Waves of Sankirtana - Volume 1, Issue 9

Hare Krishna!

Welcome to the ninth issue of "Waves of Sankirtana", the monthly newsletter of the India Sankirtana Leaders Team! In this issue, we cover the following highlights:

1. Srila Prabhupada Speaks: "This is our main program."

2. India Sankirtana Report Card - January 2015

3. Sankirtana Stories: Software engineer receives Srimad Bhagavatam

4. FAQ : How to address sensitive or controversial questions relating to current events when people ask us during book distribution?

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Srila Prabhupada Speaks 

Prabhupāda: Anywhere, this is our main program. Print books as many as possible and distribute. This is our main program. All other programs are secondary. So with this aim in view, work all together. Our Caitanya-caritāmṛta is unique literature. For Caitanya-caritāmṛta, we are above any ācārya. There are four ācāryas: Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī... But our Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's legacy, ācārya's, that is unique. Anarpita-cariṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇa kalau. Here the Supreme Personality of Godhead is personally teaching-ācārya. Anarpita-cariṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇa kalau samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasam... [continued at following link]

 -- Room Conversation - January 9, 1977, Bombay

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India Sankirtana Report Card - January 2015

The graph and chart below show the Indian temples that made it to the Top 50 list (or close) as per the World Sankirtana Newsletter for January 2015.

All glories to the wonderful service by devotees across India! The table below lists individual book distributors for January 2015 with world rank, name, book points, and temple affiliation.

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Sankirtana News & Stories

Report from ISKCON Sri Jagannath Mandir, Seshdripuram, and Mathra BACE: HG Krishna Mitra Nitai Dasa

Book Scores:
Srimad Bhagavatam Full Set : 4
Bhagavad-gita- Telugu: 330
Bhagavad Gita - English:185
Bhagaad gita Tamil - 43
Bhagavad gita Kannada - 2
Bhagavad gita  Malayalam - 10
Krsna,The supreme personality of Godhead - 5
Civilization and Transcendence - 24
Krsna Resorvoir of Pleasure - 75
Message of God head- 110
Perfection of Yoga- 80
On the way to Krsna-60
Sri Isopanisad - 1
Science of Self Realization - 1
Software Engineer receives Srimad Bhagavatam Set: 

Recently, we distributed one full set of Srimad Bhagavatam (English) to a software engineer in Bangalore. He had previously read the first two cantos during his college days... Just a few days back, he sent the below mail to me:

"I actually started reading Bhagawatham from my college time. I studied in Jain College, Basavangudi. So, I used to read in the Library then, and slowly I had finished reading two cantos. I wanted to read the etire Bhagavatham and had dreamt of owning all the cantos, and hence bought them. :) Also, I want to attend Srimad Bhagavatam class in a nearby area. Please let me know the place and time."
 
Its very inspiring and more blissful when we meet such people during book distribution. There are so many souls like him, waiting to read the Srimad Bhagavatam and they are eagerly waiting for us to take up the challenge and go out to distribute books! All glories to Sankirtana!!

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FAQ: How to address sensitive or controversial questions relating to current events when people ask us during book distribution?

Answer: The best option is to avoid or circumvent the topic and focus on the book. If he/she gets the book, the answers are in there so we don't have to do much talking! However, if the situation does not mend this way, the first thing to do is to not panic or get defensive about a particular issue. Often, such questions offer us a unique opportunity, a "teachable moment" where we can teach ourselves the value of patience, humility, and empathy. We may not be always qualified or educated or knowledgeable to speak about various topics and successfully "convert" the person in front of us (which is not our aim actually), but we can always listen with an open mind and an honest heart. Can't we?

While it is rare on book distribution, people do ask us questions (sometimes in a challenging manner) about difficult topics such as abortion, or rape, or cow slaughter. How much do we actually know that we can speak with authority about such things? We can present the stance of the sampradaya on these matters in a genuine and composed manner to the best extent that we have heard from guru, sadhu, and sastra, without coming off as fanatical. 

Ultimately, however, it is useful to empathize with the person and listen without interrupting before presenting our response in a non-judgemental manner. Simply shooting slokas at him/her or quoting from our knowledge to fight an opposing argument will neither distribute the book nor facilitate the person to take a book in the future. Instead, if we maintain an attitude of genuine and open-minded communication, it will leave a positive impression and diffuse the bomb-like situation safely.

