From the Darkness of Nescience to the Light of Godhead.
Last year the bus party from Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath Mandir (Chowpatty) went to the coal mines to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books.
After a heavy Saturday, we decided to take a break on Sunday. We thought we would just cover the morning shift and return at 11:00 am to honor a big feast. But Sunday turned out to be the day when there were the most workers, because many came to work to earn extra money for overtime. Our stall went on till 2:30 pm, and we had three separate stalls at different mines. All we had to eat was a handful of chidwa.
We finally wound up our stall and went to Rupa-Raghunatha Prabhu's mine. As our bus approached, we saw that his book table was surrounded by many men, each of whom had a set of books. After we jumped off the bus and went to the stall, Rupa-Raghunatha Prabhu introduced us to a well-dressed gentleman and said, "This gentleman helped us a lot."
What happened was this. When Rupa-Raghunatha Prabhu had begun the announcements, many men came to the stall. Everyone was interested, but surprisingly no one wanted to take the initiative and buy some books. This is the most challenging moment. A book distributor has to make catchy announcements, speak about the books, let people see them, and above all pray to Lord Krishna to convince the people to actually purchase them. Just before the first person buys a book is always the moment of complete surrender.
Here, however, instead of the men being encouraged to buy the books, some envious miners had begun to discourage them. (This was not unusual.) "What is the use of the Bhagavad Gita in the coal mines? Everyone here is illiterate. Who will read it? Everyone drinks and eats meat, so no one should even touch the Bhagavad Gita. You will all go to hell for this sin."
The last statement, in particular, had scared everyone. Most coal miners drink so they can tolerate the hellish mining conditions, so when they had heard the warning they began to back off. Rupa-Raghunatha Prabhu had tried to reason with them, quoting Bhagavad Gita verses and using logic, but at such times people often listen more to their ignorant fellow workers than to the devotees.
"I felt that at any moment I would lose the entire crowd," said Rupa Raghunatha Prabhu. "I began to pray to Lord Krishna for help."
Just then a big jeep had screeched to a halt near the office gate and a well-dressed gentleman had stepped out. Seeing the big crowd and the Bhagavad Gita banner, he came to the stall. Wiping off his sunglasses, he peered at the book table. "Aha! Bhagavad Gita!" he had exclaimed in delight. "This is the greatest book promoting the welfare of mankind. The entire world is reading it now to find solutions to the problems we face." Then he looked at all the workers, who stood respectfully listening to his words, and said, "Do you know that now the Bhagavad Gita is being used as a management book in big, big institutes like the IIM [Indian Institute of Management]? Many foreigners are now teaching management techniques from the Bhagavad Gita. And I tell you, this book is a must if you want to progress in life. And you, Swamiji," he said as he turned to Rupa-Raghunatha Prabhu, "are you selling it?"
"Yes," Rupa Raghunatha Prabhu had replied.
"Then what are you all waiting for?" he said as he turned back to the crowd. And again to Rupa-Raghunatha: "Come on, give me a set." He took out the money and bought a full set of books, including the Bhagavad Gita. It had seemed as if electric sparks flew among the crowd. The man — the project officer, as we learned later — had single-handedly infused the crowd with an ardent desire for the Bhagavad Gita. And all the workers could well afford the books, since they each got a starting salary of Rs15,000 per month, and we were even giving out books on credit, allowing them to deduct the price from their next month's salary.
Within no time each worker was holding a set of eight books, including the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna book, and the Science of Self-realization. We then profusely thanked the project officer, boarded the bus, and returned to our base.
It was 4:30 pm when we honored our first bite of prasadam that Sunday. But we did not miss the feast. All together we had distributed 230 sets of books that day, and it was the most relishable Sunday feast we had ever enjoyed.
