Books are for everyone
Dandavats!
I want to share a nice sankirtan pastime that took place in Atlanta, Georgia. This pastime is told by Brinda Rana. She is one of our Weekend Warriors that distributes books at least once a week. She is a pharmacist. Jiva Goswami prabhu, a maharati airport distributor from the 70's, spent about a month in Atlanta distributing book. Brinda would go out with him on occassion.
"Books are for Everyone"
"I had the privilege of accompanying Jiva Goswami Prabhu once a week while he was here in atlanta for Book distribution at Luckie Street in downtown. I learned a lot from him about book distribution. He always said 'don't worry what ppl might say or think about u, u know in ur heart that they really need these books. just like a sick patient needs the medicine and as a pharmacist u know that even though it might not taste good, u still make sure ur patients take it, similarly u must never feel dejected and always approach ppl with that knowledge and compassion".
I often remind myself of his words when i need motivation to distribute Srila Prabhupada;s books.
On one occasion, I saw him talking with great enthusiasm with a homeless lady. He later told me that she took a book from him. At the time she didn't have enuf money so out of the $3.00 she had she gave him $2. I was quite surprised that a homeless person would do that. Soon after, the same homeless lady came back to our book table. I really didn't want to be bothered by her (since she already had a book) and i was trying to focus on approaching new ppl.
She however was just staring at me, so i asked her what she wanted. She said she wanted change for $20. I asked jiva prabhu if he had any change and then gave her the change for her $20. Now comes the most amazing part, Immediately she handed me $10 (from the change i gave her) and said "you all are so nice. so i want to give u this for the book i got the other day".
My heart stopped for a second and I felt sooooo bad for judging her like that. I later went home and pondered over the incident and told myself to never judge anyone while distributing books. I thought to myself, "aren't we all homeless?" This mortal world is not really our true home, so what is the real difference between that lady and me? Just coz i have a house? Then it hit me, the real difference is that she didn't think twice in giving away 50% of her income for that day to Krisha whereas I think about my mortgage and all other bills before giving to Krishna.
I decided to never neglect another homeless in the city. I hope I can."
brinda_rana@yahoo.com
Your Servant,
Sikhi Mahiti dasa
