For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada, from Czech Republic
Here are some stories from the sankirtan devotees in Czech Republic. Panca-tattva Dasa (Czech) wrote the following homage to Srila Prabhupada for his last vyasa-puja celebration: One afternoon I distributed your books in a full supermarket parking lot: the Hypernova store in Ostrov (the west part of Czech). I knocked on the window of a car. There sat a serious older man patiently waiting for his wife to finish a two-hour shopping trip. These types of men usually gladly look through the books, because they get bored by waiting so long. He didn`t know much about philosophy, but when he saw your photograph on the front cover, he said, "I know this man. I am an artist, and once I was painting his portrait – a big oil painting." Then I enthusiastically started to ask him about the details and he slowly, at first unwillingly, recount a story about his daughter. She suffered from a very serious mental disease and was hospitalized for many months in a mental hospital. Her condition was really serious, and somehow — he didn`t know how — she got Your books. She regularly read your books and looked at your beautiful lotus face. The power coming from your personality, present in your books, gradually helped her regain her health, both physically and mentally.
She grew well enough to leave the hospital and restart her life. And because she was so impressed by your personality, because you gave her so much strength and peace, she asked her father to paint a large color portrait of you, which today hangs in this lady`s living room. She is now a mother of two children in Karlovy Vary. I happily sent her more of your books with her father and then stood there staring, with my poor ability and desperate impotency to appreciate your greatness. Maha-srnga Dasa, the Czech sankirtana leader, wrote this homage to Srila Prabhupada: 1) In one village I met a lady interested in mystic yoga and speculation, and as soon as I showed her our books, she said, "Yes, I am looking for these! I have read a few of them and now I don't read anything else. Do you have some new books?" The lady gave me 1.000 crowns and took the Srimad Bhagavatam up to the Third Canto. She was very glad about this and happy that I showed her the proper way. 2) I went past one unfinished house and called to a man on the roof: "Hello, I have something for you, come down and see." The man came down and said: "Oh, you are bringing the books. Show me what you have. I am the vicar of the Czechobrother Hussite Church." When he saw your books he said, "I already have Srimad Bhagavatam up to the Third Canto. These are really wonderful books." I mentioned that in our country other Cantos were translated and he immediately replied: "I want them!" I replied that I don`t have them with me, but in my car. So he immediately took me into his car and we went there. When he was taking the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Cantos, his eyes shone with joy. He gave me his address and said that when we translate the other parts, we must come round. 3) In one old broken-down house I met on the stairs a gypsy lady and started to introduce your books, whereupon another lady came out in the stairwell and started yelling:
"Don`t take this stuff; otherwise, you`ll go crazy. The lady I had started speaking with looked skeptical and didn`t know how to react. Then the second lady continued: "These are not ordinary books. When you read them, you completely change your view of the world. I have them already." I realized that she wasn`t dissuading but actually appreciating your books and immediately asked her which books she had. Then I continued: "You don`t want to go crazy alone, do you? Your friend here will take these books, and you can take those you don`t have!" Both of them gave me donations and were glad to receive something special. 4) One girl from Podivin read your biography and told me: "You know, when you are distributing these books, you have to be trnad api sunicena, taror api sahisnuna." I was very suprised that people not only read your books, but also learn them and remember them. 5) I rang the bell of one flat. Nothing was happening. I went downstairs and suddenly heard the door open on the upper floor. I didn`t want to go up again so much, but went anyway to see who was there. In the door stood an old lady. So I showed her your biography. When she saw your picture on the cover, she said: "Where is he? Come inside! I have been waiting for you my whole life!" She was very happy to receive pure Krsna consciousness, in the form of Bhagavad-gita. I stayed with her for a while, taught her to offer food, chant the maha-mantra and gave the instruction that beginning from that day she had to eat only Krsna-prasadam and especially every day read your books. Dear Srila Prabhupada, actually every book distributed is a story of how the cats and dogs gradually become devotees of Krsna. Please continue to engage me in your mission and give me a little mercy so that I can bring many conditioned souls to your lotus feet. This is a nice story that happened during the recent Janmastami Marathon to Yasomati Suta das:
I was travelling in the group with Satya Karana Prabhu and Panca Tattva Prabhu. Krsna was very merciful during that marathon and we were very successful at distributing huge numbers of books.
