Publishing and Distributing Srila Gurudeva’s Books in Orissa, India

Some months ago, with the kind help of the GVP sponsorship program, we received one lakha rupees (Rs 100 000) with which we were able to print in the Oriya  language, 10,000 copies of the Way of Love and 10,000 copies of Secrets of the Undiscovered-Self.

The receptivity of the Orissan people was such that we sold, and occasionally distributed for free, all of those books, as well as 200 copies of the English Journey of the Soul and 20,000 rupees worth of posters of Srimati Syamarani didi’s paintings. With the proceeds, we were able to print 5,000 copies of Jaiva-dharma, which had never been published before in the Oriya language, and we were able to sell it at a very cheap price in order to make it accessible to even the most poor people in this state. In less than a year we have sold over 1,500 copies of Jaiva-dharma. This book met with such a wonderful response and demand that it really stimulated our enthusiasm to publish more of Srila Gurudeva’s books.

The Sponsorship Program also funded the publication of 10,000 booklets – The Essence of Bhagavad-gita. Upon reading it, many people have come to take more books.

Now we have completed the translation and edit of Srila Gurudeva’s Bhagavad-gita, with the commentary of Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Srila Gurudeva’s own commentary, which includes excerpts from the Rasika-ranjana commentary of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. The GVP sponsorship program is kindly donating $1,000 towards its publication. This will enable us to print many copies and thus sell the Gita at a more affordable rate. The Gita, revered by people the world over, is foundational to all correct philosophical understanding, and Srila Gurudeva’s Gita brims with nectarean Gaudiya siddhanta. We are most enlivened to be able to present such an authentic version of the Gita to the people of Orissa.

Jaya Sri Damodara Gaudiya Math, Puri, is the source of all of Srila Gurudeva’s Oriya publications, and we are busily engaged all year around in the translation, production and distribution of Srila Gurudeva’s books in the Oriya language. We also publish the quarterly magazine called Paramarthi, which contains the articles of our recent guru-varga. We sell this magazine and also mail it to our subscribers.

Throughout the year, we attend several book fairs where we set up an attractive stall of Srila Gurudeva’s books. We also do many village programs, school programs and house programs, in which many of Gurudeva’s books are distributed. Just over one week ago, Sripad Bhaktivedanta Sridhara Maharaja held a bhagavat saptaha in the Orissan district of Kendrapada. We quickly exhausted our huge stock of books and distributed prasadam to thousands of people. Every year at the time of Puri Rathayatra, thousands of books are distributed by a team of dedicated, enthusiastic devotees from India and abroad.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to those who contribute to the GVP sponsorship program. By the program’s invaluable assistance, our service to Srila Gurudeva has increased as we by present his teachings, unparalleled in their sweetness and beauty, to the people of Orissa and Orissan people all over the world. In this way, all are becoming blessed.

Praying for the support and blessings of all devotees,

the Oriya Gaudiya Vedanta Publication team