On Ekadasi in Germany: Drinking the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
Dear Fellow Book Distributors,
Please accept my humble respects at your feet. All glories be to the uttama book distributor, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!
The Srimad Bhagavatam says (1.18.13): "The value of a moment's association with the devotee of the Lord cannot be compared to the heavenly planets or salvation,…"
Last Ekadasi (late May) it so happened that we had been traveling for a whole week with four devotees in a van that was designed for two. We had transcendental fun on this trip, though sometimes it was hard for me as the sankirtan leader to retain a mood of concentration and simultaneously to laugh all the time with the "spaced out" bhaktas (of course only transcendental topics were allowed). A friendly yet tense competition had built up over the week. So on Ekadasi we wanted to do something special. We all distributed in Heidelberg: three in the pedestrian area downtown and me in front of the university library. The day went smooth.
For our noon break (at 1 p.m.), two of them showed up an hour late, having been too immersed in the yajna. In the evening I come back to the van a half hour late, expecting the others to be waiting for me. But to my surprise no one was there. And they had already been distributing books for more than eight hours.
I ate prasadam and counted the lakshmi and books. An hour more passed, but still no one showed up. I begin to worry. Maya, police, or ecstasy? I decide to take a look downtown. As I was parked very centrally, it was only a block away.
My second thought was: "I am their sankirtan leader and am sitting here in the van, while the bhaktas are distributing and getting the mercy of Ekadasi. What kind of an example am I? I am supposed to inspire them, so let me do some extra effort for Krishna today!"
I took ten books with me: five big, five maha. The second person I stopped takes the first book. Then the next person takes also one. Finally, I find the first bhakta. He tells me he just wanted to stop, but seeing me out, he will do twenty minutes more. Jaya!
The others had not been spotted yet. Anyway, they will show up! Unattached I stop two boys and a girl. They are interested and like our exchange. The first boy gives me a good donation. Then his girlfriend cannot refuse to also give something, and the second boy pulls along. Each takes a book.
Then the first boy says, "Hey dudes, we just gave this monk twenty bucks for books we don't know anything about!"
Just after this, two more of their girlfriends show up, waving hysterically at us. He suggests that now they also have to buy books. I just hand them the books and say, "Wisdom from ancient India". Then they ask how much and pay the price I tell them. The first boy is totally amazed that they all took a book — and fully awed at these mystical books which seemingly everyone takes. They all walk away happy. Then a lady comes along and just hands me a ten-euro bill and walks away. All this happened within fifteen minutes. Seven books without any big effort.
When I arrive at the van, the bhaktas all glow because of having drunk Lord Caitanya's mercy. They all had their best day. We counted lakshmi, books (Miki did 36, Alex 35 and Junior 36), and were just about to leave when a group of students hopped out of a car on the way to a party. They approached us curiously. Bhakta Alex eagerly gives them a book and persuades them to take it. They are very curious what we do as monks and are amused that four of us travel in such a small van. Promising to visit us some day, they go for their party with Krishna in their backpack.
Now that we had all assembled, we drove away looking for a place to sleep. We drove up a mountain and found a parking lot for hikers in the forest. We set up everything for taking rest by 8:45, when suddenly I heard a big bang at the rear of my van.
A middle-aged lady had bumped into our van. Totally shocked, she got out of her car. I could see tears starting to form in her eyes. To pacify her, I tell her that it is not as bad as it could have been. She got a scratch, and my plug for the trailer had been smashed. I just ask her to give me fifty euros to settle the whole thing. She happily agrees.
She started looking for her money. Bhakta Miki, noticing that somebody was there, immediately wanted to distribute a book. He jumped out of the van, as determined as a warrior, but dressed in pajamas and looking wierd. I tell him not to jump on the lady, as she had smashed her car. Having found the money, she hands me a bill.
Miki then politely presents the book and gives it as a present to help her find inner peace. Her face starts to beam in happiness, and she drives off. Krishna's ways of letting people get the books is truly amazing!
We took rest, and got up at four o'clock. Everybody woke up except Junior.
He laments, “I went to bed at 1 a.m.”
“How is that?” I ask, unbelieving, thinking he is in maya and has an excuse for extra sleep.
But the story is different.
When Miki distributed that book, he had overtaken Junior's score. But Junior wanted to distribute more than the others to please Krishna. So when we were asleep, he sneaked out of the van and went downtown with three books. The only problem was that he didn't know we were four kms away.
After a twenty-minute walk he became mental, because he could not find anybody. Then suddenly he saw a huge boar with flashing eyes. He became fearful and started running and running until he was downtown. Then he distributed two books to a lady, who gladly bought the two books, surprised to meet a monk at that late hour – 11:40 p.m. Then he wanted to go back to the van, but could not find his way.
A cab driver mercifully drove him to our van. Still I don't know how he found us. But Krishna, being happy at the efforts of his devotee, gave him the neeeded intelligence.
Please bless the German yatra to become intoxicated in this sublime yajna and to inspire others to dive into this unending ocean of bliss.
Sankirtan yajna, ki jaya!
Your servant,
Gour Mohan Dasa
Servant of Narasimhadev in Simhachalam, Germany
P.S. We just returned from a Reggae festival, where two of us distributed nearly two hundred books and did eight hours of harinama within two days.
