Amusing, entertaining, and enjoyable—going on book distribution is all those things. It's definitely entertaining and enjoyable. But here is the key: when people feel hesitant to go on book distribution, oftentimes it's an imaginary scenario that it might be tricky when they get out there. The reason I notice many people hesitate to go out on book distribution, is because they think they have to perform, and they think everyone's going to be watching them. And if they don't perform, if they don't sell a book, then what'll they say when they get home? "I'll be regarded as a failure for the rest of my life." Is anybody thinking like that? Yes? No? Very good to be vulnerable and honest. I notice when I give seminars about how to distribute books, it's not that hard. But the part of the seminar where I teach how to distribute books starts with showing people why they might think about it and also how to do it in a few simple steps. But then, when it comes to actually walking out the door, a lot of people tell me that they just got a phone call from their mom who needs a peanut butter and jelly sandwich—and it's an emergency, and they have to go home. Otherwise, they would come out with us on book distribution. Poor Mom! Expectation is the mother of disappointment. So, what I have taken to doing before we all go out on book distribution is telling devotees that they're forbidden to distribute any books. We don't want anybody distributing any books, especially their first time. They're just going out to observe and see what it feels like to walk out the door. That's the first step. Therefore, we have this ritual which is called "Touching the Pavement." No distribution of books—just see how you feel walking out the door, and then if you have to go to the place where we were planning on distributing, you go there and you just touch the pavement. So, we have many photographs from around the world of groups of devotees going out, and we just have our foot on the pavement. And once you touch the pavement, you're done for the day; you don't have to do anything else. Since I started advocating for that, lots and lots of people come out to take the first step. Because when we expect something of ourselves and we are not sure if we're able to attain it, then we might hesitate. So, one of the ways to take that hesitation away is to change your expectation. Have no expectation at all of whether you are going to sell a book or not. Don't go out for that reason—to impress somebody, to impress yourself, or to see if you can do it. Just go out to see what it feels like. In fact, if you think about what Prabhupāda felt like when he got on the Jaladūta, and you think, "Well, I don't have a Jaladūta I can get on, but at least I can try this and feel the exhilaration of walking out the door and just seeing how I feel if I was going to distribute books." Now, one of the exhilarating aspects, which makes it fun, is... (09:50) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://vaisesikadasayatra.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://iskconsv.com/book-store/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://thefourquestionsbook.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025
