Sankirtana in every home

If one has the proper means and wealth, he should occasionally invite the devotees of Lord Caitanya who are engaged in preaching all over the world and hold a festival at home simply by distributing prasādam and talking about Kṛṣṇa during the day and holding congregational chanting for at least three hours in the evening. This procedure must be adopted in all centers of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Thus they will daily perform sańkīrtana-yajña. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32) the daily performance of sańkīrtana-yajña is recommended for this age (yajñaiḥ sańkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ). One should worship Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His four associates, the Pañca-tattva, by distributing prasādam and holding congregational chanting. Indeed, that, yajña or sacrifice, is most recommended in this Age of Kali. In this age, other yajñas are not possible to perform, but this yajña can be performed everywhere and anywhere without difficulty.

CC Madhya 3.203

WE DID IT!!!!

It just seems like yesterday when we set a target of 10,000 books for Prabhupada Marathon 2011 and a total target of 35,000 books. By the blessings from Sri Sri Radha Ksiracora Gopinatha, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Srila Prabhupada, we were able to distribute 11,401 books during the marathon and 36,954 books for the entire year of 2011!!!!

Thanks to everyone for helping out! We are looking forward to a great 2012!

From Windsor to Toronto

I was entering Kensington market and saw a young couple walk out with smiles on their face. I started a conversation with them and they were really open to the idea of meditation. We discussed how the body changes but something non-material about us remains the same. They told me they had recently moved downtown and I requested them to stay in touch and join us for our programs. We continued to talk and the discussion drifted into the realm of Karma and then Vegan food and I learnt that they were both Vegan. Then as I started to show them the Bhagavad Gita the girl told me that three years ago when she was in Windsor, she had met someone on University campus who gave her a Bhagavad Gita. I asked if she had read it and she said off and on over the years but not cover to cover. I asked her to come for our Gita discussions and perhaps re-take up the study of these books. For me it was an inspiring moment to know Krishna’s plans to get us back home never stops!

Misdirected "Hi"

One of the key lessons Vaisesika Prabhu taught us in his numerous visits to Toronto is to catch the attention of passerbys on the street with a big smile and big wave and loudly say "Hi". Eventhough I am not an experienced book distributor, I like saying "Hi" to people on the street when I am doing Sankirtan.

Today, while doing Sankirtan at Bay and Bloor, I saw this young man with a yoga mat hanging on his back and he had this look that  made me feel like he would be interested in me. I smiled and said a loud "Hi" and to my dismay he ignored me, however, a man who was walking next to him, thinking that I said hi to him, looked at me and smiled back and said "Hi". I thought this was a sign from Krishna and I started to talk to him. The minute I showed him the book, he had a big smile on his face and he said - "Hare Krishna - I love you guys!" and he immediately brought a book.

Krishna's sweet tricks

I was walking home after sankirtan, almost freezing and dragging some books with me. In the middle of Spadina Avenue I saw a girl walking in my direction with a big smile. As she came closer I asked her what the secret to her happiness was. We started to talk and I gave her a Chant and be happy explaining that it was for all happy people. As she heard the philosophy she was appreciative so I told her to repeat a happiness mantra with me and she happily repeated ‘Gauranga’. We continued to talk about her work and then I asked her if she liked to sing and she said she liked to dance. We worked it out so that she would dance and sing with me. As I showed her the Maha mantra she repeated it right after me. When the Maha mantra ended she said ‘oh this is Rama, I was looking for Rama’. She explained that yesterday she was wondering what to do with herself and not knowing what she took the first alphabet of the name of every employee that worked with her and connected them together to decipher a message. The message ended with the word Rama and implied something to the effect that she should connect with Rama. She said after she saw this last night she repeated the word Rama several times and was wondering where to find it and now she ran into us. Krishna truly is the Supersoul in everyone’s heart 

Crazy crazy world

I was near Yonge and Dundas yesterday and I saw two men with a big built walking as if they were slightly drunk. They were talking amongst themselves and walking towards my direction and my mind went through the extremes of stay out of their way or they will create trouble or try to reach out to them as they seem to need it the most. Finally as they were close enough, these words came out of my mouth - Have you heard of meditation or yoga. These two stopped and one of them turned towards me, looked right at me and opened his mouth as big as he could and let out a shriek on my face that could wake even the dead. My hands moved towards my heart and all I could say in disbelief was - Hare Krishna. I was expecting the worse was yet to come but the other guy interjected his friend and said - Man you are crazy. What are you doing to her? Then he came towards me and said you have spoken to me before. As the other friend had come in touch with Srila Prabhupada books he was a totally different person. I prayed for strength and gently showed the other friend a perfection of yoga which he happily took to read. It was a great example of how people change in association of Prabhupada books.

Transcendental order

"Therefore I order every man within this universe to accept this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and distribute it everywhere.
PURPORT

In this connection there is a song sung by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura:
enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāra lāgi'
harināma-mahāmantra lao tumi māgi'
bhakativinoda prabhu-caraṇe paḍiyā
sei harināma-mantra la-ila māgiyā
The sańkīrtana movement has been introduced by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu just to dispel the illusion of māyā, by which everyone in this material world thinks himself to be a product of matter and therefore to have many duties pertaining to the body. Actually, the living entity is not his material body: he is a spirit soul. He has a spiritual need to be eternally blissful and full of knowledge, but unfortunately he identifies himself with the body, sometimes as a human being, sometimes as an animal, sometimes a tree, sometimes an aquatic, sometimes a demigod, and so on. Thus with each change of body he develops a different type of consciousness with different types of activities and thus becomes increasingly entangled in material existence, transmigrating perpetually from one body to another. Under the spell of māyā, or illusion, he does not consider the past or future but is simply satisfied with the short life span that he has gotten for the present. To eradicate this illusion, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has brought the sańkīrtana movement, and He requests everyone to accept and distribute it. A person who is actually a follower of Śrī Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura must immediately accept the request of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu by offering respectful obeisances unto His lotus feet and thus beg from Him the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. If one is fortunate enough to beg from the Lord this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, his life is successful.

CC Adi 9.37