An opportunity at every step

Submitted by : Bhakta Milind

We traveled recently to Chicago, the hotel front desk clerk seemed to be unusually bright for that job. So I asked him if he was the owner, as it is not unusual among hotel owners to stand in for their employees. He said no. Then I asked him what he was doing there. He explained that he had just completed a Master's degree in Health Administration, and was worried about getting a good job, that this was his "survival" job. So I asked him what he was doing about it... he used the words "Trying to making it happen". I asked him if he thought that "making it happen" was all in our hands. He said yes. So I asked him why then was he anxious when he clearly did not want to be anxious. That got him thinking. I asked him if he was interested in spiritual matters. He said yes, and immediately wary, taking a quick second look at my Vaishnava Tilaka and Prabhupada T-shirt, replied "yes, yes, as long as it does not interfere with my schedule". So I asked him if a 30-minute investment of time in understanding the nature of anxiety was too much of an interference with his schedule. He said no. I asked him if he would read some books that helped me a lot to overcome anxiety and are helping me succeed in life. He said yes. I commended him, praised his studious and honest nature, and went to the car to get several small books, Beyond Birth and Death, Bhakti Yoga, Dharma, Civilization and Transcendence...and some more, I don't even remember exactly which ones. I was thinking maybe he would take one, maybe two. He took all of them! Next day, when we were checking out, he gave me his email address, confirmed that I would write to him, and said he had only flipped through the books last night, but would surely read them soon.

Intelligent persons all over the world are just waiting to be introduced to this sublime philosophy of Bhakti Yoga, and the joyful life that comes from living the philosophy ourselves. WHen we try sincerely to live that philosophy, then our simple sincerity, inspite of all our imperfections serve to attract everyone to hear about Krishna. Our enthusiasm is contagious, everyone who is open minded wants to know, what are these people so enthusiastic about? What, they are not even making any money doing this? Why are they doing this? "Let me see." and they take a book. Which is the beginning of the end of their material imprisonment. We're all about freedom from enslavement, and the intelligent get it.