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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cCould I be Krishna conscious and still be a soldier?\u201d
\nPragosh (ACBSP): When I was introduced to Prabhupada in Washington, Hari Sauri said, \u201cPrabhupada, Pragosh was trying to learn how to sell your books like full sets like an encyclopedia.\u201d
\nPrabhupada asked, \u201cSo how did that go?\u201d
\nI said, \u201cWell, Srila Prabhupada, Tamal Krishna Maharaj and I had attempted this but it was pretty clear that the BBT didn\u2019t have all the full sets in stock. Also, generally speaking, the common man is not going to be able to buy this many books at one time.\u201d
\nThen he said, \u201cSo what are you doing now?\u201d
\nI said, \u201cWell, I went right back to the airport, Srila Prabhupada, like I was for the last few years.\u201d
\nPrabhupada looked at me for a second and he kind of smiled and said,
\n\u201cYes, whatever increases book distribution, we accept. Whatever decreases it, we reject.\u201d
\nIt was a simple statement and I took it as a sort of a very specific instruction, which I look back on my life and I realize that I made many decisions that really didn\u2019t increase my book distribution.
\nAnother thing that Prabhupada said in that particular time was when he asked about prasadam distribution in New York.
\nHe asked, \u201cSo they are selling prasadam in New York City on the street?\u201d
\nI said, \u201cYes, Srila Prabhupada.\u201d
\nHe said, \u201cWhat are they selling?\u201d
\nI said, \u201cI don\u2019t know Srila Prabhupada. I\u2019m not sure.\u201d
\nThen he looked at me and asked, \u201cKachoris? They are selling kachoris?\u201d His eyes got big.
\nI said, \u201cI don\u2019t know Srila Prabhupada if they are selling kachoris.\u201d
\nPrabhupada said, \u201cOh, they must, they must. First class kachoris cooked in ghee. Then the meat eaters will lose their taste for meat naturally.\u201d
\nWe had all heard about Srila Prabhupada as \u201ckachori mukha\u201d as a child liking kachoris.
\nThen he asked me, \u201cDo you stay here in Washington?\u201d
\nI said, \u201cNo, Srila Prabhupada, I am living in New York.\u201d
\nHe said, \u201cOh, I began in New York\u201d, again very childlike.
\nThen he asked, \u201cAre you coming to Ratha-yatra?\u201d
\nI said, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t miss it for anything, Srila Prabhupada.\u201d
\nHe said, \u201cYes, Ratha-yatra in New York City has always been my dream. America is the most important country in the world, and New York the most important city in America. And 5th Avenue is the most important street in New York.\u201d
\nIt was just a very warm and friendly kind of revelation.
\nIt was a very personal interaction.
\nPreviously when I told Srila Prabhupada about the soldier who had given me eighty dollars and took four books, the soldier asked me,
\n\u201cCould I be Krishna conscious and still be a soldier?\u201d
\nSrila Prabhupada looked at me and asked, \u201cSo how did you answer?\u201d
\nI said, \u201cI told him that the Bhagavad-gita was spoken to the greatest warrior in human history.\u201d
\nPrabhupada was charmed because he looked over at Hari Sauri as if to say,
\n\u201cThis guy really knows how to lay it on.\u201d (laughs)
\nThen he looked back at me, waited for a second and then said,
\n\u201cYou have answered rightly. Arjuna was a military man.\u201d
\nJust like that.
\nHe was enlivened by the simple frankness of it.
\nAnd Prabhupada confirmed it.
\n\u2014Pragosh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>\n
“Could I be Krishna conscious and still be a soldier?”
\nPragosh (ACBSP): When I was introduced to Prabhupada in Washington, Hari Sauri said, “Prabhupada, Pragosh was trying to learn how to sell your books like full sets like an encyclopedia.”
\nPrabhupada asked, “So how did that go?”
\nI said, “Well, Srila Prabhupada, Tamal Krishna Maharaj and I had attempted this but it was pretty clear that the BBT didn’t have all the full sets in stock. Also, generally speaking, the common man is not going to be able to buy this many books at one time.”
\nThen he said, “So what are you doing now?”
\nI said, “Well, I went right back to the airport, Srila Prabhupada, like I was for the last few years.”
\nPrabhupada looked at me for a second and he kind of smiled and said,
\n“Yes, whatever increases book distribution, we accept. Whatever decreases it, we reject.”
\nIt was a simple statement and I took it as a sort of a very specific instruction, which I look back on my life and I realize that I made many decisions that really didn’t increase my book distribution.
\nAnother thing that Prabhupada said in that particular time was when he asked about prasadam distribution in New York.
\nHe asked, “So they are selling prasadam in New York City on the street?”
\nI said, “Yes, Srila Prabhupada.”
\nHe said, “What are they selling?”
\nI said, “I don’t know Srila Prabhupada. I’m not sure.”
\nThen he looked at me and asked, “Kachoris? They are selling kachoris?” His eyes got big.
\nI said, “I don’t know Srila Prabhupada if they are selling kachoris.”
\nPrabhupada said, “Oh, they must, they must. First class kachoris cooked in ghee. Then the meat eaters will lose their taste for meat naturally.”
\nWe had all heard about Srila Prabhupada as “kachori mukha” as a child liking kachoris.
\nThen he asked me, “Do you stay here in Washington?”
\nI said, “No, Srila Prabhupada, I am living in New York.”
\nHe said, “Oh, I began in New York”, again very childlike.
\nThen he asked, “Are you coming to Ratha-yatra?”
\nI said, “I wouldn’t miss it for anything, Srila Prabhupada.”
\nHe said, “Yes, Ratha-yatra in New York City has always been my dream. America is the most important country in the world, and New York the most important city in America. And 5th Avenue is the most important street in New York.”
\nIt was just a very warm and friendly kind of revelation.
\nIt was a very personal interaction.
\nPreviously when I told Srila Prabhupada about the soldier who had given me eighty dollars and took four books, the soldier asked me,
\n“Could I be Krishna conscious and still be a soldier?”
\nSrila Prabhupada looked at me and asked, “So how did you answer?”
\nI said, “I told him that the Bhagavad-gita was spoken to the greatest warrior in human history.”
\nPrabhupada was charmed because he looked over at Hari Sauri as if to say,
\n“This guy really knows how to lay it on.” (laughs)
\nThen he looked back at me, waited for a second and then said,
\n“You have answered rightly. Arjuna was a military man.”
\nJust like that.
\nHe was enlivened by the simple frankness of it.
\nAnd Prabhupada confirmed it.
\n—Pragosh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53277,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53276\/revisions\/53277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}