20231126 Book Distribution Marathon Inaugural Speech

The following is a December Book Marathon Inauguration Class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja, on November 26th,2023 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: First the award that was given to me for Bhādra Pūrṇimā, I gave it to His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami. So we heard very nice inspirational talks from His Holiness Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami and His Grace Bhīma Prabhu. We heard other inspirational talk from His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami and His Grace Subekṣana Prabhu. I will try to say something.

Our brahmacārīs throughout the whole year, they endeavor to distribute books and the other day saṅkīrtana devotees,I did not count, but maybe about 100 gṛhastha devotees, they brought about 100 to get my blessings. They said that these gṛhasthas were dedicated to helping to distributing books. Even His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami brought 35 gṛhastha devotees to me to get my blessings. These devotees, every day, distribute books. Now, that is a very nice effort. I see here more than 125 devotees.

When I was sick and I was admitted to the hospital in Delhi. And I saw some tactics of the Delhi temple. The temple president would go to every Nāmahaṭṭa, every group, every individual. Then he would ask them, “What is your pledge for the marathon?” Ladies, men, everybody would give a pledge. One gentleman, he was like a vānaprastha, he had pledged somehow or another he would distribute 5000 Bhagavad-gītās. They have an advantage in Delhi that they have many Government offices there. And different factories, different companies, they also take books in big lots. Bengal, they have a lot of jute factories. They may have hundreds of workers. You have to convince the owners they should subsidize Bhagavad-gītā for their workers. Of course, I meet some people, I am not very literate, I cannot read. I don’t know what the system is but the BBT in Mumbai has made some audio books. Even if they don’t know how to read, they can hear. We want everyone to have Kṛṣṇa in their hearts. In their mind they will always be thinking about Kṛṣṇa. This is the International Society for Krishna consciousness. We want people to think about Kṛṣṇa. For those who know how to read, read the books. Those who cannot read, they can hear.

Each of the Nāmahaṭṭas, I don’t have the count, but Māyāpur has many more Nāmahaṭṭas than anywhere else. Māyāpur I heard it was about 5000. If every Nāmahaṭṭa takes a pledge, say a 100, 5000 times a hundred, is 5 lacs. So we should think how many books I will do this year. Now all our books are printed in Mumbai. His Grace Bhīma Prabhu is saying, that we could make them work overtime. So we will try in this way. We want to see how all the people can go back to Godhead, not just ourselves. I am very grateful to all the devotees who are helping distribute books. I am very grateful to His Grace Bhīma Prabhu and Ānanda Tīrtha Prabhu and his team for printing the books. You see Śrīla Prabhupāda if would get a book in his hand, tears would swell up in his eyes. We see here Bengali men, they are doing nice and come forward and distribute books. But, the ladies are the better half, and in Bengal the ladies have so much devotion. So also like in Bengal they do the ulu-dhvani! Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura wrote when he did the Harināma saṅkīrtana in the village, men were chanting Haribol! Haribol! And the ladies were doing the ulu-dhvani. The sky is filled with the chanting! Everyone together! So think ahead, how much you will pledge. Hare Kṛṣṇa!