Srila Prabhupada said:This spiritual potency is the essence of the pleasure potency and the eternity potency. By these two potencies, one is empowered with devotional service. Lord Krsna Himself or His representative, the unalloyed devotee, can mercifully bestow these combined potencies upon any man. Being thus endowed with such potencies, one can become an unalloyed devotee of the Lord. Anyone favoured by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is empowered with this bhakti-sakti. Thus the Lords followers are able to preach Krsna consciousness by divine grace. It was spiritual potency, not material ability or motivation, which was inducing the devotees to push themselves so determinedly. They were receiving direct inspiration, actual empowerment from Lord Krsna Himself and His pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada. Everything was being done by the pleasure potency of the Lord. There was no need of salaries, bonuses, or any other artificial inducement. Devotees were feeling transcendental ecstasy in performing sankirtana, and that was in itself more than sufficient reward. While shopping centre managers and sales personnel longed for Christmas to be over, the devotees wished that it would never end, that they might go on distributing Prabhupadas books ever increasingly. The pleasure they experienced by distributing Prabhupadas books was incomparable with anything they had ever known in the material world. Typical was the ecstasy of the New York devotees, as related by their sankirtana leader:We broke open the storehouse of love of Godhead right on the streets of Manhattan, giving rise to the most amazing transcendental distribution of His Divine Graces Krsna book trilogies ever witnessed in the history of ISKCON. The charge was led by Jaya dasa brahmacari, who in six days distributed no less than 4,127 books. Dressed in a Santa Claus suit, Jaya would dance and twirl down Fifth Avenue, shouting Weve got what you cant buy for all the diamonds in Tiffanys-love of Godhead!!! Come and take, just give a donation. This is the Cause of all Causes! At other times he would stand behind trilogies stacked up to his chin and distribute in that way. And yet at other times he would just run around laughing like a madman. In either case, wherever he went, huge crowds would gather, grabbing for books and giving donations. As a grand finale he distributed the Santa suit right off his back for twice its cost.Kirtideva dasa brahmacari on Wednesday distributed 24 cases of trilogies. His lines were Bhagavad Gita verses in Sanskrit and prayers from the Brahma-Samhita. Sometimes he would yell Radha-Govinda! Radha-Govinda! at the top of his lungs, drawing crowds, who would then take books and give donations- tasting the ecstasy of love of Godhead. Dressed as Santa he went into one bank and practically threw himself on the floor, shouting Haribol! Haribol! And people threw five and ten dollar bills into his collection can.Outside Macys department store 75 cases of trilogies were stockpiled, while two devotees opened cases, five others distributed, and through Krsnas mercy they were all distributed. Those opening the cases of books couldnt keep up with the distributors. There were so many people that one was unable to see the street. Devotees were shouting, Here it is right from the lotus mouth of Srila Vyasadeva! We have been waiting five thousand years for this, and now here it is -- KRSNA BOOK!!! Especially made for Kali-yuga! And people were saying, Oh, Krsna book! Give me one and let me have one to give as a gift. Everywhere there was a sea of hands reaching out for books. It was like feeding starving masses. It was incredible -- SIMPLY INCREDIBLE!Devotees benedicted the world-famous New York City subway system with oceans of trilogies. Two devotees dressed as Santa would enter a car from opposite ends and run toward each other, laughing and bouncing off each others bellies. The car would be in an uproar with laughter, and everybody would be reaching for donations. Even the police seemed to be cooperative. One even hushed a car so that a dhoti-clad devotee could make his announcement. Afterwards the policeman asked, Where is your Santa suit?One devotee dressed in a Santa outfit got a donation from a Salvation Army Santa, who told him, You guys are the best Santas I have ever seen. He took a Krsna book.By midnight the devotees made a run on Rockefeller Centre and St. Patricks Cathedral, where the traffic was bumper to bumper. Lord Caitanyas mercy was truly manifest in the body of one temple guest who suited up in a Santa outfit with the devotees and went out in the ten-degree weather! The scene was so ecstatic that we must simply quote the words of Bhaktivinoda dasa brahmacari: I was struck with wonder at the mercy of Lord Caitanya. KRSNA BOOKS were everywhere. Fifth Avenue looked like a river of nectar.Biographies and Glorifications of Srila Prabhupada-Servant of the Servant-The Radha Damodara Party-The Sankirtana Tidal Wave-Tamala Krsna Goswami
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 08:43:59 +0000
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