Dear Guru Maharaj,
Pamho agtSP!
Ok, I didn't know where to find your reply to my report. The situation with my recommendation is explained in my other letter. Svavasa prabhu has probably been too busy with the marathon to reply right away, we kept on until New Years!
In LA, we've been finding book tables very successful lately. People respect us more, take more books, and give bigger donations. It takes less of a toll psychologically, so I'm thankful. Svavasa prabhu has big plans for next year, and I'm looking forward to helping out. There's other strategies I'd like to try eventually but I'm indebted to New Dwarka. Ideally I would like to bring in another 10 brahmacaris more qualified than myself before moving on (if I ever do), so I've been thinking about how to accomplish this.
Meanwhile: If you were curious, most of us use American clothes on sankirtan. I just got some nice new threads from a thrift store but I try to keep it simple. Two pairs of temple clothes two pairs of sankirtan clothes. It's funny you mentioned Clint Eastwood; I usually go business casual with a straw hat, and devotees say I look like him. Sometimes I showdown with my roommate, Prema Sankirtan.
Let me think of one short story: A few days ago I was at Santa Monica Pier. An older fellow who took a book from me the day before asked me to tell him more about the Bhagavad Gita. So I said something like "The Bhagavad Gita is the most widely read classic on eastern philosophy; it's the climax of the Mahabharata, which is the most expansive epic in ancient history. It's 8x the length of the Iliad and the Oddysey combined and forms the substrate of a very sophisticated ancient civilization. This was a favorite of Albert Einstein, Schopenhauer, Voltaire, Gandhi..." Just then another gentleman approached, so I explained to him "You may have heard of this one, it's called Bhagavad Gita. It's basically the original encyclopedia on yoga. It gives a whole overview of this ancient culture of transcendence. Basically it teaches that real happiness doesn't come from material things, it comes from inside the soul." He asked me "are you a Hare Krsna?" And I replied that I was a monk from the local temple. He said he always wanted to chant with us in London so I invited him over. He asked me if I read the book and I explained how it completely changed my life. He gave a donation looking very satisfied and went away, so I finished up with the initial conversation. I told him "There are over 600 translations of Bhagavad Gita and this is the most widely read edition around the world. This has Sanskrit transliteration, English, commentary, and it explains how this has been understood and practiced within the tradition going back to the original author." I showed him the pictures of Prabhupada and Vyasadeva. It's like a user's guide so it enables you to take this knowledge and do something with it in your life. I glorified Prabhupada a bit and explained about how it was a multigenerational, international project. He gave another donation and went away with a big smile. Wished him a happy new year, said "May the Source be with you!"
My style is that I tend to focus on quality over quantity. I'm not that funny or charismatic, but I'm kind of a nerd, so I can get into it a little with people if they're on the level. I've been discussing with my sankirtan leader (Brghupati Prabhu) about trying a more focused approach here in LA for a while. I've heard that Svavasa prabhu is less enthusiastic about the traveling program lately because it is expensive, and it's a challenging austerity for newer devotees. The current temple commander just changed ashrams and he's spread a little thin, maybe I could assist him. I've been dealing with some pretty intense depression symptoms lately so I think being near the temple for a while might be good for me. (It's something I've had practically my whole life. Although I haven't been medicated in years and I've gotten much better, I'm still not completely liberated yet.) My idea is to choose one or two schools and go there every single day with another devotee, set up a table, and have little prasad for people to take, and Kirtan at the end. I want to establish relationships, meet professors, start Bhakti clubs, turn people on to some of our projects, and hopefully make tons of new sankirtan devotees.
Ys,
Bhakta Eric
HpS - Thank you so much for the letter. We suffer from depression symptoms. Any sane person in the material world does, no? Of course, Radharani also has depression symptoms, no?
Your report sounds great. I got the other letter also. Yes, the Annual Report goes into a specific box, I think you sent it there later, then our response to that is not published, but your report didn't strike us at all as private. It was very nice example. The more we see the faces of other devotees, the more we become inspired.
Your plans sound great.
Just seems you have to stay in touch with local friends etc and you can see what plans are clear, no?
It is 3.37AM. One big letter done to India, 8-rounds, TLC, now bath and Puja.
Tomorrow we are being carried away to India.
