Bhaktivinod Thakurs Mercy showered at Harmony festival

I had the honor of associating with devotees of ISV at the annual Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa. There were thousands of festival goers who were there to shop and listen to live music. Krishna Purushotam Prabhu and Malini Devi Mataji had encouraged me to get a booth for book distribution. My work schedule was a major conflict, but at the last minute, my client missed her flight from Europe and my job was postponed. Immediately I tried to get a booth but it was sold out. Within 1 hour, somebody had cancelled their booth and we were in the festival.

I was thinking that this would be a good event since there was Kirtan performances on the main stage and their would already be many, possibly thousands of people chanting. There were also many rock musicians and so there was a very diverse group of people. There seemed to be a little bit of everything. There was craft vendors selling hand made jewelry, food booths, massage, clothes, new age products, henna tattoos, palm readers, astrologers, chiropractors, and many, many hippies. The one thing missing was the Hare Krishna devotees.

Everybody was so happy to see us. It was very rare to find a person that did not take a book and leave a donation. I can't tell you how many times I heard someone yell, "Haribol" or "You guys are awesome" or "Thank you for being here". Several people began to cry when they got books. One man said he was a Prabhupada disciple and had not been to a Temple since Prabhupada had left his body. He told me a Prabhupada pastime and thanked me for bringing the books to the festival. I listened to his story about our glorious spiritual master as one tear streamed down his cheek. I could feel the gratitude emanating from his heart. Another young boy took a Bhagavad Gita and was happy to hear that God was a person. He was amazed and said that he had never heard that before. He was familiar with the impersonal feature of the Lord and was just swept off his feet by the thought of Krishna. My neighbor at the next booth bought a Srimad Bhagavatam set and many other books and made a $427 donation within the first hour of the festival. Another woman who was an inter-faith minister also began to cry when I told her that God was a person and that He was waiting for her love. I told her that Krishna had given her some minute independence because Krishna would not force her to love Him and that Krishna would not be satisfied until He tasted her love for Him.

I watched in amazement as Ramanda Sakha Prabhu would greet each person that came within 25 feet of our booth. His arresting smile charmed their hearts and he would extend his hand to pull them in. I heard many people thanking him for stopping them after they had received a book. Krishna Purashotam Prabhu, Aparna Matajiand, and Vinode Prabhu would leave the booth with bags full of books and would return with big smiles and reports of big success. Sridhar Prabhua and Padma Mataji along with their children brought so many smiles to everyone. They kept telling me that everybody was taking books. We estimated that 98% of the people that we came in contact with left with a book.

My deepest gratitude goes to Hansa Priya Mataji for preparing so much prasadam for us and the festival goers. The ladhus were a big hit. The devotees fasted on Nirjal Ekadasi, but she knew that I probably would not fast from all food and water, and had prepared special Ekadasi prasadam for me. I was never too good at fasting and could not believe that the other devotees were abstaining from all food and some were also not taking water. This was unimaginable to me, but somehow they were able to go all day, talking and preaching to hundreds of people.

Towards the end of the festival we performed Kirtan. A devotee hip hop artist joined in and started rapping the Maha Mantra. People yelled, "Haribol" and flower petals were showered upon us. I kept looking to see who was throwing the flowers but I could not find the person. Afterwards we went back to our booth and Krishna Purushotam Prabhu was preaching to a young man. Then this young man wanted to chant 1 complete round right there. I felt that there was no shortage of mercy to give and that everyone was very happy to get it.

Ys

Bhakta Jorge

What Happened in Vegas…

What Happened in Vegas…

By Akruranatha dasa

On June 16 - 17, 2011, devotees from the Motel Gita Project (www.motelgita.org) attended the annual convention of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) in Las Vegas, Nevada, requesting the owners of hotels and motels to include a copy of “Bhagavad-gita As It Is” in their guest rooms, as is commonly done with Gideon’s Bibles. The Motel Gita project previously had booths at AAHOA’s annual national conventions last year in Chicago and in 2009 in Washington, D.C., as well as in smaller, regional conventions throughout the year.

The word is gradually getting out among U.S. moteliers, roughly 65% of whom are Hindus of mostly Gujarati extraction, that ISKCON will provide Srila Prabhupada’s translation and commentary on Bhagavad-gita for the benefit of their English-speaking guests. Many of the moteliers are enthusiastically embracing the idea, and others are willing to be persuaded. In Las Vegas, devotees took orders for about 8,300 Gitas, with a potential for much more in the future, because many moteliers who own 5 to 10 motels comprising a total of 600 to 1,000 rooms agreed to try it out in one of their smaller motels first, placing orders for just 50 or 60 books for now and probably over ten times that number later.

