Softened hearts

2 weeks ago, we (Gaura Shakti Kirtan band) had the good fortune to assist Bhaktimarga Swami (www.thewalkingmonk.org) on a presentation of his world-famous "9 devotions of Bhakti Yoga" workshops in Hamilton, Ontario, at the Shanti Yoga studio. The workshop focuses on helping reacquaint newcomers to Bhakti with this ancient and timeless art and science of devotion to the supreme, explained in very easily understood language, covering the whole gamut. Bhaktimarga Swami takes care to very intelligently implement Prabhupada's "do not disturb or agitate" when presenting the science of Krishna consciousness. Some attendees were well-acquainted with the process of Bhakti Yoga already, others had been introduced to Bhakti Yoga elsewhere, but there were many who were completely new to all this.

When interacting with those who may never have been exposed to Bhakti Yoga before, one has to be very very careful. The least one wants to do is to drive that individual even further from Bhakti, from awakening their dormant Krishna consciousness. However, the imperative necessity is that one can never dilute the philosophy or present half-truths. To most of us conditioned living entities, the truth sounds really really harsh, and we will do anything in our power to avoid hearing such truth, and if we hear it somehow, we may do our best to run away from accepting it, or from the person presenting such truth.

But Bhaktimarga Swami's mastery over presenting this truth was self-evident, when at the end of the workshop, one lady, without being led in any overt manner to the books, spontaneously came up, offered a generous donation and took a copy of the Bhagavad Gita As Is Is home with her. Her heart had been softened by attending the workshop and she could sense that if this beautiful human being, this monk, who is so strict in his practice, can be so kind and loving to strangers, and if he lives his life by the principles in that book, then there is something really valuable inside that book.

And when this idea was presented to Bhaktimarga Swami, what did he say? He said "Oh, all those people were so kind and generous, they just opened their hearts, and I had to do nothing". And one could tell he meant it!