“Just half an hour more”
Melbourne Australia 2007. My first Srila Prabhupada marathon. My god brother Nanada Mandir prabhu and I were the only brahmacaris distributing full time. But there was a transcendental army of fired up brahmacarinis hungry for Srila Prabhupada's mercy during the Marathon. So I thought best to seek advice from my exspirienced father Atul Krsna Prabhu, who did sankirtan in Melbourne for 12 years, on how we can increase the books going out and keep victory in the men's ashram. Atul Krsna prabhu gave some sound advice.
That if our mood/motivation is only to win, our sankirtan career will not last long. Our desire should be to please guru that is all. If you just go out to please guru, Krsna may reciprocate.
My father then gave some tips on increasing the distribution, like places to go on traveling sankirtan. Also he gave the tip of 'dan dakshin' to ask the congregation to sponsor books so we could let them fly out.
So I took this advice to heart and approached different devotees at a time when nobody could say no. When all the devotees line up for darshan just before the curtains would open for mongala aratika. Who could say no to such an auspicious request at such an auspicious moment. Several intelligent devotees sponsored 3 boxes of soft Gitas in total, costing about $500. So Nanda Mandir and I were in ecstasy. We had 1.5 boxes each to let fly for half price. Surely that would help us please a guru.
We went to Bendigo, two hours drive north of Melbourne. I wanted to do a full box of 45 Gitas in one day. Books were finding new homes nicely but only 32 soft Gitas plus a few SB 1.1's and some small books at 5pm. We would plan to finish at 5pm everyday so we could ether go set up camp and cook some dinner for Krsna or we would drive about two hours to the next town. Everyday at 5pm I would be at the car waiting for my godbrother and everyday I would call him on the mobile phone and he would say "Oh just half an hour more" and everyday that would frustrate me because I have no real compassion for the conditioned souls, maybe because I am one. But this day I thought ok 30 minutes, I have 13 gitas left, lets see if I can do it Krsna! I packed my back pack & set of like Bhimasena for Dushashan. It was amazing! The town was practically dead, hardly anyone still on the street. Every person I saw I would run up to and beg them to take a book. They were all taking! I stopped 3 middle aged women on a holiday, handed them all a gita each. They were so happy they said "Oh we must take one for our friend back in the hotel." 4 in one go! The streets were empty so I spent the last 15 min outside the supermarket were the car was parked and approached every person that came out of the shop. So it was 5:30 pm. Nanda Mandir had taken off his armor for the day. Even though I was one gita short of the box I thought best we go get set up for the night.
That evening we set up camp at the caravan park. I was cooking for Krsna and one retired doctor from England who was touring Australia with his young vampire girl friend after renouncing his work and family, entered the kitchen area to cook some flesh for his ticket to hell. Nanda and I quickly finished our prasadam so we would not have to bare the smell. The elder English man began asking questions about our hair cuts and what were we doing out here traveling? So we informed him of our being servants of Krsna and our mission to save him from hell. He was a nice man so I gave him a small 'On The Way To Krsna' book. He said thanks and without being asked offered donation. He just happened to have a $5 note in his pocket. I said thanks and ran over to Nanda in ecstacy! Nanda said "Why dont you go give him that last Gita from the box?"……. OH YEH! I ran over with the gita and said you gave a nice donation so please take this book too……… HARIBOL 45 GITAS IN ONE DAY!!
Seeking your blessings to please my guru maharaj,
Your Servant
Uddhava Dasa
