A young monk and transcendental teamwork
Here is some nectar about traveling book distribution in New Zealand, from the 2010 Prabhupada marathon.
I was in Hastings-in-Taranaki, around 6 or 7 in the evening. There were only a few people walking on the street, and one of them was an elderly lady. I approached her. When I said I was a monk, to my surprise she became very delighted and took in her hand the soft Gita I was presenting. After less than a minute of my telling her about the Gita, she said "Can I buy this book?" I said yes, and she gave $10 and sincerely said, "You have just made a young boy very happy."
I asked her, "Who is he?" and the lady replied, "He's my grandson. It is his eleventh birthday and he wants to be a monk."
I thought, "Wow, an eleven-year-old boy who wants to be a monk gets a 'Bhagavad Gita As It Is' from his grandmother for a birthday present. Nice."
Another day, I and two other devotees (Hriman Krishna Prabhu and Bhakta Chi, a practicing medical doctor) visited two small towns called Hawera- and Stratford-in-Taranaki. Two went to one place, and one to the other.
On the second day I was in Stratford and stopped a lady. She was very favorable. The day before she had gotten an "Easy Journey to Other Planets" from Bhakta Chi and read the whole book that night. So she happily gave $20 and took a Bhagavad Gita. That is what I call teamwork. I took her details and plan to get in touch.
The same day in Stratford I approached a lady with children and told her I was a monk. She asked, "Are you from Cambridge?" (Cambridge is a small town outside Hamilton.) I told her I wasn't, but after speaking to her for awhile I learned that six years ago in Cambridge she'd met Mahavana Prabhu, a devotee who now runs a brahmacari ashram in Wellington, and had had such a positive impression of him and the prasadam he gave her that she now happily gave me $20 and took a Bhagavad Gita.
My realization is that book distribution is really a team effort, especially in a small place like New Zealand. Each devotee is responsible for leaving every person they meet with a good impression. A person may not get a book from the first devotee they meet, but because they are left with a good impression, the next devotee they meet can distribute a book to them.
Your Servent,
Damodara Krsna dasa
