Sankirtan Adventures in Toronto
Hare Krishna!
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!
It has been a while since I wrote about Sankirtan. That does not mean I didn't get to go out of Sankirtan, though I must admit I went out less than I wanted to. Serving at ISKCON Toronto, I am blessed with many opportunities and encouragements for Sankirtan, and it is actually hard not to go out on Sankirtan. Over the years, my style has changed, and steadily I have learned so much that you can only learn if you do go out on Sankirtan regularly. As far as I can see, Sankirtan is truly the best way to remain in Krishna consciousness, when I start feeling low, I go back to the basics, sincere effort to chant Hare Krishna better, Srila Prabhupada's books and hearing his lectures, questions to my spiritual master, and Book Distribution!
Writing about Sankirtan is Sankirtan also, and here's my opportunity to write about one such magical outing.
Each Sankirtan experience is "magical", but sometimes it gets even more special. A couple ofSaturday ago was the Monthly Sankirtan Festival in Toronto. It was warm for February (+4C) and no wind, and I thought it was a great day to be out on the street. But the devotees decided to go door-to-door, in several different groups they fanned out to different parts of the city. I am seriously addicted to street Sankirtan though, and when on door-to-door, I find myself knocking on doors more than interacting with people, even if it is a "no". I don't mind a "no", it strengthens my desire to find a "yes".
Being in the corporate world as a technology professional, I have often read things like "why it is important to fail fast", in other words, if we are to get an unsuccessful outcome, it is better we get that sooner than later, so we can continue to improve, iterate and refine quicker, increasing the probability of success, or in Sankirtan terms, approach even more people with Krishna's message rather than waste our time and energy on someone who is not ready yet. On the street, I find that I meet people directly, even if they say no, it is better than knocking on 20 doors on the weekend and finding no one in 17. Plus I relish not having to fear being chased out of the building etc. However, many devotees have amazing strategies for book distribution door-to-door, maybe someday I will learn those too.
Prayer to Spiritual Master, and he answered in realtime!
In any case, as I was meditating on my plan and begging for mercy from my spiritual master, the phone rang and it was quite literally my spiritual master on the other end! He didn't intend to call me, he was trying to reach anotehr devotee in Austin, and as he patiently waited for me to complete reciting my prayer mantras to him, he said, "This is not Anil, this is Mahabhagavat, I was trying to reach Anil, maybe you called me at the same time, did you call me?". I replied that I did call him, but in prayer. "Some mystical arrangement by Krishna then", he said, we spoke for some time, he was happy to know that I was going out on Sankirtan and that Hemanga Prabhu and Govinda Mohini Mataji were also going. "All blessings, all blessings, turn Toronto upside down, no right side up".
And it continued, as I drove downtown to my favorite location at Yonge & Eglinton, all the lights turned green as I approached them. I found a free parking spot less than 5 minutes from my Sankirtan spot, and the weather remained calm – wind usually sends people scurrying for cover and no one wants to talk. But this day was different, somehow or other, I could "hear" people even before they practically spoke, and Krishna supplied me exactly what they were looking to hear.
Here's a quick recap on some of my conversations on that day, sorry I am unable to capture all the nuances of the conversations:
Angry wife
C – lady from Brazil pushing a stroller with an incredibly cute toddler, R. She was angry, really really angry. She said "I'm so angry I could slap someone on their face". Turns out her husband had let her down and she just found out about it. She took books, at that moment she clearly wanted to meditate. We had a good conversation about how forgiveness is important, but God does not instruct us to be doormats, that humility is a prime quality but one cannot be knowingly stupid. We spoke about prayer and forgiveness, and she said "well, I can go to church, sing, and forgive, but how can you keep people away from facebook and texting and all that". I said that it is a matter of taste, I have access to all that too. She asked me if I was married, if I had been unfaithful, and I replied yes married, no cheating, and added, "because I know its not worth it, and how much trouble that gets me into spiritually". I said that if relationships remain on the material platform, they're bound to be unsatisfying. She chanted Hare Krishna with me on the street, her son watching carefully, and gave me a donation.
Pretending not to listen
B & F – two boys from South America, one, B was interested, the other, F, apparently not so much. But I knew that the other, F was listening intently. F asked, so what are these books about, I answered, "life, death, and everything that comes in between and beyond, why you suffer, why hate exists, love, relationships". The one who was apparently not listening was the first one to take a book. Both boys, the first book they picked was Karma Infallible Justice, with the picture of the cow-man slaying the man-cow! They both chanted, scrounged their pockets for donations, B said, wait I'm a cook and took a Higher Taste too.
Donation to an Old Age Home
V – she said she lived in an old age home, had no money, but would like to take books, and asked if she could place some in her old age home, and assured me that the seniors are desperate for knowledge on what happens after death. Marveling at my "old age home book placement shastra daan opportunity", I gave her several small books, she literally patted me on the head and said "good boy, God bless you!" and a warm smile.
