The Prabhupada Marathon in New Zealand
Hare Krsna Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I just attended the post Prabhupada Marathon festival in New Zealand. Sixty-two devotees went out and had great success, far exceeding last year's marathon. Devotees related various sankirtan adventures. Here are a few highlights:
Sukanthi Radha-devi dasi: "I was reading the Bhagavad Gita while waiting for someone to come by, and I came across my favorite verse (9.2), which I was deeply appreciating. Just then a young man walked past, and as I gestured to the open Gita I said to him, 'Please read this. It's amazing.'
"'Sure, OK,' he replied. I handed it to him and he read, '"This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self through realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed."' Then he looked at me and said, 'How much do you want for this?' He gave $20 and received the purest knowledge."
Interesting technique.
Gopesvari-devi dasi: "I was distributing and having a hard time. No one would take. Then I looked at the picture of Srila Prabhupada on the cover of "Your Ever Well Wisher" and started to pray to him to help me in this important mission. Then the books started to go out so quickly I was amazed. I approached one young man who was putting on a facade of being real cool. I tried to get him to take a book, without much success. Then he off-handedly asked, 'Who's picture is that on the book?'
"I replied, 'Oh, he's our spiritual teacher, a monk.'
"He couldn't believe what he'd heard. He gave up his facade and very innocently said, 'I've been looking for books about monks for weeks but haven't found anything, anywhere. Now you come walking right up to me with books about monks. This is amazing!' Needless to say, he happily walked away with several of Prabhupada's books."
The power of prayer is mystical.
I'm sure there are many more nectarean stories out there from the marathon. Please send them in.
Your servant,
Vijaya das
