Param Vijayate!
I had only been inside a mall at Manukau (Auckland, New Zealand) for about 5 or 10 minutes when I was stopped by a lady. "Is that a Bhagavad-Gita?" pointing to the Srimad Bhagavatams and "Searching For Vedic India" under my arm.
I replied, "This is Srimad Bhagavatam, it is spoken after the Gita. She took a great interest in the books and it happened that she was a yoga enthusiast since the age of 16 in Russia. She had seen the devotees then and had a very favourable impression.
It happened that she was a dentist, Dr Vera Zdarsky, and she runs the clinic inside the mall. In her time outside of work she does tai chi, studies Chinese, and also studies and teaches yoga.
Meanwhile, I noticed three security guards watching the exchange and naturally I became a bit mental. Trying to keep cool, I took notice that they were not approaching and I guessed they'd let me finish the exchange before asking me to leave.
After she got the books she gave a nice donation. One of the books she received was SB 1.1. when she saw I had other books she asked, "Is that part two there?" pointing to the remaining Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1s under my arm.
I told her, "No."
But luckily I had photo copied a 'Srimad Bhagavatam set' flier of my senior god brother's (Muni Cari Prabhu) when I was in Hamilton and so naturally I showed her that.
After talking a while and looking at the flier Dr Vera decided she may as well get a whole set. I told her that I could personally deliver it to her and she agreed that this is a great idea.
Somehow by Guru and Krsna's grace she gave a $20 donation then and took the "Searching For Vedic India" and before the end of the exchange I said, "You may as well take this one (SB 1.1) now and you can give it to a friend." Because she gave $20 I was just going to give it to her, but before I knew it she was pulling another $20 out of her wallet (really nice lady).
I couldn't believe it, this lady stopped me, gave $40 and took SB 1.1 and SVI and agreed to get a SB set while three security guards waited to ask me to leave. I got Dr Veras business card and she left. Turning around I walked up to the security guards with a smile.
On Saturday Dr Vera got the Srimad Bhagavatam set, the first and hopefully not last set I will distribute.
Your Servant
Damodara Krsna das
