{"id":2434,"date":"2006-12-09T16:12:41","date_gmt":"2006-12-09T15:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=2434"},"modified":"2007-10-18T13:24:24","modified_gmt":"2007-10-18T12:24:24","slug":"the-most-ecstatic-skp-newsletter-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=2434","title":{"rendered":"THE MOST ECSTATIC SKP NEWSLETTER OF ALL TIME!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hari-sauri dasa <\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s nice story from 1975 Thanksgiving Day in America. Ramesvara had sent a report about book distribution in America (this is a little long but its well worth the read): December 9, 1975 \u2014 Vrindavana<\/p>\n

\u201cRamesvara concluded enthusiastically, \u201cOur only desire is to surrender our lives to help publish and distribute millions of Your Divine Grace\u2019s wonderful books. Here in LA they are selling over 200,000 BTGs this month of December, more than even the entire Radha-Damodara party combined. Of course Radha-Damodara is selling more big books than anyone else. Devotees are more enlivened in the USA than I have ever seen for distributing your books. This will be the biggest month ever. Already one million BTGs is not enough for this month.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing pleases Srila Prabhupada more than hearing how his books are being printed and sold. He wrote back, \u201cYou keep your enlivened position. I was just talking to Hansaduta about the good fortune of America that Krishna consciousness is there; and if you can cover the whole America with Krishna consciousness that will be good for the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Hamsaduta prabhu read out an ecstatic report by Uttamasloka dasa, the president of the Chicago temple, although it was not directly addressed to Srila Prabhupada. It described the efforts of the devotees in the recent record-breaking, Thanksgiving-day book-distribution competition. Out of 5,000 books sold by the three temples, Chicago, assisted by nine Radha-Damodara traveling sankitrana party brahmacaries, sold over 2,000. The letter was written to Ramesvara prabhu and sent on. Hamsaduta read it out loud as Prabhupada listened, eyes sometimes wide with amazement and appreciation at the incredible effort and risk his disciples are taking to distribute his books throughout this world of darkness:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took the challenge seriously\u2014not that we were puffed up and over confident of victory\u2014for we knew that anything could happen by Lord Caitanya\u2019s mercy. Then the first crew left\u201416 men and women\u2014they were distributing by about 6:30 a.m. Later a small party went out by about 10:00 a.m. with more books and prasadam, and later on in the day several others came out. Altogether there were about 25 devotees at the airport throughout the day. Sripati and I sort of floated about helping in different ways, like you did. There were the 17 regular distributors plus Tripurari Swami and a couple of weekend regulars and a few more new comers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first hour and half most of the distributors had done 15 to 25 books, so by the time we got out (about 11:00 a.m.) they had already done about 300-400 books! The mornings are always good. Things were quiet; not too many announcements and no break ups or hassles. We all met together for lunch at 1:00 p.m. and took a preliminary count: over 750 books\u2014we were close to breaking the world\u2019s record half way through the day. By 1:00 p.m. Manusuta dasa had already done 100!!!!!! Praghosa dasa 80!!!! and Tripurari Swami 70!!!!! Our hairs began to stand on end a little as we speculated about the potential results and everyone was back distributing by 1:30 p.m. \u201cBasically we distribute two terminals\u2026 there is a corridor about 25ft. wide that the people funnel through after coming from the \u2018fingers\u2019\u2026 All of the passengers come through there on their way to the baggage claim and also on their way to a flight\u2026. We found out from the paper next morning that over 220,000 people came through the airport that day!!!!<\/p>\n

