During last weekend's Los Angeles Ratha Yatra, many devotees from Team ISV worked together with others to distribute books during the Ratha Yatra parade.
Here is a partial list of the participants (sent to me by Sri Krishna Purusottama Prabhu):
"Vedavit Krishna Prabhu and other Laguna Beach devotees; Damodara Vamsidhari prabhu, Anu Mataji, Vaausdev, Unnati, Vinod Prabhu, dmitriy prabhu, dhikshith prabhu, Manju mataji, Elena mataji, Aparna Lakshmi and Sri Krishna purusottama das . . . and lot of other devotees."
For six full days before the Ratha Yatra, Jaya Keshava Prabhu worked tirelessly with his crew to pack 20,000 books -- along with some other goodies – into "gift packs." Each gift pack included an Isopanisad, Beyond Birth and Death, a Jagannatha sticker, a pamphlet explaining the meaning of Ratha Yatra, an invitation to the Los Angeles temple, and a prasadam lollipop.
After Jaya Keshava Prabhu and his team assembled the gift packs, other devotees from ISV put the gift packs -- ten each -- in larger bags to be carried and distributed during the parade. Our team also placed seven very large boxes filled with thousands of gift packs on the back of the Rathas; these they took out during the parade to replenish the book supplies of the devotees distributing the gift packs along the route.
Other devotees, including Dwarkarani DD and Omkara Das of New Dwarka ordered and delivered the books, bags, stickers, lollipops, and so on, weeks before Ratha Yatra. Svavasa Prabhu, the temple president of New Dwarka, generously and enthusiastically paid for all the materials.
On the morning of Ratha Yatra, we gave an announcement inviting all the devotees at the festival to participate in distributing the books during the parade; and just outside the temple, our team distributed hundreds of bags -- full of gift packs -- for the devotees distribute.
I am happy to report that with this team effort, employing the principle of "a lot of people each doing a little," we distributed all 20,000 books in a matter of a few hours, during the Ratha Yatra!
Naturally, the people of Santa Monica and Venice Beach who saw the beautiful Rathas of Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra were eager to receive some memento from the event; all along the parade route, we saw thousands of smiling people clutching the beautiful gift packs while admiring the Lord of the universe as He, His brother & sister, and hundreds of His chanting, dancing servants passed by.
Now we are left to blissfully meditate on how all these thousands of books are strategically sitting in various homes, cars, purses, and businesses all over the Los Angeles area, waiting for sincere souls to discover them and to be mercifully directed back to Godhead.
Everyone that I have spoken with who participated in this event has told me that they are feeling blissful. This is a result of doing the sankirtana yanjna. It is truly the only way to achieve real happiness.
Personally, I will never forget this momentous occasion.
I thank all the devotees who so enthusiastically took part, and I look forward to the next opportunity to work with all of you to increase the distribution of Srila Prabhupada's transcendental books.
"The only purpose of the preachers of the sankirtana movement must be to go on preaching without restriction. That is the way in which Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu introduced this sankirtana movement to the world." (Srila Prabhupada puport to Cc Adi 9.29)
With gratitude,
Ys
Vaisesika Dasa
No comments:
Post a Comment