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Nrsimhadeva Activity Book And Posters by Urmila devi dasi Posted May 5, 2008
Integrated Posters (<200kB .pdf) We hope in the future to greatly improve and expand these festival-based activities, adding boxes of ready-to-use resources such as masks, photos, activity sheets, and so forth. Suggestions are most welcome. We are also working on a learning-to-read project.
If anyone would like to help with this and other curriculum projects, please
contact me. We can use writers and artists, though there are presently only
very limited funds to give donations in gratitude for service if
needed/desired. :-) Donations for the project, to Padma, Inc. (a
registered non-profit) can be sent through Paypal to urmila@dasya.com.
We are glad to announce the re-constructed www.bhaktistudies.com.
Please visit us.
In order for the devotee community to have a place to remember devotees, we have setup www.vaishnavas.net. It is a site where devotees can post remembrances and have a place to collect memories for posterity. Pages can be locked from edits, or limited to certain users by whoever creates the page. You may post photos or link to Flickr or other photo hosting sites. The site is meant for the benefit of the devotee community and I hope devotees take advantage of it. I have started importing entries from the In Memoriam site (iskcon.net/inmemoriam/) and will finish over the next week or so. There is a short introduction and instructions on the site which devotees can use to start a page for remembrances. www.vaishnavas.net
Devotees can post a page about a devotee, and then other devotees may
add their memories as edits to the page or as comments.
Dear Vaishnavas Back in the mid 1990's Bhagavat-Asraya prabhu (ACBSP) recorded a charming abridged audio rendition of "Prabhupada, your ever well-wisher" by H.H.Satsvarupa Dasa. It was never widely distributed and remained in my studio archive until I edited it into 8 parts for inclusion on my weekly radio programme "Nectar of Devotion" which airs each Sunday morning on NuSound Radio 92fm in London. We had such a good response from listeners that it was decided to add "The Audio Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita" to the Nectar of Devotion website archive page. In doing so I felt it might be nice to create a very simple, seperate website for the Lilamrita. The result is www.lilamrita.page.tl It was officially launched on Gaura Purnima day for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada and all the Vaishnava's. I hope this humble attempt will add to the growing appreciation of Srila Prabhupada's remarkable achievements. I will also be running "The Audio Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita" again over the next 8 weeks on the Nectar of Devotion radio programme beginning on Sunday 23rd March. Nectar of Devotion radio is available on 92fm in London, live on the web at www.nusoundradio.com between 9-10am each Sunday morning UK time, or you can catch selections from each weeks programme on the 'listen again page' of www.nectarofdevotion.co.uk
If other Krishna conscious radio stations would like to broadcast this
Lilamrita series you can contact me at devotion@nusoundradio.com.
Samba, Hayagriva's eldest son, has found previously unpublished letters from Srila Prabhupada in his father's effects that Hayagriva had stored at his mother's house before leaving his body. As his grandmother approached the end of her life, Samba retrieved the boxes and has had them for five years. He is currently cataloging the contents of the boxes. The collection of letters that Hayagriva had are from Srila Prabhupada to himself and his wife Shyama, as well as some to Kirtanananda and a few others. Most of them are already in the VedaBase, but many weren't. The BBT archives are going to officially process them, but Samba was kind enough to let me get copies of all those that aren't found in the VedaBase. My unoffical count is that there are 76 of them. Of those, Srila Prabhupada mentions New Vrindaban in 48 of them, which clearly demonstrates his interest in the project. There isn't anything earthshaking in them, and there is no single letter that is any kind of a magic bullet, but the body of them clearly demonstrate his commitment to having a farm project and to publishing and distributing books. I have started scanning them and getting them converted to digital form and have permission from Samba to post them, so they are now being posted once a week categorized as Prabhupada's Letters. In addition to the New Vrindaban discussion, a lot of them are about the editing work that Hayagriva was doing for Srila Prabhupada. There are even form letters where Srila Prabhupada is having to personally dun the temples for nonpayment of bills owed to the BBT for books. He has the letter typed, then hand-writes the name of the recipient in the salutation. I will quote from one of them: "So the best thing will be to keep daily count of your stock and how many magazines and books sold. Then, regularly, on Sunday of each week the sales proceeds may be totaled for issuing a check to the amount owed to my book fund and to the BTG accounts. Then on each Monday the check may be sent to Los Angeles. So you do this regularly and it will be very nice."
