYA!!!! Devotees are very generous in their glorification of othersâ deeds. After all, to brave the hostile opposing elements and give a book to someone â a matchless gift â certainly deserves credit.
Besides the full-time temple devotees, congregational members also contribute their fair share to help maintain one temple or another. The sankirtana effort is nearly always conducted in the spirit of competition, a Krsna-centered good natured yajna-will-do to help purify our existence. Is there a necessity for competition? Will the book scores decline rapidly if we did away with the same?
If âbooks are the basisâ is interpreted to mean pushing out vast quantities of BBT literature, and not much else, then our foundational intrinsic worth will be a shallow one. If it is, as Srila Prabhupada had worded it, a basis for study, and the source for the entirety of Iskconâs subsistence and future survival, then we are attuned to his transcendental mood.
This same frame of mind envisioned a world without competition. For example, in [TLC ch. 23] Srila Prabhupada states:â Because everyone in the material world is envious, there is competition. The devotees of the Lord are not only free from all material envy, but they are kind to everyone in an attempt to establish a competitionless society with God in the centre.â
Of course we are well aware that Srila Prabhupada described the healthy non-envious competition in the spiritual world as worthy of emulation. He also said on occasions that competition has to be there â for the sankirtana devotees â but Krsna-centric. So is Srila Prabhupada speaking of hale and hearty competition within a competitionless environment? Or do we understand him to mean âno competitionâ?
We need not be reminded that even the high-minded demigods are prone to envy and competition. The competitive spirit of Lord Indra caused him to begin a bogus sannyasa order by which he disrupted King Prthuâs centennial fire sacrifice which could have earned him Indraâs throne. The contest between brahma-tejas and Siva-tejas, manifested respectively as the Rbhu demigods pitted against Virabhadra, tells us that not all is pure up there.
If within our ashramas worldwide – where many spiritual practitioners struggle to attain a measure of nistha – can we reasonably assume there will not be even a hint of jealousy or motivation when competition is encouraged? So much for Krsna-centric ideals, can the transcendental ethic prevail? [SB 4.5.4 purport] says: âAlthough pure goodness, or suddha-sattva, is the basic principle in the spiritual world, pure manifestation of goodness is not possible in the material world.â
I remember years ago during an extended oil painting Christmas marathon I was deputed to be the scorekeeper. I made a large bar chart and placed it prominently for all to see. Above every devoteeâs name the bar would rise. The race was on. The competition was intense. Sometimes when I did not timely update the tallies I was frequently asked âWhy didnât you put my score up?â This gave me an insight into the stimulus or otherwise, of certain individuals. Could the same be said for book distribution too? Was this exercise a quick-routed path to Sri Krsna-prema, or a jolly natured urge for name and fame?
My worry is; what are the spin-offs from competition, or rather, the side effects? Does it not create dualities such as âbig devotee, small devoteeâ disorder? Or keeping up with the Jonesâs â or should it be â keeping up with the dasaâs? Such thinking hardly resonates with a competitionless outlook.
In the field of devotional service smallness is as glorious as bigness. The impossible determination of the small mother sparrow to reclaim her eggs taken by the ocean, earned her the favor of Sri Garuda. The spider that threw tiny grains of sand onto the bridge to Lanka, and was mocked for his effort by big bodied co-workers, was nonetheless favored by Lord Rama who chided the others. We have to discard the western condescending view of servility and authentically marvel at the devotee dish washers, mechanics, cleaners and the rest for their rare and glorious deeds.
I would venture to say, that those whose task it is to find prospects for future leadership within Iskcon, should not pay attention to those who are motivated, but rather study those among us who are competent background devotees not too keen on the limelight. If they are difficult to identify, then research should be done. These types of devotees will, if requested, rise to the occasion to become leaders; if they had a balanced upbringing, all the better.
In British politics, I remember how Mrs. Thatcher rose to stardom by her ability to tame the rampant unions, and extol her brand of free enterprise carefully assuaged with the term â caring capitalism. Since devotees are caring by nature, can they transcend competitiveness with sattva-guna? Or do the various problems which confront us as Iskcon members, stem from the competitive edge? I think they do. The servant of the servant of the servant ethic remains more of a rare poetical adornment than a genuine fact of life in many cases.
We are moving into an era of more caring attitudes forged by new management techniques, reminders from kindly devotees, and the sheer need to go forward as a movement, based on naturally occurring loving exchanges between us. Sattva-guna objectives will be our saving grace in sustaining Iskcon. Is the passionate competitive spirit compatible with the goodness mood?
There is little doubt that temple authorities may question the dropping of contests for fear of laksmi generation purposes. What if quality as opposed to quantity were enhanced? For instance, I remember doing book distribution with some senior sannyasa devotees. I was struck by the amount of time they spent with each individual interested person. It seemed a big book score was the last thing on their minds. Quality time meant increasing the chances of making quality recruitment, and quality recruitment meant quality service to Srila Prabhupada and fellow devotees.
This quality is what Srila Prabhupada meant in terms of competition within a competitionless society. Only when we have reached an acceptable level of spiritual achievement can we raise the bar. [SB 1.1.2 purport] says: âIn the material world there is keen competition between animal and animal, man and man, community and community, nation and nation. But the devotees of the Lord rise above such competitions. They do not compete with the materialists because they are on the path back to Godhead where life is eternal and blissful. Such transcendentalists are nonenvious and pure in heart.â
For those who doubt the efficacy of âbooks are the basis,â are blocking out the future import of this dictum. Srila Prabhupada knew that when increased quality developed among us, as they are beginning to nowadays â and when we in turn spend quality time with those we preach to â will generate quality results in huge and unexpected ways. We must forget about the JAYAâs and recognition.
Ys Kesava Krsna dasa â GRS.
