Mayapura Festival Book Distribution seminar by Manidhara Prabhu
Here's some of Manidhara's seminar:
When I saw Prabhupada my dreams were over to enjoy this world. It's time to get real. So I joined the movement and within a couple of days I was on the street distributing books.
In Kali yuga there are no sruti dharas, whatever they hear it goes in one ear and out the other. Therefore we need books, and we have the best books these books can purify anyone who takes to reading them.
Sankirtan helps us come to the point of why we came to the Krsna consciousness movement: To become a devotee, and then to help others. While spreading this knowledge, Krsna is so pleased that He gives a higher taste to those who are engaged in this way.
There was one new devotee that was trying to distribute books but he was very timid, I tried to get him to talk to the people but he was very nervous and shy. So then I told him to give the book to the person and just chant Hare Krsna. So he gave the book to one elderly lady and just started chanting. The lady looked at him and asked what he had said. So the devotee said, "I'm praying to God that you take the book". So she said, "Oh, then I must take the book". She gave a nice donation, and he became inspired.
One day I had the best day ever, 108 big books, but even though it was the biggest day ever for me, In my mind I could hear Prabhupada saying, "Now double it".
One day I was a little spaced out, not doing many books and not even trying, then as I was standing there a little dog came up and passed urine on me, I couldn't believe it, on top of that, all the karmis were laughing at me. I took that as a sign from Krsna to get out of my spaced out world and get back into book distribution. Krsna has His way of waking us up.
One time I was at a temple and one elderly looking man came up to me and said, "hari bol Manidhara Prabhu" in a very low voice. I looked at him and couldn't figure out who he was, then he told me about an instance that I had forgotten. So he reminded me:
"We were distributing in one town, had just finished breakfast and we were reading to get some inspiration. Then you read in the Srimad Bhagavatam: That literature which does not describe the glories of the Lord are for crow-like-people. This hit you in a very deep way. So you got your books together and the first person you saw was a man sitting on a bench reading a newspaper. So you pulled out a lighter and while the man was reading it you lit it on fire. The man was shocked, to say the least. He threw the paper in the air, and you were crouched in front of him showing him the Srimad Bhagavatam with one hand and waving hello with the other, with a big smile on your face. You explained some of the glories of the book and the man bought it. We were in the van observing this with our mouths wide open, we couldn't believe what we had just seen". "Now do you remember me"?
Then I remembered him. Those were the early, wild days, when some things happened that can't and shouldn't be repeated.
