Sankirtan – Book Distribution for Beginners

The days of ISKCON when everybody who joined Srila Prabhupada’s movement was found either on public harinama or engaged in book distribution are gone. Those few who are still willing to be engaged in these missionary activities mostly come from the congregational field, as living in the temple and within the brahmacarya or brahmacarini ashramas has become a truly rare way to cultivate Krishna Consciousness—especially in Europe.

This text is dedicated to those rare and brave devotees who feel compelled to follow Srila Prabhupada’s call to distribute his books widely, regardless of one’s qualification. As with everything else, book distribution is based on desire, and even if that desire may not be very strong, it can instantly be invigorated by studying Srila Prabhupada’s life and instructions. Book distribution is a matter of duty, not a matter of personal qualification or personal taste. In this way, EVERYBODY is qualified to distribute books, regardless of personal situation.

I saw the most unqualified ones becoming the most qualified—including myself. All this happens when one touches the stream of mercy coming from the guru-parampara, brought to us by Srila Prabhupada in the form of his books.

To become an effective book distributor allows one to taste nectar of unknown proportions, but to help others distribute books is an even greater ecstasy.

Let us start with some basic challenges anyone may face on the first day standing on the street, somewhat ready to distribute a book.

How should one dress?

Srila Prabhupada loved devotees to look like devotees—there is no doubt about it. This was especially the case during harinama processions. Even though he clearly stated that the dress code is of secondary importance, he also stated, “We like to be noticed,” and thus looking like a Vaishnava or Vaishnavi enhances our presence and the demonstration of Krishna Consciousness.

However, when it came to book distribution, Srila Prabhupada exhibited endless tolerance. He did not like hippies looking like hippies anymore, but he approved of devotees distributing books in acceptable disguises, “looking like respectable gentlemen,” as he stated in connection with Prahlada Maharaja being suspected of coming into contact with Vaishnava preachers.

There is no need for fashionable tricks to distribute books, and there is no need to look like clowns when joining harinama (as done by certain sannyasis). Purity is the force behind preaching, not the show we put on.

Thus, devotees may choose their dress when going on the street. Seeing extreme examples on both sides—devotees distributing books in dhoti and kurta at minus twenty degrees Celsius, or looking like someone who just came out of a bar after a good drink—one could likely settle for a compromise. Personally, I started book distribution in 1972 in Germany, where distributing in Vaishnava dress would automatically mean ending up within five minutes in a police station. Naturally, I spent most of my time on sankirtan dressed “like a karmi”. Later it was demonstrated by great book distributors that Vaishnava dress is not at all an obstacle to distribution. Thus, it depends on time, place, and circumstance how one dresses for sankirtan.

Once this is said, the real problem arrives: how does one stop a person walking on the street?

Like a greyish mass of human bodies, people seem to float anonymously down shopping streets, offering little chance to single one out. The first realisation that comes to a sankirtan devotee is how much everyone lives in this world in total anonymity. This is especially visible today, as people walk like zombies with earphones on, disconnected even from the illusions around them, locked into their own virtual worlds.

It is a challenge to draw them out of their isolation and make them ready for a personal encounter. In more pious countries it is easier; in more impious countries one may feel as if running against a wall of impersonalism. That is where the first step toward surrender can be made.

A devotee should know by now that Krishna is present in the heart of every soul we meet, that the guru-parampara is present once we are engaged in its mission, and that we are not alone on the street. The only one who can stop us from engaging in book distribution is ourselves. Most of us spent our lives in a totally isolated state.

I was one of those imploding introverts before joining Srila Prabhupada’s movement—avoiding human contact and living in my own mentally conceived world. Sankirtan made me a human being, ready for human contact with anyone, anywhere. Today I even find myself talking to animals, as they are persons as well. All this happened because sankirtan broke the shell of my conditioning and brought me out of dark confinement into the daylight of Krishna Consciousness. EVERYBODY can do the same—provided one wants to.

And so the first challenge is to GIVE HIM A BOOK.

Usually people passing by have two hands, so it is easy to aim for one of them and, when it comes up, simply drop the book into the palm. Without the person holding the book, there is little use in talking, as he or she will be dragged on by the power of the mind. After all, nobody walks the street searching for a book; people are preoccupied with what to buy and where to go.

We are blocking their path in one way or another, redirecting their minds toward Krishna Consciousness—and it all begins with holding the book. Sometimes we see preachers simply holding pamphlets without giving them to anyone. Such preaching is ineffective. So—GIVE IT TO THEM!

Once the book is in their hand, a fast and intense scenario unfolds. (Those who refuse to stop or hold a book may be instantly dismissed in a well-wishing mood; it is unrealistic to expect everyone to be receptive.)

Here begins the real sankirtan drama. We may have stopped the conditioned soul physically—but how do we stop them mentally and sensually?

At this point, a sankirtan devotee must internally absorb himself in prayer, begging the Lord to empower him to do the impossible. Sankirtan is constant absorption—praying internally while acting externally. Our determination to give Krishna Consciousness must be stronger than their determination to remain in illusion. It is a battle of desires.

One must look into their eyes—the windows to the soul—smile, and pray intensely to “impress them” with Krishna Consciousness.

DO NOT TALK TOO MUCH!

This is a classical mistake any new devotee makes. One thinks oneself to be a preacher, and so one feels one has to talk and “explain” to people so they can understand. It would be nice to preach this way, but unfortunately the reality is different.

