Book Distribution in Canada
I was distributing on the east Atlantic coast in Canada, in the north of New Brunswick province, in the French speaking Acadian town of Tracadie – Sheila, population 10,000. No books have ever been distributed here before, to the best of my knowledge. Although French is not my main language, I tried the best I could to speak it.
Going store to store I walked into a jewlery store and presented four of the last books I had with me in the French language. I told him that I spoke in schools to encourage the students not to become influenced by our government which encourages violence (connected to meat-eating ),the consumption of intoxicants and the gambling industry that our government makes billions of dollars from. He agreed that these were harmful habits, and that the government didn't really care for its citizens, but were only after money.
He asked me what the Krsna philosophy was, and I gave him a brief summary, ending with the point that chanting the names of the Lord will free us from the influence of rampant materialism, and that Jesus Christ taught the same thing. He agreed that the people in his area had more time to be kind than in a larger city like Montreal, but admitted that it was rare that people took the time to care for one another anymore. He had taken a course in being a community volunteer to help the youth. The jeweler, a man my age in his mid-fifties asked me how much I wanted for the books. I told him it was a donation and he gave a nice one and took all my books.
He mentioned that when he used to live in Montreal (about 10 hrs away) , he used to see the devotees on the main street of St. Catherine's by the La Baie store, chanting outside, and always thought it was bizarre, but was curious to know what it was really about. He thanked me for visiting him and I gave him the temple email for further contact.
To award fearlessness to the common man is the greatest act of charity. A sannyasi, or one who is in the renounced order of life, should wander from door to door, from village to village, from town to town and from country to country, all over the world as far as he is able to travel, and enlighten the householders about Krsna consciousness. SB 3.21.31
Your Servant,
Gaura Das
