My first distribution of a set of Bhagavatam
During this year’s book marathon in Durban, I met many people who had a change of heart. Not heart transplantations but a transformation of consciousness.
A Christian lady whom I spoke with was going through difficulties. I told her about the Fifth Canto and what happens after one is involved in the four sinful activities. I gave her details, such as how eating meat puts you on a hellish planet, where in a pot of boiling oil, you are boiled alive.
She became interested and took a Bhagavatam set. That was my first attempt at distributing a set of Bhagavatams.
Krsnaloka Devi Dasi
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Krsna made a man feel that he should buy some sets
I was milking the cows in the afternoon, and an Indian family came into the goshalla. We had a talk as I was finishing the milking, and then I engaged them in bottle-feeding the calf Nishta.
Afterward I offered to show them some books. The head of the family agreed to take a whole stack and gave a nice donation. I also mentioned that I had full sets of the Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrta at home and encouraged him to consider taking a look at them.
The gent replied that he had already spent a lot of money driving up to the farm from Sydney and didn’t think it was possible at the time. So then I offered to bring him a Krsna Book. He agreed.
Later, I went over to his cabin, which was right next to my place, and we had a nice talk about his family heritage and experiences in India.
He said that his family comes from Visvamitra Muni (the guru of Sri Rama) and he knows a lot of the pastimes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. His wife said that they’ve often been to Vrindavan and they especially love Govardhana Hill.
After that, they showed me their Bala Gopal, so I paid obeisances, and then we put the Krsna book next to the deity on the makeshift altar. Then I said goodnight and thought that was it.
The following day he called me again and said: “I’m up at the Gold Coast shopping today, but I have a feeling that Sri Krsna really wants me to have those books. Could you please bring the Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrita sets over? We’ll be back about 7:30 PM.”
This pleasant surprise made me feel super inspired. So when I went to drop off the books I also took a Prabhupada-lilamrita set. I showed him the cover of the first part and briefly described Srila Prabhupada’s journey from India to America. He agreed to take all three sets!
We loaded them into the back of his car and then sat to share some realisations before I had to go deliver sweets to Govinda’s. I gave him my bank details, and he transferred a nice donation which fully covered the costs.
* * *
I just spoke with him today and asked whether he could send a picture of his family with the books, but he said that they are in the process of packing for a move back to the place they used to live, so he will send a photo when they get settled again.
He had started a Hindu Society at a community centre in the place they are going back to, and I suggested that he could rename it the Bhakti Centre or something more inviting and inclusive for Australians and tourists. He will consider that. I suggested, too, that he display the sets of books there and hold programs to read from them.
He invited me to come and visit them, and I hope I can make it one day.
Transcendental book distribution, ki jaya!
Nitai Gauranga!
Jaya Srila Prabhupada!
Your servant,
Jiv Jago
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One tough day on sankirtan turned out well
I’ve been in Germany for a few weeks visiting my family and was trying to sell some books this past week while I had some time off from family visits. In the town where I was, it seemed to be quite difficult to distribute a lot of books to the many hard-wired Germans. A lot of people didn’t speak much German or English, and many other fundraisers besides me were also on the streets. So I was meditating on something Devamrita Swami told me once — I should just think, “I could meet one person whose life could be completely changed by our encounter.”
One day seemed particularly challenging. I met a young man who just finished school and told me that he started meditating a few weeks ago. He seemed very sincere and ended up taking a German “Science of Self-Realization” before walking off. Ten minutes later at a different spot, he came up to me again, and we started talking. I remembered that I was going to meet one devotee the upcoming weekend for lunch and kirtan, so I told the boy that he could come along if he wanted. He was very excited about the invite and really wanted to come.
Surprisingly, myself being used to the noncommittal Kiwi mood, he ended up coming. Together we took up an hour’s drive to the devotee, and we had a very nice day taking prasadam and chanting Hare Krishna with some wonderful devotees. After being away from the devotees for a while and not selling books, I was thinking that there’s definitely nothing so enlivening as giving Krishna to others.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Your servant,
Krishna Gopinatha Dasa