Out of Many Thousands of Men, Only a Few are Named Hectar
In the 1970s I met a man named Hector at Vista Point, across the San Francisco Bay, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. He was on a big tour bus. I showed him a book and asked for a donation.
"So I can give any donation I want, and I get to keep this book?" he asked.
"Yes" I answered.
"I want you to dedicate the book to me first. My name's Hector," he said.
I wrote on the first page of the Sixth Canto, Part One: "To Hector, from Mitra."
Hector handed me two dollars, and I went on to the next person.
The next morning, Caru, our temple president, approached me.
"Did you meet someone named Hector yesterday?"
"Uh, yeah, I think I did."
"I got an interesting phone call yesterday," Caru said. "A man was walking through Chinatown and saw a book leaning in a windowsill. He picked it up. When he opened it, he saw written on the first page, 'To Hector, from Mitra.' He called the temple phone number right away and said, 'My name is Hector. Who is this Mitra, and how did he know I was going to find that book?' The guy is very interested and is coming to the temple this morning. Do you want to meet him?"
I met this other Hector very briefly, and I guess that added to the mystique of his experience. From his point of view, I was on my way out the door to magically place more books for people I hadn't met. I didn't express any surprise or try to figure the odds of Hector finding a book with his name in it. I've only met one more Hector since that day in 1977.
Hector stayed for a couple hours talking with Caru and purchased several other books. Wish I'd kept track of him, as it would have been interesting to hear the story from his point of view. In those days we just expected miracles. They had become so common, we didn't get excited or pay much attention to them.
I guess the first Hectar got tired of carrying the book around and left it in front of a store. Interesting that he didn't leave it on the bus. There are so many things he could have done with it. Krsna had a plan for the second Hectar.
Your servant,
Mitrasena Dasa
