From a traffic light to a SB set

Lord Venkateswara

I was driving to the temple on the Lawrence Expressway, and the lights turned red. As my car came to a halt, I looked to my left and saw a car with three passengers. The son was driving the car, the father was in the passenger's seat, and the daughter-in-law was in the rear seat. I noticed that the father was wearing Sri Sampradaya tilak. I thought of inviting him to the temple before the lights turn green, so I rolled my window down and tried shouting, in vain, to get their attention in that traffic noise. Then I frantically waved, which caught the daughter-in-law's attention. They rolled their windows down and I shouted, "Please come to ISKCON temple. We have a nice arati every Sunday at 6 PM."

The son asked, "Where is it?"

I said the address and complimented the father for wearing nice tilak.

The father smiled, and they nodded goodby as the lights turned green.

The next Sunday, Krishna inspired them, and they were at the temple. I saw the father taking care of his grandson. They struck me as a pious family. I got to know more about them. They are a nice Hindi-speaking family from Bhopal. The father told me that he is a devotee of Lord Venkateswara. He also mentioned that he took part in several programs conducted by devotees from ISKCON Ujjain in Bhopal.

I introduced them to Sri Krishna Purusottama Prabhu. We talked to the family about Srimad Bhagavatam. The son was very receptive. He said he likes books and reads Srimad Bhagavatam (a non-BBT version) daily. We showed him the pictures and glorified Srimad Bhagavatam. He was particular about getting a Hindi version, and Sri Krishna Purusottama and Malini managed to find the Hindi set in our book room.

While he seemed slightly hesitant when he looked at the whole set, he said, "OK, I will take it!"

So a chance encounter led to Srimad Bhagavatam going to their home, and this will be an amazing and cherished memory to me.

Your servant,
Vittal Dasa

Author: admin

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