Good Christians and Free of Stress Through the Holy Names
I was distributing in downtown LA at the Art Walk, where thousands of young artists gather. I approached a young lady walking with her daughter, who looked maybe six years old, and said, "Wow, you guys look so spiritual."
The lady stopped and said, "Yes, because I have Jesus in my life." I didn't want to waste my time getting into it with a Christian, so I asked if she liked vegetarian food and gave her an invitation to our Govinda's Buffet, saying, "Really good food, all you can eat for just $7."
To my surprise she said, "I love vegetarian food, and I'm actually a vegetarian. A few years ago someone handed me this book [she pointed to the Gita I was holding], and it made me a vegetarian." I was so happy to hear that.
I said, "Wow, I love to meet Christians who are vegetarians."
The daughter had been listening to our conversation, and now she yelled with great enthusiasm, "I'm a Christian who's a vegetarian!" That was so cute. Prabhupada's books made those two Christians into vegetarians.
***
I was distributing in Santa Monica, at the Third Street Promenade, and all of a sudden this teenager came to me and asked with a big smile, "Hey, man, do you remember me?"
"I do remember your face," I replied, "but can you please remind me where we met?"
He said, "I was walking my dog here on this street and was so stressed out because that week everything was going wrong. You gave me this card with the mantra on it and said chant this whenever you feel stress. Since then I have the card with me all the time and am chanting."
I asked him to give me a demo of how he chants. To my surprise he chanted the full maha-mantra perfectly, with a big smile in his face.
I asked, "Did I also give you a book to read?"
"No," he said, "just the card."
But this time he bought the Gita and gave a nice donation. He also promised he would come to our Bhakti House program soon.
Param vijayate Sri-Krsna-Sankirtanam!
Your humble servant,
Shastra Krit Dasa (servant of HH Devamrita Swami)
