A friend inspires his friends to take books
We were in Palmerston North, New Zealand, for the first weekend of the marathon. After distributing books all day across from a plaza, it was becoming quiet, so I decided to walk to another spot. On the way I saw four guys huddled around a car, talking and laughing. I felt a bit intimidated, because I don’t usually stop groups. I just walked past them and went on distributing books at the new spot. About twenty minutes later I walked back past them again, and then I heard someone running toward me from behind, asking, “Hey bro, is...
read morePeople waiting to receive Srila Prabhupada’s books…
On a cold, quiet winter night I was praying for some mercy and this nice lady Priti comes up to my book table and says : “I just finished reading The Gita as it is , it took me 10 years to finish, but I did it” I thought it was amazing to hear that but to add to the ecstasy she goes “I want to start reading Bhagavatam now, Can I buy the Srimad Bhagavatam from you ?“ My jaws dropped in disbelief. Anytime I don’t feel like going out, I remind myself that there is someone out there waiting to receive Srila Prabhupada’s...
read moreThe pictures do it again
I met Sue at the Rotorua night market. She comes up to our table and says that she got a book from a monk when she was seventeen in London. At the time she didn’t understand what the books were about, but she was captivated by the pictures. I presented the Bhagavatam set, she was interested, but couldn’t afford it. She took a Bhagavatam 1.1 instead. As she’s flipping through the pictures, she keeps repeating, “These are the pictures. I’ve seen these before.” She leaves for about five minutes, then returns and says, “As I was walking away it...
read moreAkula, “the Shark,” on sankirtan
In the spirit of the Prabhupada Marathon, here is a story from some years back in Russia. You know how Sanskrit names sometimes sound funny in our languages? Well, Gautama Rishi went on sankirtana with a friend called Akula. Akula means “shark” in Russian. Not “sounds like” but literally means that. Gautama and Akula went on sankirtana, door to door in a huge apartment block somewhere in Nizhniy Novogord. Some people outside warned them that there were mafia bandits living on the top floor, but by the time they got up...
read moreThis is the sum and substance of the Krsna consciousness movement
“This should be the standard of determination for all Kṛṣṇa conscious persons. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person should free himself from the clutches of māyā, and he should also be compassionate to all others suffering in those clutches. The activities of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are meant not only for oneself but for others also. This is the perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One who is interested in his own salvation is not as advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness as one who feels compassion for others and who therefore propagates the Kṛṣṇa...
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