Guest guest Posted April 23, 1999 Report Share Posted April 23, 1999 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BBT Online Newsletter No. 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ Contents ~~~~~~~~ 1. Editorial 2. Printing in Tamil 3. Books in Chinese 4. New BTG in Gujarati 5. Internet and Website news 6. Sankirtan News 7. Opportunities ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Editorial ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Maharajas and prabhus, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Welcome to the BBT Online newsletter where you will find up to date reports about current developments in the different BBT divisions around the world. In this issue HH Bhanu Maharaja gives us a report on book printing and production in the Tamil language, Ekacakra Dasa tells about printing books in Mandarin Chinese, Trivikrama Dasa from Mumbai writes about an exciting new BTG in print and there is information on the latest BBT internet facilities. Our sankirtan article is from Airavata Dasa. It is difficult to imagine facing the hazards he describes on a daily basis. Personally I am full of admiration for anyone who takes such risks in order to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books. We would like to notify the devotees that the annual meeting of the BBT International trustees is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles during the week of June 20-26. The trustees have asked us to inform you that if you have anything that you would like to bring up before them as an agenda item, please feel free to do so. There will be two days allocated particularly for meeting with North American devotees about book publishing and distribution. Shortly before or after the meetings, HH Jayadvaita Swami is planning to hold a one-day seminar on "Responsible Publishing". The theme of the seminar will be why and how the BBT edits Srila Prahupada's books. I would like to thank all those devotees who wrote and offered their services to the BBT in translating, printing, editing and production. If you think you can serve Srila Prabhupada in this way please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you. Your humble servant, Anjana Dasi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. BBT Printing in Tamil by HH Bhanu Maharaja ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have managed to translate and print all Srila Prabhupada's small books over a 12 year period, using various translators. All the big books except Caitanya Caritamrta have now been translated. Nectar of Devotion and Teachings of Queen Kunti have been translated but not printed, and Srimad Bhagavatam has been printed up to 5th Canto, which is now typeset. The rest of the Bhagavatam Cantos have been translated and checked. Our immediate goal is to have the rest of the Bhagavatam in print, but this depends on the future availability of funds. Fortunately last year padayatra stayed in Tamil Nadu and distributed about 60,000 Gitas. We gave them a cheap rate for mass distribution, and the profits did provide enough funds for printing the third canto in two parts, as well as keeping the existing books in print. Our translation, printing and distribution is limited, due to the lack of manpower. Our problem lies with limited distribution, which means limited funds for printing new titles such as Bhagavatam volumes. Normally we do runs of 3000 copies per book which is enough to last us six months. Madras temple has a few devotees doing regular book distribution, and Madurai, Coimbatore, Tirupati, Bangalore, Colombo, Malaysia and Switzerland place periodic orders for Tamil books. Anyone who wants to participate or contribute to the Tamil preaching project can contact me through e-mail: <bhanu.swami@>com.bbt.se.> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. Books in Chinese by Ekacakra Dasa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Devotees first start translating Srila Prabhupada's books into Chinese during Srila Prabhupada's time. The first Chinese edition of the Bhagavad-gita came out in 1976. The Chinese language is very special because its writing is not a phonetic writing. There are also many different dialects in China and people speaking these different dialects cannot understand each other so Mandarin Chinese is the official language. In mainland China and Taiwan the written form is understood by all Chinese including those from Hong Kong. Therefore we have chosen Mandarin as our standard for style, grammar and pronunciation. Uptil now Chinese devotees have translated the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam Cantos 1 and 2, Sri Isopanisad, Krsna Book, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Science of Self Realization, and 15 small books into Mandarin Chinese. We produce all of our books in print runs of 10,000 in Hong Kong or Taiwan. The books are distributed in Hong Kong by temple devotees and in Taiwan by temple devotees as well as travelling sankirtan devotees. There is no book production or distribution going on in Mainland China at present. We also distribute books in Malaysia and Singapore where there are large Chinese communities. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. New BTG in Gujarati by Trivikrama Dasa (BBT Mumbai) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The opening of the Back to Godhead office in Mumbai, India, during Srila Prabhupada's Centennial celebrations, was one of the offerings we made to Srila Prabhupada. The first Indian issue of BTG-English was offered to Srila Prabhupada at his Appearance Day celebrations on the 6th Sept'96. Later on the BBT-India started a section where all its magazines and periodicals were to be produced and published. In this way we successfully began the printing, production and distribution of the BTG in Marathi, named Jau Devachiya Gava, and the BTG in Hindi, named Bhagavad Darshan. This year during the Gaur-Purnima festivities, we launched the BTG in Gujarati, named Bhagavad Darshan. The editor is H.G. Jasomatinandana Dasa and he is supported by H.G. Vakreshwar Pandit Dasa. Presently Bhagavad Darshan has a subscription base of 1000 rs. In addition we are exporting orders to the UK and the US. BTG-India is functioning with a staff of 8 devotees, handling circulation, designing, production and despatch. We seek the blessings of all the Vaisnavas to make this humble offering to Srila Prabhupada a tremendous success. For more information about BTG in Gujarati, Hindi, or Marathi, please contact Trivikrama Dasa at the BTG offfice in Mumbai: BTG, 33 Janki Kutir, Next to State Bank of Hyderabad, Juju, Mumbai 400 049, India. phone: +91 (022) 615 5357 fax: +91 (022) 618 4827 e-mail: trivikrama.rns (AT) com (DOT) bbt.se ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. Internet and Website News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For devotees who like to surf the internet, the Northern European BBT (NE-BBT) division invites you to check out their website at www.tattva.com. Once at the site, you can obtain up-to-date data about on-going NE-BBT printing and production. There are 20 new publications listed including new titles and books which