No one can say that Srila Prabhupada wasn't taking care of business. :-)
With pleasure we announce the launch of the "Virtual Mayapur festival" on www.mayapur.com. With the hoisting of the flag the devotees gathered in Mayapur pronounced their sankalpa for the sankirtan yajna of Sri Mayapur International Festival. Now with the help of a dedicated photo and video team, we will bring you the Mayapur Festival online. For the first time, during Gaura Purnima Festival, devotees can hear live Srimad Bhagavatham classes from Sri Mayapur or listen at any time in our Download section and also enjoy reading the transcriptions too! Please visit www.mayapur.com for the latest news and enjoy browsing the Gaura Purnima 2008 Gallery which will be uploaded everyday for the next 15 days. The festivities have begun..........! Only 15 days to Gaura Purnima. Please make your offering today at www.mayapur.com. Many Thanks to all Our Donors and Sponsors! Your humble servant
Gopijan ballab dasa
Our March 2008 Care for Cows Newsletter has been posted. Please review it at your earliest convenience. (careforcows.org/downloads/newsletters_0). In this edition of 22 pages (2MB) we present:
Thanks for your participation and support. I hope this finds you experiencing the happiness and inner satisfaction that accompanies cow protection. Jaya Sri Gopal!
Your friend and servant, May cows stay in front of me; may cows stay behind me; may cows stay on both sides of me. May I always reside in the midst of cows. Hari Bhakti-vilas 16.252 Free Ramananda Raya Audiobook by Sadhusanga.com Posted February 26, 2008 Tuesday, February 26 is Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's appearance day as well as His Holiness Gaur Govinda Swami's disappearance day, so we're offering a free download in honor of those sadhus. While recently recording Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila Chapter 8, "Talks Between the Lord and Ramananda Raya," we listened to a reading from Gaur Govinda Swami's Embankment of Separation called "The Fainting of Ramananda Raya," and found it so sweet we want to share it on his disappearance day. The pastime of "The Fainting of Ramananda Raya" is available for free download at www.sadhusanga.com. Note: Offer ends Wednesday, February 27.
Nectar Coming Soon (March 17th - Amalaki Ekadasi): CC Madhya-lila 8 -
Talks Between Lord Caitanya & Ramananda Raya
The Hing, ISKCON's finest news source, promises to bring you the most in depth reports ripped straight off the headlines. We'll deliver compelling accounts of the issues important to you the exact moment you need them most. Fridays! Each Friday (and more often if folks chip in), we'll dish out the news you've grown to expect since you started reading this announcement, not two minutes ago. Three stories have run so far: -Area Grhasta Vows to Speak to No Woman Except Wife -Family Desperately Tries to Plan Vacation Around Temple Locations, Free Prasadam -Maverick Book Distributor Accidentally Reads Srila Prabhupada Book -Ex-ISKCON Guru Now Ex-Ithica Car Salesman Upcoming scoops include... -ITV Announces New DVD Series: Memories of Memories of Srila Prabhupada -Ritvik Movement Calls It Quits After Running Out of Silly Names for ISKCON Gurus -Area ISKCON Temple Holds Sale on Hindu Samskaras And many, many more! Note - Ok, let's get a bit serious here. The Hing is satire in the vein of The Onion newspaper www.theonion.com. This means that the articles, while not actually true, are basically true enough. They're poking fun. And yeah, it might be a touch controversial to make fun of things we devotees do, but if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that some of our habits are pretty darn goofy. Just see.
www.thehing.com
Jai Govinda! Our February 2008 Care for Cows Newsletter has been posted. Please review it at your earliest convenience. (careforcows.org/downloads/newsletters_0). In this edition of 33 pages (4MB) we present:
Thanks for your participation and support. I hope this finds you experiencing the happiness and inner satisfaction that accompanies cow protection. Jaya Sri Gopal!
