Tokyo ISKCON’s Former President Recalls Discovering the Gita
I was recently distributing books in Tokyo. I think Krsna's plan was to speed up my purification. I certainly need it. In the first few days of distributing it was very difficult, then I guess Krsna felt that I had enough purification and the books started going out, but not without lots of praying.
While there I spoke to the previous temple president, Madhu Mangala Prabhu. I asked him how he joined — very interesting. Before he joined he was a stand-up comedian, but he got turned off by all the sinful activities that went along with the job, and he decided to give it up.
He became a vegetarian and started to live a purer life. A friend of his was delving into spirituality. When visiting his friend, he saw in the bedroom a picture on the wall.
He asked, "Who is this?"
His friend said, "Krsna. He's God."
"Wow, that's God!? He's beautiful."
His friend had the Bhagavad-gita, so he checked it out and was shocked to find so many of the very things he had been thinking about discussed in the book.
He said, "I was a little proud, because I thought only I knew of these divine truths. But I found that five thousand years ago people were already thinking about these things, and that humbled me. I thought I was unique. And as I read it, I saw that there were so many more truths that I had never thought of. So it was like meeting an old friend, a wise old friend. I joined the Tokyo temple shortly after reading the Bhagavad-gita.
Your servant,
Vijaya dasa