Any action that is performed and glorified by other for the mood of highest spiritual love towards Lord is action of highest reputation. One must perform such action always in loving mood. Thus only goal of performing such action is to pleasing Lord Krsna and His devotees. Whatever action that could be and whatever negligible it could be in the material eyes but these actions are always admirable. These are the actions of repute which draw others mind towards Lord. Lord is the central point and drawing others mind towards Lord by performing even one negligible action is always transcendentally pure. Such actions only can be performed in mood of loving services towards Lord and His devotees. If one can distribute 100s of Prabhupada’s literatures only thinking that Prabhupada and Krsna will be happy, in that mood of service, Lord always remains present in the mind of such devotees. Thus all such actions are completely transcendental and pleasing to Lord and His devotees. Such actions automatically draw others attention towards Lord because of Lord’s presence in such actions because of loving serving mood. In that case, if such actions are glorified, then it is not because of the performance of any individual devotee but because of Krsanâs favor to such individual devotee. Such action though it looks competitive in nature to one unripe devotee who is living in material mode of life, but such action is completely free of completion and spiritual to devotees who are Krsna conscious. That is because without Krsnaâs favor such glorified action can not be performed. Since Krsna had mentioned in Bhagavat Gita that whatever in this universe has been placed to highest glory, there Krsna is existing, so if one devotee achieved highest glory by performing any spiritual action, definitely Krsnaâs presence is there without any doubt. Thus such devotees must always be glorified for such spiritual action that always draws attention towards Krsna without being doubtful of thinking materially competitive action. All glory to Krsna! All glory to Prabhupada! Hare Krsna! Haribol!
Srila Prabhupada liked book scores and said they make him feel like a young man again, this competition is not of a material nature as it is to please Srila Prabhupada and Krsna.However unfortunatly this is the material world and some persons gets envious if they see another devotee distribute many books, or it makes them feel unworthy-of cousse an unenvious person will be glad to see Srila Prabhupadas books being distributed. Personally after many years on sankirtana, I don’t participate in the score system anymore, though maybe I should ,to make me increase my service to Srila Prabhupada in this area.My focus is to make people read Srila Prabhupadas books, as over the years sometimes I have seen people thrown books in the trash and it pains any sincere sankirtana devotee.I have a system where everyone I meet gets a card or a sticker ( Lord Jagannath) with vedabase.net, this website has all Srila Prabhupadas books and I encourage people to read there, in fact you are giving people
a full set of Srila Prabhupadas books that way (as all the book more or less are found on that website) -we are not fruitive workers- and don’t want name, fame and recognition
for ourself- personally I have never liked the competition part as it often seems to destroy the possibility of more devotees going out and at lest part time distribute Srila Prabhupadas books- and as I said even giving some nice cards with vedabase.net and encourage people to read Prabhupadas books is a good thing, but Srila Prabhupada wanted his books distributed, and for those who can’t sell them , I suggest they buy books from the BBT and give them free.
However the system in ISKCON of sankirtana newsletter and scores will not go away as Srila Prabhupada wanted it, personally I am always enlightened to see the many devotees that for years have distributed Srila Prabhupadas books day after day- that is glories- and we should all aspire to go on Harinama and also to distribute Srila Prabhupadas books no matter where we are and what is our service? Why because Srila Prabhupada said that if you want to please me in the best way, distribute my books ( and he wanted us to read them too)-so many books have been distributed- but we really have to stress to people to please read them, they will get benefit just by making a donation and accepting the book, but if they actually read it- their life can be changed—a few days ago one young man from Holland ,bought a book and when he started reading from it”the Perfection of yoga” he was really surprised in a very positive way about the spiritual content-the score system helps increase bookdistribution and it glorifies those devotees that make the effort to fullfill Srila PRabhupadas desires that his books enter the house of every household on this planet, those who do not understand this, have seriously misunderstood Srila Prabhupada and their is no doubt about it.
Srila Prabhupada has written:
Regarding Sankirtana and book distribution, book distributing is also chanting. Anyone who reads the books hat is also chanting and hearing. Why distinguish between chanting and book distribution? These books I have recorded and chanted, and they are transcribed. It is spoken kirtanas. So book distribution is also chanting. These are not ordinary books. It is recorded chanting. Anyone who reads, he is hearing. Book distribution must not be neglected.
Srila Prabhupada, 19th October 1974
One important issue also is that Srila Prabhupada never authorized sellings of paintings, and actually selling paintings though it might have been done by some temples, was a deviation from Srila Prabhupadas instructions to sell his books ,there are letters also where Srila Prabhupada has said this is our main business, and records and selling insence is not wanted-what is very interesting is if we read Prabhupada’s letters , it seems at least 75% deals also with printing and publishing and distributing his books (http://sangalog.blogspot.com/) I just looked at some letters from Srila Prabhupada from 1973 on the same page there is many letters where bookdistribution is mentioned :Here is one example:
Wednesday, 20 June, 1973
Mayapur
My Dear Gunagrahi,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 5 June 1973 and I have noted the contents.
Everything appears to be going very nicely there under your management. You are facilitating sankirtana and book distribution by travelling and going to colleges in a trailer, and you are preparing for a large Ratha-yatra festival. This is all pleasing and inspiring to me.
Srila Prabhupada has given very specific instruction that is the duty of all members to go door to door and present Bhagavad Gita as it is .SB 7.9. 44
“Themembers of the Krsna consciousness movement are not at all interested in so-called meditation in the Himalayas or the forest, where one will only make a show of meditation, nor are they interested in opening many schools for yoga and meditation in the cities. Rather, every member of the Krsna consciousness movement is interested in going door to door to try to convince people about the teachings of Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ As It Is, the teachings of Lord Caitanya. That is the purpose of the Hare Krrna movement. The members of the Krsna consciousnesmovement must be fully convinced that without Krsna one cannot be happy. Thus the Krsna conscious person avoids all kinds of pseudo spiritualists, transcendentalists, meditators, monists, philosophers and philanthropists.”
And here is another letter from Srila Prabhupada from 1973
6 May, 1973
Los Angeles
My dear Sama,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated April 25, 1973.
Thank you very much for sincerely pushing on Lord Caitanya’s Sankirtana Movement in the city of Baltimore. Try to always increase the distribution of my books more and more. This is our most important program for reaching the lost souls of Kali Yuga. We have to educate men about the absolute truth.
All of the scientists and other big men are simply cheating the mass of men by making false propaganda in order to take some money from them. We must expose these rascals by strong preaching and profuse distribution of these Krsna Conscious literatures.
I am pleased to accept Bhaktin Pattie as my initiated disciple and am enclosing a separate letter for her. Now hold a fire yajna and send her beads to Rupanuga das Goswami for chanting on.
Hoping this finds you in good health.
Your ever well wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
here are some other letterss:
Thursday, April 22, 1971
Bombay
My Dear John Milner,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 4th April from Tallahassee, Florida and have noted the contents.