Your friend and servant,
May cows stay in front of me; may cows stay behind me; may cows stay on both
sides of me. May I always reside in the midst of cows. |
Resources for Kids About Lord Ramacandra's Appearance Day by Urmila devi dasi Posted April 13, 2008
Cross Curriculum Links (.pdf 66kB)
Suggestions for improvements are welcome.
PS Please distribute this to whomever you think might be interested to use
it
Click Here for the newsletter.
Spotlight: Prabhupada's Books: ISKCON's Prison Ministry traces its roots all the way back to 1962, when Srila Prabhupada visited Tihar Prison in New Delhi. "If you give me the chance to speak to all the members of the Jail," he wrote to superintendent Sri Puri, "It is quite possible for me to turn them into ideal characters." Yet it wasn't until 1988 that Candrasekhara Dasa established the official ISKCON Prison Ministry in the USA, as an outlet for householders to preach without having to leave their homes; all they had to do was write letters. Shyama Priya Dasi, now an IPM volunteer for 17 years, was gripped by the idea of such a personal service the moment she was first introduced to it in 1990. "Chandrasekhara showed me a photo album of all the inmates he was writing to," she says. "It was like they were family." [image: .]But it was a family of outcasts-rejected by society and abandoned by their friends and relatives. "When inmates read Prabhupada's books, they realize that although the material world is not what it's cranked up to be, they're not alone," Shyama Priya says. "Krishna still loves them. And that makes them want to change their lives for the better." IPM initially sent only a few books to prisons. But when Shyama Priya noticed how often inmates requested them, she began eyeing the full case under her desk. Maybe I could send out the whole thing, she thought, afraid she was being over-zealous. It was an empty fear. Before she knew it, she had sent out thirty cases. "Prabhupada's books are the basis of the Prison Ministry," says Shyama Priya. "We send out 300 *Bhagavad-gitas*, 200 *Science of Self-Realizations*, 8,000 small books, and 4,800 *Back to Godhead* magazines every year." Now approved vendors in some states such as Texas and Oregon, IPM also sends *Bhagavad-gita* and *Nectar of Instruction* correspondence courses to inmates who want to learn more. And there's no shortage of students. Although IPM does very little advertising beyond its monthly newsletter *Freedom*, run by ex-inmate Bhakta Jerry, Shyama Priya receives letters every week from inmates whose lives have been transformed through Prabhupada's books. "One woman found an old *Bhagavatam* in a Louisiana prison," she says. "She'd never heard of Krishna consciousness before, but she began chanting Hare Krishna and writing to us, and finally got initiated. When her guru visited her in prison, he told her, 'You don't belong here.' She replied, 'I tried to get pardoned by the governer, but it's impossible.' The very next day, she received a letter of pardon from the governor, and was released from prison that summer. She had a 90-year sentence and would have spent the rest of her life in prison." Even inmates who don't have lifelong sentences end up ebbing away their existence in a cell. "Prisons don't reform," Shyama Priya explains. "They simply house people until they're released, commit the same crimes again, and are re-incarcerated. That's a fact even officials will admit." Billing itself as a spiritual reform program, IPM believes its aiming at the root of the problem. "Lord Chaitanya didn't neglect the most fallen people in society, such as Jagai and Madai-he came to liberate them," Shyama Priya says. "If inmates get just one *Bhagavad-gita*, it can change their lives." It's impossible to argue with the evidence. One inmate wrote IPM explaining that he used to be a heavy gambler, drinker and smoker, and that he loved playing poker. Every night he would try to get into the prison poker game, but nobody liked him, and every night he was shunned. Finally, frustrated, he went to the library to get a book instead. He picked out a Western, opened it, and saw to his surprise that it was the * Bhagavad-gita*-someone had switched the