The universality of what Srila Prabhupada is offering.
While distributing at Richland College in Dallas, I met a couple who came to my table enthusiastic to hear about the teachings of the Gita, which they saw on the table. Both of them had heard of it. I showed them the illustrations and explained a little. Then they became more enthusiastic to take one. The young lady was happy to take one and give a donation, but the young man said he would get it another time.
A half hour later they came back to the table. They had been reading it for that half hour, and the young man said, “This is so interesting that I want one now.”
Meanwhile, the young lady was looking in my box of books. She said, “I’m intrigued by all the books you have.” I told her a lot of them are in different languages: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Arabic.“
As soon as I said Arabic, the young man said, “You have Arabic? That’s my mother tongue.” He’s from Saudi Arabia. So he received the Bhagavad Gita and an Arabic book, “Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers.” She also received more books.
Your servant,
Vijaya Dasa
—-
Recently, a harinama was taking place at the Atlantic Ave./Barclays subway station in New York City. While sitting at our harinama book-table, I had two nice encounters within fifteen minutes, before the police asked us to remove the table.
A friendly Muslim lady, dressed in a black gown, with a large percentage of her head covered, stopped by. She mentioned that she had been to our temple in Brooklyn and liked it. She said that her daughter is a vegetarian, and she gave a donation for a Higher Taste.
A few minutes later, a jovial Jewish man, dressed in black and having a kippah over the center of his head, came to look at the books. He was attracted to Journey of Self-Discovery, especially after I said that it is a collection of essays. He said he already had Science of Self-Realization, and he liked it.
He was impressed when I told him that the Bhagavad-gita was spoken five thousand years ago. He was proud of his Jewish tradition, which has also been around for thousands of years, and mentioned that there must be truth in the traditions for them to last so long.
He ended up giving a donation and accepting the Journey of Self-Discovery. It impressed me that these two people, so much committed to their own traditions that they wore their traditional dress, had an appreciation for Srila Prabhupada’s temples and his literature. It shows the universal nature of what Srila Prabhupada is offering.
Your servant,
Krishna-kripa Dasa