Sankirtan Leaders Conference Held In India - First Of Its Kind In 40 Years Of Iskcon’s History
- By Sri Rama Dasa
BBT India organized a seminar for two days on Jan 31st 2014 and Feb 1st 2014 on the topic of ‘Merits of Organized Book Distribution’ at ISKCON Tirupathi. This was a pioneering attempt to get book distributors in India more organized. It was conducted under the expert guidance of HG Vaisesika Dasa Adhikari.
Around 80 devotees participated in the seminar. The event was inaugurated by HG Bhima Prabhu (ISKCON Bureau member and BBT India trustee), HG Vaisesika Prabhu, HG Suresvar Prabhu (SP disciple), Revati Raman Prabhu (ISKCON Tirupati President) and was attended by ISKCON temple presidents, BBT managers, Sankirtana leaders, book distributors & senior devotees from all over India.
The event served as a common platform to share techniques and strategies of organized book distribution and also focused on the need to develop the attitude and taste for book distribution.
Day one started with Srila Prabhupada vyasa pooja invoking His Divine Grace’s blessings and an ecstatic kirtan surcharging the whole environment with spiritual energy.
HG Vaisesika Prabhu shared a series of inspirational talks on the glories of transcendental book distribution beginning with the Sankirtan success stories in North America followed by two very inspiring presentations. He also inspired devotees to do massive book distribution throughout the year rather than just marathon time.
First presentation was ‘Sankirtan Orientation Seminar’ which included most effective strategies, techniques and concepts for book distribution like:
- Sampradaya – the complete gift
- Monthly Sankirtan Festivals(MSF)
- 4 Laws of Book distribution
- Smart Boxes
- Motel Gitas
- Weekend Warriors
- Online stores
- EBooks
These included several innovative ways and key points on building Sankirtan Teams, selecting Sankirtan Spots, distributing Full Sets, using Sankirtan Tools, setting Sankirtan Goals and reaching them, distributing Gita on its own merits
Second presentation was on ‘Communication 1 on 1”
- Speak to the soul
- Speak from the soul
- Power of Prayer
- Austerity of speech
- Dealing with fanatic people
- Master Asker
- Universal Compliments
- Non violent communication
- Solving problems through communication
- Leaving a nice impression
This presentation focused on key techniques and concepts of effective communication, the mood of book distributors, future book distribution and follow up, reporting scores effectively & paying off BBT loans.
On Day Two H.G.Vaisesika Prabhu shared some important tips to improve sadhana which is most important for successful book distribution:
- Serving for the sake of service
- Page by Page become a sage
- Importance of CHAD
- Index cards
Devotees from different temples very enthusiastically shared their best strategies, lessons learnt from past experience, challenges faced and their success stories. Appreciation gifts were given to attendees.
H.G.Bhima Prabhu said - “Apart from temples reporting their book distribution scores to International Sankirtan, National sankirtan news letter (NSN) would be on remittances of the temples and this information will be passed on to the newsletter”
Discussions were held for having unified goals (zone level and national level) in order to have a sustained incremental increase in book distribution and also to develop a system of sharing strategies and plans for effective book distribution. There was discussion on bringing in awareness in reporting scores of book distribution.
Below are some of the concluding points of the discussions:
ISKCON Sankirtan Leaders Team (ISLT) has been formed and a conference call will be held every month.
National Sankirtan Newsletter will be started where each temple will report their Sankirtan scores and goals
Centralized software for all the temples (Inventory Account system) to be built to report scores
In future more seminars would be held for Sankirtan leaders to exchange strategies and inspire each other Next Workshop for Sankirtan Leaders would be held after Karthik 2014 at Mumbai, dates would be announced soon!
HG Bhima prabhu appreciated the seminar by saying that “This seminar is result of H.G.Vaisesikaprabhu’s 40 years Hard work & dedication to Sankirthan movement” and encouraged such seminars and workshops on book distribution be conducted atleast twice in a year.
Devotees interested to join ISKCON Sankirtan Leaders Team (ISLT) can email to sriramadasa.brs@gmail.com
More information on presentations, video recordings of the seminar, best strategies of Book Distribution from each temple will be documented soon and available at iskconbookdistribution.com
Srila Prabhupada Letter to Brahmananda, 16th July 1969
“This sankirtana party and our book department are very, very important; they are our right and left hands, so everything should be done very carefully and in remembrance that this is Krsna’s business that we are executing. Because we are doing Krsna’s business does not mean that we should be less careful, but it means we should be much more careful than someone who is performing activities simply for sense gratification. So instruct the boys in that way.”
"All the Leaders should tax their brains for increasing the sales of our books. I have always said that if we simply rely on book distribution, all our needs will met."
– TNOBD Pg 172 (4.1), Jan 11, 1976 to Rupanuga.
Your Humble Servants
Seminar Coordination Team
Sri Rama Dasa, Krishna Mitra Nitai Dasa
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