covers. Furious, he began to read anyway, and before long he was gripped. By the time he'd finished the book, he had quit all his bad habits and had started chanting. But it's not only inmates who show appreciation for Prabhupada's books. In 2003, Marty Mendenhall, director of Utah's largest secure care facility for juvenile delinquents, sent a letter to the BBT that stunned everyone. "We currently have 82 young people incarcerated," he wrote, "And I would like each of them to have a copy of the *Bhagavad-gita*. I understand this is a significant number of books to call for; however these young people suffer tremendously and are in dire need of the Lord Krishna's teachings. If you are unable to send that many copies of the *Gita*, could you please send any of the writings of His Divine Grace Swami Prabhupada." Working solely on volunteer power and donations, IPM hopes to continue its spiritual reform movement. "We're always looking for more qualified devotees to write letters to inmates," Shyama Priya says. "And of course, you can donate books through Maha-Tattva's Sastra Dana program. If we had enough books, we could put full *Srimad-Bhagavatam* sets in every prison library in America." One day, Shyama Priya and Chandrasekhara hope, there will be a prison ministry in every state and devotees visiting prisons across the country. But for now, they're content with shining a light of hope through cell bars and giving inmates the ultimate chance to break free from the prison of material life-Srila Prabhupada's books.
The Prison Ministry Website
The Japa Room is a friendly and constructive way to improve the qualtiy of your Japa using an audio/visual chatroom. We are about to begin another round of the 10 stages and also due to popular demand we are implementing a new Level 2 session for those interested in deeper discussion on a particular aspect of each week's Level 1 session. If you are interested please visit www.japaroom.com for further information. The weekly times for the Japa Room are as follows: Level 1 Friday 11.30pm GMT (Level 2 follows at 12.30pm GMT). To see what time Level 1 is in your city please visit: Level 1 Sunday 12.30pm GMT (Level 2 follows at 1.30am GMT). To see what time Level 1 is in your city please visit:
Click Here
We are happy to announce that at 7.15 this morning, European time, on the auspicious day of Lord Caitanya's appearance day, Sri Gaura Purnima, version 0.1 of www.vanipedia.org was successfully launched. The Vanipedia team draws great inspiration and strength (to succeed in the long voyage we have undertaken) from the single-minded faith and conviction that giving Srila Prabhupada this wonderful platform to preach, teach, and train could very well become the most uniting principle that all of his followers could ever hope to experience. I want to thank everyone who has contributed in the various ways that they have to help bring the Vanipedia vision to its first step. I am especially awestruck at the devotional service offered by Acyutananda Caitanya Prabhu and Bhakta Eivind throughout this last year. My deepest respect and gratitude to them. I look forward to many years of Vaniseva with them.
If devotees could visit the site and offer any thoughts they have, I am sure
that could help us to successfully complete the full Vanipedia vision.
We would like to express our gratitude to all of you who helped us create this website by contributing your valuable materials, time and resources. It is our goal to continue to improve and increase this facility. All persons interested in education, for both adults and children, should be able to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities, wisdom and assets that ISKCON educators around the word have to offer. We request all of you to please post whatever educational materials, insights, links, advice and even questions you have. Participate in our educational forums and share your knowledge and experience. With your help Iskconeducation.org can become the place to go for information on how to organize, maintain and improve ISKCON educational projects. Assist us in making this website a dynamic facility for anyone who wants to give or receive a Krishna Conscious learning experience.
