European Sankirtan Newsletter

Dear prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

We are now fully into the Live to Give Campaign!!! Everyone is becoming more and more focused on this amazing campaign. Here near where I live in Italy there is a big factory of a famous American paint company. Anyone from America who is over 60 will remember their advertising campaign slogan “Cover the Earth”. So, we want to cover the earth with Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita as it is for the benefit of all the people in the world.

For example, the Dutch yatra has started with a bang distributing 566 Bhagavad Gita’s this month, but way out front, leading the way as usual is the London Soho yatra with almost 3,000 Maha books, the most of which were Bhagavad Gitas. Also, Budapest and Greece have distributed many more Bhagavad Gitas than usual. All the other temples and large yatras have increased their distribution of Bhagavad Gitas. Of course, they are just warming up for the month of November and from there to the huge push in the final month, December of the Live to Give campaign.

In order to remember the importance of the distribution of the Bhagavad Gita I’ll quote from Srila Prabhupada’s introduction to the Bhagavad Gita. This way we can be fully convinced of the great importance of the distribution, especially of the Bhagavad Gita, for saving the world in its darkest hour.

BG intro “Bhagavad Gita is a transcendental literature which one should read very carefully. gita sastram idam punyam yah pathet prayatah puman: if one properly follows the instructions of Bhagavad Gita, one can be freed from all the miseries and anxieties of life. Bhaya-sokadivarjitah. One will be freed from all fears in this life, and one’s next life will be spiritual.”

We should thus be fully convinced that the distribution of the Bhagavad Gita can alleviate all the suffering of the world and give the people the real happiness that they are all looking for. The more we are convinced of this the more we will be able to convince others to read the Bhagavad Gita.

I will quote this last paragraph from the introduction of the Bhagavad Gita.

“In this present day, people are very much eager to have one scripture, one God, one religion, and one occupation. Therefore, ekam sastram devaki-putram gitam: let there be one scripture only, one common scripture for the whole world- Bhagavad Gita Eko mantras tasya namani: and one hymn, one mantra, one prayer- the chanting of His name: Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Karmapy ekam tasya devasya seva: and let there be one work only- the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

Srila Prabhupada kijaya!!!

One last quote from the Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya lila chapter 16 purport of verse 64.

“Preaching Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s cult throughout the world is more important than staying in Vrndavana or Jagannath Puri for one’s own personal satisfaction. Spreading Krsna consciousness is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission; therefore, His sincere devotees must carry out His desire.”

Of course, many devotees spend time in the Holy Dhamas to purify themselves and study the books in order to become more empowered to preach and distribute even more of Srila Prabhupada’s books. This was encouraged by Srila Prabhupada.

“Prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama The devotees of Lord Caitanya must preach Krsna consciousness in every village and town in the world. That will satisfy the Lord. It is not that one should act whimsically for his own personal satisfaction. This order comes down through the parampara system, and the spiritual master presents these orders to the disciple so that he can spread the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It is the duty of every disciple to carry out the order of the bonafide spiritual master and spread Lord Caitanya’s message all over the world.”

This is what it means to follow Srila Prabhupada, to vigorously preach especially by distributing his books.

Remember if you haven't already sent in your pledge for the Live to Give campaign now is time. Your pledge is your wedge.

Srila Prabhupada kijay!!

Your servant,

Trai Das

FLASH remember that November 25 at 19:00 CET and 18:00 UK time we have the great fortune to have with us again His Holiness SB Kesava Maharaja to inspire and kick off the Srila Prabhupada marathon. Don't miss out and invite as many devotees as possible to participate.

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“The Prabhupāda book distribution marathon is coming up in just a few weeks. Here’s a beautiful meditation to inspire devotees in the Hungarian yātrā and beyond!”

Marathon meditation - December 8, 2007

Late in 1989, while visiting Hungary and preparing devotees for their first Christmas marathon, I had a very vivid dream, one I have mentioned earlier to some. In the dream, I was with Lord Balarāma, who said to me, “Let us go see what Kṛṣṇa is doing.” We entered a very ornate room where Kṛṣṇa was resting upon a beautiful bed. Balarāma sat beside Kṛṣṇa and woke Him up, and then Kṛṣṇa sat up and sat on the side of the bed, His lotus feet on the ground. He was dressed just like a cowherd boy. In my dream, I offered daṇḍavats while saying prayers and then I knelt, looking up at Kṛṣṇa, who looked just like our Śyāma does.

Kṛṣṇa pointed at me with His forefinger. He was smiling but was also a little stern to impress upon me the importance of His words. He said, “Just translate and distribute books about Me, and that will be better worship of Me than any prayers. By that one activity, other projects in Hungary will develop and be maintained.” It was a very clear message, one that is etched in my heart along with many such instructions from Śrīla Prabhupāda.

I believe the instruction is for all leaders and all devotees of this yātrā. If your lives rotate around this principle, everything will “develop and be maintained.” I am eternally obliged to the devotees who have helped realize this instruction of Śyāma thus far, and today I request you all to make this instruction your own and live by it in this life. All your efforts will be successful. That is our practical experience here in Hungary.

Please continue to help me to realize the dream of Vaiṣṇavas, that in every house of Hungary there is a full set of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, that people worship Gaura-Nitāi, and that they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa—the dream of turning this country into Vaikuṇṭha.

His Holiness Sivarama Swami Maharaj

Croatia

One story from Zagreb, I stopped one young man and he told me he is a street performer, he only has 10 euro and he needs for the food. I was trying to convince him to give a few euros as a donation for a book and telling him things like "the more you give the more you get". Right as I was explaining this, one person came out of the blue, gave me 2 lemmons and disappeared. Then the street artist said "that proves your point". So he gave a donation and took a book.

Turin

I approach a beauty shop and I notice that the left side of the window is completely broken and a girl is picking up all the glass shards on the floor. Usually in a situation like this it is very difficult to approach someone who has suffered such discomfort in the right way and receive a nice welcome. So I try soberly to address the owner sitting behind the counter and she immediately shows herself very willing to see the books. Then she decides to take one on Karma and kindly thanks me for my visit.
This is an example of "faith", understanding that for everything that happens to us there is a higher plan, and learning to abandon ourselves to this destiny by accepting it as a tool to progress more and more in our life

Slovenia

We were at the Slovenian coast and I saw this girl from the front. There was not much unusual about her but I thought to use the "yoga teacher" mantra anyway. Something like "Excuse me, are you a yoga teacher?" HG Mahotsaha prabhu says that this is the only mantra that actually works. She told me she is practicing yoga so I just handed her the Bhagavad Gita and asked for a donation. She gave a donation and then she showed me the chakras tatooed on her back. Seems like Paramatma told me this is the right time to use this mantra.
As a side, I also use the master with groups of guys. I give everyone a book and pick the chubby one and tell him "this is on yoga, you look like a yoga master". Everyone starts laughing so they are more prone to take books after.

Just another story...

Krishna is very responsive! As you can kind of see in the photo I was getting ready to leave and this sweet family (brother and sister) came with excitement asking if I have a Bhagavatam set. The brother narrated this amazing incident how couple of years back they got a Bhagavatam set from me and on the drive back to Alabama from Atlanta their van got crushed by a 18 wheeler truck and the whole family walked away without a scratch and the bhagavatam box was also didn’t get damaged in the collision. He is completely convinced that these books saved them that day. So when Bhavesh saw me he brought his sister to get a full set from me this evening.