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Tell us what you think!

We are eager to learn how to serve you better! Please write to us at indiasankirtana@gmail.com:

•     Report your book distribution scores,
•     Share your experiences, realizations, and stories,
•     Ask (or answer) a question (FAQ) on book distribution,
•     Suggest a book distributor who could share valuable insights,
•     Give ideas for how to make this newsletter better and sweeter,
•     Get involved with ISLT strategy and help develop this newsletter,
•     Extend your support and encouragement with comments or letters.

For your convenience, we have also included a contact form on the right hand side bar of this page. Thank you very much for reading this month's newsletter!

Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam!

Your servants,

Sri Rama Dasa
Krishna Mitra Nitai Dasa
Vamsuli Dasa
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Waves of Sankirtana - Volume 1, Issue 8

Hare Krishna!

Welcome to the eighth issue of "Waves of Sankirtana", the monthly newsletter of the India Sankirtana Leaders Team! In this issue, we cover the following highlights:

1. Srila Prabhupada Speaks: "Even 1%"

2. India Sankirtana Report Card - December 2014

3. Sankirtana Training - How to read these books? 

4. Sankirtana Stories: The Mercy of Srila Prabhupada

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Srila Prabhupada Speaks 

"My ambition is to spread these books far and wide all over the world so that everyone shall read at least one of our books and that will change his life. If only 1% become devotees, that will change the world." 

(SPL to Karandhara, 2nd May, 1972)

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India Sankirtana Report Card - December 2014

The graph and chart below show the Indian temples that made it to the Top 50 list (or close) as per the World Sankirtana Newsletter for December Marathon 2014.

The scores reported here are sourced from the World Sankirtana Newsletter, December 2014.

All glories to the wonderful service by devotees across India! The table below lists individual book distributors for December 2014 with world rank, name, book points, and temple affiliation. 

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Sankirtana Training: How to read these books?

We devotees are eager to distribute books and as seen from our monthly results, we all do this service well. Sometimes, we get asked if we have read the books we distribute, and what is in the book. Sometimes, we find it difficult to get the inspiration to study these books systematically. Sometimes, a person to whom we just handed over a Bhagavad Gita might ask us - How to read this book? Sometimes, we are faced with questions like "How to keep focused and maintain a dedicated need to read?" 

How to read Srila Prabhupada's books?

HG Vishnumurti Prabhu has compiled 60 ways to read Srila Prabhupada's books, a resource that quotes various instances where Srila Prabhupada gave specific instructions on reading his books. Please visit the hyperlinked site 60 ways to read Srila Prabhupada's books to find out more.

HG Vaisesika Prabhu and his team have developed a very useful tool to help read Srila Prabhupada's books in a systematic way. This tool provides a table that shows how many pages of a book to read each day to complete reading the book in a given time. For example, if we read 3 pages of the Bhagavad Gita As It is, we can complete reading the books in 9 months. This way, we can set a small goal and keep checking our progress. This resource is useful to all devotees, and to all people who receive Srila Prabhupada's books. 

India Sankirtana Leaders Team has recently acquired permission to redesign the card and is eager to share it with you here. Please feel free to use it. For printable HiDef versions, please contact indiasankirtana@gmail.com.  

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Sankirtana Stories: The Mercy of Srila Prabhupada

An anonymous devotee who is a veteran book distributor from Secundrabad shares a book distribution story...

I used to distribute books at Railway Stations in India. Sometimes, I used to get caught by Railway Police and been question or tortured by their typical words giving me the warning that I shall never enter Railway station for selling books. Somehow or other, I used to observe that whenever they used to catch and put me in their station for few hours, I was still happy because by that time I would have sold my minimum quota of books. 

But one fine day, early in the morning, when I entered railway station, immediately I was caught by the Railway police and put me in their station. I was feeling so bad not because I was put in the station but thinking that these people will waste all my good time keeping me in the station and by the time they release me, all the trains including the last one would have passed away and I shall end up not selling even the minimum number of books to be distributed as decided for that day.