People in general are not ready to hear, and their ability to understand spiritual matters is practically zero. As arrogant as it may sound to some, people on the street are moving mostly in an animalistic fashion, totally dominated by their senses and their minds. This is not an environment for a rational approach; sankirtan is happening on another level. It is about “like or not like". Ajnata-sukriti, the absence of awareness of one’s spiritual advancement, is the norm on the street.

Books, prasadam, or the Holy Name come first; understanding comes later. This is the basic principle of sankirtan.

However, if the rare occasion arises and some more interested soul starts to ask relevant questions, one should be able to answer them in a very simple fashion. The street is not a place for long talks and lengthy lectures, let alone agitating arguments. There is no way to “give something to somebody who thinks he already has everything he needs,” said Srila Prabhupada.

We are out there to filter out the potential seekers from the stupidified mass of self-confident consumers. That search requires patience, determination, and tolerance of any abuse or opposition one may face while preaching.

A sankirtan warrior is a strategically moving operative in enemy territory, an undercover agent within the army of Lord Caitanya. He approaches the heavily guarded fortress of the conditioned soul carefully but firmly. The first guards striking the alarm one meets are the senses.

Stunning the senses with one’s total enthusiasm and dedication, one may stop them and redirect them toward oneself and the book. After all, we are not just selling books; we are selling ourselves—totally. That is the real sankirtan mood.

Nothing is mine; everything is Krishna’s—take it.

Once the senses are stunned, the next heavy bodyguard of the conditioned soul comes up: the mind. The mind can be controlled by sound, and so one should speak nicely, with total dedication, without any form of fanaticism. “Nice book for nice people” may sound primitive to some, but that is the platform most people move on. All conditioned souls are sentimental, meaning they are moving on sensual and mental platforms only, without even knowing it.

Once the mind is engaged to think about the sankirtan devotee and the book, the real crooked enemy comes up—the heinous intelligence of the conditioned soul—instantly devising ways to reject the book and avoid the impact of mercy purifying the soul. One should not allow the crooked intelligence to become active, and with great determination, by dint of one’s humility, one should block the false ego in order to be able finally to enter the heart where the soul resides.

All this happens within seconds, and all this is the strategic approach of the truly dedicated sankirtan devotee.

“My dear sir, you are so great, you are so wonderful, you are so powerful and so intelligent. Could you please put your great assets aside for one second and accept the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu?”—this was the only distribution mantra Srila Prabhupada gave us. It sets the sankirtan mood perfectly, and how it is applied depends on local circumstances and the person we are approaching.

Sankirtan is evoking the ultimate form of personalism, and this is the reason why not many can do it. One has to be so personally dedicated that one is, by vocabulary, forcing the conditioned soul—by dint of one’s purity of purpose—to respond personally as well, pulling him or her out of the Mayavada poisonous well in which they are dwelling.

Once the conditioned soul becomes more "soft-hearted", ready actually to take the book, a very sensitive question arises: how much does the book cost?

Money is the honey for any conditioned soul. Removing the last barrier the false ego of the book recipient may provide, one should never state a price, as it may give another reason to reject the book. As we are distributing the books in a selfless manner, in a truly “non-profit” way, we have the right to ask people openly for a donation “so we can print more books.” Mostly our books are sold far under the prices of books in regular shops, so we have nothing to be ashamed of.

One has to simply and politely ask for a donation, and if people, still confused, reach into their wallets, one may at exactly that point say, “Most people give…” This is called the “social pressure mantra".

But there is an even more personal way to ask for money, a way I learned from a wonderful sankirtan devotee lately. One can simply and purely ask, "Give whatever your heart is telling you.” When this is said truly honestly, it is a heavy way to remind people that they have a heart—and that they should use it.

Most people know what books cost, and if they offer a truly small amount, that means they are misers or are trying to cheat a devotee, considering him to be stupid. Such people should be left behind, as there are so many others who may be more able to accept the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The wonderful feature of sankirtan is that there is never a lack of conditioned souls.

One should not become discouraged by opposing elements on the street. We are not out there to collect money, to get rich, or to become famous. That makes us strong and unstoppable. Total dependency on the Supreme Lord is the ultimate strength of a dedicated sankirtan devotee, and this could be illustrated by amazing sankirtan stories based solely on my own subjective experience.

Book distribution may appear as an austere service to those who have not yet tasted the nectar pouring from Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet. The bliss we experienced in this service sometimes prevented us—even at the cost of bodily needs—from stopping and returning to the van parked around the corner.

The books will stay; we, with our mental and sensual handicaps, will move on. One book can change the lives of so many. The books are the preachers; we are their servants. With this understanding, one can easily maintain detachment from the results and rise above the level of one’s own conditioning. Sankirtan can raise us to places we could not even dream about.

As Srila Prabhupada writes to devotees reporting to him during a fierce book distribution marathon how their desire to go back home, back to Godhead, is increasing: “You do not have to go back home, back to Godhead—you are already there.”

All this is a question of personal realisation, and such realisations come to a serious sankirtan devotee in abundance. One day or one week on book distribution brings realisations that cannot be obtained even by months or years of residence in the holy dham.

The real “retreat” for a sankirtan devotee is his attack on his own and others’ conditioned ignorance by studying and disseminating Srila Prabhupada’s books. Any devotional service is of an absolute spiritual nature, but those who distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books find themselves in a “fast-speed seminar of self-realisation". As Srila Prabhupada wrote to me, those who spread Krishna’s glories are especially blessed by the Lord.

All glories to the Sankirtan devotees!
May I remain in their service for the next ten thousand years!