A seven-book customer in England
A shop owner came rushing out with an angry look on her face and said harshly, "Go away from outside my shop. You are blocking our window, and you probably don't have a licence to do this anyway!"
I decided to move a little farther up the high street, which was just a quiet road really. A devotee who had come here on harinama told us to come to this town, Beaconsfield, to try it out, because devotees never go there. But I was wishing I hadn't, as it was too quiet, and the shop owners and the people driving their cars were just staring at me.
I said to my friend across the street, "Let's go somewhere else."
He responded, "Just give it some time."
Two hours later I had sold a couple of small books. A lady in her late fifties approached, and I stopped her. She looked at the books I had on display on my box. I told her I was a monk selling books on meditation and Eastern philosophy.
She told me that she reads books on yoga and practises meditation, as it helped her through some difficult time in her life. I showed her a book with a conversation between George Harrison and Srila Prabhupada, about mantra meditation, and she said she remembered when George was into all that and she thought it was a bit strange, but now she appreciates it. I also told her that in 1973 George donated our temple to us, Bhaktivedanta Manor.
"How much for all these?"
I calculated in my head: "Twenty pounds."
"OK. I'll go and get some money, and I'll be back in a minute."
She came back five minutes later and said, "Is thirty pounds OK?"
"Of course."
She went away with seven books, including Bhagavad-Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and the biography of Srila Prabhupada.
Your servant,
Rasa-parayana Dasa