Hence, I was seriously feeling depressed and morose, I was whole heartedly praying to Srila Prabhupada that what kind of testimony I’m undergoing this time. I was begging to Srila Prabhupada that what if I cannot even sell a minimum of books, what I should do now. I prayed to him intensely that “Ohh my grand Spiritual Master, O the ocean of mercy, I being in this situation, unable to understand what would be your plan, what is your plan that you are making me to sit idle in this police station and how can I do my book distribution? But I have strong faith that you would be having some business in this police station otherwise why would you allowed the police to keep me in the station? And above that I was cursing myself and thinking that there could be some problem in my sadhana or chanting. So I prayed to him that it is now your mercy on how these books get distributed?”

As soon as I started praying this way, I sat at one of the corner as usual as I used to and simply chanting, suddenly few Police Constables saw me and could recognize me that I was the same old Pandit who was put in the station to stop this book distribution. They laughed upon me again and taunted me that “hey you are really a shameless fellow and has no self-respect and continuing the same offense and got punished again”. Saying these words, suddenly one among them asked me “Hey what books do you carry this time extending his hand towards Bhagavad Gita”. 

I was simply ignoring his words as they keep commenting and ridiculing me. I never bother to hear their words, but because they extended their hands to see the books, I opened all the books and put before them. Suddenly after this few more constables gathered looking into the books both small and big. After few minutes few more police constables gathered and appeared as if all the police constables surrounded around me and books. Everyone was focusing on all types of books, and then I was seeing Srila Prabhupada’s hand in all this instance and thought within the mind that probably he has heard my prayers. 

And suddenly one constable asked the price of Bhagavad Gita and he purchased it, and later one more constable took Hindi Bhagavad Gita and in this way almost 9-books were distributed and tears were flowing from my eyes seeing this miracle. Above to this two constables gave advance order for 2-more bhagavad gitas (Tamil & Marathi), for which next day I did gave them. This could only be termed as Srila Prabhupada’s magic and nothing beyond it. This way, I realized that with a sincere efforts and prayers with wholeheartedness when one does the prayers to Srila Prabhupada having strong faith, he reciprocates and shows all wonders.

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Tell us what you think!

We are eager to learn how to serve you better! Please write to us at indiasankirtana@gmail.com:

• Report your book distribution scores,

• Share your experiences, realizations, and stories,

• Ask (or answer) a question (FAQ) on book distribution,

• Suggest a book distributor who could share valuable insights,

• Give ideas for how to make this newsletter better and sweeter,

• Get involved with ISLT strategy and help develop this newsletter,

• Extend your support and encouragement with comments or letters.

For your convenience, we have also included a contact form on the right hand side bar of this page. Thank you very much for reading this month's newsletter!

Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam!

Your servants,

Sri Rama Dasa

Krishna Mitra Nitai Dasa

Vamsuli Dasa 

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Waves of Sankirtana - Volume 1, Issue 7

Hare Krishna!

Welcome to the seventh issue of "Waves of Sankirtana", the monthly newsletter of the India Sankirtana Leaders Team! In this issue, we cover the following highlights:

1.       Srila Prabhupada Speaks: "No mundane compromise"

2.       India Sankirtana Report Card - November 2014

3.       Sankirtana News from around the country:

• Urdu Gita under the Street Lights
• A Krishna's Miracle in Hyderabad
• "Kartika Deepam" Crowds get Books

4.       Sankirtana Training - "Importance of Goals in Krishna Consciousness" 

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Srila Prabhupada Speaks 

Although India has the sublime knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā, Indians have not done their proper duty of distributing it. Now, therefore, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has been set up to distribute this knowledge as it is, without distortion. Although previously there were attempts to distribute the knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā, these attempts involved distortion and compromise with mundane knowledge. But now the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, without mundane compromises, is distributing Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and people are deriving the benefits of awakening to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and becoming devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the proper distribution of knowledge has begun by which not only will the whole world benefit, but India's glory will be magnified in human society. Kaṁsa tried to arrest Kṛṣṇa consciousness within his house (bhojendra-gehe), with the result that Kaṁsa, with all his opulences, was later vanquished. Similarly, the real knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā was being choked by unscrupulous Indian leaders, with the result that India's culture, and knowledge of the Supreme were being lost. Now, however, because Kṛṣṇa consciousness is spreading, the proper use of Bhagavad-gītā is being attempted. -- SB 10.2.19, Translation and Purport 

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India Sankirtana Report Card - November 2014

The graph and chart below show the Indian temples that made it to the Top 50 list (or close) as per the World Sankirtana Newsletter - November 2014.

