Lord Nrsimhadeva’s Mercy
Dear Vijaya Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
This recent Nrsimha Caturdasi was a very auspicious time for book distribution. I had to be back at the Los Angeles temple by one o'clock for the festival, so that morning I was begging Lord Nrsimhadeva to engage me. During japa I was begging that since I could only go out for three hours that uses me to distribute twice as many books. As soon as I got out of the car and started walking towards the airport I could feel His extreme mercy. The first person I talk to took a book and gave a donation. Within a half of an hour ten hard-backed big books (Quest and Beyond Illusion and Doubt) have gone out. LAX is configured like a bull-shoe (an upside down U), so I always start at terminal seven and end at terminal one while approaching people walking along the sidewalk. By the time I reached the end of terminal one, the last person at the end of the terminal took my last book and gave a very nice donation. I felt bad because I wanted to give the person more books, but I had none left!
Many people received the mercy of Lord Nrsimhadeva — some willingly and others unwillingly! One person I talked to was adamantly opposed to the books the whole way through our conversation. When I showed him the books he said, "No, I'm not interested!" "But these books are about meditation and yoga, I am a monk" I replied. His hand took the book while his face was in disbelief as to the actions of his hand. I showed him the changing bodies picture, enlightenment picture, and the karma picture and then asked for a donation. He emphatically said, "I don't have any money!" I replied, "It is a donation from the heart, just do the best you can!" With that, his hands went for his wallet and gave me a twenty while his eyes were wide with bewilderment that he was giving his last twenty to a monk. He was saying "NO NO NO!" and Krishna was saying "YES YES YES!"
In the International terminal I met someone from Switzerland. That person seemed interested in the books and I asked for a donation, but she could not understand the part about the donation. A TSA worker was smoking a few feet away from me and overheard the whole conversation. When she said she did not understand, he said in a loud voice, "He is a monk, he does not sell the books. You give him your money and he will give you the books!" So she gave me all the money in her purse!
In the next terminal, terminal three, I met a nice black bodied man from Compton. Anyone who knows the area knows Compton to be one of the poorest black neighborhoods, ghettos, in Los Angeles. He was interested, but very practical. He wanted to know what he would get out of reading the books and he wanted for me to give some personal examples of what I have gained from them. He was very intelligent and inquisitive. We talked about the four regulative principles of freedom (at his request), the laws of karma, the modes of material nature, and, most importantly, the loving dealings of Krishna. He felt very inspired and gave a modest donation and I gave him one of every book I had and invited him back to the temple. Lord Nrsimhadeva is so merciful!
Your Aspiring Servant,
Omkara Dasa
