A friend from Calgary

We were wrapping up our day at Kensington market and walking back when a nice devotee, Chloe, called me and introduced me to a girl she had just stopped. She was from Calgary and leaving town next morning. She was holding the Perfection of yoga that Chloe had given her. Chloe told me she wanted to know what is meditation and how can she practice it. This young lady was a junior Geologist in Calgary, very well read. I handed her the Bhagavad gita as it is and asked her to read it cover to cover as it explained everything she would ever want to know about meditation. She was impressed by the Sanskrit and the purports and the pictures and agreed to take the Gita. She still wanted to learn how to meditate. So we took her to the corner of the street and I started to show her how to chant japa in the middle of the street. She tried to chant with us and I requested her to go home and chant one round of japa everyday along with the study of the Gita. We exchanged emails and I showed her the address for the Calgary centre.

A rare chance

Last month I met young girl near Yonge and Dundas and at first she walked away, but then she turned around and came back to ask me what I had. She was just out of high school and very bright eyed young girl, inquisitive about transcendental knowledge. In first few minutes I saw cuts on her arms showing she was undergoing serious depression. But her face was bright; she was sharp and quickly understood some of the pictures in the Gita I tried to explain to her. She said she wanted to become a cop and eradicate drugs from the world but as of now she was living alone in the world. She took the Bhagavad gita and promised to keep in touch. As days went by she started reading the book and sent text messages about how she liked what she read. She lived far from the city and was waiting for a chance to come into town and visit our centre. Then few weeks later I got a message that she was in hospital counting last breath and funeral arrangements were underway. She had overdosed on drugs and never regained consciousness. Her friend agreed to honour her wishes and read from the Bhagavad gita at her burial and buried it with her. This Sankirtan experience gave me a close look into the madness that people live in this world and how rare is the chance for them to come in touch with Srila Prabhupada books. We never know who we will meet on Sankirtan and how much time they have. Surprising how Krishna in heart inspires one to turn around and come back to get a book.

Second book

I met a girl earlier this summer and she had bought a chant and be happy. Yesterday I ran into her again and she remembered meeting me. She told me she had completed reading the Chant and be happy and had liked it. So I handed her the Science of self realisation. As soon as I put it in her hand, without me saying a word, she asked how much it was. I asked her to give what she can and she immediately gave a donation and took the book with her. Once in touch with the book, people so easily take their next one.

A friend at every step

Approximately 8-10 months ago I met 3 people outside a major intersection in downtown Toronto. It was a cold and windy evening but I remember this guy, his girlfriend and his brother stopped to explore Srila Prabhupada’s books and they each took a book. I didn’t think much of it then but yesterday I ran into them again. They instantly recognised me and reminded me of their previous meeting. It took me a few minutes to remember everything. I started to ask them if they had read the book they took last time and he told me his girlfriend had read it completely and he was 3 quarters of the way through. I thought perhaps they were talking of a small book, so I showed them the Bhagavad Gita. This is when they told me that it was Bhagavad gita that they had read. At this moment I remembered the entire conversation from 8 months ago and felt great happiness in knowing they had read the Bhagavad gita. Their enthusiasm was obvious and it was like meeting old friends. The younger brother had studied the smaller books. He reminded me of how I had explained to him the picture of the chariot with the horses and to my surprise he remembered it all. So this time I showed them the science of self realisation and explained how it will help them understand the Bhagavad gita and they readily agreed. I requested them to visit us soon or we will keep meeting every few months.

As they left I had two realisations. One that we should preach directly the message of Krishna consciousness when we meet someone with even a little interest. If we just present the message as it is, people will remember it. It is transcendental knowledge not deteriorating with time, not like material knowledge that we forget overnight. Secondly, when someone gets a book a bond of friendship is established that becomes sweeter over time. If we keep distributing Srila Prbahupada’s books – we will have friends all over the world.

Mystic perfection through Sankirtan

"This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again." Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given His command that people all over the world should take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The sincere devotees of the Lord should go all over the world repeating the Lord's command. In this way, they can share in His mystic opulence of giving orders that cannot be counteracted.

SB 11.15.27

Miseries of life

I met a student from Ryerson and he said he was not interested in yoga at all. I still showed him the Bhakti yoga and he told me it was no use for him and asked me why he should get it. Then I remembered what I had read in Vijaya prabhu newsletter about Srila Prabhupada asking us to preach directly. Prabhupada said you should tell people these books will teach you how to get over the miseries of life. So building up strength, I told him these books teach you how to get over the miseries of life. I told him you are so young but you know what stress and anxiety is – these books teach you how to get over it. Surprisingly he took the book and then I spent the rest of the day telling people to get Srila Prbhupada books as they will teach you how to get over the miseries of life.

A second meeting

A few months ago I met three girls during the Pride parade in Toronto. One of them was aware of the Krishna book and had read it before. They were really young and in high school but all three of them very enthusiastically took a book each. Today at Ryerson University I met one of them again and she started to talk to me. She was surprised I remembered and I was too. She was so excited to meet me again because she had already read the Bhakti yoga she had bought. She said she liked it very much and it was a very refreshing read. She and her friend wanted to come see us and were surprised to run into me. I told her if she read the Bhakti yoga then she should read the Bhagavad Gita. I explained some of the pictures in there. While she really appreciated the pictures she said she didn’t have money. I kept on showing her and then she said she had just 5 dollars to buy a text book from someone but that other person was late. So she gave me the text book money and said she would come for the gita discussion.