RVC Sankirtana Story
Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada,
Dear Vijaya Prabhu,
Here's a story from Rupanuga Vedic College in Kansas City, Your Servant, Eero
Bhakta Jesse @ Rupanuga Vedic College Kansas City, Missouri writes…..
It was mid October. I was distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books in front of a gas station on Troost, which is a good spot for teenagers. I saw a young man smoking a cigarette, and decided to approach him. We began discussing the eternal nature of the soul.
Suddenly four police cars pulled into the parking lot in a great hurry, no less than thirty feet away from us. The officers got out of their vehicles, unholstered their pistols and quickly advanced in my direction. I turned as white as a ghost, certain of my demise.
Eager to get out of there I approached the head officer and in a faint voice said, “I’ll being going now.” Then I started walking away. The offer turned in my direction and said, “No. You can continue. This doesn’t concern you.”
I was thunderstruck. The man smoking a cigarette didn’t seemed too shook up, so I resumed our conversation. He got a soft Gita.
Some fifteen minutes later, after approaching a few more people, the police came outside of the gas station. It turns out there was a small robbery. The police sergeant, a man in his mid thirties approached me. He asked, “What’s in your bag?”
I told him I was a monk distributing sacred literature for my spiritual master, and showed him our Sunday Feast invitation. A few other officers took up interest and joined us. The police sergeant and his friends said they had seen us before. Then the police sergeant asked, “You got anything good?”
I told him yes, and pulled out a soft Gita. He examined the book and explained that he is a world religions student and is interested in oriental spiritualism. He asked how much, and I told him three bucks. He took the book. We continued talking, and I told him about my spiritual master, Danavir Maharaja. He was really interested and agreed to come to the Sunday feast.
I continued distributing on Troost that day. When my bag was empty I phoned the college for a refill. A few minutes later a police officer pulled up into the parking lot with a twenty-dollar bill in his hand. He asked me, “Do you have a copy of the book you gave the Serge?”
I told him, “No, I ran out, but my friend will be here soon with some more.” The officer left. Within fifteen minutes Bhakta Ryan arrived with the goods. I continued distributing, and about two hours later the officer returned. As you can guess, he got a Gita.
Note: That day I was wearing a maha-maha-maha garland (Gaura-Nitai, Srila Prabhupada, Danavir Maharaja remnants). Never underestimate the power of the Krishna’s mercy. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
