Yes, as a sannyasi and GBC your first duty is to read my books. Otherwise how will you preach?
All GBC members are required to send in monthly reports to Srila Prabhupada. Satsvarupa Maharaja sent his for the month of December from Santa Cruz, California. He is in charge of the Library Party, selling standing orders of Prabhupada's books to universities in the US and Europe. He and his group have been remarkably successful. They are now trying to approach public libraries, and he outlined his strategy in his letter. He also reported that many extremely favorable book reviews have been received from professors.
He wrote, "They are praising your books in language more exalted than any of us disciples can praise!! The reviews from Oxford are from some of the biggest linguistic authorities in the world. All these amazing reviews are certainly one of the most important services of the Library Party."
As well as library canvassing, his party has also been preaching in the Santa Cruz area, where many young people reside. In a spirit of cooperation with the West coast GBC, Jayatirtha, he had allowed one of his party, Caru, to become president of the Berkeley temple. He hoped to leave another man in Santa Cruz to help with the preaching there. "I think we GBC should try more to help each other in the different zones and not take a sectarian spirit only for 'our zone', especially when the zones are nearby."
He has over 100 preaching engagements alone in Texas colleges during January and February and asked if he could carry small Gaura-Nitai Deities onto the campuses.
He also wrote about his own growing interest in Prabhupada's books. "I am becoming more and more drawn to read the many books you have published. Since there are so many books, and since I am, as a sannyasi and a GBC, constantly being called to lecture and answer questions, I take it as a special responsibility. I have therefore, been trying to read at least three hours a day and more whenever possible, although I try not to neglect management duties. In your books and tapes I receive the greatest solace. Is this amount of time spent in reading excessive?"
Finally he said that they are researching the possibility of having favorable scholars make recommendations for Prabhupada to receive the Nobel prize for literature.
Prabhupada was happy to hear Satsvarupa's lengthy report. He was especially pleased with their success in making standing orders and with the idea of placing his books in public libraries, which he said would be a "great victory." He also considered the book reviews very important. In fact, his secretary always carries a file with all the latest reviews, which Prabhupada shows to visitors at every opportunity.
He also appreciated Satsvarupa's spirit of cooperation and told him, "Everything should be done cooperatively. 'Our' and 'yours' are material conceptions and have no place in our Krishna consciousness movement. If the members of our movement are unable to cooperate, it will be very difficult to spread the mission of Lord Caitanya."
He did not approve of taking Deities into classrooms, lest the students think us fanatics, and instead recommended a large picture of Gaura-Nitai.
As for Satsvarupa's reading schedule, Prabhupada approved wholeheartedly. "Yes, as a sannyasi and GBC your first duty is to read my books. Otherwise how will you preach? In order to remain steadily fixed in Krishna consciousness there must be a sound philosophical understanding. Otherwise it will become only sentiment. Whenever you find time please read my books. Shortly we shall be introducing the system of examinations for those students who are ready for second initiation as well as sannyasa. According to the degree, devotees will be expected to read and assimilate our different books.
"Our first business is this book distribution. There is no need of any other business. If book distribution is managed properly, pushed on with great enthusiasm and determination and at the same time if our men keep spiritually strong, then the whole world will become Krishna conscious."
Radhaballabha dasa sent a letter from Los Angeles requesting Srila Prabhupada's advice about the new printing standard for Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Prabhupada's main concern is practicality. He advised him that the first consideration was cost-effectiveness. He doesn't want the price unnecessarily increased. Scholarly appreciation is important, but more important is Krishna consciousness actually being put into practice.
Similarly he sees The Nectar of Instruction as a book of great worth because of its practical value. The devotees have been thinking it primarily a book for distribution within ISKCON, thus the small printing. Prabhupada, however, sees it as having a far wider audience.
He expressed the same sentiment to Radhaballabha that he impressed upon Tamal Krishna Maharaja a few days earlier. "The Nectar of Instruction has come out very nice. It is very important and must be immediately read by all the devotees. In the near future we shall introduce the Bhakti-sastri examination for second initiation, and this shall be one of the required books of study. Anyone who reads it will immediately understand what Krishna consciousness is. Some minister in Bombay recently asked me how to create morality among the students, because the students are all vagabonds. If this book is introduced for study in the schools and colleges it will give a clear idea of what morality actually is. It is a most important book."
Prabhupada is also closely supervising revisions of his books and has approved of correcting printing and editorial mistakes in earlier editions. Radhaballabha mentioned that on Harikesa's advice the BBT has postponed reprinting the First Canto of the Bhagavatam because Prabhupada was apparently not pleased with the standard of correction.
Prabhupada confirmed this. "I will have to see personally what are the mistakes in the synonyms and also how you intend to correct them. I was not satisfied with the corrections that were made before. I saw some changes which I did not approve. Nitai may correct whatever mistakes are there, but the corrected material must be sent to me for final approval. So reprinting the volumes will have to wait until the mistakes are corrected and approved by me."
In another package Jadurani dasi, chief BBT artist, sent some sketches of proposed paintings for an upcoming Bhagavatam production. Srila Prabhupada regularly receives sketches from the artists before allowing them to paint any scenes, but during the recent Caitanya-caritamrita production marathon he permitted them to paint without his prior approval for the sake of expediency. Now that all seventeen volumes are out, the pressure is off, and he confirmed his desire to revert to the previous arrangement.
Being with Prabhupada is like being at Action Central. It is exciting and educational to observe how he attentively oversees every aspect of ISKCON's development and preaching, especially anything connected with book production and distribution.
Reference: Transcendental Diary Volume 1 by Hari Sauri Dasa
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