Two short stories from Montreal
French Largess I met a French man who showed interest during our conversation, but he still didn't want to take my English Bhagavad-gita. So I showed him the hardcover French version I had. I couldn't present it to him nicely because I don't speak French, and so I wasn't confident about asking for a big donation. Instead of the standard $20.00, I told him it was just $15.00. But he misheard me and, after looking through every one of his pockets for enough to make a donation, he eventually handed me $50.00. A Rare Guest...
read moreZanzibar
We had come to attend the Nairobi Ratha Yatra in East Africa and after that thought of doing some book distribution in neighbouring Dar es salaam and Zanzibar by Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy. In Dar es salaam there are some devotees and there is some preaching going on. In Zanzibar, however the population is at least about ninety five percent muslims and, they are practicing muslims. Therefore there hasn't really been much done there. It is actually the birth place of the Swahili language and culture which is now quite widespread in...
read moreBook ditribution in the land of Dharma
Once one of our devotees in India — Nitai Prabhu — was trying to distribute a Krsna Book. But the man was reluctant and gave many excuses for not taking the book. Finally he said that he would purchase it next time. A man seated opposite him heard the conversation, and afterward the man said to the person refusing to buy a book, "You should take it; it's a very nice book. I've bought this book and completed reading it." When he heard this, the person who had refused to buy the book readily bought it. In this way,...
read moreThe End of a Nice Maha-Sankirtan Day
Bhakta Jeff and I reached downtown Montreal at noon, and by 7:30 we had distributed all our flyers and books except one hardback Bhagavad-gita. Both of us tried for thirty minutes to distribute that book, but no one would take it. We preached to Christians, we preached to Indians — we tried everyone! I convinced Bhakta Jeff to stay a little longer, but finally at 8:00 pm I surrendered and said, "Okay, let's go." I was quite disappointed as I put the book into my backpack. But on the way to the train I thought, "No,...
read moreReggie gets the mercy
On the first day of the 2010 Prabhupada Marathon we (myself and Bhakta Alexey, on his first marathon) were on Oxford Street in London, waiting for a bus to take us to our destination, further up the street. We started to distribute books at the bus stop. When the bus arrived, the driver held my books as I got on. He was from Indonesia. I asked him to take a Bhagavad-gita and he did, giving me a small donation. It wasn't enough for the Gita, but I thought a Muslim from Indonesia buying a Gita would make a good story to tell the devotees...
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