By Bhakti Raghava Swami
Mr. Sarorn is our official Tuk-Tuk Driver here in Cambodia. For those not familiar with the term Tuk-Tuk, well, it’s the local means of transportation for most people in the towns and cities; basically it’s a carriage that can accommodate up to four people and that is drawn by a motor-bike, something a little unique to Cambodia. We first came in contact with Mr. Sarorn some time last year when he we looking for an apartment and “accidentally” came in contact with one of our devotees who naturally brought him for darshan to our small asrama. Since then, we have been developing a good relationship with him and his family.
Although in his early youth he spent some 12 years as a Monk in traditional Pagodas [Buddhist temple] (see his story at www.bhakticambodia.com), he always nurtured a keen interest about this mysterious personality “Krishna”. Practically everyone here in Cambodia knows the intimate relationship between Buddhism and Hinduism and how the Khmer civilization is closely linked, and to this day still intimately connected, with the Indian culture. Anyone who steps foot in the Kingdom of Cambodia, and who knows anything about India, will visibly experience being within the ancient Kingdom of Bharat-varsa.
After coming in contact with us, Mr. Sarorn would sometimes attend our Sunday Feast program along with his wife, but since his wife’s pregnancy was advancing, he could not come so regularly. I also had not kept close contact with him as I had to travel out of Cambodia a few times. Soon after his baby boy was born, at which time I happened to be back in Cambodia, he again called me. To my pleasant surprise, he asked that I find a suitable name for his son, but only to give it to him once he would visit us with his wife and kid. And so it came to be that within a few weeks he again visited with his wife and child who was about one month old by this time. I offered him the names “Visnujana” or “Krishna” as possible names for his boy. I could still remember Sarorn sharing with me, soon after we had first met, how his wife had had this unusual dream about Vishnu when she got pregnant. This boy has some clearly defined dark lines around both his ankles and wrists, which I saw personally. Somehow, Mr. Sarorn chose the name “Krishna”.
With a little more time on hand now, he started coming to the evening Bhagavad-gita class to brush up on his English and pick up on Krishna’s teachings. We only have a few Bhagavad-gitas, so he could only share with other devotees and could not take the book home with him. So, knowing that I was going to visit Malaysia soon, he asked if I could possibly bring him a small Bhagavad-gita from there. Just the night before leaving Kuala Lumpur, I was fortunate to pick up two copies of the Bhagavad-gita, both of which were gifted to me by the devotee manning the Govinda Boutique. To reciprocate, I also gifted Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita to Mr. Sarorn, for which he was very much pleased. Now he can take it home with him and also show it to people whom he meets. This factually happened just last week actually. One Indian person who saw his Bhagavad-gita commented that this book was very important, something Mr. Sarorn, needless to say, already understood.
More recently, Mr. Sarorn was pleased to get a call from one unknown person in Vietnam who had seen his Tuk-Tuk advertisement on our webpage. Mr. Sarorn had been very anxious to put his Tuk-Tuk’s photo and a little advertizing on our website expecting to get good contacts with devotees. This was his very first call from that advertisement, so he was very excited at the prospect of meeting a devotee. I was also anxious to meet this unknown devotee whose name Mr. Sarorn could not remember but who was definitely coming. Sometime last month, this devotee from Vietnam finally did arrive in Siem Reap and was eager to visit our asrama. I was surprised to come in contact with a devotee from the Philippines by the name PePe whom I had met in Tokyo during Srila Prabhupada’s Centennial Anniversary in 1996. Mr. Sarorn was very thrilled about having a devotee client to take around Siem Reap and to visit Angkor Wat. I was equally happy to have the visit of a devotee whom I had not seen for a long time. Krishna is indeed always making wonderful arrangements for His devotees.
To learn more about the Cambodia Mission, please visit our website at www.bhakticambodia.com. In the month of April this year, devotees have officially registered a new NGO under the name GLOVESCO, Global Varnasrama Educational Social and Cultural Organization. We expect to put up more information about our proposed Pilot Project in the weeks to come. Anyone interested in varnasrama development should look forward to read the up-coming article. Hare Krishna.