By Gopika Radhika Devi Dasi
Books were what set Mayapriya Dasi on her road to Krishna Consciousness. A practitioner of Krishna Consciousness for over five decades now, Mayapriya dasi is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada. She says that her strong connection with Srila Prabhupada’s vani has sustained her unswerving service to his mission. Back in the 1960s, like numerous other American college students, Mayapriya Dasi and her husband-to-be were spiritual seekers who considered various yoga groups until they received Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is and realized that it answered all their existential questions. There was no looking back after that.
What started Mayapriya on her Krishna Conscious journey eventually became one of her primary services to Srila Prabhupada’s mission. It began simply: when she borrowed a rare, self-published book by Dasaratha-suta Dasa to a friend, who then wanted her own copy but found that no others were available. Realizing the need, Mayapriya offered to publish it professionally, and Dasaratha-suta gladly agreed. Since Mayapriya’s book was the only copy, her husband, Amit Acara Dasa, typed out the entire text. Subsequently, she designed and published it, ensuring it would stay in print.
After that, she went on to publish Dasaratha-suta’s best-selling Cowherd Boys’ Nectar. Soon, more and more of her god-siblings began reaching out to her, and everything seemed to fall into place. “It was a case of ‘If you build it, they will come,'” Mayapriya said.
Fortuitously, she had the right talent and professional experience for this work. “I was always doing art as a kid and being asked by teachers to make posters and signs. It came so naturally that I didn’t think it had much value,” she recalled. “My propensities won out, however.” After working in magazine and newspaper illustration and design in New England, she was mentored by esteemed book designer Richard Hendel, author of On Book Design (Yale University Press). This mentorship honed her book production skills, giving her a solid foundation in publishing. Her career grew as she became the design and production editor for Carolina Academic Press. Since it was a relatively small scholarly publisher, she got to wear many hats, learning all aspects of publishing, and eventually becoming managing editor for the press.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/preserving-srila-prabhupadas-legacy-the-inspiring-story-of-mayapriya-dasi-and-bookwrights-press/
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