Girl with a death wish
N – as she passed I said "yoga, meditation, and philosophy", and she stopped and said PHILOSOPHY! She was instantly attracted to Beyond Birth and Death, and told me she had a fascination for death and always wanted to die, since she was a child. I asked her why and she told me about the pains in her body. I was surprised beacuse she was at least 15-20 years less in her body than I was in mine. I explained how exactly it will get worse if she prematurely killed herself – a hankering to taste without a tongue, a hunger without a stomach, mind and thoughts and words without a mouth, and pain worse than she had ever felt in her life. She said she was exploring so many spiritual traditions but in every tradition she found the "spirit snobs – the people who only want to hang around those who have positive energy". I said that materialists abound in every spiritual tradition, that doesn't mean the tradition is flawed, but that the practitioners hadn't yet grasped the true essence of their path yet. I said spiritual emancipation would free her from all bodily trouble as a mere side effect but that it didn't come cheap, there was effort and choice involved, and that I wasn't there to force her into my tradition but to give her some information and answers to questions. She chanted Hare Krishna, and left, promising to give this a try.
Yogi in a hurry
M – running to a yoga class, told me he loved this, but the class started in 10 minutes, took a book, dropped a donation into my jacket pocket and ran – with a cry "soon, we meet soon my friend, thank you"
He who can hear thoughts and know intentions
J – a Serbian immigrant to Canada who claimed to "hear thoughts and know intention", stopped to chat, left to leave 5 times when the light turned, but stopped and asked one more question, one more question, until he convinced himself to take a book and chant Hare Krishna. He said "my friend, I will surely read this, and may our paths cross again". Of course, Krishna, and those who know Him are capable of knowing intentions. May J get to know Krishna!
Schoolboy loves to read
P – a schoolboy who came up to me and said "may I have one of those books, I love to read" and ponied up a donation too, when he heard I wasn't selling the books!
Looking for true love
V – a young man on a date with a girl, stopped and said "so what is this about" and I said "love, you do want real love don't you" and he said "interesting" and took a "Bhakti Yoga: The Art of Eternal Love" promising to return.
I know you, want to read about you
One Chinese lady said "may I have these books", took some, looked at them, and said "you are from the temple on Avenue at Dupont – I will come there with my friends"
Christian non-sectarian
One Christian lady was in a hurry, she said she reads "Christian meditation books", I called out "but wait, isn't true spirituality beyond all labels, this stuff here is non-sectarian", she stopped, turned around, came back and took a Chant and Be Happy saying "you're right, am I supposed to give you a donation?". I said "Its not a business, I won't let money come between you and your spiritual knowledge, but if you give, it will help me share the mercy with others". She agreed and gave. She said she will definitely read the book. This also happened with another man, who said he goes to a Unitarian church, he said he had our books, and took an Isopanishad, he was intrigued about "Science of God"
Dislikes fear-mongering in religion
Another man, from Pakistan, asked me about these books, and why I was doing this. I told him that 20 years ago, one young man did the same thing and practically saved my life, even though I was out to prove how the young man was a brainwashed fool, and now after all these years, recognizing that monk's mercy, I was trying to repay my debt to that young monk. He loved my true story, and took the books saying how he was tired of fear-mongering in religion.
Venture Capital Sankirtan
Over the time I've distributed books, I've given away a lot of books for free, but I am always surprised how so many people remember, and in many cases, months, even years later, give me a donation – of course I give them another book then, just to keep the ball rolling. Even though I give so many books away, the number of books I have in stock keeps increasing, which means, clearly, I'm getting more donations than I can give away free. So, I'm now intrigued, can I actually "lose" money on the street with Krishna in charge?
So, for the last many months, actually for over a year, I've been trying the Venture Capitalist method of Sankirtan. VCs invest a little bit into a large number of companies, and a little more in a smaller number of companies they invested in before, and a massive amount of money in a few… Because there are so many variables in whether a company will succeed or not, they only have relatively broad guidelines for their initial investments, and track performance for subsequent investments. By doing this, they maximize their chances of a profit or successful outcome, and practically 99% of the companies they invest into initially, they don't really make it.
Making a company successful is difficult, but how much more difficult is taking to devotional service in this world? If a materialist capitalist can invest 99% of their capital to find the 1% that will succeed, we are spiritualist capitalists, shouldn't be willing to and accept even lower success rates?
Personally though, I found that it is actually close to impossible to give a book to someone who is not interested, even for free. Nowadays, printed matter is cheap and people can pick up reading material for nothing. And often people have all sorts of barriers for not wanting to give some donation. And unlike the old days when devotees had little to no money, most of us now work jobs and earn plenty of money. At least I can afford to give some books away as long as, as Vaisesika Prabhu says "they pay you their attention".
For Street Sankirtan, we don't know how much a book will affect someone, by how much, and how long all this might take. So, I take that anyone who spends some of their time chatting with me, a total stranger, and expresses some interest in the topics I am speaking about, and is not inimical towards the ideas, I take that as a qualification to receive a small book, or two even. In the worst cast, I have wasted some of my money, and in the best case, they move on to the next stage and take another book, another book, one step, one more step towards Krishna. And progressively, I will invest more and more time and energy into those souls, introduce them to other devotees, programs, etc.
I feel it might take at least about 5 years to know if I'm doing the right thing or not, but I know I cannot go wrong distributing Srila Prabhupada's books to the limit of my capacity, time, money, or both.
Coming back to that magical Sankirtan outing – my bag was almost empty, and the wind picked up, so I walked to my car and went to a nice devotee Kirtan in the evening with my family. We all can do our bit and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will be pleased with us and surely bless us with even more devotees to associate with and serve.
your servant,
Mahabhagavat Das
