Контактная санкиртана - Страница 2

with

them some small packet of prasadam. Prasadam is essential. In fact,

if they visited people, and they were not home, they would leave the

prasadam at the door with a note, explaining that they were in the

area, they stopped by to see them, the purpose of their visit, (to

show them some of our books, or whatever) but since they were not

home, they decided to just leave them a little sample of some of our

vegetarian food. Then just leave the prasadam, with a note, and a

card (business card is good) with your name, phone number, and

address. Then the next time you visit them, they will definitely

remember the prasadam, and there`s a much better chance that they

will invite you in. In fact, sometimes, people even call after the

prasadam was left and they ask the devotees to return at a time when

they are home.

Besides prasadam, the distributors should bring a variety of books,

tapes, incense, life membership forms, and even some devotional

paraphernalia. Naturally, you`ll want to concentrate on encouraging

people to buy books, so you should always make that the first in the

order of your presentation. But sometimes, people are just not

interested in buying books right away. They may want to think about

it. You can then possibly interest them in other things. Membership

forms are always good if people are very familiar with our movement,

and they can afford to become members. But, before that can work

there must be a very developed membership program. Don`t make them

members if they are not going to be treated like members, and

especially if they don`t get the benefits of becoming members. The

membership program is a completely different program which should be

developed side by side with your contact sankirtan, and it should be

organized by somebody else. But if it organized, contact sankirtan

can be a very effective way of both making members and selling sets

of Srila Prabhupada`s books together. When they become a member, they

automatically get a set of Srila Prabhupada`s books.

Regarding the newsletter, as I mentioned, this part of the program is

absolutely essential. If you have nothing to mail to people, then you

have no reason for getting their names. It doesn`t have to be

something expensive or fancy. It can even be printed on one sheet of

paper. But the point is that "something" has to be written, printed,

and mailed regularly (at least once every two months) so that you can

maintain regular contact with the people on the mailing list. The

newsletter is also something which is intimately connected with the

membership program. Every membership program should have a

newsletter. There are many different examples of newsletters, but

more or less, they are what you make it. Again, it costs money to

print and mail a newsletter every two months, but the whole concept

behind the newsletter is to expand our preaching to the congregation.

And the concept behind congregation building was definitely

emphasized a lot in the Moscow seminars last week. It MUST be done.

Anyway, there are more details, but if I give you too much, then

you`ll just get caught up in the details. This is definitely

something to start with. As I said, don`t become discouraged. This is

not the type of program that can be developed overnight. It took me

many years to develop it the U.S. But if you have the vision for it,

and the desire and determination, the program can gradually grow and

become very dynamic.

There are many devotees who are far more expert in these matters than

I am. As you start developing the program, you could probably start

communicating with them, too. But many details may vary from place to

place. Most important is to start with the basics, and then gradually

you can start working out the details.

I hope that this helps you to get started.

Hoping this meets you in good health.

Your servant,

Niranjana Swami

Дорогой Сатьярадж Прабху,

Примите пожалуйста мои смиренные поклоны. Вся слава Шриле Прабхупаде.

В нашем разговоре в Сухарево на прошлой неделе я обещал послать вам

некоторые основные принципы "связной санкиртаны".

Пожалуйста помните о том, что связная санкиртана подразумевает

использование сильной системы поддержки программы. Говоря "сильная

система поддержки", я имею в виду, что для этого понадобятся средства,

люди, сотрудничество, офис, машины и оборудование (компьютер и пр.).

Но вы не должны терять энтузиазм, если все эти вещи не появятся

немедленно. Когда я сам начинал эту программу, у меня тоже ничего не

было, но постепенно, когда программа начала расти, все эти вещи

появились.

Самое главное - это то, что вам нужно создать базу данных, включающую

в себя имена и адреса тех людей, которые потенциально могут приобрести

комплекты книг Шрилы Прабхупады. Или, другими словами, вам нужно

определить свою "вселенную", как это описывал Шридхар Махарадж на

прошлой неделе. Как ее определить? Сейчас я приведу несколько

примеров того, как вы можете начать делать это.

1. Получите список тех, кто писал письма в ББТ. Я уже разговаривал об

этом с Саннйасой дасом, и он согласился давать списки всем, кто

ответственно подойдет к этому служению.

2.