770116R2.CAL

Ramesvara: This is a very bad picture. It makes the devotee look very strange. And they have this elaborate ghee holder.

Prabhupada: This is our men?

Ramesvara: Yes. This is at an arati. You can see the donations that people have put on the tray. But it makes it look very strange, this picture, with the lighting. They have deliberately selected this.

Prabhupada: Very big article.

Ramesvara: Yes. Yes. I have just been reading it.

Hari-sauri: What newspaper is that?

Ramesvara: It's a very small-time newspaper called the Soho Weekly News.

Prabhupada: Bad propaganda is going on.

Gargamuni: Some good, some bad.

Prabhupada: Yes. There are two. Any movement will have such.

Gargamuni: I have mentioned this morning about Basumati [Daily Bengali newspaper from Calcutta] sub-editor, Mr. Mukha Suddhi, that he was considering becoming a devotee. So I told him you were here, so he immediately came tonight. He's waiting now.

Prabhupada: Oh. So then bring him. That's all right.

Ramesvara: So I can read this and summarize it...

Prabhupada: Later on.

Ramesvara: ...if there is anything interesting. But this is something that's nice.

[break] ...this one first. This is the total sales.

Prabhupada: [Transl. See, how many books we have sold. This is the report.]

Ramesvara: For the year 1976. It lists... The first section lists all the Caitanya-caritamrtas title by title, all seventeen volumes. So last year we sold 55,000 copies of Caitanya-caritamrta.

Prabhupada: All parts.

Ramesvara: Yes. Then it lists the Bhagavatams. We sold 7,000 volume one, First Canto; 46,000 First Canto, volume two; 41,000 First Canto, volume three; 6,000 2.1's; 8,500 5.1's; 8,500 5.2's; 17,000 6.1's; 16,000 6.2's; 16,000 6.3's; 45,000 7.1, Prahlada Maharaja; 15,000 7.2; 16,000 7.3; 16,000 8.1; and 15,000 8.2. Total Srimad-Bhagavatam sales in English last year, 275,000 hardbound volumes. Then Bhagavad-gita. Macmillan edition, 5,000; then the abridged edition, paper bound, 11,000. Then the abridged edition, hardbound... [laughter]

Prabhupada: Choking.

Ramesvara: 606,000 hardbound volumes, for a total sale of Bhagavad-gita last year in English, not counting what was printed in India, 622,000 hardbound volumes. Then Krsna book, hardbound: 28,000 volume one; 12,000 volume two; 12,000 volume three; making a total of Krsna book hardbound sold of 51,000 hardbound volumes. Then Krsna trilogies, paper bound: 17,000 volume one; 19,000 volume two; 24,000 volume three; making a total of 60,000 Krsna trilogies. Then 6,000 Teachings of Lord Caitanya, 7,000 Nectar of Devotion, 160,000 Sri Isopanisad, 100,000 Nectar of Instruction, 253,000 Easy Journey to Other Planets...

Prabhupada: This is the largest sale. [chuckling]

Ramesvara: ...487,000 Perfection of Yoga; 263,000 ; 10,000 cook books, Hare Krsna cook books; 4,000 Gopal coloring books; and just under 7,000..., excuse me, 7,000,000 Back to Godhead magazines. Now, the total magazines, almost 7,000,000. Total small books like Perfection of Yoga, Easy Journey is 740,000. Total medium books like Krsna trilogy, Sri Isopanisad is 319,000. Total books like cook books, Krsna Consciousness Is Authorized, other titles: 280,000. Then total hardbound books: 1,007,000. So the total literatures sold last year is 9,076,280 literatures. Nine million.

Prabhupada: [Transl. Can you organize like this here?]

Gargamuni: It's only English.

Ramesvara: This is just English.

Prabhupada: [Transl. Apart from that] French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese. [Transl. In our India…This is India's treasury. If you can organize to give one book each to every Indian, I am prepared to give you anything you want. If outside India, who are neither Indians nor Hindus, can take so many literaures, then how much potency is there in India.]

News editor: [Transl. Sure.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. They took. All the universities have taken. All the libraries are taking. They are placing standing orders. So many things can be done. Through the distribution of literature, preaching will expand more. Good people will read and understand how valuable this is.]

News editor: [Transl. Actually we have to learn a few things like we have a reginal language here apart from English. So the demand for English language is rather less. It's sixty percent only.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. No, almost all educated people read English.]

News editor: [Transl. Yes. Educated circle will read. But the number of educated persons are…]

Prabhupada: [Transl. …less.]

