Chant and be Happy, then give it to others
While at the Los Angeles Ratha Yatra recently a devotee came to the table where I was distributing books. His name is Kridayananda dasa from Brazil.
As we were talking he mentioned that he joined when he was 12 years old. Generally when we hear this we think his parents are devotees. Nope, not this devotee. He read, “Chant and be Happy.” After reading it he thought, “This is what I want, I want to be a devotee.” After finding out where the temple is he would take an hour bus ride every day to visit the temple for the morning program. Then a devotee seeing his sincerity asked if he would like to join. He didn’t know he could just join, so he enthusiastically replied, “Yes.” But there was a problem: he’s only 12. He asked his father if he could join and he said, “No.” He had an aunt that he was close to so he asked her if she could talk her brother into it. She did, and he joined the temple. This was in 1984 when book distribution in Brazil was on fire, everyone was distributing books. So he joined the book distribution party and loved it. Book distribution, giving Krsna to others, brought more happiness.
Your servant,
Vijaya das
