Rainy-day revelation
It was such a cold, windy, rainy day in Hastings, New Zealand that I dared to stand inside a Kmart and distribute indoors. Confident that Krishna would protect me from the security, I was doing okay. An hour later a friendly mall cleaner told me that the manager was watching me through the camera the whole time, and if I didn’t leave now they would call the police.
It had been a while since I hit Queens Street in Hastings, so it looked like that was where Krishna wanted me to go. It was unusually productive, and besides that I ran into a nineteen-year-old who introduced himself as Yudishthira. He said that almost twenty years ago his parents lived in New Varshana in Auckland. His dad had a strong relationship with Mukunda Goswami. He told me that he lives in Flaxmere with his sister, Dharma, and cousin, Nrismha. Yudisthira bought a $50 stack of books and invited me to his house.
Nitai Jivana and I drove the bus to Flaxmere, and we were greeted by Yudishthira’s father, who was rattling his japa beads in his hand. He welcomed us inside and showed us their Deities. A huge Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra gloriously stood before us, almost a meter high, cramped in a room that looked like a temple gift shop. I offered full obeisances and marveled at the mercy of their Lordships to be living in Flaxmere. Now I know why so many books are sold in this place.
Yudishthira’s twin sister said that she is moving to Wellington next year to study, whereas Yudisthira said he wants to be a sannyasi. I chuckled at the divine arrangement. We took Yudisthira on a mountain trek up the Ruahine Rangers and fed him Bhakta Trent’s “Balarama’s bus burgers”. I recalled how the Pandavas left for the Himalayas to leave this world as we marched up the
snow-clad mountains.
Pictures attached.
Jaya ho! The nectar of bus life!
Your servant,
Hriman Krsna Dasa