All glories to the wonderful service by devotees across India! The table below lists individual book distributors for November 2014 with world rank, name, book points, and temple affiliation. 

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Sankirtana News

A compilation of stories and reports from December 2014. We will present more in the next issue as well. Please send in your stories and reports to indiasankirtana@gmail.com. 

Urdu Gita under the Street Lights - Mumbai Chowpatty

"We 3 matajis had put up our stall on Matunga railway bridge. One day, we were winding up around 9.30 p.m. One young boy with a muslim cap came up to stall and asked if we had Bhagavad Gita in Urdu. Fortunately, we had one. He took out a 50 ruppee note to buy the book. The book however costs more. So, we told that we won't be able to give him at lesser price. The boy checked his pockets for more money, but there wasn't any. He then asked us that his house is very closeby and that if they could wait for 15 minutes, he would get more money and take the book. The boy ran back to his home when we said we would wait and continue winding-up. 15 minutes had passed but there was no sign of the boy. We thought he may not come! Nonetheless, I asked my other 2 partners to go ahead and take the books down the bridge so as to keep it back in our storage place some distance away. As they went down the bridge, I saw this young muslim boy come running at the same speed he left us. He got the remaining money and paid me and happily took his urdu book. I then quickly ran to join my 2 friends to help them carry books and table to the storage room. It was now 10 pm... by the time we kept the books and table at the storage room and came back to station to go to our home, it was around 10.30 p.m... and then to our surprise, we saw the same boy was sitting under the street lamp post and studying his newly aquired urdu Bhagavad Gita. We all felt that it was worth all the effort we had put. Our score may be not very enormous, but when we see ourselves becoming an agent to give someone srila Prabhupada's books and see its effects, all our efforts bear fruits."

A Krishna's Miracle in Hyderabad

A fired-up group of young devotees under the guidance of HG Priya Govinda prabhu and HG Krishna Keshava prabhu distributed books in western Hyderabad for the December Marathon 2014. Going door to door, the team preached the message of Krishna consciousness and practically experienced the spiritual benefits of book distribution through their interactions, both positive and negative. By their sincere, dedicated, and enthusiastic efforts, they distributed 60 sets of Srimad Bhagavatam in the area in December! Hear the story about how the books speak for themselves.

"Karthika Deepam" crowds get books

Around 15 devotees from ISKCON Sri Jagananth Mandir and Lakshmi Narasimha temple started for Tiruvannamalai (Dec 5, 2014) by Friday evening. Every year, the people celebrate "Karthika masam" by releasing lamps We reached the place around 3 a.m. and moved the carton boxes (30) to our stalls. We started distributing the Bhagavad gitas in tamil and other languages. Initially, it was very tough, but gradually people showed interest and took books. The crowd was an estimated 25 lakh people. People were just floating by and devotees were just shouting "Bhagavad-gita!". We did nagar kirtan and distributed homemade cookies prasadam.
It was big endeavour to stand and distribute books for more than 24 hours continuously, and we all distributed lot of books. Our team from Bangalore distributed 550 Maha big books on that day! Devotees experienced the bliss of Krsna Consciousness! There were several devotees visiting from Salem, Chennai, Vellore, Pondichery, and Srirangam – Everyone had book tables at various places around the hill and did good book distribution. In total, more than 3500 Maha big books were distributed by the devotees on that day. 

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Sankirtana Training

Below is an insightful interview that discusses goal setting and planning in the context of spiritual life in general. The answers presented herein give a strong foundation for us to plan our activities in the year ahead.

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Tell us what you think!

We are eager to learn how to serve you better! Please write to us at indiasankirtana@gmail.com:

• Report your book distribution scores,

• Share your experiences, realizations, and stories,

• Ask (or answer) a question (FAQ) on book distribution,

• Suggest a book distributor who could share valuable insights,

• Give ideas for how to make this newsletter better and sweeter,

• Get involved with ISLT strategy and help develop this newsletter,

• Extend your support and encouragement with comments or letters.

For your convenience, we have also included a contact form on the right hand side bar of this page. Thank you very much for reading this month's newsletter!

Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam!

Your servants,

Sri Rama Dasa

Krishna Mitra Nitai Dasa

Vamsuli Dasa 

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