Sankirtana at Harmony Festival
Dear Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Last weekend Bhrgupati Prabhu, Prema Sankirtana Prabhu, Dvarakesh Prabhu, and I went up to Santa Rosa, CA for a three day music festival. Mainly hippies attended the festival and the people were very nice. It is very wonderful to watch Lord Caitanya's mercy work its wonders in the hearts of the masses. There were three incidents that especially stood out in my mind:
On the way up to the festival we stopped at Berkeley, CA to distribute books at the University of California at Berkeley. Around ten thirty in the morning I met one young man who asked many nice questions. He was very curious and liked the philosophy, but he did not want to take a book. I told him about a friend of mine who got a Gita and did not read it until five years after he originally got it. My friend was moving when he came across the book. He dusted it off and cracked it open, reading it for the first time. The book changed his life and he was glad he got it. So I told this student about my friend and emphasized that even if he forgets about the book for five years he would be glad he had gotten it in the past. He said, "Well if it is meant to be, then this book will make its way into my life after five years."
"I guarantee this book will be in your possession within the next five years. I promise." I responded.
After that we parted and I forgot about him while distributing to other students. About five hours later a student came up to me and said, "You're Om. . ., Aumk. . ., Omkara right?" We started talking and he was asking many sincere questions. He was concerned about his life and wanted to make sure that he engaged in transcendental activities. After speaking with him for some time he was ready to leave. I was very impressed with the sincerity of his questions, so I told him that I wanted him to have the books that I had. He thanked me and gave me a donation. Just as he was leaving he said, "I am sure I will read these books before five years is up!"
Once we got to the Harmony Festival, I saw one person with many tatoos, insignia of devil worship, upside-down pentagram earrings, etc. I called him over and introduced myself and asked him where he was from. "I AM FROM HELL!!" he snarled at me. "Wow, that's great!" I rejoined. As I proceeded to explain that the books are about yoga and meditation and show him the pictures, he quietly said to himself, "I like yoga, I like meditation. . ." After he gave a donation and took the books, with tears in his eyes he thanked me from the bottom of his heart for the books and for being there for him.
The last day of the festival I met one of the vendors around ten in the morning. He was bald, had a long goatee, and was wearing a shirt that had a zen koan on it. He was asking very nice questions about the Vedic philosophy. But, it came out through the discussion that he believed that no path was right and that all words are illusion. In his opinion, the highest point of enlightenment is doing whatever makes you feel good. I felt sorry for him, but I had to move on since he was not willing to explore further. I walked by him a few more times during the day and I could see that he was chewing the cud of our conversation. Finally at sunset he came up to me and struck up a conversation. I could tell that he had thought about the philosophy as presented by Srila Prabhupada. He admitted that he knew nothing of the transcendental world and he asked me how he could find out more about this. He also asked how he could make spiritual advancement instead of being a slave of his senses. I was so inspired with his sincerity that I gave him two books. Without even asking for a donation he volunteered to give one.
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Lord Caitanya ki jaya!
Your aspiring servant,
Omkara Dasa
