Family Sankirtana
At present I'm traveling with my wife and eight-month-old baby girl. It is a wonderful experience going to every town and village and finding many people interested in Krsna consciousness. We decided we wanted to do a trip from Sydney to Cairns in the far north of Queensland Australia, and then further north to Cape Tribulation, and then back to Sydney, spanning two months. We packed the van with as many soft- and hardcover books as we could squeeze in and left just enough room for our possessions. We managed to get about two thousand books into the van, and we've been steadily distributing them, along with doing Harinam and some feast programs.
I have to praise my wife Krsna-rupa Devi, who has given up her comfortable home to live out of a van. Although she's not doing so many books due to looking after the baby, she goes out nearly every day selling books. Actually, our baby girl Vrndavanesvari has been attracting many souls as she sits next to us in a pram or as we carry her in one arm or in a sling as we sell books. Many people stop and comment on how peaceful, well-fed, and attractive she looks, and then they take a book from us. Of course, a family needs some extra relaxation to stay happy, and so we've found some good beaches for swimming and an island to stay on for a few days (where we also sold books). Sometimes we slept in a tent, but we often stayed in nice motels, since women and children find it difficult to perform too many austerities.
In Townsville we could not find much accommodation under $150 a night. I grimaced at spending so much book distribution laxmi, so I tried to reason with my wife, but to no avail. So I surrendered. That night I was checking the Internet when I noticed some men from New Guinea walking into the motel. I showed them some books, and one man took a Gita and an SSR. A little later another group from the same country walked past and got a Krsna book, giving a nice donation. Later I was on laundry duty when I noticed another man from New Guinea waiting for his clothes to dry. I raced to the van and brought all the hardcover books I had. He seemed very interested and went to his room, returning with $100! So I gave him a Krsna book, a Bhagavad-gita, a Nectar of Devotion, an SSR, a Your Ever Well-Wisher, and some small books. Within a half hour Krsna had given me back the laxmi I'd spent on the room! A little later a lady in a hotel gave $80 for a Gita, Kurma's cookbook, and a Your Ever Well-wisher. So it's difficult to know how Krsna works in these mysterious circumstances.
Your Servant,
Rupa Raghunatha Das
