Take risks for Krishna

From Sacinandana Swami's "The Art of Transformation " – A cozy, material, comfortable life does not go together with wanting to have experiences of Krishna. You sometimes have to go to the risk zone, so that Krishna can reveal Himself. By our nature we always go to the places of most comfort. But if we want to arrange our life as comfortably as possible, how is it possible for Krsihna to reveal Himself and help us? It is usually seen that Krishna reveals Himself when you are out of your comfort zone, when you are in need, when you are at a little risk. But our material tendency is to go too much into these illusory comfort zones. Then you check everything so that Krishna cannot reveal Himself Try to do some seva, try to step out from your normal life, and Lord Krishna will surely help.

 

This excerpt is relevant to what I have to share.

 

I recently visited the temple in San Diego and was very inspired by the book distribution there. Bhakta Carlos, a dear friend of mine, joined the movement in San Diego a couple years ago. He is now the book distribution leader and is taking book distribution to a whole new level in my eyes. All glories to Bhakta Carlos and the sankirtan devotees of San Diego! I went for just a quick three-day visit, but had the privilege of passing one of the days with Bhakta Carlos. He has all of San Diego mapped out, with every shopping plaza/strip mall marked. He and I drove to a part of San Diego that was filled with these strip malls. We were in dhoti and tilak and went shop to shop stopping anyone and showing them Srila Prabhupada's books. For me this was new and innovative. I am used to going out in regular clothes and would not think of going into a corporate business for fear of the employees getting upset. Bhakta Carlos was fearless and led the way as we walked into any small business and show anyone — whether male or female, young or old, American or Asian — books and ask for a donation.

 

Surprisingly, our wearing dhotis and tilak helped people be more receptive. And even those who asked us to leave because of their "no soliciting" policy were mostly nice about it. Of course, there were instances where people would get really upset. Those times can be scary. That is why I never thought about performing book distribution in such a manner. Bhakta Carlos took me to the transcendental platform and showed me how to take risks for Krishna and taste the nectar.

 

After leaving San Diego I traveled to Austin, Texas. Yesterday I went out to distribute books down a busy street full of strip malls. In just four hours I distributed over forty medium books and collected more than $225. In a place called "Elevation Burger" I saw a man with a beard eating lunch with his five-year-old son.

 

I said, "Hey, I like your beard. I am promoting spiritual wellness, and I thought you would appreciate this."

 

I handed him the book and told him I was a monk and that people give a donation. At this point the manager came over and told me to leave. I apologized, but stalled for a moment. Sure enough, the man hurried to take out his wallet.

 

"Here! Take a few dollars! I want to read this. Thank you so much."

 

As I exited Elevation Burger, I saw two girls sitting near the door ready to eat their hamburgers. One was sitting with her eyes closed and had a funny look on her face. As I walked through the door, I heard the words, "My dear Lord, thank you for this food," coming from the other girl's mouth. People in the world!

 

Anyway, I was on a mission for Srila Prabhupada and went into all sorts of places. I just followed the stores and restaurants and somehow or other was led behind the main buildings at one point. There I saw two groups of maybe eight people sitting on the grass.

 

I approached the groups and showed them all books and said, "You are all such amazing people! I want you to read this book written by my spiritual master to help free the world of materialism. I am a monk, and people just help with a donation and I give them a book."

 

Almost mystically, people were super excited, and person after person showed interest and gave me a small donation in exchange for a book. In three minutes I distributed books to ten different people.

 

I moved on to another business and then another. I walked into WHATABURGER. I went to the front, looked around, showed one or two people the books, but no one was interested. As I was exiting the store, a young man with Down syndrome, wearing a WHATABURGER T-shirt, stopped me. He was sitting at a booth with a man writing in a notebook, who looked like he might be the owner or manager. I initially walked right past them because i did not want to cause any trouble with the owner, and I did not figure a person with Down syndrome would be smart enough to want Srila Prabhupada's books.

 

But to my surpise, the young person with Down syndrome, after hearing that I was sharing spiritual knowledge with everybody, said, "I am really into this. I practice Jui Jitsu. It helps me center my chi. You need a donation? Here are a few dollars."

 

The man he was sitting with smiled and said, "Did you go go over to the convention center back there? I was just over there and I saw a bunch of people outside meditating."

 

Ha ha. Probably the same people I had just talked to.

 

The day was full of nectar. I put my false ego on the line for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and approached anybody without discrimination. And Krishna reciprocated wonderfully. I ended the day in a Wal-Mart parking lot. People were extremely generous. A middle-aged African-American handed me $30 for "Dharma: The Way of Transcendence.

 

Your servant,

Bhakta Tyler