News editor: [Transl. Much less.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. We have translated them into Hindi. Recently at Kumbha- mela we sold about 100,000 literatures at least. We just made an estimate. Daily we sold about eight to fifteen thousand books. So there are plenty of oppurtunities here to organize. Therefore if you want we will provide you good place or any other facility you want, if you can organize.] We want. [Transl. In foreign countries we are selling five to six lakhs rupees worth of books every day. So here I am planning to sell books five to six lakhs rupees every month. Daily that much is impossible. Not impossible, might also be possible.]

News editor: [Transl. It won't be possible. How will it be possible?]

Prabhupada: [Transl. So we need manpower to organize this.]

News editor: Okay.

Prabhupada: [Transl. We are ready to provide any facility one needs if he wants to do it.]

News editor: Okay.

Prabhupada: [Transl. We have got so much work to do. This is not anything sentimental. Just like Transcendental Meditation, "close your eyes and sit down." Nobody can understand. Do all nonsense stealthily. We have no such things. Ours is science. Otherwise, are these Europeans and Americans so foolish? They understand that there is substance in it. It not sentimental, or some kind of cheating like producing gold out of nothing.]

News editor: [Transl. Sentimental means emotional.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Only fools do such things.]

News editor: [Transl. How to organize this in all India basis?]

Prabhupada: [Transl. It it already organized. We have the materials, these standard literatures, and we have organizers. They meet] person to person. Huge organization. [Transl. We have got around 300 to 350 salesmen.]

News editor: [Transl. That we can do from here. That can be done from ISKCON. Either from ISKCON or individually it can be done.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. I am prepared provided there is a competent man to organize.]

News editor: [Transl. An independent body can be formed to do that as well, as if publishers, book sellers and so on.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Yes. We have our B.B.T.] Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. [Transl. To set up a nice office and organize it. I am trying to look for a house here just to set up an office and do our work like maintaining] stock, distribution, salesmen control. [Transl. Just like any other organization. I am ready to do it.]

News editor: [Transl. All right.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. And also a Daily Paper. We have to educate people in general. This Russion philosophy, they have nothing concrete, no substance but simply by propaganda they put up something. We have got asset.] We have got substance.

News editor: [Transl. But to distribute that substance some publicity is necesary. Some kind of propaganda is required.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Yes. All that has to be done. If we get people we will do it.] So it is very encouraging, this report.

Indian guest: Sure, sure.

Prabhupada: What else?

Ramesvara: Now the next two reports. First of all, for the month of December there's the ratings for the whole Society. So in the top ten, number one was New York, Radha-Damodara, with $170,000.

News editor: [Transl. When should I come back again?]

Prabhupada: [Transl. You inquire from them.]

News editor: [Transl. I would like to read some of your books.]

Prabhupada: [Transl. Oh yes.] Give him some book to read.

Gargamuni: Where's the Bhagavad-gita?

Prabhupada: Yes.

Indian guest: I should have some basic knowledge about.

Prabhupada: [Transl. Simply by reading] Bhagavad-gita you will have basic knowledge.

News editor: [Transl. I take your leave.]

Prabhupada: Hmm

Ramesvara: Number two was Los Angeles, with $87,000. Number three was Berkeley with $85,000. Number four was San Diego, $62,000; Caracas, 60,000; Brazil and England tied-$48,000; Germany 33,000; Denver 32,000; and Pittsburgh 30,000. And the medium temples weren't so outstanding, but the small temple, Houston, little Houston, $25,000. They only have about twelve men. I cannot understand how hard they worked to do this; very hard. Plus it shows Gurukrpa's donation, ISKCON food relief donation. Then the outstanding zones for the month. Number one is Tamala Krsna, with $200,000. Number two was my zone. Actually it's your zone, but you've made me manage it a little. $182,000. Very close to beating him. [Prabhupada chuckles] Actually, I have noticed that if the West Coast was not divided this year into two zones... Formerly it was just one zone. All Berkeley..., it was one zone. Now it is two zones. So I noticed that if it had not been divided, then every month the West Coast would have been number one. [laughs]

Prabhupada: Combined together.

Ramesvara: Yes. Then Hrdayananda was number three, with $155,000. That is very good for Latin America.

Prabhupada: Oh, yes.

