By Vijaya Dasa
The devotees in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, have come up with one of the most innovative book distribution techniques I've seen. They go to a school and arrange with the principal to speak to all the teachers, sometimes thirty or forty of them. The devotees explain the glories of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, and because the teachers are all educated and Sri Lanka is steeped in Vedic culture, they understand the book's value. Wherever the devotees go they have great success-sometimes every teacher will take a set. I'm sure Srila Prabhupada is very pleased with this effort. It's being organized by Srutakirti Dasa, the number four book distributor in the world, with 6,012 book points. And due largely to this ambitious program to sell full Bhagavatam sets, the Batticaloa yatra, though a "maha" small temple (very small), is now the number nine temple in the world! But they're maha-big with devotion and the desire to distribute Prabhupada's books. Another surprise is that we've received a score from Bogota, Columbia. I don't remember ever seeing them in the newsletter before, but they now have a prominent position in South America, being the number three temple on that continent, with 1,480 book points. We hope to see more book scores from Bogota.