Your servants from Ministry of Educational Development
Spotlight: The Making of Srila Prabhupada After the visual tour-de-force of deity meditation that was Darsana, it made sense to the Mediterranean BBT that their next book should be about the person who gave us darsana: Srila Prabhupada. When the BBT trustees responded, "Why do we need another book of Prabhupada pictures?" photographer Nitya-tripta Dasi set out to show them by searching through every photo of Prabhupada available. This book had to be like nothing that had been done before. It would be a deep, personal meditation, boasting a unique selection that would keep the viewer feeling fresh on every page. "I had to select 193 photos out of about 90,000," says Nitya-tripta matter-of-factly. "To make matters worse, they had been scanned directly from a bunch of haphazardly arranged binders stored at the Bhaktivedanta Archives since 1978. Film rolls were mismatched, photos had been misfiled over the years. It was a mess." Nitya-tripta set to keywording every image, then giving each one a starred rating, and finally creating virtual folders to store them in, until she could view 90 related pictures instead of 90,000. The gruelling task took 6 months for black and white photos alone. But many of these pictures were Nitya-tripta's old friends from the traditional darkroom, and she was inpired by the thought that now she could use the digital darkroom to enhance them and accentuate devotees' meditation on Srila Prabhupada. "We photographers were nervous around Prabhupada, so we made mistakes often," says Nitya-tripta, who appears photographing her guru in the last photo of Srila Prabhupada. "In that photo, I was keeping my camera in front of my face out of nervousness and didn't realize how close I was until I finally removed it and saw that I was just 3 feet away from Prabhupada! I tried to get out of there quickly, a dangerous mission as there was a vibrant kirtana all around him, and I had to time my escape through a wall of swinging mrdangas." Digital technology helped get around photographer mistakes and bring pictures closer to the mood of the moment. For instance, a strangely bluish photo showed Prabhupada emerging from ISKCON press-the photographer had been using indoor film inside and forgot to switch to outdoor film. With Photoshop, the photo's exposure was easily corrected. You'll never guess that some of the photographs in Srila Prabhupada are actually a clever composite of several. One shows Prabhupada on a moving walkway at LA airport, devotees chanting and dancing beside him. "In one picture in the series, the way the devotees moved and looked at Prabhupada was perfect," says Nitya-tripta. "In another, Prabhupada's expression was the best. So I just combined the two. Sometimes in photography, it's just a matter of getting the right moment." She grins. "Digitally, I can combine two right moments." Srila Prabhupada's life, of course, was a collection of right moments. And it's obvious from the book's many delightful casual shots that its makers were intent on showing that. "Prabhupada's life wasn't just on the vyasasana," Nitya-tripta says. "He was a true guru, one who taught us something with everything he did and said." These casual pictures were a treat for graphic designer Haladhara dasa, who had always seen Prabhupada as an official figure, having joined ISKCON in the late '90s. He especially loved one of Prabhupada standing in line with several suited businessmen at the airport, waiting to check-in-so much that he had to have a poster of it on his wall. "Each member of our team had their own favorite photos that had to be in the book," says Nitya-tripta. "It was a strong team effort, full of constant fresh input." The Mediterranean BBT didn't want to create a static chronological or historical document. They wanted their book to tell a dynamic, subtle story, one that spoke to the individual reader. For this to work, they had to choose the book's text carefully, selecting a minimal yet poignant mixture of quotes from Prabhupada himself, his books, and his disciples. In a unique move, they even left out the sources-a deep meditation was the priority. "This book is all about meditation, and it was the most amazing meditation for me," Nitya-tripta says. "While I was working on it, I lived in a small studio room, and as I selected pictures for the book, I'd print them out to size and tape them to my wall. Soon, my little room was wallpapered from floor to ceiling with pictures of Prabhupada." She found herself constantly remembering Srila Prabhupada. "I was overflowing with thoughts, feelings and emotions. I realized how fortunate we all are to be connected to Srila Prabhupada, and how we need to always go back to the basics of what he was trying to achieve with his movement. Sometimes we forget."
Perhaps Srila Prabhupada will help us all to remember, as devotees across
the world establish or re-establish a personal connection with this great
saint through its mesmerizing pages.
