Royal Automobile man gets Krishna’s special mercy
On Monday, the 20th of May 2013, I went to mangal-aratik, as usual. I did not immediately realize that in doing so I had locked myself out of my sankirtan van, as I forgot the keys in the ignition lock. Neither did I realize that this was, in fact, Krishna’s special plan to bless an employee of the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland with two books.
Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita: “mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca, ..from Me comes remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.”
I usually carry a second or even a third vehicle key, just to be able to easily solve such a problem quickly on my own. As I had just acquired this vehicle, however, the only key available was now stuck in the ignition. I had no alternative but to call the RACQ and wait.
Membership in such a club can be extremely useful in difficult situations and always represents good value. Their marketing slogan is “RACQ, wouldn’t want to be without it”. These are qualified, courteous mechanics, who often are prepared to go above and beyond the call of duty.
The man came and got me out of trouble in less than a minute.
Suddenly he said: “I am a vegetarian.”
I almost couldn’t believe my ears, to hear such a proactive and favorable statement at six in the morning. I immediately showed him seven vegetarian cookbooks. He did not have much money, so I gave him a discounted Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking and a complimentary Renunciation through Wisdom.
I said: “This is the Brisbane Hare Krishna temple.”
He replied: ”I know. I was here the other day, someone had a flat battery.”
He also confided that he lives with his daughter and that his daughter is a vegetarian, but that over the years he had sometimes given up the vegetarian lifestyle. This comment is often made, and here we see the power of association. One tends to merge with one’s association, and it is Srila Prabhupada’s plan to give the whole world the best possible association through ISKCON, a huge but not impossible task. I discovered that he lived not far from the temple. I therefore invited him to come to the temple anytime at his convenience and especially to the Saturday Love Feast. I also gave him one of my pamphlets, which prominently displays the Hare Krishna mantra:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
This was my first sale of the day, and it was at 6 AM. Let us always agree to be puppets in the Lord’s hands! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Your Servent
Yadavendra Das
