THE MORE MAYA YELLED, THE MORE THE GITA HELD HIM
Last night in Sridham Mayapura during Gita Jayanti, Vinod Gopal Prabhu and I were stationed inside one of the temple’s book shops. We were trying to give out Bhagavad Gita As It Is to the colorful array of universally fortunate pilgrims, the guests of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I spotted a slightly more Westernised-looking man in his 30s, wandering through the crowded shop, looking at the books, and at Lord Chaitanya’s Lila exhibit. I decided to speak to him in straight English, instead of my laughable...
read moreMatthew with 6 Gitas
I was distributing books in Balboa Park (in San Diego) and met a guy named Matthew. He was waiting for me while I spoke to a Mexican couple for five minutes. Then he came to the table and said that he’s very interested in meditation. He’s been practicing it for the past nine months. He lives in San Marcos California, where there is a Science of Self-Relaization fellowship close to his house. So he’d periodically go there. As he expressed the desire to get even more into meditation, we talked for a while. I showed him the text in the Gita...
read moreMERCY AS IT IS ON THE GITA’S ADVENT DAY
Nélio approached us, asking: “What is your religion?” Mahananda Murari Prabhu explained that we exist to serve God, and the Hare Krishna Mantra is, precisely, a request for service. After a frank and relaxed conversation, Nelio and his sister Neliane revealed that they now had a totally different view of us, and so happily they kept their Gita! In photo 2, Manohara Saciputra Prabhu went out after the Sunday Festival and was worried about his chances of distributing Gitas so late at night. The first people he approached were...
read moreKRSNA KNOWS BEST
Recently I was sitting next to this really nice Peruvian girl on the plane from SFO to Brisbane. She was so sweet and kind so I gifted her a stack of books. She cordially accepted them, then asked many questions. After our exchange, she placed the books on the seat between us. After we landed, she was packing her stuff, and I was wondering if she was going to take the books or leave them on the plane. As if reading my mind, she put the books in her bag and we parted ways. Sometime later, while waiting to collect my bags at the Baggage Claim,...
read moreMutual understanding, friendship, and a shared pursuit
“All religions lead to the same God, and all deserve the same respect.” — Paulo Coelho Alhaan Khan, of Muslim faith (stood beside me on the right in the photo), encouraged his friend Raja, a Hindu (on the left next to the book table), to accept a Bhagavad Gita. Initially declining to accept the Gita, Raja changed his mind with Alhaan’s gentle persuasion. Alhaan also encouraged Franklin, a Christian (stood on the left of Raja) to take a Gita. To complete this heartwarming scene, Alhaan insisted that all three make individual...
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