20211122 Śrīla Prabhupāda Book Distribution Marathon Inaugural Speech

20211122 Śrīla Prabhupāda Book Distribution Marathon Inaugural Speech in Śrī Māyāpur dhāma, India

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jaya Rādhā Mādhava! Pañca-tattva! Jaya Prahlāda Narasiṁhadeva! All glories to the assembled devotees. About so far (we heard) from Śrīla Prabhupāda, from Jananivāsa Prabhu, from Jīvanātha Prabhu, and from Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami.

So Prabhupāda expressed how he wanted his books to be distributed. I saw in Māyāpur, Prabhupāda would be writing his books, translating his books from midnight to early hour in the morning. And he wanted his books to be reach to all the people. I heard from Jīvanātha Prabhu, we heard from him how we should be in anxiety. We heard from Jananivāsa Prabhu, how the service we can do for the Deities by distributing books.

How the grandson of Subhadrā devī and Arjuna, Parīkṣit Mahārāja had dedicated his life for giving the Bhāgavatam to the world. I mean, we have in Rajapur our Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā. Subhadrā’s grandson is Parīkṣit Mahārāja, so her own grandson gave up his life so that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would be spoken. And Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself spoke the Bhagavad-gītā. I saw Bhagavad-gītā on the desk of Śrīla Prabhupāda, then I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, “Is Bhagavad-gītā is a basic book?” He said, “You have to study Bhagavad-gītā in order to preach.”

Anyway, we have about 7,000 devotees in Māyāpur. I was sick in the hospital in Delhi. I witness the secret why sometime Delhi beats us. That the President of Delhi (Temple) he goes to everybody, every devotee, every Bhakti-vṛkṣa, every Nāmahaṭṭa, every saṅkīrtana devotee, and gets them to make a pledge. So like this one elderly man, he pledged 5,000 Gītās. He goes to the red lights and stands in front of cars, “I will not leave until you take a Bhagavad-gītā!” He is so determined. So Jīvanātha Prabhu, he asked, “Who will give 200 Rs?” But I would say that to Jīvanātha, Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami, that everybody should go to them and make a pledge, “How many books they will distribute?” You can think nothing else, the gṛhasthas in our community can distribute books to their relatives and friends. Of course, some devotees would go to Navadvīpa or Krishnanagar or some nearby city to distribute books. At least if they take a pledge of one book that means, 7,000 Gītās. I think, devotees, they have so many people come to Māyāpur in the month of December, many pilgrims. So, some people may distribute books here on the campus. They will be approached many times, “You buy one book!” you show it, then you leave them free. That is the only way, you have to buy a book, if you come into Māyāpur campus. How many books is our pledge? Every devotee, all 7,000, they should pledge something.

We heard from Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami that, not only the dedicated book distributors are distributors, everybody is a distributors. Everybody should think, “In this month of December, how many books I can give! How many I can distribute?” As Jīvanātha mentioned, we should be in anxiety, if I pledge, I think can do 100, I pledge double 200, so I will be in anxiety. So in that way we can see, how much, how many books we can distribute? Let people think, how we can do it.

And we heard also Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami, he was saying how the TOVP is for increasing the book distribution. So, in this period many people will come and this is an opportunity to give them Prabhupāda’s message. Give them Bhagavad-gītā, so that they can read it and they can get… How much time we can preach for them? If they read Gītā, so many days and weeks of reading would be there. So, this is a great opportunity.

Now every member of Delhi congregation takes part. Now we could see every member of Māyāpur takes part. This is our ecstasy. We are in saṅkīrtana movement of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Prabhupāda mentioned that Māyāpur is something special. He said, how the Yogapīṭha is a janmasthāna, but Māyāpur temple is karma-sthāna. Kṛṣṇa in Gītā said: janma karma ca me divyam. They may have janmasthāna, we have karma-sthāna—we should put the action to work. So, I just… there are other people to speak, I wanted to mention this, everybody should take a pledge, how many books they will distribute.

As Jīvanātha Prabhu said, our marathon starts from today. And so we want to extend it. And I am very thankful that all the devotees are participating, even those who are not present physically, I hope that they are watching virtually. And they can also, (I don’t know how) have the MCS Sevaks to get the pledges and give them to Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami and Jīvanātha Prabhu. Somehow or another we should put everybody in a bliss of anxiety.

Yaśodā and the gopīs, they will be in anxiety that Kṛṣṇa’s tender feet are getting hurt by the pebbles in Vṛndāvana. We want to be in anxiety that, so many people are suffering in this world, that need Śrīla Prabhupāda books. And if they come here, they could get the mercy. Thank you very much! Hare Kṛṣṇa!