Sankirtana Newsletter no. 5|Krishna Island, Hare Krishna Island, Govindadwipa,

Sankirtana News 5

SANKIRTANA FOR EVERYONE

Sankirtana Yagna Ki Jaya!

Gopal acarya prabhu and bhakta Derek prabhu are all smiles as they search for people to take books in the madness that is Henry street, Dublin at Christmas time

“I want that each and every one of my centers should be fully stocked with all of my books.”

Srila Prabhupada letter 4/11/70

Srila Prabhupada’s Book Distribution Marathon here in Ireland went from 24th of November until 24th December, and it was nectar!! This year our full time distributors were on fire, with Paurusa Prabhu distributing over 1000 Srimad Bhagavatams, but they were outnumbered by the devotees who made that extra endeavour to distribute this month despite commitments to other seva, family etc. Syamamayi continued to cook for the deities as usual yet still managed to hit the streets and Manu Prabhu led by example taking his whole family away for the week to distribute in the Northern parts of the country. Of course there were other devotees involved behind the scenes. Nagnajiti mataji took over some of her husbands responsibilities by driving the children to school so that he could spend a few days on Sankirtana. Sri Rupa Prabhu took on the extra service of getting the milk from the local farmer so that the temple devotees could spend the whole week on Sankirtana in Dublin, and Sita counted and bagged up laxmi that her Mum and Dad brought back each evening. And on Christmas day Mother Maha mantra gave out Krsna Books and Bhagavad Gitas to guests as Christmas presents. And many many more devotees helped in numerous other ways. The marathon is a time when Sankirtana is for everyone, and everyone is focused on Sankirtana. This intensification of Sankirtana led to many great realisations and great bliss.

Everyone had their amazing stories to tell. Isani explained how she managed to get a small display of Prabhupadas books into the window of a Christian book shop, and Gopal Acarya told us how he received a 70euro donation for a Bhagavad Gita from someone who appeared to be homeless!! In total over 4670 books were distributed this marathon by devotees from Govindadvipa alone, and more than 60% of those were big hardback books. This is a nice reflection on the book distributors as it takes slightly more conversation with people to sell them a Bhagavad Gita than a small paperback book. Gopal Acarya Prabhu, Bhakta Gregory, and Bhakta Martin all distributed wearing Dhoti and tilaka and always looked very effulgent. On the last day of the marathon I had the good fortune to distribute with Sri Rupa Prabhu who was stopping people by saying, “Hare Krsna!!” which immediately brought a smile to everyone’s face. Bhakta Derek Prabhu was not satisfied in selling people just one book each but instead sold three or four books at a time. One gentleman took nine books, one of each title he had. But this is just the beginning...

Now our task is to maintain and increase. Lets not limit book distribution to a Christmas activity. Sankirtana is the activity of this yuga not just the month of December. In 2007 lets take all the mercy and bliss we got this month and multiply it by 12!! Gauranga!! — Gaura Hari Dasa

Prabhupada Siksa

The florist, Sudama, was greatly pleased within his heart by seeing Krsna and Balarama in his place, and thus, as his choicest desire, he made two exquisite garlands of various flowers and presented them to the Lord. Krsna and Balarama were very much pleased with his sincere service, and Krsna offered the florist His salutation and benedictions, which He is always prepared to bestow upon the surrendered souls. When the florist was offered benedictions, he begged from the Lord that he might remain his eternal servant in devotional service and by such service do good to all living creatures. By this it is clear that a devotee of the Lord in Krsna Consciousness should not be satisfied simply by his own advancement in devotional service; he must be willing to work for the welfare of all others. This example was followed by the Six Goswamis of Vrndavana. It is therefore stated in a prayer about them, lokanam hita karinau; Vaisnavas or devotees of the Lord are not selfish. Whatever benefits they derive from the Supreme Personality of Godhead as benedictions they want to distribute to all other persons. That is the greatest of all humanitarian activities. Being satisfied with the florist, Lord Krsna not only gave him whatever benedictions he wanted, but over and above that He offered him all material opulence's, family prosperity, a long duration of life, and whatever else his heart desired within the material world. —— Krsna Book chapter 41 Krsna Enters Mathura, last paragraph.