Since 2009 Motel Gita has received orders for nearly 100,000 Gitas and seems well on its way to meeting its goal of placing Gitas in 1 million rooms by 2015 as the word spreads and it makes better use of the press and other means of advertisement. The main obstacle is finding the money to pay for the books, which with printing, shipping, handling and overhead cost the organization about $4 per book. The moteliers are accustomed to getting Bibles for free, and they are mostly willing to try putting the Gitas in their rooms if they are free, though some may be a little reluctant to try it. If we ask them to pay for the books, they hesitate, but if we promise to provide them free of charge (donations are gladly accepted of course), it is easy to overcome whatever misgivings they have. Even before taking these 8,300 additional orders, Motel Gita had a backlog of over 3,000 orders which could not be fulfilled because of insufficient funds. Therefore, right now it would take about $40,000 in donations just to fulfill all the orders we have taken. Our ability to do so quickly and efficiently will establish credibility and trust among our motel-owner partners. Donations have been rolling in, but to reach our goal for 1 million books, donations must come more quickly and profusely.

At this year’s convention in Las Vegas we met a number of moteliers who have already stocked their rooms with Gitas for a year or two, and they were brimming with stories of their experiences. They have not had any problems with the franchisers (like Econolodge, Days Inn, Holiday Inn or Motel 6), whose contracts with them typically require them to provide Bibles, but do not prohibit providing other books or scriptures. They have occasionally had complaints from evangelical Christian guests who distrust any other sacred scriptures besides the Bible and tend to regard the United States as an exclusively Christian domain, but favorable comments far outnumber such bigoted complaints, and many guests ask whether they can purchase their copy (the motels usually tell such guests to take a complimentary copy).

This is clearly an opportunity sent by Lord Caitanya which should not be lost. Other groups have desired to put other editions of Bhagavad Gita or books on Hinduism, sometimes filled with Mayavadi misconceptions, but so far ISKCON seems to be the only group with the organization and facility for publishing and distribution to launch a large-scale, established program. At this year’s convention a Taiwanese group was offering Buddhist literature for motel rooms, but so far ISKCON’s Motel Gita Project is the only visible supplier of Bhagavad-gitas at these conventions. If we do not raise the funds necessary to keep up with the demand we are generating, it is a distinct possibility that the moteliers will stock their rooms with non-devotional commentaries.

Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is has a proven track record of turning readers from all national backgrounds into devotees of Krishna. Christian missionary groups and Muslim groups spend money in India and elsewhere to actively seek converts and promote their sectarian ideologies, but it is time that the more universal and scientific message of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam be promoted in an organized and effective way by mass book distribution all over the world. In order to further this end, the Lord has somehow arranged for the motel industry in the United States to become dominated by Hindus who have reverence for Bhagavad-gita and are easily persuaded to place them in their rooms where guests may read them and become devotees (or at least become more favorable and appreciative and informed about Krishna consciousness).

Please support this timely project by visiting www.motelgita.org and making a PayPal donation, or contacting the Motel Gita team to become more involved or informed about this exciting and important new venue for sastra-dan.

They Changed their minds & bought books

In the farm we went, cherries actually grew very low on the trees literally hanging off the trunks, kids could reach the cherries easily and had fun since no ladder was needed.

Nilesh Prabhu mentioned that people were relaxed and in happy mood because of long weekend and being in the farms they seemed to be in the mode of goodness.

Malini Mataji was meditating on book distribution while we were picking cherries, she was concerned that we should get enough time to distribute books. We picked about 40 pounds cherries and as soon as we loaded baskets in the car, Malini mataji quickly started book distribution. There was a group of families resting under trees after lunch. We approached them and all the families took books except one person who said not right now. Malini mataji boldly told, one should never say no when someone offers spiritual books. The person was actually lying down and about to fall asleep, but he quickly got up and took Krishna Book with much respect and gave $20.

At Livermore temple many people took Bhagavad Gitas and Krishna Books and gave nice donations. We could see at the temple that people are more inclined towards piety and their minds very easily attracted towards BG. While returning to the car we had two BG left in the bag and we were thinking we still have few minutes till we reach the car and hopefully we can distribute those two BG as well. When we were putting back those Gitas in the trunk, two girls who Malini had talked earlier, came and said they have changed their mind and took both the BG and gave donation.

Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam!