It is so much encouraging to hear how you are introducing this Krishna Consciousness Movement in the schools and colleges there. Especially this is an ideal opportunity for distributing our books also, so you should make all serious endeavor in this connection. These books are so potent that anyone who reads them is sure to become Krishna Conscious. So it is a very valuable service to distribute our books.
Yes, incense distribution has been very helpful in many centers for maintaining financially, but we are not businessmen. So producing candles for distribution is not at all necessary. We do not want to increase factories. We want to increase Krishna Consciousness and this can be done best by distributing our books and preaching. So in that way you can make your program.
So far as your going to Pakistan to join up with Brahmananda Maharaja, I have not heard from Brahmananda in some time. So whether or not he has arrived in Pakistan I cannot say. Neither does his good brother Gargamuni Maharaja knows for certain where he is. But if you can contact him and he agrees, then arrangements can be made.
Hoping this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS/adb
——————————————————————————–
April 21, 1971
Bombay
My Dear Bhagavan das,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 12th April, 1971 and have noted the contents carefully.
I have received your latest letter that Dai Nippon debt is now about $80,000. Formerly it was known to be $50,000. I have loaned $20,000 from the book fund. I think two more issues must have been supplied by them. Then the total amount due to them should be at about $80,000. This amount is too much. How do you expect that they will give us so much credit? So you must make a serious attempt how to liquidate this debt. Otherwise they will stop printing.
Another thing is that I wanted some cost quotation from U.S.A. for first class paper like that used in TLC, KRSNA, NOD, and BTG. We have gotten an import license from the government. So if from U.S.A. papers are supplied, we can get our books and magazines printed in India, perhaps at a cheaper rate.
For cheap circulation we can print small penguin book size paperbacks of KRSNA which can be sold at 75 cents, each book about 250 pages, so that KRSNA book may come in three books for a combined price of $2.00. What is your opinion about this? Then we can print cheaply KRSNA book for large circulation. I shall be glad to know your opinion in this connection.
I have seen your newsletter and it is very nice. The same should be sent to our life members in India. A list is enclosed herewith and as soon as you print such newsletters they should be posted to all these life members by surface mail. A second list will also be sent by Tamala Krishna for Calcutta life members. Yourself and all the other centers should do the same.
It will enhance the society’s prestige as well as your own locally. You can reprint the list of members and circulate to all centers with instructions as I have just now given you. So far as distribution of our pictures is concerned, that is another branch of propaganda work but they must be printed at least as nicely as Brijbasis; then people will purchase.
Our Krishna Consciousness Movement is so nice that we not only solve the problem of white and black tension, but all kinds of other tensions as well–social, political, religious, racial, and all other departmental activities of human society. The fact is there but we require the time and energy to put it into effect.
And now more devotees are coming also. That is the sign of our progress. In each and every center we must get new devotees more and more and train them up. As soon as they are nicely trained up, they should open a branch–in every village and town all over the world.
Organization of book selling is more important than incense distribution. Incense sales is clearly business only. But when we sell books that means we push forward our movement. So unless it is absolutely necessary, we should not become ordinary businessmen. Try to understand this point.
Hoping this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
from this it appear Srila Prabhupada wanted the sankirtana newsletter to be send to lifemembers even
hari bol O well, i’m a competitive person so i thrived on competition for books distributed or laksmi collected .
One time Mahavira prabhu took rest around 10pm we were about even on distributing Sri Isopanisads So went out & distributed a few more at the corner, real quick like . He was transcendentally upset that i beat him. All in fun for Krsna & Srila .Prabhupada . Don’t over intellectualize . Bhakti isn’t
satyahit das
Yes Satyahit Prabhu has spoken well, I also recall such competition again and again ,where you are trying to increase your endeavor to distribute books for Srila Prabhupadas pleasure and do more than another devotee, I used to be very very competitive and it was all good , as long as we keep Krsna in the center .I recall once in Sweden one devotee had distributed 400 Maha big books ,during one day and then when he came back his friend had done 402 , so he went out and did another 10 books, and it was all for the pleasure for Srila Prabhupada.I personally had some competition with one devotee, but one day around christmas , I noticed he had only taken 110 sets of books with him, I told him Prabhu I bet I will easy beat you today as you are bringing to few books with you, and I was right, by 3 pm he had done his 110 sets (with 3 medium books in each ) – he would be more carefull in the future to bring enough books- so the real winner are all the souls forgetful of Krsna- I doubt the author of this article has much experience if any of book distribution-if he had he would know that such competition is not material- even in the spiritual world there is competition to try to serve Krsna the best for example , but there is no envy, all devotees love each other, actually to understand this non envious nature of devotional service Brhad Bhagavatamrita (that has now been published by the BBT) shows us how devotees praise each others devotional service- devotees like to praise other devotees- that is very pleasing to Krsna
your servant
Payonidhi das
Satyahit prabhu,
I am sure you are a great soul, and a veteran of book distribution. That your competitive nature is Prabhupada-centric, cannot be imitated by lesser mortals, who may extend the competitive spirit to other areas of temple life. This is the gist of the essay.
We cannot deny that many problems encountered between spiritual practinioners stem from paltry bickering, or simple lack of Krsna consciousness. Iskcon reformers such as HG. Ravindra Svarupa prabhu can testify how competition was rife even between one zone and another during the zonal-acarya days, what to speak of it trickling down the hierachy.
There is great fun and excitement in competing with another devotee while pushing out Srila Prabhupada’s books properly. When competition rears its face in temple administration, leadership, and other normal activities – and the competitors are not of your calibre – friction ensues. Won’t you agree? Isn’t development of sattva-guna a way to prevent this?
The six Goswamis thoroughly scrutinized the scriptures for the benfit of all mankind. Such scrutiny dissected cerain subjects and exposed them for all to see. Srila Jiva Goswami in his Sat-Sandarbha scrutinizes the subject of impersonalism at such great length, painstakingly- from above, below, sideways and so on – so as not to leave any room for doubt, which may cause one to surmise he was ‘over intellectualizing.’ This essay is just a synopsis of a big subject, which should render your ‘over intellectualize’ accusation redundant.
Ys, Kesava Krsna dasa.
As for the other comments; I get the feeling the essay was misunderstood, hence the emphasis by the commentators to extol competitive sankirtana in whatever shape or form without considering any possibility the competitive spirit could spill over into other areas of temple life. I would also suggest that one be informed with facts before ‘doubting’ whether someone has done book distribution or not. See how competition works!!!!