“This Bhagavata Purana is as brilliant as the sun...” Bhakta Derek describes the glory of the Srimad Bhagavatam

Prabhupada

Dear Gopal Acarya, I met you over 8 weeks ago in Sligo city and you kindly gave me a copy of “ A Beginners Guide To Krsna Consciousness” and “Perfect Questions Perfect Answers” I have thought constantly about God since then and what I can do to be a better spiritual person”

This is the beginning of a letter received by Gopal during the Marathon from Alan in Ballina, Co.Mayo. He goes on to describe his stuggles and his desire to visit the temple. There are devotees everywhere...we just have to find them

Sri Rupa shows the Bhagavad Gita to a lady in Omagh Town

Sri Rupa shows the Bhagavad Gita to a lady in Omagh Town

Special Thanks

We would like to offer our thanks to the devotees from Karuna Bhavan in Scotland, who supplied us with most of our books for distribution last year. The Scottish yatra is like the military wing of the BBT. They have many titles in print there and they distribute them in large quantities. They are a great source of inspiration and encouragement. In 2006 we ordered approximately 20,000 books from them. They included titles like The Science Of Self Realisation, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1, 2.1 and 6.1 as well as full sets of Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrta. In 2007 there will be 7 new titles, including a brand new printing of Nectar of Devotion, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and Bhagavad Gita As It Is.

The North European BBT also supplied us with approximately 20,000 books last year including beautiful new paperback printings of Sri Isopanisad and The Perfection Of Yoga. These books have beautiful covers and nice coloured pictures. We also received a new printing of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is which the devotees enjoyed distributing during the marathon. This year the NE BBT also designed T– shirts, Hoodies, and Flags with the BBT logo and kindly sent them as gifts for the Sankirtana devotees this marathon. Many thanks to all for your support and encouragement. Sri Krsna Sankirtana yajna Ki Jaya!

Sankirtana Scores

For the pleasure of Sri Sri Radha Govinda, Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Nitai Sacinandana, Srila Prabhupada and the vaisnavas here are the scores for the months of November and December 2006.

GOVINDADVIPA

Maha Big Big Medium small

Nov: 84 823 166 1065

Dec: 714 1571 833 1418

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Total 798 2394 999 2483

ISKCON DUBLIN

Mahabig Big Medium Small

Nov: 5 30 32 0

Dec: 33 0 42 4

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Total 38 30 74 4

18,998 books distributed by Govindadvipa in 2006

Over 24,000 books distributed in Ireland in 2006

Top Book distributor this December Marathon

Paurusa Dasa distributing 1063 hardback books and 1 paperback book

Top Non temple resident

Manu Dasa distributing 245 hardback books and 165 paperback books

Top Mataji

Isani Dasi distributing 20 hardback books and 112

paperback books

Jaya!

“These books and magazines are our most important propaganda weapons to defeat the ignorance of maya’s army, and the more we produce such literature and sell them profusely all over the world, the more we shall deliver the world from the suicide course. So your work is the most important preaching work, may Krsna bless you more and more

-Srila Prabhupada

We are Hare Krsna’s

“We are Hare Krsna’s and we print them ourselves so we just ask for a little donation so we can print more books and continue giving out this knowledge. You know if you give enough I can give you all of them!”

We are Hare Krsna’s

“Thank you very much! I hope you enjoy reading them and you can give them to your friends also. They are great presents! If you have any questions our address is at the back of the books. Merry Christmas!”

We are Hare Krsna’s

“This is real education. What you learn in school is only related to the body. These books tell us about our real identity and educate us about the true nature of the soul and the spiritual realm.”

Hare Krishna

Sastra Dana this month continued with Ananda Maya Dasi sponsoring a set of Krsna Books, Bhagavad Gita, and The Science Of Self Realisation for the prayer room at Belfast International airport. Haribol!

Thank you for your help in increasing the Sankirtana here in Ireland!

In Scotland and London devotees have large storage facilities for storing Books. This means they can order books in much larger quantities and at a good price and keep stocks of many different titles. For example London just ordered 100,000 Bhagavad Gitas. We ordered 4000. Why? Because we don’t have the storage space to hold anymore than that. About two years ago the Scottish yatra ordered 210,000 individual Srimad Bhagavatams. Can you imagine seeing that many Bhagavatams in one place! This December they distributed over 32,000 of these books, with Prabhupada Caran Prabhu distributing 600 in one day on the street. These figures may seem beyond us but by the mercy of Guru and Krsna anything is possible. For example this year Manu Prabhu wanted to do one week of the Marathon and distribute 50 Gitas a day. For the whole week he was doing 17, 25, 30, 35 Gitas a day, never hitting his target of 50 Gitas. But when speaking with him on the phone we were inspired by his determination and dependence on Krsna. He kept saying “ Oh by Krsna’s grace, tomorrow I’ll distribute 50 Bhagavad Gitas.” And on his last day, by Krsna’s grace, he distributed 80 Bhagavad Gitas. So we simply have to follow the advice of Rupa Goswami in his Nectar of Instruction and remain patient, determined and enthusiastic, and if we have full faith in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu then anything is possible, because it is His transcendental desire that every living entity becomes liberated.

So lets think BIG!! There are 7 hardback titles at the printers and we would like to have all of them in stock, but we need a bigger storage facility and so we need your help. Some donations have already been given and work is already underway. Thank You!