Wrong Turn
On an Ekadasi, seven of us left the asrama in a minibus for book distribution. Hriman Krishna Prabhu dropped off the first three devotees at their spots. We then continued on, planning to go to North Shore spots. However, in a 'transcendental moment' Hriman 'accidentally' took the turn for the Western motorway. Taking this as Krishna's arrangement, we continued, and Gadai Gauranga and I were dispatched to Lincoln Road, a popular sankirtan spot not far from New Varshana. The day was ecstatic.
One exchange stood out. Quite early on in the session a middle-aged lady and her son pulled into a parking bay right in front of me. I waited in front of the car, trying to look innocent while waiting for them to get out.The lady, Tamari, was bright faced, cheerful, and very happy to stop and talk. She explained that she was very charitably disposed and had recently, spontaneously, given $20 to a random beggar. I felt encouraged on hearing this. If she gave that much to a beggar, surely she would be inclined to give more to a monk.
She was in ecstasy as I showed her two of Srila Prabhupada's books. The exchange was quite lengthy because of multiple book showings, her interest, and also her talking propensity. She explained that her partner was an Englishman, ex-army and atheistic, though she was hopeful of 'showing him the light' during the course of their relationship. I responded by pulling out a 'Searching for Vedic India,' explaining that it would be the perfect remedy to correct her partner's misgivings. Delighted she raced to the ATM for a donation.
I toyed with the idea of suggesting an amount while she was at the ATM but remained quiet, confident that Krishna would inspire her. She returned and asked how much each of the books cost to print. I told her, and she pulled out $60, asking if it was enough. I happily loaded her up with the three books, planning to use the remaining 'extra laxmi' to distribute bargain books to others later on. As she returned to her car she said she would be having a serious reading evening tonight and would plant the SVI on her partner's table in such a way that curiosity would overwhelm him and he would read it. She said she had never met a monk before and that she was so glad we had met.
Taking a 'wrong turn' en route to another 'planned' spot, ki jaya!
Dovetailing Tamari's charitable disposition, ki jaya!
Transcendental book distribution, ki jaya!
Ekadasi vrata, ki jaya!
Your servant, Caitanya Vihara das
For those of you who don't know, Caitanya Vihara Prabhu graduated from medical school and worked as a doctor for about a year, then became fed up with it and decided to really help people by distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. He understands that real health is spiritual health, and he is a very good book distributor.
Your servant, Vijaya das
P.S. Recently I was in Columbus, Ohio, where I went out with the devotees. We had a Monthly Sankirtan Festival there for the first time. About ten devotees went out, and everyone had an ecstatic time.
One distributor, who is also a doctor, told me, "This is so nice, meeting people and giving them Srila Prabhupada's books, but working as a doctor is just drudgery."
He distributed the most books that day. He's also the temple president: Premvilasa das.
In one sense, all book distributors are doctors because we're giving people the medicine that will cure the disease of false ego — it's an epidemic — and give them real, spiritual life, Krsna consciousness.
