Book distribution marathon!

Where to begin?!
On January 11 I left the asrama and headed to the Indian state of Sikkim with 4 other female devotees for book distribution. It is such an amazing experience to give back what I've been given. It's not always easy, in fact, it can be really scary and difficult but always in the end the spark of love in my heart pushes me forward and urges me to serve. For the first week in Sikkim we had a book stall in the annual mela (fair) of Jorethang. It was such a success. We had so many people being drawn into the stall buying transcendental books and asking deep questions. Every person you meet is a pure soul on a journey and it's always a joy to experience the difference in each of us, where we're coming from and how we come together. Everyone was definitely aware of our presence in the town and we felt happy to be there. We had classes in the mornings and in the evenings house programs with interested families.
After the mela we headed to Darjeeling because we had met a young man who invited us to come have a program with his family. We had the opportunity to set up another book stand for a day. Darjeeling turned out to be such a merciful experience. In the two days we were there we happened to meet two people who took initiation (of hari-nama, the maha mantra) from Gurudeva by phone. The way we are guided to people always inspires me. In the short time I've been distributing books I have been fortunate enough to experience the mysticism of meeting the right people at the right time, all by Guru's arrangement. When a meeting like this occurs I feel as though this person was just waiting for devotees to appear. In the case of one man who took initiation he told us he had met devotees, had read much literature, and already had the transformation of Krsna consciousness but he didn't have a guru. He had been praying to Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada for a pure Guru. Srila Swami Prabhupada is the God-brother of our Gurudeva.

In the 1960's it was Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhubpada who came to the west and introduced the Maha-mantra.It was by his Guru's order that he went to deliver the western countries and by his grace that now God Consciousness is all over the world. When I sit in class here in India, I am surrounded by representatives from every corner of the world. Srila Prabhupada brought Krsna consciousness and now because of the transcendental holy name being sung and spoken throughout the world, souls everywhere are being benefited. At the same time, the Guru and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are so merciful they want everyone to have the holy names without any qualification. Can you imagine, Srila Swami Prabhupada took a boat and came completely alone to NYC. He sat in the park singing the holy names, having no money, and he was already in his 70's. Imagine being one of the first to see such a sadhu (saint)in such a context for the first time. Jaya Prabhupada!

Another young man took initiation in Darjeeling. It was as if he had really been waiting for us to arrive, everything happened so quickly and smoothly. He was asking the most amazing questions and very eager to begin chanting. Instantly he has taken to chanting 16 rounds a day. I can't explain to others how mystical this process of preaching and book distributing is. It is also very personally enriching of my own faith.
It really puts karma and reincarnation into perspective. To meet this young man who has known Radha-Krsna his entire life, and whose father is a priest at the small Radha-Krsna temple, everything is so natural for him and I feel so blessed to witness it. A shift in consciousness is necessary, from where I'm seeing things now, I can see how he has worked for his position. Where I am awkward in my prayer and practice, he has such a natural and inherent sense of devotion. By his previous past pious deeds his soul has entered a family in which instantly he was conditioned closer to the truth rather than so far away, in my own case. This is not to say we should make such external assumptions about the soul's journey. Only I am inspired by his life.

When we left Sikkim and came back to Vrndavan we only had a couple days before we left with another group on another distribution adventure to Haridwar for the Kumbha mela, the great pot festival. In which devotees come to collect Ganga water and take her to another place of pilgrimage. This is the biggest religious gathering in the world. Technically the one which happens every 144 years is the biggest, and I believe the one we attended is every 4 years. Pilgrims from everywhere are coming to bathe in Ganga's holy waters at the most auspicious time. Even I had the chance! It was beyond description.

The puja (worship) of Ganga-devi here in Haridwar is the most beautiful I've ever seen. I will get photos on here when I have them. We managed to distribute 17 boxes of books in less than a week. Our last two days were full and left us in utter bliss. By the end of the last day we wouldn't let anyone walk past us without approaching them.

A few of us also spent half of our time in the nearby town of Rishikesh. It's such a beautiful nice place that we had the chance to relax from all the travel and stroll along Ganga. We also managed to meet very interested and interesting people in Rishikesh. There were so many divine synchronicities in our meetings. In such a short time of being there we met so many interested westerners, which in my experience usually isn't the case. We even had the chance to do a program which turned out to be a great success. While book distributing it's so exciting to get to meet so many people, I love meeting people, and I love always having on top of my head the goal of sharing Krsna with others.

All I can say is I feel blessed day by day to be here. We're heading out tomorrow for Navadvipa parikrama. Thousands upon thousands of devotees will be there and I hear it's the most ecstatic kirtan experience I'll ever have. I'll be letting you know.