Sankirtan Sena

On Saturday July 23, 2011, we went to book distribution with His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami Maharaja and His Grace Vaisesika Prabhu!! It was an amazing experience to go on book distribution with such great souls!! Getting association of such great souls is very rare but they were so kind to give their priceless association to all of us at ISV.

We first went to a Spanish shopping center in San Jose. Vaisesika Prabhu first preached to a Catholic gentleman who was working at a dental center. The man was a little reluctant at first. But, by preaching to him further Prabhu finally gave him a Bhagavad Gita. Prabhuji taught the man the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra and explained to him the meaning. The man was so kind that he allowed us to place a few Bhagavad Gitas, a Krishna Book, and a few book packs in his store. This man was so fortunate to have Vaisesika Prabhu and Jayadvaita Maharaja place their merciful feet in his store. He added to his fortune by reciting the holy name just once in the presence of the Vaisnavas.

Just saying the holy names once wipes away all the sins incurred over time. What to speak of reciting in the association of the Lord’s devotees.

Krishna so mercifully descended into this material in the golden form of Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya to spread the message of love for God to all; from the most degraded persons to the elevated. We should all follow in the footsteps of HIS great devotees to preach this message of love of Godhead to everyone around the world. Simply by doing this we can enjoy spiritual happiness and also give it to other souls.

We also met a Vietnamese man who worked in a restaurant. He was near the door looking through his cell phone. Vaisesika Prabhu and our ‘Sankirtan Sena’ approached him. Vaisesika Prabhu explained to him about his trips to Vietnam and how he loved the man’s country. As soon as Prabhuji mentioned about his country, this the man was so happy to hear it. He said, “Yes, yes, yes. Vietnam is a very beautiful country.” Prabhu described about the Bhagavad Gita to him. He really appreciated it. When we asked for a donation he spontaneously gave and learned the Maha mantra.

When I came back and saw he was reading the Bhagavad Gita!!

In this instance I realized that glorifying a person or anything related to him, catches his attention. When we actually say it from the heart it goes and touches him and the person will really want to listen to us!!

We also went to a Spanish supermarket and there were many Spanish people who were very interested and eager to receive the books and holy name. After we distributed for a while we were noticed by the assistant manager. The manager objected our distribution of books. But Vaisesika Prabhu insisted that we do book distribution in a more arranged formal fashion by setting up a table in front of the shop! The assistant manager said that we talk with the manager and ask for his permission. The manager came and told us that he had a strict ‘No Solicitation’ policy. But Vaisesika Prabhu turned the situation around by asking the manager if he wanted a book! Amazingly, the manager accepted the book and mentioned that he was aware of our presence in the valley!

From this incident, I realized that whatever situation maya creates, we should be able to turn that into a situation where we can do more service just as Vaisesika Prabhu did.

Let us all participate in this glorious book distribution and in any little way try to bring it forward and give the heartfelt message to all the love-thirsting souls around the world!!

Thank you very much Hare Krishna!!

Ys

Poojha

7th goswami Bhaktivinod Thakur MSF final result

Dear Devotees,

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

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, The Great Acharya and 7th Goswami, whose disappearance day we observed on Thursday (June 30th) at the ISV temple in San Jose, has said:

Jive doya, Krishna-nam-sarva-dharma-sar

"The showing of compassion to all fallen souls by distributing Krishna nama is the essence of all religious principles"

In keeping with that spirit and to continue the work that Bhaktivinoda Thakura started, ISV devotees inspired by HG Vaisesika Prabhu organized an unprecedented international effort over several weeks to recruit a team of over 1,000 members from the Bay Area and different parts of the world to actively distribute transcendental books to spiritually benefit people of the world.

Goals
The goals for this Monthly Sankirtana Festival (MSF) were:
• To have at least 1,008 persons go out on book distribution;
• To distribute at least 8,008 books and
• To collect at least $9,000 in Laxmi points

Highlights
To accomplish these goals, a team of ISV devotees, technically skilled in information and internet technology, created an elaborate website called 7thgoswami.com to facilitate participants worldwide to register their names and report their book scores. Side by side, ISV devotees held Hari Nama Sankirtana performances in Palo Alto and participated in massive book distribution all across the Bay Area over a period of 5 weeks.

They went out door-to-door to distribute books through several apartment complexes, went shop-to-shop to distribute Vietnamese books, traveled to university campuses, festival sites and parks, and arranged special Sunday Sankirtana events for adults and kids. The ISV Sunday school kids held their own Kids Sankirtana crossing their goal of 108 distributors and with the help of kids from several schools in India got in all 240 kids to go out on book distribution, distributing in total 2962 books within and outside of ISV.

The MotelGita team dispatched over two thousand Bhagavad Gitas for placement in motels, with participation of devotees from several different states in the US. Books were also distributed books via the smart box placed at various establishments in the Bay Area.

In the international effort, the 7thgoswami website recorded participation of distributors from over 50 countries. Arrangements were made by ISV devotees with several centers in India to provide books to local residents for distribution in the Bhaktivinode Thakura marathon. Inspired by this ISV-sponsored effort, huge participant and book scores were generated by centers in Tirupati, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and other cities.

Final Results Summary
All the ISV-related scores were compiled and those from the international effort were reported and recorded on the 7thgoswami website and offered to the Great Acharya, to Srila Prabhupada and their Lordships on Thursday night at the Vaishnav Thakura's disappearance day event. We are pleased to report that all goals were not only met and surpassed but also smashed.

Here's a summary of the final results, which includes all international scores reported on the 7thgoswami website as of 8 pm on Thursday night (June 30, 2011), and all ISV-related scores received/reported by midnight Thursday.

In all,
• 1818 members (adults and children) participated in a worldwide book distribution effort, a new record for ISV
• ISV devotees on their own distributed 14,492 books, surpassing this year's goal and last year's total of 10,048 Books set during the Bhaktivinode Thakura marathon of 2010
• In the International Effort, more than 64,371 books were distributed, as reported on the 7thgoswami website.

Gratitude
On behalf of Team ISV, we thank all participants, all donors who contributed, and all planners and leaders of this MSF, without whose hard work and expertise this historic event would not have been possible. Our special thanks go to HG Vaisesika Prabhu whose enthusiasm and inspiration were instrumental in achieving the goals.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura MSF of 1,008 Book Distributors ki Jaya!

Yours in service
Raxit Jariwalla