Ramesvara: And number four was the northwest West Coast-that's the other half of the West Coast-with $122,000. Then fifth was Jayatirtha, with $89,000, which is very good for three temples.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Ramesvara: So the next thing is the entire year-the ratings for the whole year. So number one for zones is Tamala Krsna-$1,000,000 for the whole year. Number two was the area that I have: Los Angeles, Denver and San Diego-$762,000. Number three was Balavanta-$476,000. And number four was the other half of the West Coast-$464,000. You can see that if you put the West Coast as one, it would have been $1,200,000 to Tamala Krsna's $1,000,000. [laughs] But anyway, it's been divided, so he has won. So he's also... New York temple is number one among temples, and his zone is number one among zones. So he has set the whole standard for the whole movement in book distribution.

Prabhupada: All brahmacari and sannyasi.

Ramesvara: My zone is all grhasthas, [laughs] with a few brahmacaris. Anyway, next year we can beat Tamala Krsna. [Prabhupada chuckles] He has only beaten us by a few hundred thousand dollars.

Prabhupada: [laughs] But don't tell now.

Ramesvara: Or it may be ruined.

Prabhupada: He may be very careful.

Ramesvara: I think we should send him a congratulations letter.

Prabhupada: [laughing] Yes. You send.

Ramesvara: I'll send him.

Prabhupada: [laughing] Yes. To entice him.

Ramesvara: Because he is... This is his main...

Prabhupada: Actually, in the beginning, for increasing the sale, Tamala Krsna gave the impetus. He was selling best in San Francisco. Then went from... What is that? We were printing in the beginning? What is that press called?

Ramesvara: ISKCON Press?

Prabhupada: No, no. I purchased some hand press?

Ramesvara: Letterpress?

Prabhupada: No that, it has got special name. I forget now. I purchased two presses, $150.

Hari-sauri: Mimeograph.

Prabhupada: Mimeograph. Ha, ha, ha. So we were selling about five hundred copies, and gradually... But still, Tamala Krsna was selling almost major portion. Then I asked Brahmananda that "Why not print?" So he took quotation from different printers, and Dai Nippon, we gave them, printing, this Teachings of Lord Caitanya. So he took quotation, ten cent per copy. But they want twenty thousand. So we were selling about one thousand, and it is a question of twenty thousand. So I consulted Tamala in San Francisco. So he gave me some encourage. I asked Brahmananda, "Yes, print twenty thousand." So [chuckles] from five hundred to twenty thousand-great jump. Somehow or other, it began like that. Now what we are printing per month?

Ramesvara: What? Hardbound books?

Prabhupada: No, no, this Back to Godhead.

Ramesvara: 750,000. It is averaging like that.

Prabhupada: So the first attempt was only 20,000. I calculated. Anyway, Krsna is giving us all facility. Let us utilize it to the best of our capacity. We have no other ambition. We want to see that everyone may accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead and be happy. This is our mission. We have no other ambition, not to make any cost-profit. But when we see that so many people are reading Krsna book, that gives us very good encouragement. Otherwise what...? Two chapatis we can get anywhere.

Ramesvara: We wrote in the newsletter to the Society that even though our movement is being attacked in so many ways, the best counterattack is through book distribution.

Prabhupada: Yes. That is the best answer to this opposition. And when the case is there, put all the books before the judge: "Now you read and give your judgment. Don't... You are learned lordship. Please read these books and give your judgment. We have got already judgment from the scholars." Present like that. "But still, because in your court it is presented, so we pray that you give your judgment after understanding our method of brainwash." That will make him flat.

Ramesvara: We gave this proof, another proof that our movement is transcendental to all material obstacles and impediments, that this year there was, in America, spiraling inflation and unemployment, and the cost of living was therefore rising like anything, but our books, in defiance of all these material trends, were being printed in larger quantities, but the temples were paying less for the books than ever before. And even though all the major airports were closed for a minimum six months or more, the hardbound book distribution-we just looked at the numbers-actually increased by one hundred percent.

Prabhupada: So it is Krsna's mercy. "You can do all kinds of opposition, but we shall go forward. The caravan will pass. You may bark." So take all these things as Krsna's mercies and engage more enthusiastically. Why should we be defeated? Yuddhyasva mam anusmara [Bg 8.7]. Just remember Krsna and fight. Bas. Fighting is... This material world is fighting. Manah sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati [Bg 15.7]. The karsati is struggle, but struggle for Krsna. That is perfection. That's all.

Ramesvara: Jaya Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Thank you. Work very hard for Krsna, one life.

Ramesvara: You may like to see these, so I can leave them here?

Prabhupada: I have heard it. Sruta. It is susruma.

Ramesvara: When these come out, I frame them on my wall.

Prabhupada: Our method is iti susruma: "I have heard it." [end]