If the competition helps to ascend the ladder of devotion, gives a great relish for chanting japa, helps to see the good in others, endows you with great compassion for the fallen souls, gives a taste for studying Srimad-Bhagavatam, ceaseless engagement in pleasing Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga and much, much more – then the competition wiill have helped. Otherwise, spicing up the passion with goodness will revitalize things. Book disribution can be called transcendental only when it is performed without motivation.
Ys, Kesava Krsna dasa.
Nice article. Nice comments, too.
Passionate book distribution is better than no book distribution. Srila Prabhupada did undoubtedly express pleasure at the mood of the competitive book distributors and fan their enthusiasm. There surely must have been something transcendental about it.
When I read about how two Swedish devotees in the same temple each did over 400 maha big books in one day I nearly fainted. That is really huge!
On the other hand, when the focus is too much on the scores, the points, the heros, many ordinary devotees can be discouraged. I have heard people say they did not like going on book distribution because their scores were low, so they stopped.
It is a really good subject for an article and as usual has been well-executed by Kesava Krishna Prabhu.
Like any other service, the attitude with which we perform it is all in all. We have to try to do it well, but to the extent we are motivated by desires other than pleasing guru and Krishna (and let’s face it, most of us have ulterior motives), the quality of our service is tainted.
It is the same with anything else. If I am cooking, I have to make all the preps come out nice, but if I am thinking only about how I will become famous as a great cook, the proper mood of trying to serve the Deities suffers.
Not everyone has the same personality or style, and many devotees will struggle at first with trying to get a stranger to stop and take a book. We need to foster a mood that encourages people to get out at their own pace and try to get the hang of presenting the books on their merits, and to keep going out even if their name does not appear in the “high score” charts, even if they can only go out once a week, or once a month.
We need to enable all devotees to really experience that this preaching activity is deeply pleasing to the disciplic succession and that is why it enriches everything else we do in Krishna consciousness. Putting too much emphasis on scores and glorifying the “big” distributors sometimes makes the “smaller” distributors discouraged.
Even great distributors have slow patches. In Mayapur last year, H.H. Devamrta Swami told a story about how he went through a very long time in N.Y. (I think he said over 2 years) with very low scores, even though he was not doing anything different.
Anything that motivates anyone for book distribution is good, but it is better to be motivated by real appreciation of how these books are giving the public a real chance to obtain Krishna consciousness, how these books are really saving the world, how we are actually helping Lord Caitanya pass out these fruits from the bhakti tree.
Being motivated by thinking “I will be so famous and respected for my high scores” will not last very long. (And seasoned book distributors will tell you, that kind of motivation also often makes it hard to distribute books. People can smell what is motivating you when you approach them).
One time at the Hughes Airwest terminal in L.A. airport, after a long, frustrating day with hardly any sales and little money collected, I found myself face to face with Bob Dylan. I found myself thinking, for some reason, “If he gives me $100, I can go back to the temple without embarrassment.”
Of course, he saw right through me and would not take the S.B. First Canto Vol. One that I offered him. (It might have been while he was in a “Christian phase” — it was in early 1979). The following dialoged is pretty much verbatim:
Akr: “You’re Bob Dylan, aren’t you?”
BD: (very pleased with himself) “That’s right”
Akr: (making mental adjustment to remind myself he is not a god, but just another karmi under the spell of illusory energy) “Here, take one of these”
BD: (turned off by outward signs of my mental adjustment) “What’s that?”
Akr: “Srimad Bhagavatam”
BD: (pulling a haughty face) “What do I need that for?”
Akr: (losing equilibrium) “Don’t you believe in Krishna?”
BD: (chuckling under breath, raising eyebrows) “Do you?”
Akr: (trying to be earnest, but unsure of myself, feeling foolish at having come up with nothing better to say) “Of course I do. That’s why I’m out here.”
BD: (walking away smirking, next to his giant bodyguard)
I always regret that I did not just (honestly) tell him I loved his music, present the book to him as a gift, and try to have a pleasant exchange and say something positive about Krishna consciousness. Instead, he could tell I wanted money from him. As he walked away I finally asked, “Could you at least give a quarter?” and he turned his head, without breaking his stride, and made a sneering face as if to say, “You’ve got to be kidding!”
Who knows? He might have been a jerk to me even if my motives were pure. I do think, though, that it was our system of announcing everyone’s scores in descending order, and the embarrassment at the thought of coming back to the temple with small money, that made me fantasize that afternoon about how Bob Dylan was going to give me $100 and save my terrible day.
Srila Prabhupada many times chastized those who where against distributing his books, and I recall one letter where he severly chastised one devotee,” it is because you can not do you are finding such faults “-
Kesva Krsna das makes it sounds like bookdistributors are all simpletons, actually most long time sankirtana men know sastras very well, it is a fact that by reading Srila Prabhupadas books one gets a strong desire to want to share the divya jnana that Srila Prabhupada has given- we daily sing in Guru puja :ara na koriho mane asa
may my consciousness be purified by the words emanating from his lotusmouth.Those words are the words of Srila Prabhupada, and they are found in his many books- a true follower of Srila Prabhupada tries his/her best to share the purifying instructions of Srila Prabhupada with the whole world-and there simply is no better way than by distributing his books.
As far as the Sat Sandarbhas of Jiva Goswami are concerned, they are a graduate study, for ISKCON devotees reading Srila Prabhupadas books is more than enough, there is so many books to read first, and several times before there is need to study the sandarbhas- and other books of the acarays-even Srila Prabhupada would read his own books, and comment how Krsna has inspired what ever he had written
Akruranath’s article brings out something I believe is very important on sankirtana , that is that we are not the doer and the result has to be left to Krsna, we have the right to perform our duty ( in this case to distribute Srila Prabhupadas books), and wether we do one ore many books is up to Krsna, Gita 2.47 -48 states:
“You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.
Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.”
People can easy sense when you are attached to the result, and in the case of VIP’s better to give a free book- and just be nice- if they read it thir life may be changed
Akruranatha prabhu,
You were able to understand the meaning of this article, and furthermore, with brahminical honesty – satyam – even furnished us with an example of the Bob Dylan encounter. Well done!!!! It doesn’t cost you a limb or your integrity to be frank like this, but it does earn respect from honest devotees. In brahminical circles, humility is strength – pride is cowardice.