Freeway to back to Godhead

We went to the Asian Plaza in San Jose going shop to shop in this Oriental marketplace. It was my first shop-to-shop experience. I did not spend much time (about two hours only), but it was a very satisfying experience. Vaisesika Prabhu was absolutely right on the dot when he said this regarding Shop-to-Shop Book Distribution:

• The people are always at home
• They have their wallets with them

Book distribution started in earnest right in the middle of the parking lot, where Malini mtj convinced a Vietnamese gentleman to set set aside a large bread roll that he was relishing and listen to transcendental talks. He took the book, gave donation, posed for a picture (thanks to Shailesh prabhu's excellent camera) and offered us the rest of his bread saying it was the best:). We politely declined but asked him from where he had bought it.

I had never seen Kameshwari Mtj speak fluent Spanish. I was amazed to see her rattle off with a Mexican lady who was selling cherries. The lady had no money, but later on when we met her again she took a book and gave a donation. The fact that it was a book written in their own language was an immediate hook.

At a beauty salon, we were almost successful in giving away a Bhagavad-gita to the owner, but her employee somehow convinced her in Vietnamese not to take it :(

When we went into the bakery next, opening the conversation was very easy; all we had to do was tell the person at the counter that people out in the parking lot were raving about her goods. Needless to say she took a book. A gentleman had come from San Francisco, also said that this was the best baked goods that he had ever eaten. "Wait till you have a chance to eat what Hansapriya and Nirakula Matajis bake", I said to myself. He too took a book.

We went into a Laundromat, and I saw Malini mtj patiently extract a donation out of a person on whom I had given up long ago. When I entered into another shop I saw Kameshwari mtj and Malini mtj give a Vietnamese Bhagavad-gita to a shop owner who also posed for us holding the Gita in his hand.

Ever heard of the Christian Book pack? Well, I saw Malini mtj give The Christian Book Pack to a lady who had refused to take the Bhagavad-gita saying that she was a Christian!

I had two experiences that I will fondly remember. I was in some kind of a juice shop next to the famous bakery talking to a young man and showing him the books. He was joined by his beautiful wife who is going to have a baby soon. She had stayed silent all along our conversation, and so I was pleasantly surprised when at the end she said that she would read the book to the child in her womb!

The next one was this Chinese young man who was hesitating to take the book since the old lady next to him (his mother I presume) kept whispering, "Donation, donation". Anyway he took a small Chinese book and gave me a dollar. I thanked him and left him to enjoy the juice and the book. After some time when I happened to walk across the juice shop again, he came running after me and said that he had been reading the book and found it worth more than the $1 he had given me. He gave me even more! Some men just never listen to their mothers...

I had to leave early that day. As I drove back I was thinking about, and thanking the people who spend countless hours painstakingly translating the books, and how much important it is to have our transcendental literature available in as many languages as possible. I had seen the instant connection in people's eyes when they see a book in their native language appear in a foreign land! I am sure Bhaktivinoda Thakura is smiling at all of us.

I was also thanking the book distribution process. Thanks to this MSF, I drove for first time on 280 - a freeway I had always feared- not knowing that if used properly, it can take you back to Godhead!

I think they need it

Raxit Prabhu: People we met were thankful we came, listened patiently to our messages and accepted books.

Shraddha Mtj: A small group went into an apartment on Winchester Road in San Jose and I was part of this one. It was a gated community. While we were pondering how to get in, Krsna made a resident come back at that precise moment. This meant that we could all follow his car and get in as the doors opened. It was a plush apartment with door that beeped if youtried to get in from outside, but remained silent if you tried to go out form in! The residents chanted the maha-mantra but were very reluctant to even give even 1 cent for the books. Of course there were some magnanimous ones in there as well, like Shahid who was out of job and still went down to his car to get his wallet to give us a donation - of course it was Sri Krsn Purushottam Prabhu's magic. Dixit Prabhu diligently explained the philosophy to a Chinese young man in the corridor, who recited the mantra, took the book and gave a donation. It was fun watching the kids want to press the door bell and hand over the books, specially Gitapriya who while hanging a book pack on the door philosophised, "I think they need it!".

Kids Sankirtan ki Jaya! Bhaktivinoda Thakur MSF of 1008 Devotees ki Jaya!

Hari Bol!

TEAM ISV @ Prabhupada Festival of 2011, Los Angeles, CA, USA

TEAM ISV @ Prabhupada Festival of 2011, Los Angeles, CA, USA

As far as acronym TEAM goes - Together Everyone Achieves More - the team ISV successfully demonstrated this during the recent Prabhupad Festival of 2011 at Los Angeles.

