For the past six months a party of brahmacaris has preached in Lyon, France.
Recently, Rasananda Sankirtan Dasa from Spain joined them, and here he writes about a recent preaching adventure on the streets of Lyon.
I met the man in the attached photo a while back and offered him a book, but he did not break his meditation on Heavy Metal even to look at me.
Today, however, when we arrived in a park and passed this man, he said, “If you have a book on Heavy Metal, I will take it!” The subculture i
I have been watching for some time the videos of devotees distributing Bhagavatam sets, so I vowed that I will also do a Bhagavatam set each week.
I adjusted my approach and applied two new principles to achieve this raised bar that I set for myself:
1. Actually carry a set with me on my weekly book tours.
(Previously, I’d leave the sets in the storehouse and take it with me only after someone had placed an order.)
2. Display the whole set to every person that shows even a half-hearted interest
Recently, I was distributing at Orange Coast College, and a student came to the table and showed an interest in getting Bhagavad-gita. I explained it to him a little. Then he opened it, to see what he could get out of it. He opened it to text 4.22: “He who is satisfied with gains that comes of its own accord, who is free from duality and does not envy, who is steady in both success and failure, is never entangled, although performing actions.” When he read that he said, “All right, I’ll take it
Every Sunday, we do harinama at the same market place in Minsk, Belarus, for two hours. Usually, I distribute books while it’s going on. Recently, when the harinama was already approaching the end, in my bag were left six books: three big and three small, all with the same title. I started intensely praying to distribute all the books, but I was so unsuccessful that couldn’t distribute even one. Finally, the whole harinama party came to our bus to leave, and I looked around in the hope of seein
Hare Krishna Dear Devotees,
I was distributing in Kilbirnie, Wellington.
Amongst many nice young people, I met Alex.
He was amazed to see the books and explained that Krishna now has special significance in his life.
Yesterday he went to view a room in which Wanzi ( a Wellington devotee) is renting and has taken the room. Now he is super excited about moving into a “Hare Krishna flat”.
He told me that he is a vegetarian and very interested in meditation.
As such, he was more than happy to chip i
By Premanjana Das
The beginning of book distribution
Krishna Bhava Das, from ISKCON Punjabi Bagh community in Delhi, 68 year old , strongly built, having a sharp gaze of determination yet having an air of simplicity around him, eldest in his family of 30 members, untouched by modern flare , who prefers to keep to his village roots and culture, a strong businessman is been one of the most enthusiastic devotee when it comes to book distribution. Over the last 10 years, he has distributed lakhs of
I usually pray before I leave for book distribution. I pray that I meet at least one sadhu who I can learn something from, and usually it happens. As I was getting ready and packing my books, about to head for the densely populated (by Arabics) Merrylands in Sydney, I was wondering, “Who is that sadhu I will meet today?”
I hung my Arabic caption around my collar and began searching for the sadhu of my day as I showed books to everybody I met.
There was a nice rhythm going on as well as decent c
By Madhava Smullen
What has kept the International Society for Krishna consciousness going for 54 years now, “systematically propagating spiritual knowledge to society at large” as Srila Prabhupada wrote when incorporating the movement in 1966?
Much has been down to the steady efforts of quietly dedicated devotees, doing their services day in and day out for decades – the pujaris, the teachers, the mothers, the cooks, the cleaners, the maintenance workers, the accountants, the book editors, the
In the middle of the night I vividly dreamed about the Bhagavad-gita being held in someone’s hand. I had never seen or heard of the book. But in the morning, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. So I looked on the internet and then went to some bookstores looking for it. No luck.
Then I had an urge to go to Byron Bay, an hour and a half north of where I live, which is just north of Sydney. I got a hotel room and went walking around Byron Bay. One man approached me and offered me the Bhagavad-gita.
At our last sankirtana festival in Durban, a 12-year-old boy joined us. His name is Sudarshan, the son of Pisima Dasi, a single parent.
He joined us at a mall. We are not allowed in malls, so we went undercover. Sudarshan was so eager to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s mercy that he distributed many Zulu books entitled Introduction to Bhagavad-gita.
