Weather break
One day in Marewa , I approached a construction worker. He pointed to the Bhagavad Gita I was holding and said "I met a monk here the other week and bought that book". I asked how the reading was going and to my surprise he said he really liked the authors commentaries, although it was sometimes hard to follow. He enquired if we had a center here. I said that we didn't, but asked if he ever goes to Auckland or Wellington. He said he goes to Auckland sometimes, so I gave a flyer and encouraged that he stay an extra night on a Sunday so he can visit the Loft. I then asked if he had seen the Srimad Bhagavatam, which he said he had "also bought from the monk". Feeling like the best thing to do was to be friendly and encouraging, rather than appear as 'just a salesman', I asked what he was up to for the rest of the day. He said he was on his way to buy a rugby magazine to read.
It was raining so he couldn't continue his construction work till the weather cleared. Hearing the buzz word "magazine", I remembered there was one solo "Enough" magazine that had been floating in Krishnaloka's book box for the past few days. I walked over to the box and told him that this was the perfect fix, describing how it has current events, modern stories about Bhakti written by people our age, easy to read, digestable. His face brightened and he pulled $5 from his pocket. He didn't carry on into the gift shop to buy a rugby magazine that day. I was hoping the magazine would inspire him to persevere with Bhagavad Gita. The next day Daya Maya went to Marewa and met the same boy, who bought two more of Srila Prabhupada's books!
Your servant,
Ananda-candra dd,
New Zealand