\u201cAt about 4:00 p.m\u2026. a demon worker of the airlines came up to one devotee and punched him in the face; the men were stunned. Then he went up to another devotee and punched him in the face! The men and karmis began to congregate. Tripurari Swami came running to see what was happening; the demon punched him in the face!!! All of the devotees immediately jumped on the demon and began beating the stool out of him!!!!!!! There was a huge crowd all around and the devotees were shouting for the police to stop this man. There was blood on his face and on the ground. Praghosa\u2019s punch had drawn blood and there were drops of blood on Praghosa\u2019s clothes and drops of perspiration on his face: he was feeling very blissful!!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrabhupada\u2019s eyes opened wide at the description of the fight. \u201cAccha!\u201d he said in surprise, shaking his head in wonder at the risks his men were taking on his and Krishna\u2019s behalf. Hamsaduta was laughing and shaking his head in awe and he read on. \u201cHalf the crowd was in our favor and the other half against. The police came in and the demon said that we had given him a book and then taken it back and started a fight. The police arrested the devotees! This is typical of all the incidents\u2014they attack us and we get arrested! Anyway somehow or another, by Krishna\u2019s grace, the devotees were released and back distributing in 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAround 6:00 p.m. I took a preliminary count\u2026 I sat in the phone booth and added the score. As I added my eyebrows began to raise higher and higher! My eyes began to bulge from their sockets!! My mouth dropped open! I was speechless! Tears actually began to flow from my eyes! We had broken 1400 books! I couldn\u2019t believe it; I was stunned and took another count to be sure, and sure enough, it was right. I began to shout in ecstasy \u2018Hari Bol, Hari Bol, Hari Bol!\u2019 All the karmis were looking at me through the phone booth with screwed up faces of bewilderment\u2026 .<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got back there had been another incident\u2026 A couple of plainclothers (cops) had tried to set up one of the women for an arrest and she tried to get one of the men to help her. One of the men tried to intervene and they arrested him and took him downstairs. Another mother went down to find the girl whom they tried to arrest and when the cops saw her they said \u201cWhere\u2019s the other girl?\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d she said. \u201cOK, then we\u2019ll arrest you instead!\u201d \u201cHey, let me go! I didn\u2019t do anything!\u201d Two small scuffles broke out with the two devotees and the police. Another devotee came in to stop it\u2026 and the police turned on him and the three of them mercilessly beat him up on the floor in front of many bystanders! One of the policemen\u2019s guns fell out during the scuffle and books were scattered every where. The devotees were then taken to jail downtown (the two men devotees). Of course this knocked at least 100 books off our score.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prabhupada was listening with rapt attention to the whole description, occasionally raising his eyebrows in surprise and shaking his head and smiling in appreciation. He was aglow with obvious pride at the determination of his disciples to sell his books despite all obstacles, and he listened to the entire report, blow by blow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we listened to this incident and took prasadam, a demon who had found three books ripped them up and threw them in our midst. Unaffected, a little tired, but undaunted in their determination, the devotees went back to distribute. Meanwhile a huge blizzard began and traffic started jamming both on the roads and in the air.. At 10:30 p.m. I got a report from Sripati: over 1700 books\u2014we might break 2,000!!!! This is incredible!! Who can imagine the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu? All but four of the men were coming back at 11:30 p.m.\u2014Manusuta w\/191; Praghosa w\/153; Tripurari Swami w\/135 and Ranganatha w\/120\u2026. The first crew returned in the blizzard by 2:00 a.m. and the four others left about 1:30 or 2:00 a.m. Everyone struggled to get up for mangala arati (the four latecomers didn\u2019t even go to sleep) and after an ecstatic kirtana I ran around to get the final scores\u2026 On Thursday we fasted from breakfast and chanted and slept till noon arati when we had a big arati kirtana and after a nice feast!!!!<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for inspiring us to compete for the mercy of the Spiritual Master. If it weren\u2019t for you we wouldn\u2019t know what to do. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Your servant, Uttamasloka dasa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother page carried the totals for each distributor. Two men did over 400 between them: Manusuta set a new individual world\u2019s record with 210 books, Pragho\u0090a was just behind with 200. Another seven, Tripurari Swami, Ranganatha, Romapada, Buddhimanta, and Preraka prabhus, including two women, Sa\u0081bhuja and Jagaddhatri das\u2026s, broke the one-hundred\u2014book mark. The grand total was 2,042 hardbound books.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the bottom of the list Uttamasloka added a note to Ramesvara: \u201cMy humble suggestion and request is that you read this letter and all of its contents to the assembled devotees of New Dvaraka Dhama. Even though it is irregularly composed and full of mistakes and errors, it is still very transcendentally pleasing and will be relished by all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the top of the letter Ramesvara had written in large clear capital letters, \u201cTHE MOST ECSTATIC SKP NEWSLETTER OF ALL TIME! SHOULD BE READ ALOUD TO ALL OF THE ASSEMBLED DEVOTEES!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Hamsaduta finished, Srila Prabhupada had a huge smile on his face, clearly pleased and obviously enjoying transcendental ecstasy. He dictated his reply, not to Ramesvara but to Uttamasloka. \u201cPlease accept my blessings. I read your sankirtana newsletter with great relish. Europe and America are in great danger, this Hare Krishna movement is enveloping them. The sankirtana devotees are very, very dear to Krishna. Because they are doing the field work of book distribution, Krishna has immediately recognized them as true servants. Just like during the war time, a farm boy or ordinary clerk who goes out to fight for his country on the front, immediately becomes a national hero for his sincere effort. So Krishna immediately recognizes a preacher of Krishna consciousness who takes all risks to deliver his message.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is called dhira bratta\u2014determination. These boys and girls are mahatmas-mahatmanas tu mam partha, daivim prakrtim asritah, bhajanty ananya manaso, jnatva bhutadim avyayam:\u2014\u2019O son of Prtha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.\u2019 This verse is applicable here. If these boys were under the material nature they would not take so much risk. They are mahatma, they are real mahatma, not that long beard and saffron cloth mahatma. They are unswerving in their determination, dhira bratta. All glories to the American devotees! \u201cI hope this letter finds you and all the sankirtana devotees well, Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.\u201d<\/p>\n

Your humble servant,
\nHari-sauri dasa <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"HareBy Hari-sauri dasa <\/strong><\/p>\n

Prabhupada’s eyes opened wide at the description of the fight. “Accha!” he said in surprise, shaking his head in wonder at the risks his men were taking on his and Krishna’s behalf. Hamsaduta was laughing and shaking his head in awe and he read on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-distribution","category-hari-sauri-dasa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}