A World-Class Butcher Takes A Book
I was distributing books on Queen Street in central Auckland one Sunday morning. I stopped a confident young man from Bolton, England.
During the exchange he explained not only that he is a butcher, but he was New Zealand to represent England in the Butchering World Cup! He explained how proud he felt and how much he enjoyed the work.
About the butchering “profession” he commented, “Butchering keeps one fit, but it is also a great way to take away stress.”
He said that although he is “doing well in life now,” five years ago he divorced, because his ex-wife committed adultery. He became so depressed during this period that one day he took a butchering knife to his own throat. But a voice within told him to keep going and not take “the coward's way out.”
At this point I began to pray to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai to help this poor soul, completely covered by the lower modes of nature and unable to comprehend the devastating karmic reactions hanging over his head. I'd recently learned a sloka (Cc., Adi 1.2): “I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Krishna Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the horizon of Gauda to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all.”
Begging for the mercy of their Lordships I completed my presentation of “The Teachings of Lord Kapila” and asked him for a donation.
Fortunately, he was more than happy to give a nice donation and take the book. He said he'd read it on his long return journey to England. He was scheduled to fly home in a few days after completing a tour of prominent New Zealand slaughter houses.
It is said that a butcher or animal killer should neither live nor die, because he will either cause pain or suffer pain. Yet by the grace of Srila Prabhupada his future may now have changed. Sri Sri Gaura Nitai's inconceivable mercy can save Tom, the butcher, from unlimited sinful reactions.
Ys,
Caitanya Vihara Dasa
