Double mercy
I am always charged up when a large Sankirtan group goes out; the public are always inspired more to take books, and it is so nectarean.
I only noticed him as he just stepped into our conversation. I was showing the Bhagavad Gita to a nice young man, when this older, more street-weathered man, interjected by asking, "What have you got there?"
I replied to the point, so as not to dampen the ever-sensitive flow between the young man and myself, and said, "The Bhagavad-gita!" This seemed to be just the confirmation he was expecting, and so he promptly extended his hand asking, "Will you accept five dollars?"
"Of course I will." As Dharmaprana Prabhu would say, "Any time".
Sometimes this happens and causes two books go out at once. Its exciting. I'm not sure if that influenced the younger one to take, but what I really appreciated was that even after seeing that I accepted five, he nevertheless gave ten. It was a nice exchange.
This just goes to show two things; the Gita sells on its own merit, and secondly, people are willing to pay what it's worth to them and what they can afford, no matter what they know someone else gave. As Vaisesika Prabhu often says, "Some give five, some give more, you just give what you can."
Bhakta Nick, Toronto
