Seven Srimad Bhagavatam Sets on Ekadasi!
Today is a very auspicious, joyful day: We distributed seven Srimad-Bhagavatam sets, which we were able to do by the mercy and inspiration of Vaisesika Prabhu.
In the morning I was doing a japa walk, and a person told me that today is Ekadasi. He said that whatever auspicious activity we perform gives a multiplied result.
This gave me the impetus to set a goal of distributing ten Bhagavatam sets. When I returned home, I saw that I had only two sets. I called the BBT to order ten more, and I planned to distribute them after work. I also called Vinodh Prabhu and asked him to compose an email to friends and devotees and asked him to join me for book distribution in the evening. We planned to do BIG.
Set 1: After eating breakfast, I met a lady who once came to do some service. She asked about the duties of a woman, which she wanted to teach her daughter. I displayed the Bhagavatam and showed her the Seventh Canto chapters about varnas and asramas. She agreed to buy a set.
Set 2: During the lunchtime at my office, I was saying Gayatri. Then a friend asked me what I was doing. I soon started to explain the Bhagavatam. I suggested that his parents will be glad to read the book at their age. He took a set in Telugu.
Set 3: Also during lunch, a friend asked me about Ekadasi (which he has followed forseveral years without knowing its importance). After sharing with him some glories of Ekadasi, I told him about the Bhagavatam and suggested that his wife, who is now pregnant, read the prayers by Uttara about her child in the womb. He took a set.
Sets 4 & 5: A long-time devotee friend called in the afternoon and shared his difficulties with sadhana. I suggested that he try to distribute Bhagavatam sets today. He didn’t immediately agree. He said that he could not glorify Srimad Bhagavatam because he feels weak in Krsna consciousness.
I said, “You simply call ten friends to ask whether they have a set of the Bhagavatams. And quote Srila Prabhupada to your friends: ‘I want that every respectable person has a set of Srimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya-caritamrita’.”
Around 10 p.m., he called back with the news that he’d distributed two sets and wanted to deliver them the following day. He said he chanted his best rounds in a long time owing to the inspiration of distributing two sets on an Ekadasi.
Set 6: Returning from work, I met a colleague who was talking about cultural activities for children and opportunities to speak about stories. I immediately suggested that the Bhagavatam gives culture to the kids and asked him to take a set. Although he didn’t have the money on hand, he agreed to take the set and pay in installments.
Set 7: Feeling tired after work, we tried going door-to-door. Mahamantra Prabhu and Vinodh joined me in the evening, and we read two pages of the Bhagavatam and got energized. We knocked on a neighbor’s door and prayed to Srimati Tulasi Maharani at that home, the home of an elderly couple and performed kirtan for ten minutes with them, praying that they would take a set. After the kirtana, even before we began speaking about the Bhagavatam, the lady eagerly asked us if we had the full Srimad Bhagavatam. She had previously owned a small Bhagavatam book and wanted to have the full set. We showed them the books, which they accepted and asked us to install in their home. The elderly gentleman got us some flowers and arranged for some fruits and a lamp. With these simple offerings, we invited the Lord in the form of the Bhagavatam into the home of these simple-hearted people.
Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam!
Sri Rama Dasa,
Hyderbad