Yoga Teacher Distributes Prabhupada’s Books
Mahadyuti Prabhu has shared many reports that after giving a class, he's distributed some books. I was inspired to follow in his footsteps at a recent yoga class.
Before the yoga class, I told a devotee who's a yoga teacher that I was invited to lead kirtan at a yoga center and looked forward to distributing some of Srila Prabhupada's books. He told me to never distribute books to yoga students until I have a long-term relationship with them.
But since I didn't know whether I'd be back in the region, I asked the yoga teacher whether I could offer the Bhagavad-gita to her students.
She went even a step further.
Meranda Squires lived in Kullu, India, for seventeen years to study and practice yoga. She grew up in a lighthouse on the east coast of St. John's, Newfoundland. Her guru is Swami Shyama. Now she owns the Lotus Centre Yoga Studio in St. John's.
I used to prepare prasada for many of Swami Shyama's followers when I was the cook and manager at Govinda's Restaurant in Ottawa, and I told Melinda that all of Ottowa's yoga and meditation groups loved to eat there, because we sold the most sattvic food in the city.
Before the evening kirtan, I asked her about wearing ordinary clothes, and she said, “No, you should dress like a devotee, because everyone knows that I invited a Hare Krishna devotee.”
Then I asked her whether it would be all right to offer the Gita and other books to her students and friends. And she took it on herself to announce near the end of the evening: “If you don't have a Bhagavad-gita, you can get one now.
It is a major book on the yoga philosophy, and Gaura Dasa has some copies. “Chant and Be Happy” is also a good book, as is Coming Back, which is about reincarnation.” So the yoga teacher did book distribution that night, and she gets all the credit from Lord Caitanya, to whom she has become dearer for doing so: “There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than one who explains the secret of devotional service, nor will there ever be one more dear.” Bg. 18.68-69 Five people asked for the Bhagavad-gita; other books, including the “Higher Taste” cookbook, were also taken home. Meranda did a wonderful job of hosting, and she found me other hosts who gave me a place to stay for a few nights.
She invited me to attend her yoga classes free any time. Believe me, you need a few yoga classes after driving for thirty-five hours, hoping to avoid hitting a moose on Canada's roads.
Your servant,
Gaura Dasa
