Report from Malawi
Malawi, in Africa, is a place where very few have heard of Krsna. But there are many people here who are always ready to buy the books, and as soon as they look at them, they say how beautiful they are. Once I went into a bakery named Ali Baba Bakery and showed the books to the fair-skinned man at the cash counter. His name was Nicholas and he was immediately interested. He took SSR, Raja Vidya, Beyond Birth and Death, and Perfection of Yoga. He paid half the amount and asked me to come and collect the other half on the next day. The next day...
read moreWhoa, She Got a Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1!
I was going door to door in Waihi, a beach town. Behind one door loud pop music was playing. I thought that a party must be going on inside and that a young teenage girl or boy would answer the door. But to my surprise an old lady answered. As I showed her the books I asked her how she got rid of stress. She said she listens to music of all sorts. Then she agreed to give a donation for a book. As she went off to get the donation, I listened to the lyrics of the music playing: "Whoa, we are going to a party! Whoa, we are going to...
read moreDrawing Inspiration from Her Husband
While distributing at Mt. Maunganui I stopped a group of three ladies and asked, "Are you sisters?" They were a mother, a daughter, and a niece. (The mother was flattered, of course.) I thought I recognized one of them and asked if they were from Hamilton or Auckland. It turned out they were from Hamilton. Then the mother explained how her husband had just died and had been reading the Bhagavad-gita up to his death and that he really liked it. Inspired as she told this story, I had already put "The Journey of...
read moreIt All Started with a Note of Encouragement
I was going door to door in Hamilton and met a lady and her daughter. The lady invited me in to talk more about the Bhagavad-gita. She was very open to the teachings of Krsna, explaining how she had once seen a devotee in the center of Hamilton distributing books and felt inspired by his spirit of sacrifice for helping others. She said she had written a note with words of encouragement and given it to the devotee while he was in the middle of an exchange. I said, "That was me!" She was surprised and delighted that I had now come to...
read moreSummer 2012 Book Distribution Adventures
We are on the Black Sea, Bulgaria. In the summer it is like heaven for book distribution. Usually it is three to four times better than the Prabhupada marathon. Yesterday in one cafe club I presented books to a lady who said, "I know all these bogus gurus; they're all useless! There's only one that is bona fide A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada but you have no books by him!" And she turned to leave. I was shocked. "Wait, wait lady," I called "*all* these books are by Prabhupada!" I began to show her...
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