Be More Aware and Picking up where he left off
Our ISKCON center in Seattle Washington is interesting because although no one lives in the temple there are quite a few devotees, sixty initiated. They recently had a four day Kumbha Mela Festival (the only one in the west) with Janmastami being the main attraction during the festival. Thirteen thousand people visited the temple during the four days of the mela and the devotees distributed almost three thousand dollars worth of books.
One year ago they built a beautiful new temple. Hari Vilasa Prabhu, the GBC and Temple president, is the driving force behind the project.
On the first day there seven of us went on book distribution after I gave a Srimad Bhagavatam class that became book a distribution class. The devotees that went out with me are working IT professionals but they have a taste for book distribution.
While distributing in downtown Seattle a devotee with me, Madhava Chandra Prabhu, saw an elderly man coming towards him, but he thought, "This man is too old, he won't be interested." When the man got closer he was walking around us and saw a Bhagavad-Gita in my hand. He asked, "What is it you have there?"
"This is the Bhagavad-Gita," I replied, and showed him the book. It turned out he was very interested in it and gave a nice donation as Madhava Chandra was looking on, surprised. He also gave Madhava Chandra a donation, saying, "You should be more aware of your surroundings." Then Madhava gave him another book. Madhava took that as an instruction coming from Krsna.
Five minutes later I approached a man with his nine year old son. As I was showing the Bhagavad-Gita to them the boy said, "I like to read, I'll read it, especially after all that you've said about it, and the pictures are great."
I said, "You're a very intelligent boy, I'm sure you'll get a lot out of it."
Then I said to the father, "We just ask for a donation for the printing."
He was reluctant. Then his son said, "You're going to give a donation aren't you dad? I'll definately read the book." He was still reluctant.
Then the boy asked, "Is this about healing?"
"Well yes, it's about purifing the heart and inner peace."
As he's clutching the book he says, "Please give a donation dad."
I complimented the father saying, "You are very fortunate to have such a son that likes to read and is attracted to such a great classic as the Bhagavad-gita."
He liked that and decided to give a donation. I showed them the address to our temple and invited them to our Sunday Festival. As they were walking away I was thinking, "Who is this boy that has such an intense attraction to Prabhupada's books, maybe he's finishing up what he didn't in his past life."
As I'm writing this I'm flying from Seattle to Los Angeles where I started this eight-month book disribution tour around the world. It was a great experience! I went out with a good number of deovtees, some of them were first timers, some were 35-year veterans. What pleased Prabhupada the most, book distribution, is still strong in temples around the world, but there are temples that are lacking this important activity. This is understandable. Prabhupada said, "To maintain is most difficult." He also said, "Spiritual movement in the material world, difficult proposal."
Your Servant,
Vijaya Das
