Brhad mrdanga. It must be beat

Sunday, 25 April 1976

Before his massage, Srila Prabhupada sat with his senior disciples. He was happy to hear that four or five new men had started coming regularly to the temple since his arrival last week, and had commenced to regularly chant on beads. He also expressed his pleasure to hear that the book distribution was going on well in Melbourne. But he wondered why Guru Krpa had not been encouraging parties of travelling book distributors to visit the country areas of Australia like they had done under Madhudvisa Swami. Guru Krpa explained that, apart from sending devotees overseas to raise funds for various projects, he preferred to keep the bulk of his men in Melbourne. Prabhupada told Guru Krpa, "We make no distinction between big city and village."

"But we can get more people to the temple and make more devotees if we concentrate on it," explained Guru Krpa.

But Prabhupada saw with a broader vision. "Brhad mrdanga. It must be beat," he said. "It is better for them to assimilate the knowledge by reading than to come, and for some time sentimentally chant and dance. That will have a permanent effect. Even if they get a small book, it will be very beneficial."

- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu