Breaking the Barriers
Vrajraj Priya Prabhu, a devotee undergoing Brhamchari Training in Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir, describes this experience:
Everyday we distribute books in the local trains in Mumbai. When we finish distributing in one compartment, we get down at the station and rush to the next compartment. The time a train halts at a station is merely 40 seconds. So we have to be really fast. The real test comes when there is a ladies' or a first class compartment in between. We can enter neither and sometimes we miss the train. But no problem! There is always the next one.
One day I entered a car with a partition dividing it into gents and ladies compartments. A wall made of metal on the bottom half and a wire mesh on the top separated them. I made my announcements adjoining the ladies compartment.
I heard someone calling me from the ladies' wing: "Hare Krishna! Do you have a Hindi Bhagawad Gita?"
A middle-aged women was standing next to the wire mesh.
"Yes," I replied.
"Does it have all the shlokas and word meanings?"
"Yes."
I edged closer to the mesh. A row of commuters was between me and the partition, and so for her I opened the Gita and stretched and pressed it to the mesh for her to see. She put on her glasses and strained her neck to see the verses, word meanings and the translation. Then I showed her the cover, which persuaded her that she was buying a genuine ISKCON book. She agreed to buy. But here began the problem. How could I pass the book to her?
I peered all around the mesh. There was an opening at the top wide enough for me to pass the book, but the seats below were all packed. I dared not ask anyone to move so that I could climb up on the seat. Meanwhile she folded the money and passed it through the mesh. I returned the change. Then I looked at the side. There seemed to be enough of a gap.
I pushed the book and called out, "Mataji, please take the book from here."
She was slow to react, and at the same moment suddenly the train jerked to a halt. The book fell from my hand and landed on someone's head. The lady who received this 'bolt from the blue' did not mind. She held the book, glanced over it and calmly handed it to the customer, who apologized for the mishap. Both of us heaved a sigh of relief.
I learned that our efforts to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books are never in vain. There is always someone who is looking for them, and if we meet someone like this we should spare no effort to break down the barriers and reach out to them.