His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaj once said, "Devotees who are doing Book Distribution are in complete Samadhi". I could not understood this phrase until I had the experience of distributing books with HG Vaisesika Prabhu and ISV team members. I had the good fortune to assist Vaisesika Prabhu during book distribution at Venice beach, which is nothing but one of Maya's complete arrangements to keep conditioned soul in her net. But the devotees' enthusiasm broke Maya's boundary. I could now realize how HG Vaisesika Prabhu was in complete Samadhi during book distribution. Unaffected by the environment, circumstance, and the results - whether some took a book or not- HG Vaisesika Prabhu was just absorbed in distributing the compassion that he received from Srila Prabhupada and all the Vaishnav Acharyas. Many other senior devotees like HG Bhumi Mataji and I took inspiration from this Book Distribution effort.

Earlier in the day we had the opportunity to chant in the Srila Prabhupada's quarter in the temple upstairs . We just followed HG Vaisesika Prabhu. The room was locked and we were waiting outside for 5 minutes. Later during the seminar, "Supercharge your Devotional Service," HG Vaisesika Prabhu shared his thoughts during his 5 min wait. He was just thinking "I am going to meet Srila Prabhupada in the room, and what I am going to offer Him?" How great is Srila Prabhupada and how glorious all his disciples are who every moment think of him, and how to serve him more! Vaisesika Prabhu through his own example showed that the most loving exchange between a guru and disciple is service to the guru.

The unique presentation style of HG Vaisesika Prabhu emphasizing principles coming from his deep Krishna Conscious realizations, and their application in any time, place or circumstance, gave audience a deep understanding. Every presentation started with devotional Kirtans which opened the hearts of the audience. One of the most exciting part of the festival was esctatic and joyous dancing of HG Vaisesika prabhuji duringTulsi Arti, Srila Prabhupad Arrival, Guru Puja. The entire group felt the enthusiasm flowing from him. The blissful smile on the face of his wife, HG Nirakula mataji, who was distributing the Prabhupada cookies reminded us of Srila Prabhupada.

The video of HG Vaisesika Prabhu's presentation is available in http://lalive.us/ (Select video on left hand side of the page).

From day one, the ISV team was very enthusiastic in the giving all the devotees a chance to take part in the Bhaktivinoda Thakurs MSF of 1008 Devotees , and their determination and enthusiasm was incomparable. The team members went from to devotee to devotee asking them to enroll, and worked all the way up to 10:30 pm! HG Vaisesika Prabhu had no time to spend with his wife Nirakula Mtj. The devotees had even missed their program just trying to enroll as many as devotees possible. In just two days the team registered more than 250 devotees to the Bhaktivinoda Thakur MSF. When the registration reached 500, I thought we have done enough. I was wrong: the very next moment HG Damodara Vamsidhari Pr said, "Now we have to go for 600". His enthusiasm left me spell bound!

I could see the ISV principal (individual , spontaneous and volunteer service) at work. I must say HG Vaisesika Prabhuhas been successful in planting seed of LAULAYAM (greed) for the Service in each and every individual of ISV team, and he carefully nourishes it.

I cannot go by without mentioning the great effort of the web team @ ISV,who made it made possible to for so many devotees to offer their service towards book distribution in honor of Thakur Bhaktivinoda Thakur's disappearance day. My most humble obeisance to web team for designing the Seventh Goswami website: http://7thgoswami.com. If you haven't registered then please visit the website and do so. It is a very simple process.

The new members of ISV team: RajaRam pr and Kamini mataji got an opportunity to serve His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaj through their physiotherapy treatment, demonstrating perfectly how we can use every skill and profession in the service of Krishna and His devotees. His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaj was very happy to hear about team ISV effort in preaching at Stanford and other collage at bay area and gave his blessings. We all felt so much joy and satisfaction in our hearts to get the blessings from such a pure devotee and a glorious disciple of Srila Prabhupada.

HG Vaisesika Pabhu expressed his happiness at the unity and enthusiasm shown by the ISV devotees, which made a positive impression on the community at Los Angeles and everyone derived a lot of inspiration from this.

Special thanks to HG shraddha Mataji and HG Vrajendrakumar Prabhu for giving their valuable suggestion and editing the whole note.

Thanks to all the ISV team to make this whole festival the most memorable event in my life, and special thanks to HG SriGovindaDatta Prabhu, Balaji Prabhu and the Bhakti Yoga Club team who were very inspiring and made it possible for me to attend this event and get this nectarine association of such exalted Vaishnavas.

Thank you very much for reading my insignificant effort to glorify the great qualities of the Vaishnavas, and please forgive for any offences I may have unknowingly committed while writing this.

Team ISV kee jay…