Haribol! Spring cleaning time at my apartment and I need to make some room. I tend to "rescue" Vaisnava books from used book stores, library sales, etc, and here's a mini-batch that I would like to sell. The money will go right to Audarya. Below is what I'm offering; I'm selling it as a "lot"; no picking and choosing. All books are in great shape and Vol. 3 of Brhad-Bhagavatamrta alone is $35 on Krsna.com. Make a paypal donation for $45 to Audarya and email me proof along with your shipping address.
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Yoga For The New Millennium – Tamal Krsna Goswami – BBT, 1989.
Hare Krishna In America – E. Burke Rochford, Jr. – Rutgers Press, 1985.
Bhagavad-Gita As It Is – Srila Prabhupada – BBT West Germany, 1983. (Hardback)
Reason & Belief, Problem Solving in the Philosophy of Religion – Tamal Krsna Goswami – Pundits Press, 1987.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu – Bhakti Vikasa Swami – Sri Gaura Nitai Publishers, India 2003.
The Story of Rasikananda; Based on Sri Sri Rasika-mangala by Gopijanavallabha dasa – Bhakti Vikasa Swami – published in India in 1997.
Suddha Bhakti; The Path of Pure Devotion – Swami B.V. Tirtha Maharaja – Mandala Publishing, 2000.
Hari Bhakti Kalpa Latika – Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur – Touchstone Media, 2000.
A Transcendental Diary Vol. 3; Travels with Srila Prabhupada (June 1976 – August 1976) – Hari Sauri Dasa – HS Books/Lotus Imprints, 1994.
Festivals With Srila Prabhupada – Prabhupada’s Lectures on Vaisnava Holy Days – compiled by the BBT, 1989.
Sri Brhad-Bhagavatamrta of Srila Sanatana Goswami Vol. 3 – Gopiparanadhana Dasa – BBT, 2005.
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I'll cover the shipping (domestic) and you should have it in a week or so! Should a devotee from outside the states make the purchase, email me at ahimsa16@gmail.com and we'll chat further.
Thanks,
J
When I used to see Vaisnava books in used book stores etc .,I would buy them thinking it a rare find. Then I began to think(unless it was something I didn't have or couldn't get somewhere else),that it would be better to leave them there so someone else may find it. Leaving them there could possibly rescue someone from illusion rather than rescueing the book,whatever that means. Taking those books out of circulation is sort of like reverse book distribution.Just a thought.
9 times out of 10, I would just get the books and send a package to the ISKCON Prison Ministry so that they could then disperse them to inmates who've actually requested books. I think that I was more removing them from dusty shelves and re-distributing them. Giving them another shot at being read....and, since it doesn't look like anyone is interested in this group of books, that's what I'll do with these as well.
I like your idea of getting the books off used-bookstore shelves, especially if they've been there for a while, and sending them to ISKCON's Prison Ministry. I knew some of the devotees working with that project, and it's pretty cool.
And suprisingly, there are a lot of advanced devotees locked up who love to get some of the more esoteric books. Mother Shyama Priya from San Diego (now in Alachua) works tirelessly to assist inmates. I still actually correspond with a few inmates and send them books and letters from time to time. My heart really goes out to some of them....
there are a lot of advanced devotees locked up
Did most of them become devotees in jail?
In the time I spent with the ISKCON Prison Ministry (IPM), we (myself and about 10 other devotees across the country) were sending out hundreds and hundreds of books to various institutions. A few Prabhupada disciples from New Vrindavan, who were quite well off financially, started a separate endeavor (getting books to inmates) and they alone were getting thousands of books into facilities. I know that there are IPM branches in India too.
Quite a few correctional facilities in the states, at the behest of inmates and the IPM, started providing better vegetarian meals and in the case of one facility in Washington state, they have radios built into the cell walls where every Sunday, inmates can tune into a station and hear Srila Prabhupada's lectures!
I would say that most of the inmates were introduced to the philosophy while incarcerated. Maybe they stumbled across a Bhagavad-Gita in the prison library or there was someone else who introduced them to the books, but they would start to write the IPM and Candrasekhara das (who heads it all up) would read their letters and send out packages to me me in Chicago with their address and what he thought they should get, based on the letters they wrote. If they were very smart; inclined towards the philosophy, we'd send them several books, or maybe just more advanced books.
Those who were really serious would write him a lot and then he's forward their info to us to penpal with them (I did that a lot). I swear, a large portion of the letters that I received were from quite serious devotees; people who had seen the very dregs of life and decided to get back on track! Many were incarcerated for dumb offenses like getting caught smoking weed for the 3rd time...."three strikes you're out." Others were in there for more serious offenses. They often got really open with us and we had to try to see them as "changed persons" as opposed to murderers and such. It was really sad....but pretty cool at the same time.
Many prisons now have full Bhagavatam sets and there are Bhagavad-Gita study groups. I wrote with Chaplains and arranged to get many devotees japa beads (most weren't allowed to have them, but some were in minimal security situations).
To get more to your question....prabhu, you would be VERY, VERY, VERY surprised just how many initiated devotees are incarcerated. I know of at least 15 or so Prabhupada disciples that are locked up for various things. Some were just careless, some were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. Others really "flipped" and did some atrocious things. I guess we're all incarcerated in the material world, but these devotees have it really hard. Some of the real serious, practicing devotees eat plain pasta and beans every day for the rest of their lives, they follow a morning program strictly, they have make-shift altars in their cells (I've seen pictures that would break your heart). They will take a picture of Krsna and take sheets of loose-leaf paper and do some crafty oragami and make these frames and fake flowers and fake bowls that they will put raisins in to offer (many can't have ANYTHING in their cells). They are on waiting lists to get permission to get to the prison library to have another book to checkout. Some would write to request that I xerox sections of various books because vandals have ruined/torn up existing books.
Those who can't have beads will chant on their fingers or knotted pieces of sheets. One devotee who was incarcerated, who was an artist, did these amazingly realistic pencil sketches of Krsna and Prabhupada and would send them to Candrasekhara to use in the IPM newsletters. His art was also used in a prison preaching book published by some devotees in India as well. He used to get beat up daily for chanting and thugs would destroy his drawings.
Man.....I didn't mean to get into all of this.....it's really heart-breaking for me. I feel for those people. Anyway, IPM is a really great group of devotees who would love to do more, but financially it's hard for them.
So, Nanda....yes, plenty of incarcerated devotees are initiated. Many are Prabhupada disciples too.
J.
Nice service! Thanks for telling us a bit about it. It seems to have been a service you really took to heart. Sri Sri Gaura-Nityananda are certainly Patita-pavana, and Their devotees are even more so.