“These books are the best advertising, they are better than advertising. If we simply present Krsna consciousness in a serious and attractive way, without need to resort to fashionable slogans or tricks, that is sufficient. Our unique asset is our purity.” (Srila Prabhupada, letter to Yogesvara, 28 December 1971)
Techniques on book distribution can give us some basic foundations and some results in the beginning, but ultimately the techniques are not so important. You can watch some videos of a great sankirtana devotee, like Vaisesika Prabhu, for example, and try to imitate what he is doing, to say the same things and try to emulate the same techniques. You may think that since it’s working so well for him, it’s going to also work well for you, and it may work to some extent, but you are not going to distribute books like Vaisesika Prabhu just because you are saying the same things, there is much more. In fact, when asked about how to train new book distributors, Srila Prabhupada answered that we should not teach them techniques, but rather, teach them how to be sincere. The main secret of empowered book distributors is their sincerity.
HG Navina Nirada Prabhu: “Once they asked Prabhupada, how do we teach people about book distribution, and Prabhupada said: Don’t teach them techniques, just teach them how to be sincere. And then, he pointed with his palm to his heart and he said: Then, the Lord in the heart, the Supreme Master, He will teach them everything.”
Techniques can be used as a starting point. For example, if one is completely new, just starting on book distribution today, he needs to have some idea about what to say. A senior devotee can teach him some basic mantras and techniques: how to stop people, how to talk with them, how to ask for donations, etc. He then goes out, uses it and gets some results, distributes a few books.
However, to become really good book distributors, that can be stable on sankirtana and distribute many books for many years, we need to develop some real spiritual potency. Techniques are just something material that we use, that’s part of what we need to do, but they are not all. Sankirtana is not just something in the intellectual platform, something mechanic where the same lines work all the time. Actually, sankirtana is all about how to contact the soul inside the body, and reconnect him with the spiritual energy.
The soul is an eternal servant of Krsna, he wants to know about Krsna, the problem is that the soul is covered by the different material layers that form the gross and subtle bodies: senses, mind, intelligence and false ego. To get to the soul we need to pierce all these coverings. Sankirtana is all about how to attract the senses, engage the mind, convince the intelligence, bypass the false ego, and contact the soul inside the body, who is an eternal servant of Krsna. We need to temporarily disarm the influence of the modes of material nature over this person and access directly the soul inside the body.
We see someone approaching a devotee. We see that the devotee stops him, speaks something and hand him a book. We see then the person smiling, giving some donation and taking the book. To someone just looking from outside, it may appear as something very simple, but what really happened?
First of all, everyone has some kind of zone of influence, composed of subtle energy that emanates from him and goes up to a certain distance. Some people emanate a very negative energy, and anybody who comes near them feels a little down, a little disturbed. Some people have a very positive energy, people like to be around them because they make others feel well. A devotee, however, has a spiritual aura: anybody who comes close to a devotee, according to the devotee’s potency, becomes a little bit purified, becomes a little bit inspired about spiritual life. So, at the moment a devotee stops someone, the person is already under the influence of his personal energy, so when he presents a book that speaks about self-realization, spiritual knowledge, etc. the person is already a little inclined to take it, because he is already getting purified.
When an advanced devotee looks at someone, he doesn’t see “woman”, “man”, “rich”, “poor”, “young” or “old”, he sees the soul inside the body. He doesn’t care about the body, or how the body looks, he sees the soul, this shining personality who is an eternal servant of Krsna. He sees also that there are a lot of dark things, a lot of contamination around this soul. So, he looks at this person, makes some kind of eye contact and then says something.
What he says is generally more for the mind, not for the soul. The mind is always looking around for something. Therefore, he starts by saying something that attracts the mind. The person then stops, and the devotee starts to say something. This may be some simple or sentimental thing, that also appeals to the mind, or may be some logical argument or elaborate idea that may appeal to the intelligence (why the book is interesting, why he should take the book, etc.). Different devotees have different strategies about how to get there.
A lot of times the ego is also a problem. Then we speak some nice words, flatter the person a little bit, so the ego also gets pacified. Then, as soon he can pass through the mind, intelligence and false ego, he can get to the soul. The next step is to make the soul want the book, to convince him that the book has something for him, that it has knowledge that will reconnect him to his old friend.
