Book distribution in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dear devotees, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Šrila Prabhupada!

I’d like to use this opportunity to inform you about a successful book distribution program that started back in 2012 and is still ongoing. I hope many of you will get inspiration from this report and replicate it in your yatras. During Vrisabha Prabhu’s (my close friend, a devotee from Croatia) stay in Sarajevo in the period from 2012 to 2014, there was an opportunity to enter libraries with Srila Prabhupada’s books, not only in Sarajevo, but also throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Vrisabha Prabhu gave the idea to start with public lectures on the topics of karma, reincarnation, vegetarianism, testimonies of the ancient civilization of the Vedas, etc. So, at the end of 2012, we started with such lectures in libraries and public institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For example, there are about 30 libraries here in Sarajevo alone. So Vrisabha prabhu, bhakta Zoran and I set out on a great adventure. The goal was to place Šrila Prabhupada’s books in as many libraries as possible and to hold lectures in their reading rooms. Vrisabha prabhu very skilfully planned, organized and delivered the lectures. Soon after, we started with these programs in libraries around Sarajevo (Hrasnica, Visoko, Breza, Ilijaš, Vogošća, Vareš, etc.)

Vrishabha prabhu enthusiastically prepared the posters. The entrance was free of charge so that as many people as possible could attend. We had a book stand and chanted the holy names. Encouraged by the successes, we continued with more distant cities such as Konjic, Prozor, Jablanica, Bugojno, Gornji Vakuf, Donji Vakuf, Vitez, Travnik, etc. We also held programs in larger cities in the Republic of Srpska (Banja Luka, Višegrad, Sokolac, etc.) So the programs began to follow one after the other. Vrisabha prabhu showed great enthusiasm. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him and bhakta Zoran. Our modus operandi was such that we would first look at the map of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then we downloaded the list of all libraries in the country from the Internet.

We then contacted the managers of those libraries and offered them two options. 1) To hold a lecture in their reading room on one of the offered topics and on that occasion leave them free books. 2) To just send them books if for some reason they couldn’t arrange a lecture. Ultimately, our experience was that the vast majority of libraries were interested in having Vrisabha prabhu give a lecture. Some of these lectures were accompanied by an appropriate slide projection. So, if the manager of a library expressed interest in a lecture, the next step was to agree on one of the topics that we offered them and the exact time of the lecture (date and time.) Vrisabha prabhu then made a digital version of the advertising poster (A3 size ).

In some cases, they printed the posters themselves and placed them in prominent places around the city and informed the local media. But in most cases we did it ourselves. Before coming to the libraries, we did sankirtan in the streets and offices to raise funds for fuel costs, prasadam and to cover the BBT price of the books left in the libraries free of charge. We also distributed invitation leaflets on the streets. In this way, from 2012 until today, almost all libraries in Bosnia and Herzegovina have some of our books. When I say ‘our books’, I mean several of Srila Prabhupada’s introductory books, parts of the Caitanya-caritamrita and Prabhupada lilamrta (abridged version).

Many libraries in Bosnia and Herzegovina regularly order new editions of our books. These activities lasted throughout 2013, until the middle of 2014, when Vrišabha prabhu had to return to Croatia. Where we did not have the opportunity to hold our programs, I delivered free books to libraries by mail. I was overjoyed that we were able to deliver some of Srila Prabhupada’s books to libraries throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and make them available to a large number of readers. It is interesting that the library in Maglaj was submerged in a flood, and after that they asked me to send them Srila Prabhupada’s books again after repairing the damage, for which I received a thank-you note from them.

I still do this whenever there are sponsors who donate to distribute books, I mail them to the libraries. Of course I didn’t forget the students. For example, here in Sarajevo, we take books to the student library, which delivers them to libraries in several other cities (Banja Luka, Tuzla, Bihać and Mostar). Of course, there were other devotees who participated in this program. But the main actors were Vrisabha prabhu, bhakta Zoran and me.I want to emphasize that there is always the possibility to deliver books to libraries throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. This includes new editions of our books.

Despite all the successes we have achieved so far, we regret that only a few libraries have received the Bhagavad-gita. At the timewhen Vrisabha prabhu was an active part of the team, we did not have enough Bhagavad-gita. And now we could get them and deliver them to the libraries, but we don’t have the finances to cover the costs. If you are inspired to sponsor a certain number of Bhagavad-gita for distribution to libraries in Bosnia and Herzegovina, please contact us at the e-mail address: vpd108@gmail.com

Your servant, Nandišvara das