If more devotees like you were to ‘own up,’ so to speak, we’d have a level playing field wherein meaningful discussion can take place on this issue. It seems there is a culture of doing passionate sankirtana, yet it be called transcendental, which is incorrect. Only truly unmotivated sankirtana is transcendental, unless anyone can prove otherwise.
Ys, Kesava Krsna dasa.
Some years ago on travelling sankirtana in England, our party stopped to park the van in an isolated parking area. It was 9.00pm. I wasn’t very happy with finishing the day short of my required quota. In true competitive spirit I announced to the other devotees I would try and sell a few more books. I pointed towards an adjacent parking area where big jagannaut – Jagannatha – trucks were parked.
I loaded my book-bag and scampered over to the truck drivers. Along the way I banged into a pile of concrete slabs – my kneecap and shin – causing great pain. I crouched over and groaned in agony. I wasn’t sure if the other devotees noticed. After five minutes or so I remained undeterred, and continued on. Then it suddenly began bucketing down with rain. I got soaked in seconds. Still I soldiered on. By now some of the trucks had left. Only two remained.
With dogged determination I approaced the first truck and knocked on the door. A head popped up and I motioned him to wind down the window. Seeing the ridiculous situation – the pouring rain, and a stranger wanting something – just made him shake his head and disappear.
I went to the next truck and knocked. The incredulous driver winded the window down. “Good evening sir. Take a look at one of these'” I produced a book from the bag as they would have gotten wet otherwise. This delay simply made the driver decline my offer. “Na! Sorry mate!” I halfed limped back to our van, disappointed, completely drenched and miserable.
In retrospect, I cannot caim this was a transcendental pastime. This exertion was motivated by keeping a respectable score, for my peers and superiors to think I’m still competitive. In reality it was a case of – karma-misra-bhakti – devotion mixed with a desire for wealth and the distinction accrued from it.
Still, as Akruranatha mentioned ‘passionate book distribution is better than none.’ I still continue to distribute books at our prasadam outlet at the SABC in South Africa, to all the actors, newsreaders, broadcasters and creative people who work there. I do not consider myself anti-books at all.
Ys, Kesav Krsna dasa.
With reference to comment #8, probably most of us have also made the mistake of trying to get too much money or too much surrender from persons on sankirtan, even if they were not VIPâs. Mostly however, it should be attributed to our immaturity and not to the fault of transcendental competition. If someone mistakenly misidentifies the activity as being a chance for fruitive reward, Krsna will gently slap some sense into the devotee.
Transcendental competition is, as the name states, transcendental. If it is made into material competition then it cannot be transcendental. It reminds me of the interview where Srila Prabhupada was asked about âbad gurus.â Srila Prabhupada replied, in essence, that no one can be a guru and be bad at the same time because a guru is good by definition.
I appreciate the concern for devotees who might become discouraged if they do not have high scores and do not become overtly recognized. But that problem simply requires the correct counsel of an experienced devotee who understands the actual meaning of âtranscendental,â namely that the act of attempting to distribute transcendental literature should be executed for Krsnaâs pleasure without attachment to the results.
In my opinion, transcendental competition in the field of transcendental literature distribution, as inaugurated by His Divine Grace, should continue, for a number of reasons.
A) Firstly, because Srila Prabhupada established it as an institution of its own within ISKCON, if you will, and gave elaborate explanations supporting its validity. Aside from the philosophical justifications, just the following sentence from a letter is enough to convince me of the importance of sankirtan newsletters forever: “The sales figures, this is the only solace in my life. When I hear that my books are selling nicely, I become energetic like a young man.”
B) Transcendental competition helps to generate enthusiasm for selling books, an activity which pleased Srila Prabhupada immensely. More literature goes out, more funds come in, then more books are produced, ISKCON projects are supported locally and internationally, devotees make advancement by the endeavor, the public gets more chance to learn about Krsna, some readers become devotees and distribute more literature etc. It is a wonderful cycle.
C) Most of us are not on the advanced platform of spiritual realization which functions through spontaneous attraction to Krsna. We are motivated by intelligence, duty, proper guidance, encouragement, social influences and the opportunity to please the spiritual master.
The example used in the article about Hanuman and the spider supports transcendental competition because Lord Rama recognized both devoteesâ efforts as equal in quality (they both tried their best) yet different in quantity (Hanuman had greater capacity). In Krsna consciousness, whether they distribute large amounts of literature or small amounts, all participants triumph and when those sales figures are presented to Srila Prabhupada, the victory becomes complete.
dear Kesava Krsna Prabhu I did not mean to say you disliked bookdistribution, my questions was simply if you had done some experience, nor was there a question about competition as you suggested in comment 7, sankirtana is to be done with intelligence
in the vers 11.5.32 Krsna varnam tvisa Krsna
sÄĆgopÄĆgÄstra-pÄrsÌŁadam
yajñaihÌŁ saĆkÄ«rtana-prÄyair
yajanti hi su-medhasahÌŁ
In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Krsna. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krsna Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.
Those who are sufficiently intelligent will take to the sankirtana yajna this is statement of Srimad Bhagavatam
One way aging book distributors can keep doubling and redoubling their “scores” is to inspire and train others in distributing books.
Here in ISV, Vaisesika has inspired and trained our whole congregation of householder devotees. Their enthusiasm is really wonderful and their motivation is not to become individually famous.
You could accurately say that Vaisesika is distributing all the books here, because if it were not for him hardly anybody would be distributing books in San Jose. However, he is not motivated to take credit for the results. His motivation is just to push on the distribution, and he gives all due credit and encouragement to everyone who goes out or contributes even in some small way to the book distribution. It seems very natural and peaceful and healthy this way, and I expect it to continue growing and flourishing.
We do not report individual scores here. We go out in teams and report scores in teams, but there is not really a sense of competition between teams, either. The teams are fluid, so different people make up different teams at different times, (these are not “teams” like sports clubs, but just ad hoc groups of devotees who happen to be assigned to specific spots on specific days, like the “Freemont Farmer’s Market” team or the “Monterey Road Wal Mart” team.)
All the team members are just happy for each other’s association. Parents bring their children with them, and the atmosphere is festive, just like a hari nama, except our kirtan is to sell books. Usually we do this in groups centered around attractive book display tables.
Mainly, there is a sense of unity of the whole temple that we should achieve the “stretch goals” that Vaish sets for each monthly sankirtan festival. These are temple-wide goals, not individual quotas. (I do not think we have ever failed to reach the temple’s monthly goals).
One goal this month was to get at least 64 devotees out on book distribution. That is, we have goals to encourage each other to come out, to get more distributors out, rather than just having goals for numbers of book out or laksmi in. It seems to me we are going to easily surpass the goal of 64 distributors this month.
We try to encourage people to come out even if they are not going to distribute books. They can hand out cookies, sit in the background and chant softly, make sure some incense is burning near the book table, and just enliven all the devotees by their presence and enjoy the enlivening association. (Eventually they may be inspired to start distributing as they watch what others are doing).
“Many hands make light work”. The old system of establishing a Stakhanovite cult of glorifying “maha ratha” distributors might have unintentionally led to fewer devotees going out, and more anxiety and distress for those who did, especially for those who for whatever reason were not able to achieve the really big scores.
Another aspect of not pushing so hard for big individual scores is, although we may individually sell fewer books, the customers seem to appreciate it more. In American airports we used to have people come back to us and ask for their money back. People used to throw many books away, and some people used to tear them up and become angry at us. Some devotees were even beaten up. Sure there were “demons”, but the demons might also have been responding to how aggressive and pushy we were.
With our more sattvik book tables and softer approach, it is not unusual to find people coming back to thank us, to buy other books, and even just to give more money. I am not kidding. Someone will come by, take a Bhagavad Gita for $10, then come back an hour later and say, “I want to give you another $5”, just like that. We see that happening.
Vaisesika always impresses on us that we are “ambassadors of goodwill” and that our “prime directive” is to “leave everyone with a good impression”. Everyone (!) This was kind of a paradigm shift for me because in the ’70s I was basically trained up to be callous to the feelings of the “karmis” and the prime directive was always to have the biggest score. As a result, I was too pushy and I annoyed people regularly, and they went away with a bad impression of Hare Krishnas.
[I actually thought it was a sign of how “advanced” I was that I could convince a mentally retarded young man in an airport to give the entire $35 he was traveling with, without feeling “sentimental” about how this would appear to the “karmis” who did not realize that the prime goal of life is to please Krishna. In retrospect, I think I was foolish: it would have been better to make the boy keep $30 for himself and try to leave him and his family and friends with a good impresion of Hare Krishna]
Being in disguise in “karmi clothes”, wearing a wig, contributed to my sense that I could misbehave and no one would know I was supposed to be a saintly devotee. I relished the sense I had of being a kind of spiritual “secret agent” who had a license to lie and cheat for a higher cause, the highest cause.
If we really want to make true confessions here, I should disclose that I personally misused this sense of “license” in a way that devastated my spiritual life. I was a 20-year old kid with raging hormones, trying to be a “brahmacari”, left alone on parking lots to collect money for the temple. Inevitably I would talk to young women and I would justify flirting with them on the plea that flattering them was a way to induce them to give bigger donations.
Of course I was really just indulging my own attractions to sinful life. I was no brahmacari. I thought I was a cool “secret agent” for Krishna. If part of me wanted to be like Haridas Thakur, the greater part of me wanted to be James Bond. I justified this all to myself through temple atmosphere of glorifying “big scores” as the primary goal (and these scores were laksmi scores rather than book scores). My so-called “dovetailing” was in fact a transgression of even rudimentary rules of morality.
I have no one but myself to blame, but I misused the idea of “transcendental competition,” and others may have too. In some temples lady collectors were encouraged to flirt with men to get bigger donations. I think everyone accepts now that this was wrong. Going in “disguise” was approved by Srila Prabhupada, but I believe he still wanted us to conduct ourselves as respectable ladies and gentlemen.
The passionate promotion of big laksmi scores, big results, big projects, motivated by desire for recognition and glory, probably also did contribute significantly to the deviation of many temples away from book distribution and into selling of records, candles, paintings, stickers, etc.
Many of us forgot that “purity is the force” and “preaching is the essence”. Eventually we forgot that “books are the basis”, too. Inevitably, “utility” became just the excuse, the rationalization.
(Some devotees even left the movement and started nonprofits, making a living for themselves as professional collectors. The skills they learned on book distribution just became another kind of karma for them, and a not very honest or respectable one at that.)
That is not to say that the great book distributors were in maya or that their deeds in distributing amazing quantities of books should not be properly glorified. We will never forget the glorious deeds of Tripurari, Praghosa, Buddhimanta, Sura, Mahidhara, Rohini Suta, Ramavijaya and many others. Anyone who was distributing that many books was certainly empowered and is worthy of veneration. I am sure it was not Kesava Krsna’s intention to detract from glorification of the great book distributors of the 1970s.
The big distributors of the past can go on distributing more and more books by passing on their enthusiasm and knowledge to a new generation of distributors.
However, Kesava Krsna deserves credit for raising the issue of whether the *way* we encourage book distributors may be detrimental to some of the less fixed-up devotees. At least it should be discussed, and different temples and sankirtan leaders can try different things.
Having observed what Vaisesika Prabhu has done here in San Jose, I can say, “I have seen the future and it works.”
New techniques are being learned and put into practice all the time.
Recently, Vaisesika disclosed to us a new method that he learned from Mahatma.
After you show the book, before you ask for a donation, ask “How much do you think this book would sell for in a bookstore?” If they express reluctance, urge them, “Go on. Just take your best guess.” They almost always say something like “$20” or “$29”, or even “$40” (for a hardback Gita)
After they have placed their own value on the book, you tell them that we are not charging a fixed price, but will give them the book for whatever they choose to donate.
Not only do more people give donations, but the donations they give tend to be bigger. I tried it for the first time yesterday and I am hooked. It really is a noticeable improvement.
I think we all have diffrent experences doing different things…. and on the basis of those expereiences we get some realisations…… on basis of those realisations we understand shastras…. on basis of those realisations and understanding of shastras we make our own understanding and try to do best (atleast to serve guru and krishna)….. it might not be the same as some one else as we all are seprate individuals…. but untill we are walking in the right direction we must continue walking…..
