Hope for the fallen
Today we did a harinama on the waterfront in New Zealand. When we arrived, I saw a guy sitting on the bench looking at me, so I took a Bhagavad Gita and sat and talked with him. He was a big Maori man, with lots of tattoos. I asked his name, and we chatted a little, then I asked what he was up to.
He said he was about to hand himself over to the police, because he had just beaten someone up, who was taken to hospital. He said that he just got out of prison, and now he was on probation. So he will have to go back. He was just calming himself down before he turned himself in.
I asked him whether he had heard the harinama before. He said no but that it was beautiful. I showed him the Bhagavad Gita and explained to him that I had a friend who took it to prison with him and read it in there with his cellmates. I told him that it’s a self-development book and described how it will help him.
He said that he couldn’t read, so we just talked more. Again he said, “It sounds so beautiful.”
I told him about Krishna and said that he could read it with one of his cellmates in prison. The way he looked at me is something I will never forget. It was like he got a glimpse of hope, a sense that there was a possibility he could turn his life around and find real happiness. He gave me a donation and thanked me for the book, and I gave him a prasada cookie to eat on his way to the police station. Lord Chaitanya is very merciful!
Aspiring to serve His movement,
Bhakta Jack
