A Few points by His Holiness Hridayananda Maharaja
Dear Prabhus,
PAMHO. AGSP.
I have recently have had the opportunity to sit in many evening darshans with His Holiness Hridayananda Maharaja in Los Angeles. What follows are a few points that Maharaja made regarding increasing book distribution.
.Book distribution used to be an activity which was done by EVERYONE in ISKCON. Before, EVERYONE felt responsible for making sure that Srila Prabhupada's books were distributed. Today, it has unfortunately become a highly specialized service that only a very small amount of devotees do while the entire body of ISKCON, (which is NOT a handful of brahmacaris in a few temples but rather thousands of economically autononous families living outside temples) is cut off from that activity. Therefore the key is to think about HOW to make book distribution an activity that is performed by the entire society.
. The BBT should therefore market itself to the ISKCON devotees at large: make publicity, announcements, set up BBT booths at all the Hare Krsna festivals, recruit devotees, pass out bumper stickers, ballons, badges, etc… In other words, make the ISKCON congregation aware and eager to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books. Let every family order one case of books per month and distribute it to its neighbors, for example. That would make a huge difference.
. In the Varnasrama conversations, Srila Prabhupada mentions how his books should be distributed effectively in huge quantities by the vaisyas. Therefore devotees with business propensities should tax their brains on how to market Srila Prabhupada's books on a large scale.
.Look at the Jehovah's witnesses: they seem to have fun; they go in groups door to door, distributing tons of litterature. How many times did Srila Prabhupada mention that we should go door to door? Maybe not everyone can go to a passionate airport and struggle there, but many can go out with their friends on a sunny day and distribute Srila Prabhupada's books door to door, without worrying so much about how much money is collected, since the books would already have been paid for to the BBT.
These are just a few points that I can remember.
Hare Krsna,
Your humble servant,
Candrasekhar Acarya dasa
