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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
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