Tattva-viveka
- T H E - B H A K T I - B O O K - I S - H E R E -
Krsangi Dasi - July 20, 2006 12:47 pm
Remember to read the small print too!
Kamalaksa Das - July 20, 2006 12:49 pm
Krishangi and I visited my grandmother a few days ago who had just returned from a prolonged visit at the hospital. And while it's probably not of great interest for the audience of Tattva-viveka, what follows might well be so.
For as grandma needed assistence in adapting to life in freedom in comparison to the controlled hospital environment a bunch of us relatives took turns in helping her come to terms with being at home. And as we had done our duty it was time for my aunt and her husband to take over. Now you should understand that neither had ever shown any interest towards the path of devotion or any kind of spirituality for that matter.
But then we always have proudly shown granny any and all of the publications we have produced. So also our new bhakti-book was presented to her. And though she rarely has understood much of our efforts she has nonetheless always been very supporting, endorsing our products to all her friends. So also this time.
For immediately when our relatives came to relieve us from our duties grandma quickly commanded Krishangi to show them the new book. (Something I wouldn't have done, as our efforts in cases such as this more often than not are met only with bad jokes or even ridicule.) But, as commanded, Krishangi handed the book to Kaj, the man in the family. He then sat down in the rocking chair and started reading. And kept reading. All while we cleaned up our stuff, washed the dishes and packed our gear. He just kept reading, occasionally laughing at the cartoons, occasionally commenting the text itself.
I found it especially endearing to hear him pronounce the foreign words, such as dandavat pranamas, working hard to figure out the diacritics. Finding great pleasure in my version of the dandavats. (Sorry, you'll just have to get the book to figure this one out...)
In the end I think he sat for two hours reading the book, and praising it after finishing it. He said that it gave a really good glimpse into the world of bhakti for someone completely unfamiliar with the subject matter. Balanced with Krishangi's cartoons, which he found, in his own words, peppery. Meaning they didn't lack punch, while still treating the tradition with utmost respect. And those who have met us Finns know that praise such as this doesn't come cheap!
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I later spoke with Bhrigu about this, and he said that one thing he thought made the book easy to approach for the general populace - apart from the palatable form - was its unchallenging nature.
The little book of Bhakti-yoga doesn't challenge the reader in the same sense that many of our books do. (And I am not saying that challenging is a fault in any way. But if we see our Gaudiya literature as the medicine for the world, we could see this little book as the list of ingredients for that medicine, for those who wish to know what the medicine contains. If not for anything else then to check that it desn't contain gelatine or some other harmful substance. So both are needed.)
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And yes, this has been shameless selfpromotion. But all the same, also a true incident which for sure is not an isolated one.
So ask yourself, wouldn't it be nice for once to have your relatives understand what you are about?
If you answered yes, you know which book to buy. (We are awaiting your orders...)
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - July 20, 2006 12:55 pm
So what is the wholesale price? And how do we pay?
Bhrigu - July 20, 2006 2:08 pm
Some more shameless self-promotion: I took ten copies of the book with me to Edinburgh recently and showed them to different devotees. Many liked it, and especially so one Sacisuta Dasi from Switzerland who ended up buying almost all the books for distributing them at a summer camp they have over there. She was especially impressed by the graphics of the book (you have to see the inner cover!) and said that she would have bought the books just for that... But she also liked the text and the comics.
Kamalaksa Das - July 20, 2006 2:19 pm
Nanda-tanuja,
thank you for your interest. We truly appreciate it.
About payment:
For those ordering one or a few copies and residing in the states I would suggest asking Guru-nistha about prices and availability; we gave Audarya a box of books.
For those in Europe, please write kaisa@absolutetruthpress.com
As for wholesale:
Different methods of payment are possible:
A. By paypal. (We still need to check out a few things in this regard, but should have it sorted out by next week. Anyone interested please drop us a line.)
B. By Visa. Please write for details.
About prices:
In our ad we stated the price to be 20 dollars or 15 euros. When ordering 10 or more books we can sell them at 2/3 of this price (roughly 14 dollars, 10 euros) . Orders on 25 + books sell for 1/2 price, 10 dollars, 7.5 euros.
For those ordering larger quantities to the States I would like to propose that we look into the possibility to have the books delivered by some courier to Audarya or a nearby post office, so that all the money won't go to cover shipping. Sending things from Finland to the States can be surprisingly expencive. (Haripriya might be coming over there in a foreseeable future, as might Tadiya.) But we will look into this and return as we have any news.
If you have any questions, please write us. We'll be glad to help!
Shyam Gopal Das - July 22, 2006 1:03 pm
Guerilla Marketing:
Bhrigu - July 22, 2006 3:10 pm
That's cool, Syamagopal! Too bad the book is not on the ATP website yet... 
And Kamalaksa, why didn't you post the alternative ad? I really liked the hairstyle of that stunning male model.
Shyam Gopal Das - July 22, 2006 3:21 pm
no but they'll find the contact info. I didn't wanted to make Krsangi's email address public, causing spam etc.
and yeah i'm curious about the alternative ad now!!