A Nice Reminder
I was on Queen st on a usual dreary Auckland rainy day when I stopped a young man who was without shoes and wearing shorts. Over a brief introduction I found out that he repairs boats for a living. I presented the Bhagavad Gita to him and was about to give my usual rundown on the contents when he stopped me in my tracks saying "Do you mind if I just read the back of this for a minute?" "Sure." I said and with great difficulty I stopped talking, waiting patiently in the cold, while he read through the contents on the back of the book. All the while conversation lines were running through my mind to interrupt him, but somehow I managed to restrain myself and let him have the space he had requested.
Finally he looks up at me and says "This sounds pretty good. How much do you want for it?" I mentioned how we just ask for a donation of about $20 and he drops his big gym bag to rummage through his clothes kept in there. From the pocket of one pair of pants he pulls out a $20 note and passes it to me. While he's looking I mention to him that he must enjoy reading books, to which he says "Yeah, I love reading non-fiction books about people's lives. People who practice sense control." A great choice.
A found this a nice reminder that it's really Srila Prabhupada that does the preaching.
Sankirtan Yajna ki jaya!
Your servant,
Bhakta Graham
