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First contribution for Book

A consignment of 2,500 copies of Teachings of Lord Caitanya finally arrives from the printer, months behind schedule. Jayananda pulls up in front of the temple in a rented flatbed truck loaded with cartons of books. Karandhara helps him unload the cardboard boxes, which they stack up in Tamal Krishna's office, practically filling the entire room. The books sit there for weeks on end and it's a mystery what to do with them. The daily sankirtana parties focus on chanting the maha-mantra and distributing BTGs on sankirtana but no one has ever distributed big books before. Jayananda had originally given Srila Prabhupada his life savings of $5,000 to help him publish his books. Then, he had volunteered to take responsibility for distributing the books. Now, seeing Prabhupada's books just sitting there, he volunteers to go out and distribute them himself. He asks Tamal to get permission from Devahuti to borrow her little Volkswagen. When Srila Prabhupada first arrived in America, he personally sold his Bhagavatam by going store to store. Besides this, no one else has attempted to sell big books on a regular basis. Prabhupada had sent half the books to Los Angeles, requesting that they be sold. It is the most important service and his most surrendered servant accepts the duty.

While the rest of the sankirtana party remains in the temple, Jayananda goes out all alone for three, four, or even five days at a time selling Teachings of Lord Caitanya to all the bookstores up and down the West Coast in Devahuti's little VW bug. The sales are slow, just a few in each shop, but nevertheless he goes out every day without an assistant. It is a difficult and arduous task, but it never affects his consciousness. One might worry about a devotee out on his own, because maya is so strong, but nobody has any doubts regarding Jayananda's sincerity.

Tamal Krishna: With complete faith in the words of his spiritual master, Jayananda took up the task with fixed determination. Each day he would go out alone, sometimes in Los Angeles and sometimes driving hundreds of miles to other cities, to place a few books in each book shop he found. It was not unusual for Jayananda to spend an entire day selling only one or two books, yet he never became discouraged, nor did he ever complain of any difficulties. While the other devotees enjoyed constant association with each other, Jayananda's service required that he go out alone. But he felt no loneliness, having his spiritual master's order as his constant companion. The scriptures state that there is no distinction between the spiritual master and his instructions, and it was this realization that enabled Jayananda, an ideal disciple, to attain perfection. Nothing ever changed Jayananda's consciousness. Jayananda is the first devotee to distribute big books. He is already fully engaged going to the produce market, the flower market, doing the landscaping, repairing the vehicles, so no one would have discredited him if he had ignored the books. But still, in his own humble manner, he takes up the responsibility and thereby initiates book distribution in ISKCON.



Reference: Radha Damodara Vilasa by Vaiyasaki Dasa