We are preaching Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam all over the world. We have translated into English Bhagavad-gītā, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And they are being received very nicely. In the Christmas period in a week, from 17 December to 24 December, our report is we have sold books, small and big, seventeen lakhs. And our general survey is that we are selling books to the worth of five to six lakhs daily. Daily. And our expenditure is also very heavy. We have started a Bhaktivedanta Book Trust for expanding this movement. We have got about two hundred buses to preach the Jagannātha cult all over the world, village to village, town to town . . . (break) . . . this kṛṣṇa-bhakti cult may be one all over the world. I do not know what is the cause. Here you are all present, many learned scholars and paṇḍitas. So you consider why this restriction should be there. Of course, if you do not allow, there is no, I mean to say, loss on the part of the foreigners, because Jagannātha has already gone there, and they are worshiping. But it is an etiquette that to give samāna to the Vaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava aparādha has been very much condemned by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So these Vaiṣṇavas, when they are so much eager to come to Jagannātha Purī and see Jagannātha, you should welcome them. You should receive them well, because Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava sevā, nistāra pāyeche kebā. And the śāstra it is said, tadīyānām ārādhanam. Viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param, tasmāt parataraṁ devī tadīyānām ārādhanam (Padma Purāṇa).
So I have specially come to request you to remove this restriction and be friendly to the foreign devotees. And you also come there, see how there are so many Jagannātha temples, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temples, how They are being worshiped, how these foreigners, they have become pure Vaiṣṇava. They are strictly observing the four principles of sinful life by negation: no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no fish-eating, no egg-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. They are purified. And Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī openly says, tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena dvijatvaṁ jāyate nṛṇām (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 2.12). So there is authority. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu says,
- ye bhaje sei baḍa abhakta hīna chāra
- kṛṣṇa bhajanete nāhi jāti-kulādi-vicāra
Kṛṣṇa says personally in the Bhagavad-gītā, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ . . . te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim (BG 9.32). So there is ample śāstra-pramāṇa, approved by the ācāryas. Caitanya Mahāprabhu converted many Pathans into Vaiṣṇava, changed their name. So things are going according to śāstra and mahājana. Why you should not receive them as Vaiṣṇava and give them proper reception? That is my request. I hope . . . there are many learned scholars and devotees present here. They should endeavor to remove this, I mean to say, restriction or short-sightedness, and let us combinedly work for Jagannātha to preach the bhakti cult for the benefit of the whole world. Janma sārthaka kari kara para-upakāra (CC Adi 9.41). This Bhāratabhūmi is for para-upakāra, because this knowledge, the Vedic knowledge, is here in the Śrīmad Bhāratavarṣa. So we should assimilate the bhakti cult to the right direction, and making our life successful, we should distribute this knowledge, this cult, all over the world. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission. Janma sārthaka kari para-upakāra. The modern civilization is very vicious civilization. Because in the human form of life there is the opportunity, athāto brahma jijñāsā—to inquire about the Supreme Truth. So if they are denied . . . the knowledge is there in India. If it is denied, that is not very good human society.