“Don’t you recognize Me? I am your eternal friend. You may remember that many times in the past you have consulted Me. My dear friend, even though you cannot immediately recognize Me, can’t you remember that in the past you had a very intimate friend? Unfortunately, you gave up My company and accepted a position as enjoyer of this material world. My dear gentle friend, both you and I are exactly like two swans. We live together in the same heart, which is just like the Mānasa Lake. Although we have been living together for many thousands of years, we are still far away from our original home. My dear friend, you are now My very same friend. Since you left Me, you have become more and more materialistic, and not seeing Me, you have been traveling in different forms throughout this material world, which was created by some woman.” (SB 4.28.52-55)
The soul gets interested, he starts to remember. Then we say: “This book can be yours, no problem. Just give some donation, just give something”, we try to make it very simple, so there are no obstacles. But then, sometimes, the intelligence gets in the way: “You are not going to read this book, you already have so many books!“. We then need to again engage the intelligence, present some arguments to convince it. Sometimes the mind gets in the way. When it’s the mind, it’s usually not something very clear, because the mind is emotional, not logical. It will manifest in the form of some irrational feeling: “Oh, I don’t know, I think I actually don’t want…“. Then we need to say something that convinces the mind, that gives the emotional connection or support that the mind needs. If we can disarm the mind and intelligence, there will be no obstacle for the soul to take the book.
Another question is how to make the person read the book. That’s another challenge that we need to be aware of. Usually, a person relates the book to the devotee who gave him the book. If he has a good impression, if he likes the devotee, automatically this will be transferred to the book: he will be attracted to the book and will want to read it. If he doesn’t like the book distributor, then automatically this negative feeling is transferred to the book. Not only will he not want to take the book, but even if somehow we can make him take it, chances are that he will just throw it away.
One time I was talking to someone, distributing books in Brazil and a happy old lady came: “You should take this book, this book is very nice, very interesting book! I got one another day, I never started reading it, but the book is very good, you should take one also!“.
If we stop to think, this doesn’t make much sense. If she didn’t read her book, how can she so enthusiastically say that the book is very nice and interesting? How can she be so convinced that she is even advertising it to others? Actually, it is not about the book, it’s the impression that she got from the book distributor who gave her the book. She got this strong good impression from the devotee, therefore it was immediately transferred to the book. Even before reading it, she is already firmly convinced that the book is good.
Another similar situation, that already happened to me a couple of times, is that I stop someone and he says: “Oh, I already have this book. This book is very nice! I was reading it. I couldn’t understand anything, but the book is very good!“. This is connected with the same phenomenon: he was not understanding, but still the impression from the devotee persisted. Even if not understanding, the person is still continuing to read the book, considering that the problem is not with the book, but with himself.
That’s a very essential point: we should leave a good impression. People should see devotees as saints. One of the main factors is the way we deal with people. If we are honestly compassionate and honestly concerned about the well being of a person, as a soul, not just as a one hundred bill or something, this will manifest in our voice, and in the way we act, and people will get touched by it. If we can become very good devotees and develop this deep compassion to people, that’s the main thing.
We should be always attentive to what works, what doesn’t work, how people react to our lines, if we are speaking in a clear and understandable way, etc. Every time a person doesn’t take a book, we should think a little bit about what we did wrong and how to improve our approach, and then try to do better next time we get a similar case. We should practice this day by day as we distribute, try to evolve. We should try to learn from other devotees, observe them and see what they are saying. We shouldn’t get used to just repeating the same mantra, but should always try to improve, try new things and keep what works. Every time a person gives some argument or excuse, we should try to find ways to counter it. By doing that, we can come up with amazing ideas.
Also, we should develop techniques that suit our own personalities. Every devotee has a particular personality and a particular set of attributes, therefore we should try to develop a style that suits our particular package. A devotee may look very bright and be very intelligent and articulate, and he may develop a style that suits his personality, using some very clever lines and giving very sharp answers. Others may try to imitate, but without having the same set of attributes, the lines alone will not have the same effect. Another devotee may be very grave and sober, and therefore speak in a very wise and compassionate way, that makes people interested and respectful, and achieves good results by it. But again, other devotees who don’t have the same gravity may look silly trying to imitate. We can’t expect that some particular style will have the same effect with us, unless we have the same set of attributes. Since these attributes are largely determined before birth by our particular combination of guna and karma, it’s better to try to find a style that suits our own set of attributes, instead of trying to develop the same attributes as someone else.
Every devotee is a personality and he has his own way to contact the soul inside the body. Of course, we have some general guidelines about what can be done on book distribution and what can’t, but the main point is that it’s about our own individual style. In the beginning, you may try to imitate some senior as a way to start, but as time goes on you should try to develop your own style, and this can be done only through practice and persistence. Book distribution is not something that can be learned just by attending some seminar or just by going out two or three times: if you go for ten or twenty years, then you can become a very experienced book distributor. During this process, we should always pray for Krsna’s mercy, because He is the one Who will reveal new facets of book distribution as we progress. He reveals progressive levels of understanding to us. It may look simple for the uninitiated, but actually, book distribution is a very esoteric activity.