With the blessing and instruction from the Vaishnavas anything can happen
I just want to share a nectarian story from the end of May.
Because of some family visit, I wasn’t going to be around Auckland for a mid-year marathon, so I tried to increase my book distribution a bit in May. I was aiming to distribute all the books I had in storage.
As it came closer to the date of my flight, I was thinking that it seems quite impossible to reach that goal.
On the night before my last day on books I did some books in a carpark in Otahuhu, outside an Indian shop. A little before I was gonna go home, an elderly Fijian came out of the shop and loudly said, “Hare Krishna!”
We had a chat, and he bought a Krishna book. Somehow we spoke a little about my visa, for which I had to pay off quite a lot of money. He said that maybe he could help me with my costs by buying more books from me, if I would bring them the next day. He said that he could sell them in the shop or give them to people he knows. He turned out to be the shop owner and is a very pious gentleman.
So the next day, the last day before the flight, still having approximately three days worth of books in my storage, I went to the shop with my backpack loaded, expecting that he may already have changed his mind, as is common with many people it seems.
First, he asked for the Gita and whether he could just get the three I had.
I also had five Krishna books, which I showed him, and he agreed to take them after some conversation.
Then I put all my other books on the table. Somehow he ended up buying all of them and giving generous donations.
I told him I had more Gitas at home and I could bring them. So he said I should bring five more. After more talking, we decided on 10 Gitas.
So I walked back to the house, getting a box of ten Gitas from another devotee named Julian, who kindly drove me back to the shop. Since we now had a car we thought maybe we should also take a Bhagavatam set with us.
The shop owner bought the box of Gitas, and I showed him the Bhagavatam set. He more or less immediately declined to take them because he doesn’t like reading English too much and prefers Hindi.
Assuming that the local brahmacaris would have a Hindi set, I told him that we can get him that within thirty minutes.
Having to talk with his daughter, who manages the shop, about the finances, since he already gave a large amount of Lakshmi, he agreed to take it and pay for it.
I went to the car and called Stambha Bhava Prabhu and asked him in a hopeful way, “Do you have a Hindi Bhagavatam set?”
He said “Yes! Do you have someone who wants to buy it?”
Then I told him we’d be there shortly.
He brought the set outside the door. It looked like the English set I had in the car. It turned out that the brahmacaris actually don’t have a Hindi set.
Despite my smashed hopes, Stambha Bhava made the intelligent comment that I should just request him to buy the English set.
I didn’t think that was possible, but I thought “with the blessings and instructions of the Vaishnavas, anything can happen.”
I tried in vain to call around and locate someone else with a Hindi set, so we drove back to the shop.
Thirty-five minutes later I walked back inside with the English set and was waiting for the shop owner to come to the entrance.
I explained that we tried everything to get the Hindi set, but we were defeated and couldn’t get one. I told him that he could just take the English version. I showed him the pictures in the First Canto, and he was reading some purports for a few minutes. I was praying to the Supersoul that he’d accept the books.
After some minutes of silence, he said that he’d take them and that if I end up finding a Hindi set in the future, we could either swap or he may buy that one also.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Your servant,
Krishna Gopinath Dasa
