33 years in ISKCON part 2

[Paramananda das]

When I joined ISKCON in 1979, I asked that I be trained to distribute Srila Prabhupadas books, as  so much wanted to distribute them.

One month later I was allowed to go on book distribution.Devamrta Prabhu (now Devamrta Swami ) said vow you are already joining the grown up devotees, very nice.

So anyhow Sweden was nor easy ,as I did not speak Swedish,and danish is quit different from Swedish, my first day I tried hard I distributed 14 big books .And gradually I started doing more. I did not like this selling of records.They where produced by Harikesa.(Rasa album), at least back then everyone that bought a record also got one free perfect Questions perfect answers,by Srila Prabhupada.

In one City there was a not favorable article when one devotee got interviewed .One day the sankirtana leader told me that if I distributed

over 50 records, I would get a gift.I sold 64 and received a T shirt with Paramatma on it.I was in bliss.

I was asked if I wanted initiation, but Vegavan Prabhu the Regional Secretary had mentioned in one lecture that Srila Prabhupada advised one wait for one year.So I took his good advise, he was a real mentor to me those days more than Harikesa would ever be.

Anyhow many years later I read several letters where Srila Prabhuapda wrote not to sell records but focus on his books.

He also wrote:

1977, Bombay “Don’t go backward.” Srila Prabhupada: Stick to our principle, and see our GBC is very alert. Then everything will go on, even I am not present. Do that. That is my request. Whatever little I have taught you, follow that, and nobody will be aggrieved. No maya will touch you. Now Krsna has given us, and there will be no scarcity of money. You print book and sell. So everything is there. We have got good shelter all over the world. We have got income. You stick to our principles, follow the… Even if I die suddenly, you’ll be able to manage. That’s all. That I want. Manage nicely and let the movement go forward. Now arrange. Don’t go backward. Be careful. Apani acari prabhu jiveri siksaya. Conversations : 1977 Conversations : April, 1977 : Room Conversation — April 22, 1977, Bombay

I asked if I can go to Denmark and help the newly opened temple there  that was in August of 1979, so I was allowed to go, and though a relative new devotee,I would distribute books by myself 7 days a week, supporting the temple, there was no other income, and the grhastha couple there did not go on sankirtana but stayed in the flat.On rare occasions we did Harinama, Gopisvara Prabhu and myself.One day we got arrested for doing Harinama, i demanded to know why they put us in jail as we where monks, and that I was also Danish citizen and I knew my rights.They let us go and after that time, they never again arrested another devotee doing Harinama in Copenhagen.We had a huge Janamstami with the help of Visva Hindu Parishad around a 1000 people attended in a place we had rented. Soon after that came Prabhavisnu (then Swami) and Ilapati Prabhu ( now Bhakti Vikas Maharaja) they would sell records and collect for their  preaching program in Bangladesh .

I would go to the same locations with these devotees so I had some association, and sometimes Ilapati Prabhu and myself went to different spots and did sankirtana.One day a muslim gang grapped 4 books that I was distributing and put them on fire.I vowed I would never allow this to happen again ,even if I had to fight with 5 persons like these rascals.This happened in front of Tivoli in Copenhagen , in the middle of "freedom loving Denmark". 

Sometimes we had Harinamas, Gopisvara Prabhu  and his wife left ,and instead Vaidyanath Prabhu came. So mostly there was only the 2 of us.Harikesa (then Swami) made a one night visit in December of 1979 .Otherwise we never heard or saw our GBC and Guru there...No one took Denmark seriously yet,that even Denmark could become KC.Seemed not possible.

Actually some brahmacaries and devotees was having hard time controlling their senses in Copenhagen, one devotee found his wife while distributing books door to door ,later she helped translate some of the first of Prabhupadas books in Danish.

Devotees had come here before as early as 1975 -75 ,maybe before but that is what I know of and a temple was shut down near Copenhagen, actually the former chief of police in Copenhagen  told me one day on book distribution, the German Government had warned the Danish Government about German Hare Krishna devotees, they shut down the temple and confiscated the books that was very unusual for Denmark a land of religious tolerance and freedom.