Hence in this connection I will say that we should not interup or say any one that they have wrong motives or false motives (atleast in public) in serving Krishna or guru by comparing that person on the level of our realisation and understandings. Just let people learn as they progress. We should be happy that atleast some one is trying to do right thing, may be unknowingly (by selling prabhupada books) and hence in some way or other he is going to get mercy from prabhupada and come upto the next level of realisation with time, other then making smart comments and demotivating any one! Sorry if I offended any one…. Hare krishna
Some devotees are motivated by seeing their name in lights, and it’s not wrong, if that is what is needed to keep you going under difficult and sometimes trying circumstances. Other devotees may need other types of motivation, such as kind and caring words of encouragement.
Everyone needs to be enlivened (not forced) to participate in different and even innovative ways in distributing Krishna Consciousness.
mode og goodness sankirtana is the best, here on friday I distributed some books to two indian families, and they liked my approach and this gentelman Dr Jagan came back and asked me to please accept a $ 20 donation, after I finished the group I was distributing too ,I went back and preached to them again, and now I will be in regular contact with him and his family by email, and preach and inspire them more. It is important to be personal with people and make them our friends ( we are doing so on behalf of Srila Prabhupada) so we can ultimately invite them into the association of ISKCON and its devotees, that is why it is so important to have nice vaisnava relationships in the temples, and properly treat the guests- not with a superiority complex or exploiting attitude, but with kindness and concern for their spiritual wellfare-if we keep our hearts and temples clean and deal nicely and sweetly with the guests they will want to come back
your servant
Payonidhi das
I like the idea of book distribution quotas, either given by Temple commanders or self motivated, being based on the amount of people approached rather than the number of books distributed or laxmi collected.
I can easily imagine the book scores read out during the morning program, Bhakta Fred approached 70 people, Gaura das approached 65 people etc⊠Today by the combined effort of the devotees we distributed 700 maha big books etcâŠ.KI Jaya
Maybe this is me being sentimental but I think we need to distribute more books and at the same time work in a way that brings us closer and make us understand that if we are going to go back to Godhead it will be together rather than by beating the other devotees at something.
Errata: In post #15 I said “Mahidhara” when of course I meant “Manidhara” , who was wowing us with huge scores from Germany in the late ’70s.
(It wasn’t just a typo. More like a crossed wire. Mahidhara was a musician in the Vancouver temple while I was there in the late ’70s.)
I might not forget the deeds, but I do have to admit I forget some of the names. I have not even turned fifty yet and senility is already starting. :-)
While I am trying to remember, who were the Brazilians that were doing so huge in the Sao Paolo bus station? I remember they were topping the charts over and over, but I am blanking on their names….
Manidhara and Rohini Suta Prabhus was steady distributing books in Germany and Switzerland for many years, later Harinamananda and Navina Nirada Prabhus where doing more books than anyone ever in ISKCON’s histroy, these two devotees daily distributed hundreds of big books for 10-15 years -and no one has even come close to them in terms of individuals scores- but in India the is the most potential- we personally once sent with Jayadvaja who was then a Swami and in Nellore in Andhra pradesh we emptied a huge bus full loaded with Prabhupadas Bhagavad Gita in 2 days, it was close to 10.000 Gitas- this is just one small example how big bookdistribution in India can be…
ys
Payonidhi das
Reply by Danavir Goswami:
With reference to comment #8, probably most of us have also made the mistake of trying to get too much money or too much surrender from persons on sankirtan, even if they were not VIP’s. Mostly however, it should be attributed to our immaturity and not to the fault of transcendental competition. If someone mistakenly misidentifies the activity as being a chance for fruitive reward, Krsna will gently slap some sense into the devotee.
Transcendental competition is, as the name states, transcendental. If it is made into material competition then it cannot be transcendental. It reminds me of the interview where Srila Prabhupada was asked about “bad gurus.” Srila Prabhupada replied, in essence, that no one can be a guru and be bad at the same time because a guru is good by definition. I appreciate the concern for devotees who might become discouraged if they do not have high scores and do not become overtly recognized. But that problem simply requires the correct counsel of an experienced devotee who understands the actual meaning of “transcendental,” namely that the act of attempting to distribute transcendental literature should be executed for Krsna’s pleasure without attachment to the results. In my opinion, transcendental competition in the field of transcendental literature distribution, as inaugurated by His Divine Grace, should continue, for a number of reasons.
A) Firstly, because Srila Prabhupada established it as an institution of its own within ISKCON, if you will, and gave elaborate explanations supporting its validity. Aside from the philosophical justifications, just the following sentence from a letter is enough to convince me of the importance of sankirtan newsletters forever: “The sales figures, this is the only solace in my life. When I hear that my books are selling nicely, I become energetic like a young man.”
B) Transcendental competition helps to generate enthusiasm for selling books, an activity which pleased Srila Prabhupada immensely. More literature goes out, more funds come in, then more books are produced, ISKCON projects are supported locally and internationally, devotees make advancement by the endeavor, the public gets more chance to learn about Krsna, some readers become devotees and distribute more literature etc. It is a wonderful cycle.
C) Most of us are not on the advanced platform of spiritual realization which functions through spontaneous attraction to Krsna. We are motivated by intelligence, duty, proper guidance, encouragement, social influences and the opportunity to please the spiritual master.
The example used in the article about Hanuman and the spider supports transcendental competition because Lord Rama recognized both devotees’ efforts as equal in quality (they both tried their best) yet different in quantity (Hanuman had greater capacity). In Krsna consciousness, whether they distribute large amounts of literature or small amounts, all participants triumph and when those sales figures are presented to Srila Prabhupada, the victory becomes complete.
There are all kinds of athletes in the world, who train hard day-and-night, for numerous competitive meets. Of those who emerge victorious in their chosen field of play, only a tiny, elite group, are chosen to represent each country in the Olympics. All of the participants in the Olympics are champions, but only three persons in each event earn a metal.
It is similar in book distribution. Anyone who tries to distribute a book is a heroic person. Someone who can distribute hundreds of books though is in a class of their own. Those devotees who are empowered to preach and distribute should be honored by all of us. Their stories should be remembered, so that we will be inspired and enlivened to present Krishna Consciousness in a similar way.
Dear Maharaja,
You mentioned the spider and Hanuman pastime as indicative of competition. There were two types of competition evident in this story. The first type created a little animosity as the big bodied helpers – Hanuman included – thought in terms of big and small, which minimized the strenuous efforts of the spider.
This of course caused Sri Rama to frown upon such dualistic thinking. Then He sprinkled some – panditah sama darsinah – talk to equalize their vision. And so began the second earnest more acceptable type of competition, wherein all the participants proceeded contentedly.
