It’s always good to have a book at hand
Dear devotees.
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Here are two short stories.
Last Kartika I was on pilgrimage in Sri Vrndavana dhama. I took one Finnish Science of Self Realization with me just in case I meet someone interested in Krsna consciousness on the way. On my flight from Helsinki to Delhi I was sitting next to an important businessman who was working in India. We had a nice discussion, but when I showed him the book at the end of the flight he said he already had got one from his wife.
After one month I was returning to Finland. On the return flight I was sitting next to a Swedish speaking yoga teacher but of course she would not take the book since she spoke no Finnish. When the plane finally landed in Helsinki I got through the customs and took a bus to downtown Helsinki. We were supposed to meet with Bhakta Sami in front of the railway station, and he would take me back to the temple with my luggage.
However Sami was late. I was standing there with that book in my backback. I thought "I must do something with this book. Why else would I have taken it all the way to Vrndavana and back?"
It was very early in the morning and very few people were on the move. Just then a hippie boy appeared and was walking toward me. I showed him the book but he was not interested. Although my mind was saying it is not worth the trouble trying any more as Sami would come in just a couple of minutes, I somehow decided to try again.
Then a lady appeared. She was walking hurriedly in my direction. I stopped her by saying I just came from India and I have a few of these books, which explain about the philosophy of yoga and peace of mind. She was very busy but somehow she expressed interest.
She said, "I don’t have so much money on me. How much does it cost?" I told her, "don’t worry about the price, we only ask a donation for the printing. Just see what you have."
She started to look for money in her bag and she found a little over ten euros. I gave her the book and she went on happily doing her business. After two minutes Bhakta Sami appeared. He was late, but due to those few minutes yet another soul would be able to start her progress back to Godhead. It’s always good to have a book at hand.
Like devotees all over the world we were having a book distribution marathon for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada in December. On the morning of the 23rd December I was going to the temple for mangala arati. I opened the door of the brahmacari asrama and saw two young men sitting in the staircase. They smelled like they were slightly drunk and they had some McDonald’s products with them. They greeted me warmly and I exchanged a few words with them.
One explained they had been going around the bars in Helsinki the previous night and were now going home. The other was our neighbour but somehow he lost his key to the flat. They were now waiting for the caretaker to come and open the door. They were nice boys so somehow I got the inspiration to show them one of Srila Prabhupada’s books, after all it was the marathon.
I got an SSR from our asrama and showed it to them. “This is a book about real internal happiness. Usually people search for the happiness without, but actually we don’t need anything artificial to be happy in this world.” They seemed slightly interested but we did not speak so much about the book, just life in general. One of them had sometimes visited Thailand. He also said he had sometimes lived close to devotees who had offered prasadam to him and he had been captivated by the taste of the Lord’s remnants.
"So how much does it cost??"
"We pay five euros for the printing and if you like you can give some extra."
"If you pay five euros I will pay at least double the price." He dug ten euro’s worth of coins from his pocket.
"Boy, this McDonald’s stuff is terrible!" he continued.
In my backpack I had some halava from yesterday but had not honored it yet. I offered it to the boys which they accepted. I also gave them both an invitation to the temple and then continued on my way to mangala-arati. It’s always good to have a book at hand.
Your fallen servant,
Avadhutacandra Das
