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“Our Most Important Activity” 7
and absolute, naturally this book advocates that devotees distribute books
full-time, part-time, or any time. It is most desirable that somehow or other
all members of ISKCON individually taste the unique nectar of distributing
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. Let the devotees go out more often with increasing
enthusiasm, knowledge and expertise! Let the transcendental distribution of
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books expand all over the world!
1.2 Saṅkīrtana and book distribution
Congregational chanting: the spiritual process for this age
“O son of Mahārāja Nanda, I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or
other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from
this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet.”
(Śikṣāṣṭakam 5)
In this verse Lord Caitanya hints at the real purpose of the material world:
It’s created to give the fallen souls a place to reform. That’s why Śrī Kṛṣṇa
descends and why He sends His representatives and why the scriptures
are there: to show the way back to Godhead. Lord Caitanya descended to
introduce the yuga-dharma, the process of spiritual life for this age, which
is the saṅkīrtana-yajña, the congregational chanting of the holy names of
the Lord. This will now be illustrated with statements by Śrīla Prabhupāda;
and additional statements will demonstrate that book distribution is the
means to establish the yuga-dharma. All this will serve to explain why
Śrīla Prabhupāda called book distribution “our most important activity.”
Let us invoke auspiciousness by reading the words of Śrīla Prabhupāda,
the founder-ācārya of ISKCON, which convey the ideal mood of book
distribution and provide a common ground for deepening our meditation
on accomplishing Lord Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana mission.
(a) Purpose of the material world
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.5.24 p: The Lord wanted to create the cosmic
manifestation to give another chance to the conditioned souls who were
dormant in forgetfulness. The cosmic manifestation gives the conditioned
souls a chance to go back home, back to Godhead, and that is its main
purpose. The Lord is so kind that in the absence of such a manifestation He
feels something wanting, and thus the creation takes place. … The whole
process is to enliven the sleeping conditioned souls to the real life of spiritual
consciousness so that they may thus become as perfect as the ever-liberated
souls in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas. Since the Lord is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, He