From the Los Angeles Sastra Dana Newsletter

Book Distribution

INTERVIEW WITH SVAVASA PRABHU (you don't wanna miss this one)

Sastra Dana: What is the importance of book distribution today in this age as compared to the preaching of Lord Krishna's glories strictly in the form of harinam 500 years ago?

Svavasa Prabhu: I don't think there is any difference, Prabhupada called book distribution "brhad mrdanga" – the greater mrdanga. The example of that is that if you do kirtana or harinam, you can hear that, maybe for a half a block, but if you actually give someone a book, that book can travel around the world, that book can preach. You can give a book at the LAX airport and that book can reach all the way to Europe somewhere or Australia. That person can have that book, they can read it or give it to a friend so book distribution is considered to be "brhad mrdanga", the greater mrdanga because it can be heard throughout the world. So this Sastra Dana program is very important because we are thinking about how we are going to increase book distribution, that is always the desire. Sastra Dana is a very important aspect of approaching our congregational members by this word of mouth. If you have a business sometimes it is better that the business spread by word of mouth because your customers will really be sincere. They will come because they feel like being a part of what you are doing, they are solid customers and they are dedicated customers. I think Sastra Dana has that opportunity to develop very sincere dedicated people who want to see Srila Prabhupada's book distribution expand and I think that in the future of ISKCON, that has a place. I don't think that we should ever give up airport or street sankirtana. I think congregational preaching by book distribution has a big future for our society because it will spread by grassroots, which will be very solid because that exchange will be among friends or acquaintances and the exchange of the learning of philosophies will be much more solid. Sometimes we see that when we distribute a book, the person may read it or may not read it, but the important thing is that it is out there. Srila Prabhupada gives the example of how communism began in Bengal. He said that the way they did it was that the communists would travel in airplanes and they would drop leaflets by the thousands in the villages. People would pick up the leaflets, read it and become converted. So book distribution is like that. We have to see that we go out there and give a book. The person may not read it but he will give it to someone and someone else may read it. There are so many stories like that. I think Sastra Dana is very special and that specialty is that it becomes more personalized and it becomes more grassroots and solid and we develop a deep relationship through this book distribution.

Sastra Dana: Do you think that programs like Sastra Dana will reach out to the public in understanding Lord Caitanya's message?

Svavasa Prabhu: Absolutely! Absolutely! And as you said it has been proven that it is going quite nicely – that is the proof. What's going to make Sastra Dana stronger is that we remain steady. No matter what happens we remain fixed and we do not budge and when people see that Sastra Dana is their everyday affair, they will think that these people are really sincere and after a while they will come and inquire – what's going on and that is the way it will increase also.

Sastra Dana: Should the whole concept of Sastra Dana be introduced in every temple around the globe?

Svavasa Prabhu: Absolutely! In the circles of the upper management of ISKCON, there has always been talk in the last several years, intense talk about how to spread Krishna Consciousness on the congregational level. How do we engage the congregation, what can we do to have them help us spread Krishna Consciousness? This is the key- Sastra Dana! This is the way to actually engage the congregation- by helping us preach Krishna consciousness by distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, giving it to their friends or whatever, passing them out to the libraries, to the prisons as you guys are doing.

Sastra Dana: If books are the basis of the Hare Krishna movement, isn't it essential for every Krishna conscious person to sponsor books?

Svavasa Prabhu: Yes, in some form or other. For instance, Srila Prabhupda gave the example of an army. If you have an army you have to have all aspects of it functioning properly. If it is not functioning properly, there will be a breakdown. There is a frontline- those are the people that are really important, those are the people who are going to seek and contact the enemy first, so they have to be well taken care of. They have to have the right kind of equipment, they have to have everything in very good shape and order and what they need is a great backup. If they don't have a good backup you will not have anybody who would want to go to the front lines. So the idea is that, Srila Prabhupada used to say that an army functions on its stomach – you have to have great prasadam, great cooking has to be there. Essentially, what I am saying is that if we can't directly do it, we have to be there to back it up. We should be there to assist it. Whatever little we could do to assist it, we should do it. If it so happens that you can assist it by giving money to produce/distribute the books, great! That's your position. If you have some other means of assisting Sastra Dana, then yes, you should do it. So there is a place for everything and everybody. They should do it if the means are there, if their means are not there then they should do something else to assist it so that it can go on nicely.

Sastra Dana: Thank you for your time.

on Jan. 30. 2000, by Nitika Thapar

Author: admin

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