Simple Living Defeats the Evangelist
We were in New Plymouth City, New Zealand, distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. It was the same day hundreds of Christians inundated the whole city after a convention and sausage sizzle in a nearby community park. Groups of them had gathered on most street corners, doing their Christian-style harinam by clapping and singing about Jesus. They were lively and inspired. If they had just added "Gauranga!" to the hymns they were singing, it would have been perfect.
So I stopped this guy in his mid twenties. Brad was his name. We had a good relationship right from the get-go. He was looking at the two books I had handed him and was very interested. As we spoke, a charismatic-evangelist-type Christian fellow and his two followers approached from the side and started preaching it up to Brad and denigrating what I was doing. The evangelist was saying all the typical Christian things, like "Jesus is the only way" and "They [we] are satanic." Evangelistji was going on and on. I didn't say anything to spur him on and was apologetic to Brad for his having to stand through all of this. He was ok with it and held on to the books despite evangelistji pointing at them and saying everything he could think of against them.
Then the preacher tried to catch us out on our philosophy by saying that the Hare Krsnas preach against killing animals, especially cows, and that part of adhering to our philosophy is to avoid wearing any kind of leather or using any animal product whatever, etc., etc. Then, as though he had rehearsed this, he asked me what kind of belt I was wearing. I said, "Are you sure you want me to answer that question?"
"Yes!" he exclaimed.
Now was the moment everyone was waiting for. All eyes were on me, including Brad's. He'd witnessed the whole one-sided exchange. Again I asked, "Are you sure?"
Growing impatient, preacherji came over and lifted up my shirt, and to everyone's surprise I was wearing as a belt . . . a strip of cotton cloth ripped from an old dhoti! Saffron-colored, of course.
Preacherji was dumbfounded. His two followers looked at him as though to say, "How embarrassing: the Hare Krsnas win again."
Then Brad, happy the Hares walk their talk, his faith strengthened by the experience, said out loud so all could hear, "I would like to purchase the books. How much would you like for them?"
Srila Prabhupada's victorious book distribution ki jaya!
Your Servent
Kela Tirtha das
