Sankarsana Nitai said, he was questioning, whether I am happy that Mayapur came first. I say Yes! Nobody in the world can defeat Mayapur! (Devotees: Haribol!) Mayapur has the biggest sankirtana army and these devotees are working hard, and distributing books all year.
So we all know the importance of book distribution. Why did Prabhupada encourage book distribution? Because his spiritual master encouraged it. Why did Bhaktisiddhantaji encourage it? Because Thakura Bhaktivinoda encouraged it. Why did Thakura Bhaktivinoda encourage? Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu encouraged it. And in the 18th Chapter of the Gita Krishna also says, that one who preaches is My dearmost devotee.
So Prabhupada encouraged us to distribute books And Prabhupada worked hard to produce these books. Even before going to the West, Prabhupada was in Vrindavana. He had no facilities, old typewriter, staying in the Radha Damodar Temple, he was translating these books, coming by third class compartment to Delhi, getting his books printed and then he would go out and distribute the books himself. Why? Because these books contain transcendental wisdom and Prabhupada’s goal was to save humanity.
Prabhupada met his spiritual master Bhaktisiddhantaji in Radha Kunda, I believe in 1935 and Bhaktisiddhantaji drew a picture of a mridanga and said, ‘If Krishna gives you facility, print and distribute books!’ What is that service called? Brhad mridanga. The big mridanga. An ordinary mridanga’s voice can be heard to a point. But you can distribute a book in Calcutta and the book can be read in England. We have so many instances, that somebody bought a book in one part of the world, read it in another part of the world, and became a devotee in another part of the world.
So Prabhupada encouraged book distribution because these books contain transcendental knowledge. And the desire of a devotee is to save humanity, para dukha dukhi, seeing others in distress a devotee also gets distressed and he meditates how can I save the suffering humanity. So Prabhupada laboured hard, all night he would translate books and he encouraged us to do book distribution. And devotees took his request seriously, engaged in this service and pleased Prabhupada.
Prabhupada said ‘as long as book distribution goes on I will never die.’ That means through these books Prabhupada is preaching. And Prabhupada wanted these books distributed. Today Prabhupada’s books have been translated in more than 75 languages of the world. And all over the world people are reading these books and perfecting their lives. Narada Muni says in the Bhagavatam Fourth Canto that if you want to please the Lord, three things are necessary
dayaya sarva-bhutesu
santustya yena kena va sarvendriyopasantya ca
tusyaty asu janardanah (SB 4.31.19)
One must be merciful and true mercy is giving people spiritual knowledge. He must have control over his mind and senses and be satisfied in any condition. So Prabhupada wanted us to distribute books. Caitanya Mahaprabhu called Nityananda and Haridasa Thakura and said, ‘Go house to house and preach!’ And what was His message, bolo `krishna,' bhajo krishna, koro krishna- shiksha, Request everyone to chant Hare Krishna, worship Krishna, follow Krishna’s instructions. So Prabhupada wanted expand book distribution in India also. And Prabhupada said, ‘India has very good scope of book distribution.’ So its very nice that Mayapur temple has taken book distribution as their main activity and nearly 100 brahmacari’s are engaged in book distribution. So you’re rendering very valuable service to the society. Prabhupada encouraged transcendental competition. So there is transcendental competition between temples and Mayapur wins every year. So keep winning every year and that is good inspiration to others. And these books have changed the lives of many of those people. If today we see more and more devotees coming to our temples, if today we see a bigger congregation the main reason is the influence of these books. Everything we need to know is in Prabhupada’s books.
We should have faith that we don’t need to read anything, everything we need to know is in Prabhupada’s books. And we should be enthusiastic for book distribution. Once I had arranged a big display of Prabhupada’s books in Bombay and after 1 month not many books were sold. So I went to Prabhupada and said ‘Inspite of this heavy promotion we did not sell too many books!’ Prabhupada said, ‘My books are distributed because of the enthusiasm of my disciples.’ So we must be enthusiastic to preach, enthusiastic to serve, enthusiastic to distribute books and if we keep good sadhana, and we remain enthusiastic then Krishna will empower you to distribute these books. Prabhupada said, ‘These books are so powerful that even if you read one sloka thoroughly your life can be perfected. Even if you read one word and understand and mediate on that, you can perfect your life!”
So we want to encourage devotees to read and study Prabhupada books. Not just distribute books but also study these books. And we want encourage devotees to distribute these books and Prabhupada said, ‘These books will be read for the next 10000 years!’ So you have to do sankirtana for how many more years? 10000 years. After that there will only be adharma. So thank you very much for distributing books and we want to encourage everyone to get into book distribution. How many of you distribute books on a regular basis? Please raise your hands! Thats all! And the others don't distribute? Sankirtana, full time or part time? Anybody, amongst all of you, who distributes books? So there are many who don’t distribute books, they did not raise their hand. So do you want the mercy of the Lord or not? (Devotees: Yes. Haribol!) Do you want the mercy of Prabhupada? (Devotees: Yes. Haribol!) Do you want the mercy of acharyas? (Devotees: Yes. Haribol!) Or are you thinking we have lots of mercy already! (laughter) If you want mercy, then engage in the service of preaching!
So we are very grateful to the devotees of Mayapur, you have worked very hard, and because of this efforts your temple has come first worldwide. (Devotees: Haribol!) So you distribute the around the year. So now Prabhupada said, ‘Our goal should be, double it!’ Do you understand, Double it! If this year you have distributed 1 lakh Gita, then next year distribute 2 lakhs! So this year how many books did Mayapur temple distribute? So this year all the devotees collectively distributed 7 lakh books. (Devotees: Haribol!) So next year your goal should be how much? 14 lakhs to be distributed! So will you distribute 14 lakhs? (Devotees: Haribol!) Will you make an effort? (Devotees: Haribol!) If you make an effort, Prabhupada will give you strength by which you can be successful in this venture. Sankirtana yajna ki jaya! Transcendental book distribution ki jaya! Gaurapremanade Hari Haribol!
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