The book distribution marathon is not like an ordinary marathon. In an ordinary, material marathon, you can only have one person who wins, but in the book distribution marathon, there may be one person who will distribute the most books, but everybody is a real winner.

There can be an unlimited number of winners in the book distribution marathon. This is because anybody who really surrenders and participates in it with full enthusiasm, really putting his or her heart into it, will experience a lot of reciprocation from Krsna. That devotee will experience the impossible becoming the possible.

Why? Because Krsna will become involved with that devotee's life. There is a very nice statement to that effect in the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, in which Krsna is encouraging Arjuna to fight. He tells him:

"Therefore get up. Prepare to fight and win glory. Conquer your enemies and enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasaci, can be but an instrument in the fight." [11.33]

When I was a new devotee, I used to hear other devotees say, "Just as Krsna says that the soldiers are already put to death by His arrangement and that Arjuna can take the credit for killing them, the books are already distributed, and we simply have to go out there and take the credit."

This is the correct way to think. Indeed, because it is the desire of Lord Chaitanya, this movement has already spread. It is already successful. Now it is a question of who will get the credit. Krsna is telling Arjuna, "These men are already put to death by My arrangement. If you surrender and fight, you will get the credit for being the hero of the battle. And if you decline to fight, I will arrange for another devotee who is prepared to surrender to come forward and carry out My instruction, and he is going to get the credit for winning the battle of Kuruksetra instead of you. I am the doer, you see? You are not the doer."

In the same way, the books have already been distributed by Lord Chaitanya's desire and arrangement, and it is up to us, the devotees of the Krsna Consciousness movement, to be but instruments in this distribution.

Krsna goes on to say:

" Drona, Bhisma, Jayadratha, Karna and the other great warriors have already been destroyed by Me. Therefore, kill them and do not be disturbed. Simply fight, and you will vanquish your enemies in battle." [11.34]

In an analogous way, we can say, "Just distribute books, and simply by going out and making the effort, you will be the witness to so many books going out and to so many people becoming Krsna conscious."

So anybody who really imbibes himself in this marathon mindset will experience how wonderfully Krsna reciprocates with him. We will witness how amazing things will happen in our own devotional service. We may not be the number-one distributor, but everybody who wholeheartedly participates in this marathon will experience amazing reciprocation from Krsna.

In that sense, there is no loser; rather, there are only winners. Indeed, anybody who surrenders to the marathon will experience incredible things happening in his or her devotional service. Srila Prabhupada goes on to say, "Every plan is made by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He is so kind and merciful to His devotees that He wants to give the credit to His devotees who carry out His plans according to His desire." [11.34]

This is the nature of Krsna. Srila Prabhupada said that if a father has a B.A from a university, he wants to see his son receive an M.A or a P.H.D. It is a natural thing for him to see his child surpass him. If it is someone who is not in an intimate loving relationship with the father as his son is, the father will see that person as a competitor who wants to compete with and surpass him, but if it is his son, he will be pleased to see him surpass him.

Krsna is like that. Krsna has so much affection for us that He wants to see us surpass Him. Krsna did not want the credit for being the hero of the battle of Kuruksetra. He instead wanted His devotee to be known as the hero. He wanted Arjuna to become famous as a hero. That is Krsna.

It's the same thing with sankirtana. Lord Chaitanya predicted that His name would be heard in every town and village. Srila Prabhupada also said, "Print and distribute these books." It is therefore a foregone conclusion that it is going to be successful. Now it is a question of who is going to get the credit. We simply have to come forward. With the faith that this is the desire of Lord Krsna, of Lord Chaitanya, and of Srila Prabhupada, we should fully participate in the whole marathon. Then, it will be revealed to us how all these statements are actually true.

Statements such as those saying that the books have already been distributed may sound like optimistic proclamations, but they are true and will be revealed to us. This is Krsna Consciousness. In Krsna Consciousness, we have to walk the talk. Then everything becomes revealed. It is stated, atah sri krsna namadi: Krsna cannot be understood by the blunt material senses, but He is understood by surrender. Then Krsna reveals Himself.

All these statements about book distribution and about our philosophy are true, but we cannot understand them with mundane senses. We cannot understand with a mundane mind how Lord Chaitanya's names will be chanted in every town and village. But when we surrender, Krsna reveals the truth of these statements to us. And then we understand.

bhaktya mam abhijanati, yavan yas casmi tattvatah. Krsna says here that He is understood by devotional service. That is the point: All the realization is in the service. The ecstasy is in the service. If we surrender to the service, Krsna reciprocates in such a way that everything becomes revealed and clear. We then understand, "Oh, yes. This is all true. It is all true."

But without that surrender to the service, it remains ideas and words. It does not become a living reality for us unless we actually make the decision to really surrender and participate wholeheartedly in the actual process and activity of the marathon. If and when we do, we get the realization of what the marathon actually is and what the mercy of the spiritual master and Lord Chaitanya is.

© dipika.org December 7, 2002

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