Book ditribution in the land of Dharma
Once one of our devotees in India — Nitai Prabhu — was trying to distribute a Krsna Book. But the man was reluctant and gave many excuses for not taking the book. Finally he said that he would purchase it next time. A man seated opposite him heard the conversation, and afterward the man said to the person refusing to buy a book, "You should take it; it's a very nice book. I've bought this book and completed reading it." When he heard this, the person who had refused to buy the book readily bought it. In this way, we often we meet people who appreciate our books.
Most surprising for us is that almost every day at least one Muslim will buy a book. In fact, the Muslims are often more respectful to us than many Hindus! Once a Muslim boy with a beard and a typical round cap purchased an English-language Ramayana from me. He also wanted a Krsna Book, but unfortunately I didn't have one with me. Once a Muslim man purchased from me a Gujarati Krsna Book and a Bhagavad-gita As It Is. I'm sure Srila Prabhupada is very pleased to know that Muslims are buying his books.
A month ago a shopkeeper called and said he wanted us to bring to his shop a poster of Krishna's universal form for him to buy. He also said we should bring a Srimad-Bhagavatam set to show him. So we went to his shop with the Bhagavatam set and poster. After purchasing the poster, he said that he would buy the First Canto and take the remaining volumes later.
This shopkeeper was a regular subscriber to the Gujarati BTG. On the back cover of the BTG there is an advertisement for Srila Prabhupada's books. (Many people order books after seeing the advertisement.) So the shopkeeper had ordered "Life Comes from Life" after reading the ad. He was very much inspired by Prabhupada's arguments defeating modern scientists, and he praised Prabhupada very highly. Before we left his shop he asked us to bring more books.
So the next day we returned to his shop with more books. He purchased a Krsna Book, "The Science of Self-realization," and "The Hare Krishna Challenge." After two days he called to say he wanted to listen to Srila Prabhupada's lectures. I asked him to come to our centre. So he came with his family and purchased Srila Prabhupada's lecture CDs in Hindi.
The next day he called me and said that when some friends of his had heard from his wife about our books and Srila Prabhupada, they came to his house, where he read to them from the First Canto. They were so inspired that they started a regular program in their area.
The next time the man called us he praised Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON very highly. He said that he had read many other so-called spiritual books, but that he found that Srila Prabhupada's books aim only at helping people develop God consciousness.
Srila Prabhupada's transcendental book distribution ki jaya!
Your humble servant,
Guru dasa
