By Vijaya Dasa
Mexico City did very well in January: 8,563 book points made it No. 2 in Latin America. A very nice devotee, Aravinda Prabhu, is the sankirtan leader, and he oversees the BBT activities in Mexico. He's dedicated to distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and to encouraging others to distribute them. Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, also successfully started the new year: With 3,860 book points, it is No. 2 in the Small Temple category. Vasudeva datta Prabhu, the leader there, is a brahmacari who does not like glorification, because it leads to pride. He's dedicated to distributing Srila Prabhupada's books to relieve people's suffering, and he has an appropriate name for his spiritual demeanor. In Lord Caitanya's pastimes, Vasudeva Datta wanted to accept the sinful reactions of the whole world, so that all conditioned souls would go to the spiritual world. Lord Caitanya felt so pleased with Vasudeva Datta that he embraced him. In Africa, the No. 1 temple is Midrand, South Africa, a temple I don't remember seeing in a top position in past newsletters. In January, Midrand scored 774 book points.