For the sake of my own Krishna consciousness, I've set up a home transcendental TV station. I have three TVs. The big color TV in the living room/bedroom came with the apartment. I got a 5-inch black and white set for the kitchen/storage room on clearance several years ago for $20. The third one is a 12-inch black and white set that I picked it up at a thrift store last week for only $8. It works great; I have that one in the bathroom. What's the program source? It's an old XP desktop with an add-on PCI video card with TV (S-video) out. The programming is provided by two free programs: the sound by Winamp (www.winamp.com) and the picture by Google Photos Screensaver (www.haklabs.com). When the computer first boots up, Winamp automatically loads. It then chooses "at random" among 1843 lectures/conversations by Srila Prabhupada. A couple of minutes later, the screen saver starts. It displays a different picture every five seconds, choosing "at random" among 19,494 pictures of Srila Prabhupada. The image collection is available for download; go to click here, then download the file <srila_prabhupada_all_photos.zip>. Be aware that this is a huge file; it's 1.35 Gigabytes and will take three to four hours to download, even on a broadband connection. Both the audio recordings and the pictures are copyrighted by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International (www.krishna.com), and are being used with permission. The programming is very interesting, because I never know what picture is coming next or which lecture or conversation is going to play next. Quite often the picture being displayed is one that I've never seen before. The Google Photos Screensaver screen saver is great. Every picture fills the entire screen, and the transitions are fast and smooth. I just wish that there was a way to create a Prabhupada screen saver of the same high quality that would work on older Windows 98SE or ME computers. If you know of such a program, please let me know (pratyatosa@gmail.com). Beside the TVs and the computer, I needed to purchase a radio frequency (RF) modulator (US$16.84 from Wal-Mart). This device is sold as a way to connect DVD players to older TVs that don't have separate audio and video inputs. I also needed various lengths of cable and a couple of splitters, but since my apartment came with cable TV, I was able to get them for free from the local cable TV company. All these items should be readily available at any electronics store.
I must admit, I'm hooked. I think a nice enhancement to the
programming would be to include synchronized transcriptions for the
MP3s that have it available (See three examples on http://causelessmercy.com/t/), and the
transcendental slide show for those that don't. This would take some
doing, but I'm pretty sure that the whole thing could be accomplished
using an Internet browser, XAMPP (an Apache distribution), PHP, HTML and JavaScript.
We have uploaded last week's 'Satsanga MP3' and to download please click Satsanga: 17 February 2008 Click Here. In the Satsanga HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Swami explained devotees about "Cultivation of mood of humility to engage oneself in loving devotional services." Some of the divine teachings of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura are also discussed in the Satsanga by HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Swami. You may visit my.podcast.com/Satsang to know the details about joining process for the online 'Weekly Satsangas'. All past Satsanga MP3s month wise can be found below: Satsanga MP3s: February 2008 Click Here Satsanga MP3s: January 2008 Click Here Satsanga MP3s: December 2007 Click Here Satsanga MP3s: November 2007 Click Here Satsanga MP3s: October 2007 Click Here Satsanga MP3s: September 2007 Click Here Satsanga MP3s: August 2007 Click Here Satsanga MP3s: July 2007 Click Here
All Glories all Sadhus, Guru and Vaisnavas.
We are happy to inform you that four papers which are presented in International Conference on Science and Spirituality for World Peace Click Here (held at the RIMS Jubilee Hall in Imphal on November 23-24, 2007), appeared online on "Kangla Online" in the Religion Section Click Here. These four articles are as below: (1) Vedantic Conception of the Origin of Life Click Here -- by: Dr. Michael Marchetti (Bhakti Madhava Puri Swami), Serving Director, Bhaktivedanta Institute. (2) Modern Science-Religion Symbiosis: Historical Perspectives and Future Prospects Click Here -- by: Prof. John B Lourdusamy, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. (3) Vedantic Concept of Life Click Here -- by: Phalguni Banerjee, Research Scholar, Dept. of Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, WB, India.
(4) Logic and Religions Click Here
-- by: Dirk Laureyssens, Antwerp, Belgium.
