AtitaVancha - Krishna who fulfils your desires beyond expectations

A quick attempt at flyering a little bit on tuesday took place. The response was not as favorable as some other times, but keeping in mind the role of just "being there" I persisted. After sometime I saw this very simple yet intelligent looking person, I approached him - "we're having a yoga festival" to which he very politely replied " I am not from toronto". I then offered him a Perfection of Yoga as a present from Toronto. I enquired where he was from, and learnt that he was visiting a Neurology conference all the way from Switzerland! He was a little bit into yoga and meditation and was very happy to receive the book. He did not have change for donation, so instead of brushing me aside, he actually took the time to go inside the Seven Eleven Store and get some change. Touched by his sincerity I offered him another book and he graciously accepted. He then asked me about some restaurant of which I admitted to have no idea. As soon as we parted ways, I felt guilty at not having offered him prasad or inviting him to the centre. I felt like running behind him and stopping him, but he had left. The entire evening I was caught up in guilt and wished he would return.

On thursday, while the cooking class was going on, my wonderful husband was distributing flyers and books downstairs from Urban Edge Yoga. Where unknown to him, he met my friend from Switzerland. Upon talking further, he realized this was the same guy I had talked about...this time he invited him to come up... The cooking class had almost wrapped up and I was more than delighted to have met my Swiss Friend again...He not only came in, he had prasad (lots of it), and gave another donation...only to part with another book and a bag of goodies for his trip! He was very happy to have met us and left us his address, offering us to be his guests in Bern.

It was a special feeling of reciprocation. Krsna the master of mystics had yet again fulfilled my seemingly simple desire, beyond all my expectations!

10th MSF - Bringing Sita Back to Ram

Saturday, March 27th marked the 10th MSF with the theme "Bringing Sita Back to Rama". Befitting the theme, this MSF was one with many challenges – some of our major team members were missing and the weather was surprisingly harsh. However, by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, 22 devotees were able to go
out to distribute about 56 books and 1200 pieces of prasad!

This MSF also marked the launch of GTA's Wal-Mart Sankirtana. A display table was set up at a Wal-Mart in Scarborough from 10:30am - 5:00pm, with three devotees manning the table. The devotees met many interested people and distributed 700 prasad candies and 24 books for a total of 170 laxmi points! All the
participating devotees were visibly enlivened and had many wonderful experiences to share.

Meanwhile, downtown the sankirtana team was at its regular spot at Yonge & Dundas. Unshaken by the cold winds and missing team members, the sankirtana warriors distributed about 500 pieces of prasad and 31 small books for 70 laxmi points! The team also happily discovered two amazing kirtaneers in Sing Lung and
Anshul Prabhus! After the sankirtana, all participating devotees went back to the temple to honor prasad and share their realizations.

Wal-mart Sankirtan—The Magical Breakthrough

For years now, sankirtana devotees in the USA have been a regular sight at Wal-Mart Stores. In Toronto, however, this was unheard of – until now. Our 10th MSF marked the attainment of our first ever Wal-Mart permit, courtesy of an extremely sincere, hard-working devotee and sankirtana regular!
"When H.G. Vaisesika Prabhu was with us on Friday (March 2010) and asked whether anybody had a connection with Wal-Mart, I had a heart ache; I felt bad that I couldn't do any thing. I just made a humble request at Krishna’s lotus feet," Menaka Thambiratnam recalls. Soon enough, Krishna answered her sincere prayers. We received permission to set up a display, provided there was no other fund-raising initiative taking place. We jumped at the opportunity
and set up shop on March 27th!
"When we were on the road or did door to door sankirtana, most of the time people seemed to be in such a hurry. At Wal-Mart we had different experience - people approached our table; they had questions and were willing to spend more than 20 or 25 minutes talking to us. We met people who already have many of Srila Prabhupada's books at home and others who don't know anything about Lord Krishna" says Mother Menaka. Also helping out at the display in Wal-Mart was Mother Sita Thakurani and Milind Prabhu. The team members thoroughly enjoyed themselves, spoke to many people, gave out 700 prasad candies and distributed 24 books for 170 laxmi points!

"Back in December ’09, I saw a fundraising stand for a charitable organization at a Wal-Mart,” says Mother Menaka. “In my heart I really felt that we should have a table full of Srila Prabhupada's books in the same way. Thanks to Vaisesika Prabhu’s December visit, I had a clue that it might be possible. The rest was the Sankirtana Team and Wal-Mart – we all worked together. It was that simple. It seems that Krishna already made all the arrangements
and He was just wanting us to discover them. We all are on a limited visa, not an open one. We all can do much more to please Krsna. Everyday I am thankful to the devotee who introduced me to this joyful world. Thank you Srila Prabhupada. Thank you Vaisesika Prabhu. Thank you Sankirtan Team”.

In the months to come, we'll reach out to other Wal-Marts and stores in different areas, with a hope of taking the transcendental mission of Srila Prabhupada
to every store…every corner of the GTA!

Never know ... who you'll meet!

Submitted by:- Mangal Arti dd
I was at the corner of Bloor and Spadina but there weren't many people on the street. Suddenly, I saw a man with very long hair on a bike at the traffic light was about to drive off. I thought well why not - so i ran up to him and asked if he had heard about yoga and meditation. I was thinking he would call me crazy but he stopped and looked at the book, I was pushing in his direction. As he saw Srila Prabhupada's name - he looked at me and said 'I have books from Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada - are you Hare Krishna?'. My joy had no bounds and I said yes i am hare krishna. How do you know Srila Prabhupada. He explained to me that he used to go to the ISKCON temple in Mexico where he had even tasted prasad. His copy of Bhagavad Gita was back in Mexico and he didn't know devotees here. I showed him Urban Edge Yoga and invited him to our sessions. As he was buying the Bhagavad Gita from me he said he was starving and if he could get some prasad. I was so apologetic but then i remembered some super duper mini muffins in the cookie jar, upstairs. So i ran up and got him some muffins packed in a zip lock. He said he would comeback...