TK
This is an exceprt from the interview we did with TK, or Titiksava Karunika Prabhu. To see the rest of the interview click on the image below.
The material world is brutal and people are suffering. They don’t even have an idea that they are suffering. This is the nature of the material world. It is designed in such a way that people are suffering but they think that they are enjoying. This is Krishna’s trick. So the books are important to reawaken people’s dormant love for Krishna, to reawaken themselves to their true identity as the spirit soul, blissful, all knowledgeable, eternal.
Most people, including the so called religionists, socialists, are all in this idea of how to enjoy either through the direct senses, or through the extended family, or country. We all have this mentality “how can I get something.” Even if we disguise it that we think “Oh, I am doing this for somebody else” the bottom line motivation is “my happiness.” As long as you have that mentality, even if you get some happiness, so called happiness, material happiness, you’ll be forced to come back and take birth in another material body. So only by this transcendental literature and association with devotees can we finally get free. Therefore the books and this knowledge are so very important. Srila Prabhupada has given us something very, very wonderful and it is our duty to try to help him in his mission.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita that there is no one more dear to Him then he who distributes this knowledge. So by distributing the books we feel that connection with Krishna, we feel that reciprocation. Krishna is not just saying it, there is some reality to it and you can feel that in your heart, you feel transcendentally gladdened. It is a great feeling.
When you go out on book distribution you get a little bit of that nectar for which we are always anxious. Here we are suffering in the material world day after day, striving to get material happiness which simply does not satisfy us. I am in such maya that for me to go out by my self is a little bit tough or to try to go out and sell books is a little bit tough. The Sastra Dana program where you can go distribute books freely, through the rack program where you stick a bunch of books in somebody’s store and then come back and there is a hundred books distributed without even doing anything….this is fantastic! You get transcendental pleasure from that. I just wish I had more association to get out there more often otherwise I just sit in my cave, and suffer.
One thing is for sure, when you go out and you try to sell something, and it doesn’t matter what it is, whether it is the greatest latest product or transcendental literature, just the fact that you want to get something from somebody, puts people on the defense. The second they even minutely sense that you want to get something from them puts them on the defense and it makes it difficult to make the transaction. The Sastra Dana program is therefore so great because that doesn’t enter into the equation.
Some highlights from my distribution experience on Sastra Dana…Today for instance we went out, we filled up some of the racks. Then we went to the first hotel. We went inside. It wasn’t a Patel hotel, but it was an Indian lady who came out as the owner. She said she was from Mumbai. She took a rack. It was the first person that we hit. Krishna was on our side that time. It is nice to know that Krishna encourages those who go out to preach His message by making transcendental arrangements. We also met a guy there named Mike. He said that in the seventies he remembers meeting Hare Krishnas in the airports because he used to travel a great deal. So there was it again, we met this Indian lady who’s been to our Mumbai and Chowpatti temples, the first person we talked to. Amazing! And then right outside the door there is this fellow Mike who took a book. He was the first customer from that book-rack. So it was far out. It’s great. Nice.
“The first hotel we approached. It wasn’t a Patel hotel, but it was an Indian lady who came out as the owner. She said she was from Mumbai. She took a rack.”
The lobby in the hotel. Our book rack is between the chair and the flower vase.
“We also met a guy there named Mike.”
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TK was born in Santa Monica. In 1979 he joined the Hare Krishnas. In 1984 he started the band Krishnautix. Sacred music is where it’s at. All of the arts are really meant to glorify the Supreme. Anything other than that simply diverts us from the path.
In 1992 he joined the Gauranga Bhajan Band who had been doing concert tours in the eastern European block and the former Soviet Union. The Iron curtain had just come down and the two things that the former communist regime feared the most, western rock music and religion, were very popular. The Gauranga Bhajan Band had both. The tour was a huge success culminating in Moscow with a concert in the biggest stadium in Russia. Boy George who shared the bill, said it was the best concert he had ever experienced.
In 1993 he decided to move to Europe. In Slovenia he headed up a group called Transcendence who toured extensively around the country in 1994 and 1995. These were smaller shows at town squares attended by 200 to 2,000 people but were a great experience non the less. The first year the band toured, the local temple boasted 17 new full time devotees. The mood was the best it had ever been. “We had a real preaching spirit and that was the ecstacy doing these mantra rock concerts.“
In 1996 he got married to Saci Mata and moved to France. In ‘97 he moved to the beautiful Adriatic coast town of Pula, Croatia. Stayed there for about 3 years. Now he’s based back in the States.
TK’s website: www.namrock.com
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Your Contributions
San Diego Sponsors:
Ambarisa Dasa $500.00
Tamal Krishna Dasa $246.80
Sai Bhupalam $101.00
TOTAL: $847.80
Los Angeles Sponsors:
Esekiel Jaggernauth $200.00
Amrat & Nathi Patel $151.00
Murari Krishna Dasa $151.00
Cesar O. Lopez $30.00
Jiten Patel $21.00
Anonymous $20.00
M. Dayal Chugani $11.00
TOTAL: $584.00
GRAND TOTAL: $1,431.80
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Distribution to Institutions
1213 books!!! have been placed in the following institutions:
[#] [Donated to] [Address] [City]
5559 / G&S Tobacco / 3124 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5560 / Don Roberto Jewellers / 3128 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5561 / St. John’s Pharmacy / 3074 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5562 / Vision Plus / 3080 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5563 / Aleida Devine Hai Studio / 3070 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5564 / Beltran Mustang Parts / 2954 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5565 / Santa Catalina Medical Clinic / 2968 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5566 / Farmers / 2960 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5567 / Sav-on tation / 2836 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5568 / SS Accounting Services INC. / 2850 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5569 / Pegasuss’s Music / 2850 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5570 / Ramirez Tires / 2910 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5571 / Crystal Land Jump / 2928 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5572 / MAH Patrol / 3512 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5573 / Lemus Souitos / 3248 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5574 / Jaliso Meat Market / 3248 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5575 / Impact Tire, Auto & Truck Repair / 3332 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5576 / San Salvador Restaurant / 3466 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5577 / Flore’s Botanical / E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5578 / Del Rosario Medical Clinic / 3400 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5579 / NSS / 3512 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5580 / JC Foreclosure Service / 3512 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5581 / Latinos Hand Car Wash / 3356 E. Florence Ave / Huntington Park
5582 / Nayarit Meat market / 6353 Miles Ave / Huntington Park
5583 / Botanica Abre Camino / 30011 Florence Ave. / Huntington Park
5584 / C.J. Lee MD / 4811 Florence Ave. / Bell
5585 / Gift & Jewellry World / 4150 Mission Blvd. #147 / San Diego
5586 / Americas Best Value Inn / 1801 Logan Ave. / San Diego
5587 / Americas Best Value Inn / 1801 Logan Ave. / San Diego
5588 / Bharat Bazaar / 844 W San Marcos Blvd. / San Marcos
5589 / Hacienda Motel / 735 N Broadway / Escondido
5590 / Yoba Deli & Market / 23741 LaPalma Ave / Yorba Linda
5591 / Top Class Gourmet Pizza / 22224 LaPalma Ave / Yorba Linda
5592 / Orange County Performing Arts / 22234 LaPalma Ave / Yorba Linda
5593 / Bryant Ranch Cleaners / 23681 LaPalma Ave / Yorba Linda
5594 / Rio Java / 22202 LaPalma Ave / Yorba Linda
5595 / Bryant Ranch Pharmacy / 23681 LaPalma Ave / Yorba Linda
