Bhakta Andrew from North carolina
Swierzno, Poland
Last week, a new bhakta named Andrew came from America to join His Holiness Indradyumna Maharaja's festival of India tour in Poland. He told us about how he became a devotee.
He used to work in an organic bakery in North Carolina. One day, he had a discussion with a Rastafari fellow. As they spoke about different spiritual topics, this rastafari asked Andrew, "Do you know anything about Krishna?" Andrew replied, "no." This triggered his interest. The next day, he went to the library of his university, and after looking for books on Krishna, he came across an entire collection of Srila Prabhupada's books. He randomely picked volume one of the Srimad Bhagavatam, and opened it somewhere. The first verse which he read was the one in which Sukadeva Goswami tells Maharaja Pariksit that in this age of Kali men have but short lives, they are quarelsome, unlucky, always disturbed, etc… After reading this short but powerful passage, Andrew told himself: "That's it!! Now I understand why everything is so messed up! It's the age of Kali!!"
From that initial encounter with Srila Prabhupada's books, he later on ran across a poster on his college campus advertizing the upcoming Balarama's Appearance day celebration in the ISKCON temple in Atlanta, Georgia. He drove there, attended the full festival, and was thoroughly impressed. Two weeks later, he (again by "chance") met a devotee on campus. This devotee, named Raphael, is from Poland. He invited him to a preaching center nearby, and after several weeks of association there, Andrew decided to join Raphael for two months of the Polish tour. He is currently blissfully engaged with the setup crew.
All glories to those devotees who put Srila Prabhupada's books in college libraries.