We tried to have good sadhana and simple prasadam. We tried to distribute as many books as possible, to encourage others to also do that. The marathon ended on a Friday, and on that Thursday we were distributing in two towns, because each town alone was not big for three men. I stayed in Vrbno pod Pradedem, and Satya Karana Prabhu and Panca Tattva Prabhu went to Jesenik.
The previous day Satya Karana had talked about a wonderful parking lot with many people driving in to shop. In the morning, however, to our suprise, we realized that this nectar spot was actually in another town. I had to remain where I was. I understood that there wouldn`t be many people around during the day, so I really concentrated on each person and prayed that they take the books of Srila Prabhupada.
But after an hour and a half of distributing, it became difficult. I tried to continue despite my lamenting mind. At that moment two policemen arrived. They got out of the car and were looking around. As soon as they saw me, they came right to me. I said to myself: "Now they`ll catch me, and forbid me to distribute here or throw me out of the town." So I decided to address them first. I asked them: "Are you from this town?"
They told me: "No, we are the patrol from the next town and we are actually looking for you."
I thought: "That`s it." But they continued, and asked me if yesterday we were in the town they come from. I told them that we were there. They asked me what I`m doing here.
Because I didn`t know what they wanted, I told them: "I am from educational center in Prague and we are translating the old Vedic texts. And we have them here for the people to see and if they want, they can take them and give us some contribution."
They said they were searching for me, because this morning they stopped one man in his car to check his papers and saw the same books they saw the day before being distributed in their town. They said they are actually interested in this subject. Each of them took one book and gave donations. They thanked me and drove away.
I was really amazed what Krsna arranged, and realized that it is good place to distribute and that I was not out there for nothing. That day I distributed 136 books by Srila Prabhupada, in a place where there weren't many people. In the evening I related this story to the devotees who returned for me and saw that they were very inspired by that. So now I wanted to share this with other devotees.
One more story! Hare Krishna! Book distribution, ki jaya!
This story is from this summer and is by Panca Tattva Dasa:
One summer day I began distributing the books of Srila Prabhupada at a square in a small south-Czech city. The third person I stopped was a lady and as I presented the books, I noticed an older man who was listening to us from a small distance. In our devotee-slang we call such people StBs (secret police agents), and because they are a disturbing element in book distribution, we try to avoid them. This man looked a bit crazy, due to his slow motion and special accent. He interrupted our conversation and asked how he could help me. Meanwhile the lady took the opportunity and left. A bit annoyed, I told him, I don´t need any help and asked him to go on with his business. The man was persistant though, and inquired what I was actually doing there. Judging by his ways and appearance I concluded he must be one of the musty, bored and curious old men who are more or less obstructions for a book distributor and take away his valuable time and determination. So I briefly replied that I am a Hare Krishna monk from Prague and today I am distributing books about God here. To my suprise he didn´t leave as I expected and further inquired about the books, so I told him that they are encyclopedias of spiritual wisdom and one costs 2.800 crowns (price for a book set in Czech, 16 pieces). Because he was a retired person who didn´t look that he could take even one of them, I was convinced that this mantra will work and he will leave.
When he soberly replied, that he will gladly take one encyclopedia, I started to wonder what was going on. Here is a soul, part of Krishna, who is very much eager for the books of Srila Prabhupada and the only obstacle is me. How absurd!
This man gave a donation of 1.000 crowns on the spot, without even seeing the books, and the rest he brought within one hour. I invited him into the van, where I showed him and gave him all our books and spent about forty minutes in pleasant and friendly talk. This man turned out to be a nice person, interested in spiritual things with deep understanding of our philosophy. He very much appreciated our traveling life and the sublime mission of Srila Prabhupada. It was the first time that I have distributed all our books to one person, and, overwhelmed by bliss, I promised myself that I will never again judge people on the street according to external material criteria, but rather will try to convey the causeless mercy of Lord Caitanya to all conditioned souls without distinction.
P.S. This man looked and acted strangely, because after an accident he became an invalid, with half of his body paralyzed and slow reactions. Book distribution mission, ki Jai!
