A Message From Beyond
While we were in New Plymouth the other day to run a few errands, Syama-gauri and I thought we'd try selling a few Gitas to a small quasi-spiritual book store in town, which also specializes in crystals, magic potions, fairy statues and incense sticks. A few weeks back, Syama-gauri had by chance meet one of the staff who worked there, and mentioned in passing that we had the Bhagavad-gita and other books from the East, and the store might like to buy some from us to display on their shelves. They showed some interest, and so we'd been been waiting for a time when we both needed to go to town to do a few other things on the same day.
It was known to us that the store was owned, managed and staffed by a group of spiritual healers and mediums, who, as far as I could tell, were pretty genuine. Over the last few months, they had been holding large public conferences where they would convince skeptics there is life beyond death by telling them things about their relatives that they could otherwise never have known. Our plan was that I would reach the bookshop first, coming from some errand that we were on, while Syama-gauri navigated the car across town to find a park and bring her bag with all the books.
I got there five minutes after closing time, but the manager decided to let me in anyway. I explained that I was from the Hare Krsna Temple, and that we had some books that someone from the store had shown some interest in. She looked very indecisive, and told me that they'd had a change of ownership two weeks back, and she would have to put it all before the new manager to decide before she could buy any of the books. I said that my wife would be along shortly with the books if she didn't mind waiting.
Syama-gauri got stuck at every traffic set of traffic lights on her way there, and I ended up having to apologize to the medium lady several times for keeping her after well after closing time. I was sure that this was going to amount to nothing, largely due to our disorganization. Finally Syama-gauri arrived with the books, and after we showed her the Gita and talked with her a little she said she was getting a message from beyond telling her to give a donation and take the book to show the store owner. She opened the till and gave us a $20 note. I was surprised since in the beginning she told me she'd have to ask the owner before buying any of the books.
Seeing her generosity, I added a Raja-vidya to the Gita, and then Syama-gauri showed her a "meditation kit" that she had in her book bag – which was really a set of Neem beads, Chant and Be Happy and a mantra card. She liked this as well, and then seemed to hesitate, as if listening to something. She asked if she could take her donation back and replace it with a larger one, since she was getting messages from beyond guiding her to do so. She traded her $20 note for a $50 note and took a Gita, Bhagavatam 1.1, Raja-vidya and meditation kit. She was very happy, and called the whole exchange "perfect" several times.
I now think that while these are not very good business people, they certainly must be genuine mediums. Maybe she heard the Supersoul, or perhaps her spirit guides thought she'd benefit from a Bhagavad-gita. Hopefully they encourage her to read it as well.
Gokula Ranjana