You quoted Srila Prabhupada: “These sales figures, this is the only solace in my life. When I hear that my books are selling NICELY, I become energetic like a young man.”
Surely Srila Prabhupada is not too keen on the first type of competition as mentioned above, which isn’t too nice. He would have much preferred the second type. He did after all, use the word NICELY to qualify his statement.
So we cannot justify any type of competition to sell Srila Prabhupada’s books and call it transcendental. BOOK DISTRIBUTION is a YRANSCENDENTAL activity, just as any of the nine processes of Bhakti are transcendental. This is true. But how we, with our spiritual or mental make-up devise this selling may not be so elevated.
On the other hand, if we all become pandits with broad – sama darshinah – we may end up being somewhat too – uttama adhikari – and will not being able to preach functionally. Striving for the – madhyama – level and discriminating nicely, with a healthy dose of – sattva-guna – should help to foster a more wholesome kind of competition. Book disribution or devotional service is transcendental only when it is performed without motivation.
Ys, Kesava Krsna dasa.
If temples can really boost their overall scores by working more with a team spirit and encouraging rather than competing with the newer and less capable individual distributors, that surely pleases Srila Prabhupada, too.
There is room for both models. (We can have “transcendental competition” between different styles of organization, too. May the best temple win.)
To be really transcendental, though, we have to be happy to see our “competitors” succeed. Devotees are always happy to see other devotees receive the Lord’s mercy.
That is the real key to transcendental competition, isn’t it? In the spiritual atmosphere, we can safely become everyone’s servant without getting clobbered.
Srila Prabhupada took solace in the fact that his books were selling well. We later as a movement slipped in worldwide book sales. We have to find ways to boost the sales and start doubling and re-doubling them. We should be open to new ideas and give them a chance to prove themselves.
One way that seems to be working here in San Jose, California, is to engage the householder congregation in monthly sankirtan festivals, as I described before.
We are a small temple. There is only one brahmacari pujari living at the temple, and he is only visiting temporarily. Pretty much all of us either have full-time jobs, small children at home, or are full time students. I do not think competing for individual high scores would work well in our temple. But working together to reach the temple’s monthly book distribution goals has become the life of all the devotees here.
I mentioned that one of our goals for July was to get at least 64 devotees to go out. That was more than we had ever had go out. I just heard that the results are in and 82 (eighty-two!) devotees went out. HARIBOL!!
I will write up the overall results after they are announced to the Deities tonight. One thing you can count on is, with 82 distributors going out, even though some went out just for a short time, we easily blasted through our goals for books and collections.
Imagine if everyone in the whole congregation at each temple could be inspired to go out on book distribution for even a few hours per month, in an atmosphere of loving teamwork and mutual appreciation, rather than competition for the individual best scores. Would overall book distribution rise? You bet!
The brahmacaris who can go out 6 days a week can still report their individual scores if they want, but the SKP newsletter also reports temple-wide scores, and those will be boosted when temples learn how to cultivate congregations full of “weekend warriors” and festive, joyous monthly book distribution.
It actually was 84 devotees that went out in San Jose last weekend, not 82. They distributed over 2,600 books and more than two and a half times our laksmi goal!
A big part of the laksmi score is that, as the householders get fired up about book distribution, they are also inspired to donate their own money to the book distribution effort. (And unlike the brahmacaris, working grhasthas have their own money to donate).
One very saintly young householder devotee this time not only did his usual great job of helping organize the festival and personally going out for distribution, but was also inspired to donate $2,000 to the book distribution effort. A number of other people gave smaller donations, so we basically met our laksmi goals before we even went out.
[We really have an embarrassing surplus of book funds, so we have another kind of transcendental competition: we have to try to pump the books out fast enough to keep up with the supply of book funds. Amazing, isn’t it?]
In the old days, the brahmacaris and ‘carinis were mostly supporting the temple, so our TPs sometimes were tempted to cut back on the “straight book” sales and relied more heavily on paraphernalia, to get the rent and other bills paid. Now, hopefully, we are finding a more normal situation where enthusiastic congregations are supporting the temples and we can refocus our priorities and remind ourselves that the temples are primarily bases for book distribution.
So. . . new times may call for new methods.
There is a famous discussion between Srila Prabhupada and Bhurijan where Srila Prabhupada smashes doubts raised by Siddhasvarup’s criticism of our ISKCON book distribution techniques and tactics. Srila Prabhupada said, among other things, (paraphrasing) “If he does not like it, let him show an example of how to do it better.”
Mostly we always took this as just an expression of Srila Prabhupada’s displeasure: Siddhasvarupa should not criticize, because he cannot do better himself.
What we may have overlooked is Srila Prabhupada’s implicit invitation for us to expriment with different styles of organization, techniques and tactics. “Let him do better” literally means we should allow people try different methods and approaches.
We never know when someone might hit on something that really works better, so we should keep an open mind and be on the lookout for bona fide innovations that work.
And success might come in the form of getting more devotees enthusiastic to go out (and more customers giving us repeat business), rather than just increasing the personal scores of certain very talented, successful, heroic individual devotees. In fact, given the apparent physical limitations on an individual distributor’s productivity, it probably will.
Therefore, we are very fortunate that the Manidharas and Vijays (and lots of others who should be mentioned) are still out there helping to train and inspire young distributors. Whatever serves to increase our all-volunteer sales force will be more effective in the long run than just increasing our personal daily scores.
Here is a nice piece which captures the importance of reporting the book distribution scores for Srila Prabhupada’s pleasure and approval:
“Every day we were in a different town; sometimes in Wales or Scotland, and quite often weâd load up the van so we couldnât fit anything more in and catch the ferry from Liverpool over to Ireland. Our first few days in Ireland would involve sleeping with heads one inch from the ceiling! Our inspiration was that somewhere in the world Srila Prabhupada was translating the Bhagavatam, and we were helping him to distribute the books heâd translated. Not only that, but we also knew that he would be given reports of our book sales and make satisfied remarks on our endeavours. The thought that we were pleasing him kept us going through all weathers. He had already written to express his pleasure at our service and we wanted to make him even more pleased. From time to time he would come to England and we got the chance to assemble before him and to hear from him how important it was to distribute his books.” (From Van Ashram: âVaikuntha on Wheelsâ by Kripamoya dasa Adhikari,/ACBSP)