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Caitanya Gets the Mercy of Lord Caitanya
In San Jose California I was at a book table when a young teen indian boy stood by the table suddenly, I asked him, "What is your name?" He replied,"Caitanya." I became instantly happy and showed him picture of ord Caitanya. Then I explained to him about the Bhagavad-gita and the concept of the soul. I asked him, holding his hand, "What is this?" He replied, "This is my hand." Then I pointed to his nose, he said,"This is my nose." Then I pointed to his eyes, he said,"This is my...
read moreBattlefield Bhajans Vol. 38
Pretoria to Durban, South Africa I waited to check in for my flight to Durban and a young man was staring at me. He finally approached me, and asked me if I was a monk. I replied yes, I am a Hare Krishna. He went to say that he works at a new age yoga studio, and he had some questions for me. I sat next to him and just listened to what he had to say. He opened his heart to me; he started describing how he started practicing yoga to escape the pain in his heart from failed relationships, from the pain of disappointing his family. He expressed...
read moreThe Joy of Book Distribution
I exerted a little extra effort one night at the Coachella music festival (stayed out till midnight) in California. I got up at 4am to finish my rounds and do a morning program to have a charge for the day. When I finished my rounds I took a little rest and had this "dream". Prabhupada's murti was there and I affectionately touched him on the shoulder. He moved in a surprised way and looked at me. I was stunned that he (the murti) moved and I asked Prabhupada if everything was all right. He said, "Yes." and got up off...
read moreCongregational Book Distribution: Monthly Sankirtan Festivals
By Rita Gupta “Monthly Sankirtan Festivals are a great way to engage the entire congregation in book distribution,” says Vaisesika dasa. “At our temple, we combine the festival with a holy day on the Vaisnava calendar. Our meditation during the Monthly Sankritan Festival is that the sankirtan results are our special offering to the Lord.” Vaisesika dasa is the Temple President of the ISKCON Silicon Valley (ISV) temple as well as the North American Sankirtan Strategist. Over the last five years, he has used ISV as a...
read moreFirst day First Prayer
Bhakta Saurabh has joined the Brahmchari Trainee batch that has just begun in Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir. On his first day of book distribution he had a nice experience: I was distributing books in the local trains. From 2:15- 3:45 pm I could only distribute 4 small books. Then I remembered the words of Balaji Prabhu, one of the top book distributors from the previous BT batch. "Book distribution is all about prayers," he had told me. "Srila Prabhupada is the one who distributes through us. Just pray to him."...
read moreFinal call for boarding – My recent sankirtan experience
I had to travel to Coimbatore India from Secunderabad to meet my parents over the weekend. I had to travel by plane due to last minute decision, but still I packed a hand baggage with my cloths and another carry-on with books. After finishing the formalities at the airport counter, I was left with about 40 minutes for Hari Nama Sankirtan. I approached a lady explained Bagavad Gita but she was not interested. I moved away looking for other travelers but was headed in the direction wherein the waiting areas were empty. When I traced back the...
read moreThe Fortune Teller
I was doing door to door book distribution in Ireland. I was talking to one man who gave a nice donation but didnt want a book, I was thinking how to get him to take a book. He didnt believe in God. So I looked into his eyes and said, "I'm a fortune teller, would you like to know your future? The man said, "Yes.OK." I said, "You're going to get old, diseased, and then you're going to die. If you want to do something about it then read this Bhagavad-gita." He then took the book. Hare Krishna, Ananta Nitai...
read moreQueen Kunti and the Drag Queen
Dear devotees. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! We were on travelling sankirtana in a small town nearby Helsinki. Before beginning a day I always chant one round extra. After chanting I saw a fat lady walking on the street. I opened the conversation by saying: Dear Madam, we are looking for aristocratic people in this town today. I must say you look exactly like the Queen. (This is one of the mantras I use while distributing Teachings of Queen Kunti.) To my surprise she replied: ÒHow did you know I...
read moreTransformation-2
In the last issue we discussed how Ticket Collecters (TC) in the train harassed the devotees and by one man's help all the TCs stopped interfering. That man has an interesting story: Mohan is a very senior officer in the railways. Earlier if he would catch a devotee doing wrong he would heavily fine the person and if the offender could not pay, he would put him behind bars or detain him till the family members came and paid the fine, for which he almost never issued receipt. With the bribe money he nearly every day ate meat and drank in...
read moreAre we So Sinful?
During book distribution in villages in India, we generally set up a stall by 7:30 am and after engaging the early morning shoppers, we move to the next village. Like this we cover 4-5 villages in a day. One day we had good book distribution in a village. By 9am we were ready to leave. On the way to the next big village there was a smaller one, which I decide to skip. "Better spend more time in the bigger village," I thought. When we were crossing the small village we reached the road where the village people, under the guidance of...
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