Books are still the basis on Padayatra India

By: Acarya Dasa (Assisted by Jayabhadra Dasi)

Most of the population of the world is so engrossed in material advancement that they falsely believe that by making material progress they can remain happy. The Lord has given us His geet[1] in the form of Bhagavad-gita –and the more degraded society becomes the more important it is to spread this message of God to those who are suffering. One of the most significant methods to spread the glories of God is through printing and distributing books about God.

Srila Prabhupada said that, “Our first business is this book distribution[2]”. Therefore, there is no need of any other business. He went on to say, “If this book distribution is managed properly, pushed on with great enthusiasm and determination and at the same time if our men keep spiritually strong, then the whole world will become Krishna conscious.”[3] It is on the basis of these books that preaching is being conducted, new bhaktas are joining and congregational members are engaged –from these books a whole picture of Vedic society arises, serving as a blue print for future generations to come.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada! It is by his mercy and inspiration that we, padayatris, are walking through the streets of villages and towns distributing books. Whenever someone gives us a donation we use this as an opportunity to give them a book as a gift. If we come across anyone who is really interested in reading a book we ask them for a minimum donation of 10 rupees and then give them the book as a gift. This is part of what we do in order to spread the Lord’s mercy. We also make sure as part of our daily program to never be walking empty handed, all the padayatris always have books in their hands for distribution. The last thing we want is for language to bar people from knowing about the Lord –and so our party is always aware of the language of the States in which we are travelling in so that we can stock up on books written in the local tongue. For example, in October we were traveling in Andhra Pradesh were the spoken language is Telegu so we made sure to carry books written in Telegu to distribute. Every month our team’s book scores go well above 1000 and we have devotees who distribute entire Bhagavatam sets to members of the congregation and they are managing to distribute more and more each time. We distribute all of Srila Prabhupada’s small books, Bhagavad-Gita, Ramayan, Bhagavatam sets, Back To Godhead magazines and more. During book marathons and Holy Name Week we work even harder to distribute books and do our best to double our scores. There are often times when we are faced with opposition from those who are against book distribution, but by the mercy of Nitai Gaurasundar all obstacles are removed and our enthusiasm is increased.

Our padayatra party travels to every nook and corner of India, to the most remote and inaccessible places in order to spread the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. In this way we the devotees of padayatra distribute the books of Srila Prabhupada so that somehow or other people can get the real message of God and find a permanent solution to the problems of life.

[1] Song
[2] Letter to Satsvarupa Dasa, 1976
[3] Supra