Book Distribution - Sandeep Shah prabhu
Paraphrased from a Book Distribution seminar by Sandeep Shah prabhu at Bhaktivedanta Manor on Thursday 18th January 2007:
"If a football team simply have training sessions all the time but never play a professional match, the players will get pretty bored. Sadhana is like the training sessions and preaching is like the professional match. In other words, practicing sadhana can become dry and uninspiring unless we also preach."
Quoting Shrila Prabhupada: "Preaching is the essence, purity is the force and books are the basis."
"Prabhupada said that the books are already distributed to the souls who want them - Krishna has already arranged it - the question is: do you want to become the instrument by distributing them?"
"Anyone can distribute books. The key is to recognise that Krishna is doing everything and He is so kind that He will let any sincere soul become an instrument. In this connection there is a Christian saying: Everyone is useful, no-one is necessary."
"Whenever I distribute books, no matter what reaction I get, I always say to them "I wish you good luck for the rest of the day". Then they normally reply "Good luck to you - hope you have a good day too". In this way, a book distributor engages everyone he meets in the Krishna Consciousness movement, because they perform some devotional service by wishing the book distributors good luck."
"Just by being out there you can help souls. In Southampton, I couldn't distribute any books. Then this man sitting nearby called me over and asked what I was doing. I told him that I was distributing books about yoga and meditation, and he seemed agitated. He was saying things like religion is useless, God doesn't exist etc - in other words he was an atheist. However he also worked as a salesman. He then said "In any case you're using the wrong techniques - you have to approach them like this, show more eye contact and shake their hand like this". Since nothing else was working, I tried his techniques and people started taking the books. When I looked back at him, he was ecstatic at the sight of the books being sold. He was saying to me 'Go on son, well done'. In this way, even though he was a staunch atheist, he helped the sankirtana movement by helping me distribute books, and it was giving him so much pleasure too, therefore he was practicing devotional service."
"Prabhupada said that just by seeing the book, the person is guaranteed their next life as a human. Therefore when we simply show people the books, we are guaranteeing people won't degrade to animal life."
"Just as a footballer has to train well in order to perform well in the football match, so a book distributor needs good sadhana in order to distribute books. In California they did an experiment to prove this. They asked a non-devotee who sold thousands of books for a living to try and sell Prabhupada's books. After one month with not one buyer, he gave up. Yet new bhaktas in the temple were able to distribute them - because they were devotees chanting Hare Krishna. So good sadhana gives the edge in book distribution."
"We must listen to the people we are talking to. A doctor cannot help his patient unless he first hears the patient describe their problem. Similarly, we can't expect people to take books unless we listen to their opinions and concerns."
"Hridayananda Maharaja was saying recently that preaching is about building bridges with people, finding a common position. It is not about confronting people - so don't get into any fruitless debates with people."
"Internally, we should be crying and begging the person to take the book and become a devotee of Krishna. But externally we should be cool and detached - as if they're the ones who want the book, not that we are desperate to sell. After all they need Krishna Consciousness, they just haven't realised yet."
"If a football team simply have training sessions all the time but never play a professional match, the players will get pretty bored. Sadhana is like the training sessions and preaching is like the professional match. In other words, practicing sadhana can become dry and uninspiring unless we also preach."
Quoting Shrila Prabhupada: "Preaching is the essence, purity is the force and books are the basis."
"Prabhupada said that the books are already distributed to the souls who want them - Krishna has already arranged it - the question is: do you want to become the instrument by distributing them?"
"Anyone can distribute books. The key is to recognise that Krishna is doing everything and He is so kind that He will let any sincere soul become an instrument. In this connection there is a Christian saying: Everyone is useful, no-one is necessary."
"Whenever I distribute books, no matter what reaction I get, I always say to them "I wish you good luck for the rest of the day". Then they normally reply "Good luck to you - hope you have a good day too". In this way, a book distributor engages everyone he meets in the Krishna Consciousness movement, because they perform some devotional service by wishing the book distributors good luck."
"Just by being out there you can help souls. In Southampton, I couldn't distribute any books. Then this man sitting nearby called me over and asked what I was doing. I told him that I was distributing books about yoga and meditation, and he seemed agitated. He was saying things like religion is useless, God doesn't exist etc - in other words he was an atheist. However he also worked as a salesman. He then said "In any case you're using the wrong techniques - you have to approach them like this, show more eye contact and shake their hand like this". Since nothing else was working, I tried his techniques and people started taking the books. When I looked back at him, he was ecstatic at the sight of the books being sold. He was saying to me 'Go on son, well done'. In this way, even though he was a staunch atheist, he helped the sankirtana movement by helping me distribute books, and it was giving him so much pleasure too, therefore he was practicing devotional service."
"Prabhupada said that just by seeing the book, the person is guaranteed their next life as a human. Therefore when we simply show people the books, we are guaranteeing people won't degrade to animal life."
"Just as a footballer has to train well in order to perform well in the football match, so a book distributor needs good sadhana in order to distribute books. In California they did an experiment to prove this. They asked a non-devotee who sold thousands of books for a living to try and sell Prabhupada's books. After one month with not one buyer, he gave up. Yet new bhaktas in the temple were able to distribute them - because they were devotees chanting Hare Krishna. So good sadhana gives the edge in book distribution."
"We must listen to the people we are talking to. A doctor cannot help his patient unless he first hears the patient describe their problem. Similarly, we can't expect people to take books unless we listen to their opinions and concerns."
"Hridayananda Maharaja was saying recently that preaching is about building bridges with people, finding a common position. It is not about confronting people - so don't get into any fruitless debates with people."
"Internally, we should be crying and begging the person to take the book and become a devotee of Krishna. But externally we should be cool and detached - as if they're the ones who want the book, not that we are desperate to sell. After all they need Krishna Consciousness, they just haven't realised yet."
posted by Muser at 4:24 AM
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