are soon to be sent to the printer. These are in English, Russian and other European languages. There are also links to websites for ISKCON in Holland, Switzerland and Latvia, news about events, and an interactive design workshop. Last but not least, you can order Srila Prabhupada's books online. This website is definitely worth a visit. The NA-BBT's e-mail address is bbt (AT) webcom (DOT) com/ara, where you will find a wealth of information. New books produced by the NA-BBT, Krishna art, temple addresses, and a section on other resources that is a gold mine for anyone wanting an overview of ISKCON's activities. You can find links to websites for Food for Life, ISKCON Youth Ministry, the Bhaktivedanta Institute at Oakland and Alachua, ISKCON World Review, BTG online plus many more. You can also order Srila Prabhupada's books online here. This site will keep you busy for a long time. Visiting www.iskcon.org/calendar/. will allow you to download Bhaktivedanta Book Trust's latest version of the Vaisnava Calendar Computer Program (VCAL) as Freeware. VCAL calculates Vedic lunar calendars for different parts of the world according to the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition. The program contains extensive information about festival days, short biographies of saints and incarnations, when to observe Ekasdasi and tips on when to break fast and adjust for time differences due to daylight saving time. The program is also available on COM from the file area of the conference "(Vaisnava) Calendar.". To download VCAL400, use the command 'download file from VCAL400.ZIP.' (In WinCOM, click Commands/Download/File from a conference, and fill in the name of the conference and the file name in the appropriate boxes.) The file VCAL400.ZIP contains the program and the documentation. HH Jaydavaita Swami hosts an information e-mail conference "Gita Revisions Explained". The conference is a public one and if you are a member of COM, the BBT e-mail system, you can join or leave it without requesting permission. E-mail users who are not on COM can join or leave the conference by sending a request to <jayadaita.swami (AT) com (DOT) bbt.se>. Queries and comments may be also be sent privately to the same e-mail address. If you want to apply on-line for permission to use BBT materials, you can do so via e-mail at <legal (AT) bbti (DOT) org>. Otherwise please contact: The Rights and Permissions Department, Farboret 101, S-242 97 Horby, Sweden. Editor's note: In the following article we have removed all reference to geographical location in order to protect the mission and lives of the devotees involved. This has been a neccessary precaution due to the nature of preaching in countries of the Islamic world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. Sankirtan Yagna by Airavata Dasa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ According to the law here, preaching is forbidden and anyone trying to preach can be imprisoned for five years. The political situation is also unstable and war is a possible prospect, so police are checking every young man's bag. To distribute books on the street under these conditions is very dangerous and there are only two devotees, Nararatna Dasa and myself, who are doing this. We try to distribute books wherever we can, on buses and on the street. We have had many close encounters. On one particular occasion a police patrol caught me as I was distributing books. As they were armed with machine guns there was no question of running away as I had on other occasions. I gave gave them some sweets and showed them a picture of Srila Prabhupada. The captain was impressed by Srila Prabhupada's picture and when he came to know the principles, which Srila Prabhupada followed and taught his followers, he exclaimed: "Oh, this man is a saintly person like the prophets of the past." He asked: "How can I meet Srila Prabhupada and hear from him?" I told him that he could hear from Srila Prabhupada by reading his books. The captain picked up one book and started to read. I then gave one book to each policemen and left. In order to avoid suspicion, preachers here have a job, for example as a teacher. I lecture in different Universities and Colleges on the Philosophy of Religion. This is also a good way to get money for preaching, make contacts and friends with people, and distribute books. We invite those who are interested to the Sunday programs. Amala das prepares our Sunday feasts very expertly and people are often inspired to become vegetarian. Each Sunday feast is attended by 20-25 people. The students really love the kirtan and prasadam. The neighborhood is perfect and no one complains about our kirtans. Amala das also works on making contacts with different philosophical and religious societies and then distributes books through them. He has so far developed friendly relationships with over 20 societies who appreciate Srila Prabhupada's books very much. In the past it has been very difficult for us to carry Srila Prabhupada's books across the border. Therefore last year we organized our own BBT division here for translating and printing Srila Prabhupada's books into the local language. We have already translated our first book, Perfection of Yoga, and it will be printed very soon. This year during Srila Prabhupada's marathon, devotees here distributed almost 600 books. Anyone who wants to participate or contribute to the Muslim preaching project can contact me through e-mail:<airavata.hks (AT) com (DOT) bbt.se> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7. Opportunities for Service ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The BBT depends on voluntary service by devotees around the world. However, fulltime support is available to devotees who are qualified translators. The BBT always needs more devotees to perform the valuable service of translating Srila Prabhupada's books into other languages. If you speak English fluently as a second language and would like to translate Srila Prabhupad's books into your language, then contact us. For young devotees, there are opportunities to be trained in editing and publishing. The BBT also needs artists, computer operators and programmers, writers and editors. If you would like to work for the BBT please contact us at: Anjana.ACBSP (AT) com (DOT) bbt.se (on com) bbtco (AT) netcomuk (DOT) co.uk (on the Net) COPYRIGHT ~~~~~~~~~ This is an internal newsletter for devotees and supporters of ISKCON. The copyright holder of this newsletter is the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Permission for reproduction is hereby given to all publications, e-mail lists and web-sites that have as their primary purpose the promotion of the ISKCON mission of His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, under the direction of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission. Permission for reproduction in all other circumstances should first be sought from the copyright holder. Enquiries may be directed to: bbtco (AT) netcomuk (DOT) co.uk or anjana.acbsp (AT) com (DOT) bbt.sev (Text COM:2094607) -------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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