About giving maha after sankirtana marathon

[Guest guest]

> Please accept my humble obeisances.

>

> In our temple we had a tradition - after sankirtana marathons we

> gave maha (fruits or cakes) for distributors on some auspicious days

> (for example on Gaura Purnima), in front of Deities and all guests.

> And also we gave some gifts (for example sankirtan magazines, Srila

> Prabhupada books with signatures of spiritual master and other

> devotional paraphernalia) for several best distributors, though

> these gifts are usually as surprise. Now some devotees have and

> opinion, that this is just a "show", that those, who didn’t take

> part in the marathon and didn’t get maha, feel discouraged. From my

> experience (may be it is fruitive mentality) these tiny gifts

> encourages devotees and are like personal way of appreciation of

> their service. We’ll be very thankful if you will give your opinion

> or advice.

>

> Your humble servant Dhanuski dasa

 

Whether or not you do such things as make marathon prizes should be

determined by your GBC representative together with the temple

president.

 

As far as I can see, it is a feeling of reciprocation that motivates

these ceremonies. The devotees have worked hard at distribution

during the marathon and the assembled vaisnavas are expressing their

heart-felt thanks to them for their great service and thus they give

them prasadam and gifts. It is a natural thing when one is

non-envious and grateful to other vaisnavas. No one should feel left

out. Therefore when we make prizes in my zone, we also give prizes to

the devotees who stayed back and supported the marathon by doing nice

puja and cooking and management. In this way everyone gets a gift and

feels happy and appreciated. We should not just give to distributors,

for without the assistance of the devotees in the temple, they would

not be able to go out and distribute. So one should appreciate all

the devotees with some gift, even if it is just a package of cookies.