While we've always had a book tent at Ratha Yatra, we've always been either short-staffed, or with not enough titles. This year because of the very recent India order, we not only had additional books in other languages, but also many new and old titles that devotees would be interested in as well (Siksamrita, Lilamrita, Namamrta, Sloka book and more). Also because of the Monthly Sankirtan Festivals over the last one year, we were able to have a team of very dedicated 10-12 devotees with Sankirtan as their primary service.
As suggested by Vaisesika Prabhu, this year we were able to get more than 500 small books sponsored. We wanted these small books to be distributed during the harinama on the eve of Ratha Yatra and also during the Parade. Since the books were already sponsored, we encouraged devotees to be liberal in giving them out for any donations. Devotees were able to distribute more than 200 small books during this time, and the enthusiasm of the participating devotees spilled over others as more and more devotees wanted to do books during the harinama and parade.
At the festival site, we had a 20x20 feet tent for books and 8 tables. Our goal in terms of the layout was for maximum visibility, accessibility and mobility. Since we had many different titles in multiple languages, we decided to have table signs (much like table numbers at weddings) that would read out the language/category. These signs, handmade by Vrndavan Prabhu, really allowed books to be very well organized and visible. We also had a special sale table comprising of the remaining sponsored books, where we offered any 3 small books for $5. This was a major attraction for most people, and a great way to get them through the door (literally). We also ran a festival special discount on all other regular books, which encouraged both devotees and guests to buy more books (including most of us!). We also distributed 1x4 fliers promoting the Book Tent featuring the special sale table and the discounted prices.
At any time we had about 5-7 devotees managing various tables in the book tent. There was a constant flow of traffic, hardly leaving any time for the core team to take a break or go around the festival site, which was in itself ecstatic.
We also had 2 sandwich boards (again handmade by Vrndavan Prabhu) placed at two sides of the book tent, which had 4 collages (prepared by Mangal Arti dd, Nicole and Romey), on 4 different contemporary themes that are addressed in Srila Prabhupada's books with the hope of encouraging people to check out the books. The 4 themes were - Love and Relationships, Environmental Crises, Overcoming Stress, and Science & Sastra. These displays attracted passersby, we even saw some people making notes of the content!
In addition to the main tent, we also had 4-6 satellite tables setup around various exhibits each manned by 1-2 devotees (e.g. Vegetarianism, Bhagavad-gita, Q&A, Reincarnation, Simple Living High Thinking, Mantra-meditation etc). This increased our visibility and captured the attention of the guests from all possible means. Our dear Walking Bhagavad gita, who turned 1 year this Rath Yatra, won everyone's applaud again this year, and remained an amazing channel for increased BG distribution as people would stop to take pictures and gradually end up buying a book!
All these efforts designed and pursued under Vaisesika prabhu's model, brought tremendous success to the Sankirtan efforts! Not only were we able to distribute more than 1400 books (which is 3 times the number as last year) for very encouraging laxmi points, but all the participating devotees were enlivened and inspired beyond compare.
The two Ratha Yatra days and the week leading up to it was very long and intense, but the smiling faces of the devotees dedicatedly engaged in Sankirtan was a treat for everyone - we also had a muslim lady walk up to us and say - I really just want to be as happy as you, can you tell me how! Every single devotee was so inspired to just share whatever they had, their realizations, the books and knowledge, that they did not even care for any discomfort or lack of sleep. Serving together like this, increased the bonding between the devotees, actually enabling us to realize how Sankirtan is our very life and soul.
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