A student ask him why he was doing book distribution in the sweltering summer heat. Sudarshan responded that he want to give people the opportunity t
While distributing books in Wellington, New Zealand, I met a middle-aged lady from Finland. For many years she lived in north Finland, which she described as being remote and mountainous.
Somehow or other, she felt inspired to journey to the Himalayas and learn about yoga. Amazingly, while participating in a Himalayan yoga retreat, her teacher recommended that she read Bhagavad-gita and also that she visit the Bhakti Lounge in Wellington to learn more about spiritual life.
So our Finnish friend
At one opulent home in London, I rang the doorbell, and in response from within came a tirade of foul language – yelling at me to go away. I did not. I kept ringing the bell. I don’t know why, but I felt that I could convince this person to take a book.
Finally, a distraught and furious young man opened the door and shouted at me “Why are you bothering me? I told you to go away! Who are you anyway?”
I told him, “I am from the Hare Krishna temple.”
As soon as he heard “Hare Krishna” his fury dis
I was distributing books in Mexico. It was a very difficult day. Everyone was saying no, all day, and I had many books in my bag. It felt heavier as the day went on.
Then I saw a young lady, and I was thinking of not approaching her because I had already received so much rejection. But I thought, “What’s one more rejection?” I approached her and offered her the Bhagavad gita. She didn’t say anything.
Then I started telling her that the book tells about the soul and about God and how to have a l
A few stories from Ekantita-buddi dasa who has been distributing books in Chernivtsi, Ukraine since the beginning of the military conflict in the Eastern parts of Ukraine.
By Ekantita-buddi dasa
April 27, 2020
It’s been a month since we distribute books in Chernivtsi. Already distributed more than 1000 books for April.
It is very difficult to practice and maintain your faith on your own. But when you start preaching and telling others about Krishna, then everything starts to come alive. And you
At a university in Los Angeles, a student with a walker came straight away to my book table and declared, “I know the Bhagavad-gita, and let me tell you this is not a book of rainbows and fairy tales. Arjuna wanted to save the bodies of his family members. He did not know that Krishna would teach him the real truth: that no one can kill the soul. So Arjuna fought his best. No one should think that this is a sentimental book to promote peace. Krishna creates and dissolves the universe over and o
Being absorbed in book distribution, we were hesitant to return to the temple, even for weekends. To stay out on Sunday provided a special challenge, as even today Sunday is a day where hardly any shops are open. Everything freezes to the sounds of bells being rung in empty churches, and the Germans retreat to their flats and gardens to once again cut their lawns precisely, so that no blade of grass can grow without the permission of the well-organized owners.
The neighbors compete over who has
By Radhika Prasad Dasa
We were in Fairfield (Sydney), which is densely populated by Arabs. An unforecasted storm hit us. The harinama party had to make a decision to continue or cancel.
Given that it was a long way from home, we decided to continue, and we moved through the streets under roof footpaths.
Looking at the dancing and singing in the rain, all the Arabs were coming out of the shops, elated to watch and hear the harinama.
I started placing Arabic books into their hands. Almost all of t
By Jayabhadra devi dasi
On February 26, 2022, we had a one-day Vaishnavi padayatra at Wadad village 15km from Amravati. As a district Medical Officer, I am well acquainted with our health workers, so while our ISKCON Girls’ Forum team did advance party work a few days before padayatra I liaised with fellow employees Anganwadi and Asha and they agreed to join us for padayatra.
Our group received an early-morning welcome at Wadad with the village ladies enthusiastically singing and dancing with us
I am reading sankirtan stories regularly. They are always inspiring. One day I received an email containing a link to “Vijay Prabhu’s Special Class on Book Distribution.” Before going out to distribute books, I listened to the lecture. A great lecture.
I heard this new anecdote about how books are patient and help in time:
On a street in Poznan (Poland), I stopped an elderly person. He said he is a hunter. He was interested in how karma works, what reactions follow killing. He said: “I have som
As we know from the “Teachings of Lord Caitanya,” there are no hard and fast rules for chanting Hare Krishna. Similarly, there are no hard and fast rules for distributing books. I was distributing books at a college, and I saw a security guard coming my way. Sometimes people complain. He was some distance away, so I went into a nearby building. After going through the door, I walked fast to avoid him. I made the first left, and it turned out to be a restroom. I thought, “I’ll just hang out here
