Dear devotees and temple leaders,

Please accept our humble obeisances. Jaya Srila Prabhupada!

Next Tuesday, February 10, is Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's appearance day. On this same day, exactly 60 years ago, Srila Prabhupada launched Back to Godhead magazine (BTG).

We have composed a short history of BTG, highlighting how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta requested Srila Prabhupada to publish this magazine, as well as other little-known facts. For example, did you know that the cover of the first ever BTG magazine bore the title: "Back-to-Godhead, An instrument for training the mind and educating human nature to rise up to the plane of the soul spirit, First appearance on the Vyas Puja Day 1944, edited and founded under direct order of His Divine Grace Sri Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada, by Abhay Charan De"? Sixty years later, BTG still strives for this same goal.

We are asking that you please print our message below for the devotee giving Srimad Bhagavatam class next Tuesday. We hope he or she will read it to supplement the special class on that day.

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Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003.1
Now Available
By the staff of the Bhaktivedanta Archives
Posted July 18, 2003

Prabhupada Village, July 11.

The long anticipated release of the newly expanded and upgraded 2003.1 VedaBase is here and ready to ship.

This version is bigger and better than ever! For you ISKCON history buffs you can now see all the BTGs (1966 to present) Vyasa-puja books (1969 topresent) pre-1978 books along with audio for the Bhagavad-gita slokas and much, much more.

The list below is of the New Items Added for this 2003.1 version.

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Third-World Discount
on Vedabase
By Isvara dasa
Posted February 1, 2003

Dear Maharajas/Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Well, this is what every devotee has been hoping for: Will Vedabase ever be affordable and within the reach of all devotees? This great program, which is always on the wish list of the devotees, has been out of reach of the majority of ISKCON devotees, especially those in the Third World countries such as Africans, Asians, and East Europeans.

This is largely due to the price factor of $595. Up till now, only devotees from rich, developed First World countries have been able to afford the Vedabase. Recently, there have been bootleg version going around, being sold very cheaply by pirates, but as is always the story, the bootleg copies are full of headaches: difficult to install, links not working, and worst of all, causing computer crashes....

Now Bhaktivedanta Archives have just showered their blessings on the residents of African and the Eastern Hemisphere, by making the Bhaktivedanta Vedabase available for the affordable price of only US$95.00.

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Judge: Devotees Can Distribute at L.A. Airport
Submitted by Richard Wyndham
Posted January 24, 2003

A federal judge has barred the Los Angeles International Airport from enforcing a solicitation ordinance against the devotees. For more, click on the link.

http://www.dailybulletin.com/
Stories/0,1413,203%257E21
481%257E1123945,00.html

[Article complete on this page]

Bhagavad-gita
Distribution in Toronto
By Adi-kurma Das
Posted January 18, 2003

"I will take one box."

"I will take two boxes."

"Haribol..."

That was the mood among the congregation members for distributing Bhagavad-gita As it Is. Yes, I am talking about Gita Jayanti and the book-distribution mood at New Remuna Dham, Toronto, Canada. Book distribution is a service that Arjunanath Das has taken up to glorify Srila Prabhupada: distributing books among the congregation members and to the Torontonians in general.

When I asked how many copies of Bhagavad-gita As It Is we have been able to distribute all together, he e-mailed me all the names and the figures. Wow! That was over 500 hardbound Bhagavad Gitas in the month of December alone.

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Another Great 
Preaching Year Ahead
From a letter to Kavicandra Swami 
by Madhumangala das
Posted December 16, 2002

So it has been another glorious year, preaching the glories of Lord Sri Caitanya's sankirtan mission and Srila Prabhupada's book-distribution mission. As I look back and reflect on this past year, I see how my life has been blessed in so many countless ways, how by trying to walk in the footsteps of all the great saints— my Guru Maharaj, Srila Prabhupada, Lord Nityananda, and Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu— I find each step bringing me closer, by their mercy, closer to the lotus feet of Lord Sri Caitanya. I am trying to realize that such an insignificant insect as I am can indeed be a most fortunate spirit soul. By the mercy of Guru and Krsna, I am praying that I shall always remember them, always remain in their association, and keep them in my heart. Hare Krsna.

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An Unlimited 
Number of Winners
a talk for the December Marathon
by His Grace Bhrgupati das

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.

Holy sacred books should be treated with the greatest of care. I have noticed countless number of times initiated devotees, let alone aspiring devotees, mishandle these holy sacred books. I have seen devotees place them on the floor, on unclean tables, on chairs, benches, and on car seats, reading them with unclean hands and also when eating. 

Initiated devotees especially should set an example to all others by treating these sacred holy books with great care. It seems to me that this basic principle of looking after holy sacred books should be explained to devotees before they jump into saris and dhotis.

In a purport in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada says that people in this world are very poverty stricken because of a lack of Krsna Consciousness. The mission of this Krsna Consciousness movement is to end this poverty that is now so rampant in society by giving people Krsna Consciousness. In this purport Srila Prabhupada says that there are three treasures that can dispel this poverty, namely knowledge of Krsna, service to Krsna, and love of Krsna. Someone who has these things is considered to be very wealthy.

Dear Dipika.com reader,

Hare Krsna.

Devotees in ISKCON have many sacred holidays and special-occasion days throughout the year. The month of December has a special significance in the life of any ISKCON devotee. It is the month of the book distribution marathon, call it as you want: the Srila Prabhupada marathon or the Christmas marathon. The idea behind it is that each and every one of the devotees and followers of Srila Prabhupada will try to put more emphasis into book distribution.

Dear Reader Prabhus of <dipika.org>,

Hare Krsna. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

You'll be delighted to know that grammar schools, high schools, colleges, universities, and public libraries have accepted Srila Prabhupada's books from Prabhupada Rasamrita Trust.

Should all of you be able sit in my seat, speak to these librarians on the phone, exchange e-mails with them, and receive their enthusiastic, grateful letters of heartfelt praise for Srila Prabhupada, your hair would stand on end.

---

The Bhagavad-Gita Project: 
A Christmas Present 
for Srila Prabhupada
By Bhakta Dominick
Posted November 25, 2002

Dear Prabhus and Matajis,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

I'm going to ask you for your help and support. We would like to realize a really big project: donating Bhagavad-gita as It Is to every public library in Poland. Then every single citizen will have access to the Gita. It can change the face of the entire nation. And we hope it can please Srila Prabhupada also, whose desire was to distribute his books.

To realize this project we (ISKCON Warsaw) have to order 10,000 new copies from the BBT, as there are not enough Gitas left in stock, and because of financial circumstances, we have to pay in advance for the printing. We have already started collecting donations, but we need your help.