Friendship beyond this world
I was walking up Bloor Street when I met two guys. I thought they would never stop, but interestingly they did, and I started to talk to them about The Perfection of Yoga. Even then I didn't realize how sincere these two were. One of them wanted to know more about mantras.
I asked him how he knew about this, and he said that he was in jail and started to 'like his mind' and other inmates told him about mantras.
I'd never met anyone from jail, so I didn't know what to say.
I said "At least you were in a prison where you can see the bars. In the world everyone is in a prison with invisible bars called sex desire."
That resonated with them, and they started to talk. I remembered Candramauli Maharaja's book about preaching in prison. So I started to tell them about that.
His friend was also interested. He said that his ex-girlfriend taught him about yoga and meditation and that she used to chant.
I told him that he shouldn't have left her, and he said that he didn't, she did.
I taught them to say "Gauranga". They chanted it, but then asked me how to practice what should they do. I told them the Hare Krishna mantra and explained the whole meaning. Right there on the street they repeated the maha-mantra word by word. They wanted to know more, but I was out of Bhagavad-gitas, so I asked them to come to Bloor and Spadina in an hour.
I had little hope they would, but to my great surprise I saw them there.
I showed them the Bhagavad-gita, and they were both mesmerized. They wanted to get it, but had no money. Somehow magically one found ten dollars in his pocket and got a Bhagavad-gita and straight away gave it to his friend, even though it was clear that he wanted it too. He told his friend to let him read it next. My heart melted at the simplicity of their friendship, so I took a paperback version and gave it to him. He was so happy and said he would come tomorrow.
One came to the class on Friday and even got a Krishna book. He chanted japa and took beads with him. Now he told me his side of the story: how he and his friend was surprised when stopped, because according to them people generally give way to them, considering them thugs. He explained how his friend had had a fight with his wife and just wanted to get out of the house, and they both met up. Generally he walks on another street, but for some reason his friend said, "I want to walk on Bloor," and then we met.
He also told me when he heard the maha-mantra he remembered it right away. Later, while I was washing dishes, he explained to me how his friend spent two years in Jail, and that they both were only 23 years old. The e-mail he wrote me before coming:
*Hey Mangal Arti, thank you for speaking to us. My friend put his nose right in the book as soon as we got home. He really likes it, and I'm going to read it as soon as he's done. What time is the thing tomorrow? I think you said 6:30, but I'm not sure. Let me know.*
your servant,
Mangal Arati dd
