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Dear Prabhus and Matajis, Hare Krishna.

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Please see the appended report of IMYC's book distribution activities on 21 & 22 January 2011.! Here is something that IMYC would like to share with you.

ISKCON Malaysia Youth Council had two subsequent nights of Sankirtan on both 21&22 January 2011 in conjunction with Thaipusam Festival at Batu Caves. On 22 January 2011, we first tried to get a spot to display our books, since we couldn’t use the premises somewhere near the temple's office as we didn’t have permit per se. So we went to Balaji temple and used the adjacent aisle. We eagerly put the books for display and some of our members went in different directions for book distribution. After about one hour later, a team of RELA members with a leader abruptly approached us at where we had displayed our books and with his stern loud voice, he said (in Tamil Language, so use your imagination) “HEY, DO YOU HAVE A PERMIT? YOU GOTTA PACK YOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW AND LEAVE OR WE WILL TAKE YOUR BOOKS AWAY!!!!!!!” He tried scaring us by showing on how he had confiscated some fancy chains from a foreign Indian Lady. “I’M TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW, WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE!!” So we apologised to him and said that we are from the Hare Krishna temple. These books are for preaching purposes and we are not making profits. He later toned down and told us; sorry but these are procedures, since the others had paid for their rental. He told us not to be offended but still we had to leave. We packed the books up into the boxes but we didn’t leave the place and went on streets for book distribution. Later when we had returned to the spot to take a break for prasadam, we noticed that HG Prahlada Raksaka prabhu had disregarded the orders and put the books again for display. We were all worried of the consequences that the books will be taken away but still took a chance. Within twenty minutes these RELA guys again made a sudden appearance. Our group members hurriedly grabbed the books, put them into the boxes and we laid the plates on the mat. Since we wanted to pretend that we have been eating quite some time, we quickly put prasadam on the plates, hence some of us had only sabjis, some were just eating peanuts and Bhakta Poobalan even ate a puree without sabji!!! The Leader approached us and said “I already told you earlier to pack up, how come you are still here?” We told him that we took a break for prasadam (But the plates were not really filled actually-haha). However he insisted that we leave the place. Then Bhakta Mallon told him that we are waiting for our transport and he pretended to call someone on his mobile also acted as if the person is on his way (he didn’t call anyone for real-haha). He then gave the leader some prasadam. He told us, that everywhere people are offering him something to eat but we insisted this is Krishna’s prasadam and you have to take it. The guy happily took prasadam and left to chase away the others. After a few minutes, TO OUR SURPRISE he came back telling us... “Well, you guys are just doing this for the temple. And you are nice, not making profits; ok I tell you what... Go ahead and sell the books!” We were all taken aback by his actions! And we realised right then, this is the Magic of Krishna’s Prasad! We thanked him very much and gave him a book and told him on how we appreciated him in allowing us to sell books. We also took this opportunity to distribute prasadam to those who were adjacent at that area. So it is double celebrations of Food for Life and Sankirtan on this particular day.Total Number of Books distributed for both 21 &22 Jan 2011: 18 Bhagavad Gitas and 25 small booksOur heartiest gratitude to HG Baladeva prabhu who is always there for IMYC, joined and inspired us very much to do book distribution also gave some advice on how to approach someone and keep in touch so we could distribute nicely and gradually get them to be engaged in Krishna Consciousness. Thanks to HG Radha Kamalini mataji, Bhakta Poobalan from Sungai Petani who went all out to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books!P/S: I hope that more youths will be engaged in Sankirtan! Once you get the pleasure and happiness derived, trust me, you would be addicted to it. As youths we love challenges in our lives and this is something that you definitely would want to experience. And I am sure soon you will have a story to tell ;)