Front cover of newspaper sells books
It was time for taking Prasadam so the three devotees who I was with in New Plymouth (small town NZ) had met me outside the mall this fine Saturday.
We were gathering our book boxes to head to the car when a Maori man (pictured below) approached us asking in a soft timid voice how much our books were.
Being the closest to him and rather eager after three hours of next to no books going out I quickly jumped to speak with him. Turns out this man whose name was Maori, had seen a book on the front cover of their local newspaper and was searching for it. I couldn’t help myself and cheekily said smiling, “Yes this is the one” passing him a hard cover Gita. He looked at the cover while I explained a bit about it.
Then he said, “Nah this ain’t the one, it’s got a different title.” But looking back at the other three ladies standing by us he said, “I’m sure it was you all on the cover of the paper with the book though.” I remarked how cool it was that we were featured on the front page of the newspaper.
He further asked what this book in his hand was all about and how much it was. I related in my simple way how the Gita was similar to his Moari culture, expanding on how it spoke about the wairua (Maori word for soul) I ended by directly asked him for $14 for the printing to which he surprisingly offered $30 for the book, which meant he then could receive three books as in the photo.
When he made the transaction on our mobile eftpos (credit card reader) and I passed him all the books, there was a noticeable change in his face, that of relief and joy.
He was searching for a book he had a desire to read, somehow or other he caught us just before we left on our lunch break and received a treasure from Srila Prabhupada, a ticket back to godhead.
Grateful to be able to witness this person and so many others lives being benefited and transformed by receiving the mercy of Krishna.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Begging the Vaisnava’s blessings to remain a witness and servant of Lord Caitanya’s flood of love of godhead.
Your Servant,
Gokula lila dd