South American BBT Spanish is the second most widely-spoken language in the Western World. And while many of the people of South America are poor, their piety and respect for religion is such that they will part with their last pennies in exchange for a spiritual book. On top of that, even staunch Catholics show a warm receptivity to yoga and Indian philosophy. Yet rather than triumph, history only reveals a dark struggle for the Spanish BBT. Book distribution in Spain diminished in the late eighties and early nineties after the ISKCON leader there abandoned ship. The * Chaitanya-charitamrita*, on which translation had been completed, could not be printed. Production froze for the best part of ten years, and in 2004 the Spanish office finally closed, with Spanish language operations shifting to South America instead. Things there were no better. Although hundreds of thousands of books had been distributed in Mexico over the past 35 years, now thousands of dollars were owed in debt. Bad management and dishonesty had fractured devotees' trust in the BBT. In Columbia, ISKCON had been devastated by splinter movements. Book distribution in Peru was difficult, with only a small BBT presence and devotees scattered throughout the country. And Argentina was a financial wreck. Enter Hanuman Dasa, an assistant BBT Director from Barcelona assigned to the case. In 1978, he had left his university teaching job to join a commune with many other spiritual seekers. But when one of his closest friends joined the Hare Krishnas and sent him a *Bhagavad-gita*, his life was changed forever. "I know these books have the power to change the lives of others for the best too," he says. "And that's why I want to help bring them to the people of Latin America." Hanuman has his work cut out for him. There are four BBT offices in South America: A Mexico City one that deals with Central America, Columbia and the Caribbean; a small office in Lima, Peru, that also serves Equador and Bolivia; an Argentinian office serving Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay; and finally, a Brazilian office for Portuguese-speaking countries. And they all need his attention. "I spend at least four months of the year traveling," he says. "These offices are still finding their feet, and I have to spend time training them in accounting, legal systems and more. I also must mend broken relationships with the BBT, and re-establish our credibility and identity in Latin America. That's a challenge." But Hanuman is taking to it well, and so are South American devotees and the 15-20 superhuman staff that somehow manage to handle all the BBT work for this huge continent. "The facts speak for themselves," Hanuman says. "Devotees in Columbia distributed 3,000-4,000 books during the 2007 Prabhupada Marathon, and just bought 10,000 more. Not bad for a country in which ISKCON has been devastated for many years." The pattern continues-in Chile, book distribution is also on the rise, with the Santiago temple relentlessly promoting sankirtana and the temple president himself a dedicated book distributor. Argentina is organizing a huge festival for congregational members across South America. And Peru, where the BBT office is the home of a dedicated householder couple, has purchased several thousand *Bhagavad-gitas* for university distribution. "The devotees in Peru are saints," Hanuman says. "With the financial state of the country, they can go out all day and return with less than four dollars at the most. But that never stops them." Even the Spanish *Chaitanya-charitamrita*, translated over ten years ago, is now being resurrected. Madhusevita and his staff at the Mediterranean BBT are working hard on the huge job of indexing the epic scripture, and they expect it to be released in summer 2008. The handy four-volume format will be aimed at a devotee audience rather than mass distribution, and is eagerly awaited. The BBT's greatest success in the Spanish-speaking world may be in Mexico, however, where under Aravinda Dasa's able management, book distribution increased 42% in the past year, and five sankirtana parties took part in the 2007 Prabhupada Marathon. "We're also developing a relationship with the huge South American congregation, encouraging them to be BBT agents and book distributors," says Hanuman. "There are 1,000 congregational devotees in Mexico City, and at least 8,000 in Brazil. If every family distributed just one book a week, that would be 150,000 books a year." Hanuman is adamant that the BBT is there to serve, help and inspire these devotees, and that they are the only way book distribution in South America will truly succeed. "I fall at the feet of those householder devotees who struggle to earn a livelihood distributing books, despite being able to get a higher paying job if they wanted," he says. "Sometimes the BBT has acted like the ones who know better and make the decisions-but we're definitely their servants." With this refreshing outlook, things are finally looking up for the South American BBT. The year 2006 saw an impressive 350,000 books distributed, and they aim to increase this annual output, reaching their goal of one million books in the year 2012. The marathon is on. Watch this space. |
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