Srila Prabhupada was on a marathon practically from the time he took to the vanaprastha order of life and even sometimes before. He was writing BTG articles, getting the magazine printed, and distributing copies. By the early 1960s, an acquaintance had said to him, “You should write books. People throw away magazines, but books they keep.” He took that as a message from Krsna, which was related to His spiritual master’s instruction to print books. Then he started his translation and commentary on the Srimad Bhagavatam. As with the BTG, he would write, go to the printer, and distribute the books. He had no extra money, and he was relying on donors.
We have it easier. We go to the book room, get our books, and go out to distribute. My sankirtan leader in the late 1970s told me, “We should have such determination to distribute Srila Prabupada’s books that even if everyone else were to leave the movement, we would be ready to print the books and go out on book distribution.” I thought, “Wow, that would be sincere.”
Prabhupada once said, “It’s too late. Nothing can stop this movement, because the books are out there.” Even if everyone leaves, the movement will start again. There are clear examples of this. In Russia a man got a book from a friend of his. In the book he read, “This knowledge is so important that it should be distributed all over the world.” He liked the book so much that he read it twice. And he thought, “Let me do my bit and distribute some of these books in my city.” He was a businessman, so he had some extra money. So he got two hundred copies of the book printed and went out in his city to distribute them. People took them and gave donations. Soon after that, a couple of traveling sankirtana devotees went to his city, and they met some people who had already received this book by Prabhupada. They thought that some book distributors had already come there. Then they saw the businessman distributing books.
They asked him what temple he was from. He responded, “Temple? There are temples?” Now the devotees were really surprised and said, “How is it possible that you’re distributing books and don’t know about ISKCON temples?” He explained what happened to him and what he did. Their jaws dropped. They could hardly believe it.
There you have it. This person never ate prasada, never met a devotee, and he was distributing books.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna says, “Whatever action a great man performs, a common man follows. And whatever standards he sets by his exemplary acts, all the world pursues.” Prabhupada set the pace. He was on a constant marathon. We’re just going out for a month or so. So let’s do our best for to please Srila Prabhupada and our dear Lord Krsna.
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=112212
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