Distributing books at an exhibit at Ratha yatra in LA
A woman came by the table at the vegetarian exhibit at the Los Angeles Ratha-yatra and picked up three books and gave a nice donation.
When I asked what brought her over to buy the books, she said that she'd been listening at the Question and Answer booth and was impressed by the speaker's knowledge.
One man came to my book table with his children. After surveying the exhibit, he looked me right in the eye and said, "What do you have to say to someone who knows very well that he should not be eating meat, but no matter how hard he tries, he just cannot give it up?"
All four of his kids were staring at me as he asked the question, and they paused and leaned on the book table waiting for my response. I responded, "This one question could change the course of your life, and your family's lives, too. Whatever you do they will follow. Just understand that this is not an issue of your personal health, your love for animals, or saving the environment, or any of those reasons that you may have heard for being a vegetarian. The core issue with this is a spiritual one. Does that make sense?"
He agreed. "We have failed to identify who we really are in terms of our own soul. This book will give you the correct philosophical foundation to understand that the animals have their own spiritual identity just like we do."
He took a Science of Self-Realization and gave five dollars.
One woman was looking at the exhibit, and she anxiously asked me to explain every panel to her. She saw the pictures of animals suffering, and because she had just recovered from a catastrophic car accident in which her skull was broken she had an amazing look of urgency on her face. After asking many questions, she took a Higher Taste and a Perfection of Yoga with her. When she described the immense pain she had gone through and showed me her huge scar, I could understand that previously she may have not have held such a compassionate point of view. Doing book distribution helps us to better understand the lessons of compassion as well as suffering.
Karuna Dharini Dasi
