Pretoria to Durban, South Africa

I waited to check in for my flight to Durban and a young man was staring at me. He finally approached me, and asked me if I was a monk. I replied yes, I am a Hare Krishna. He went to say that he works at a new age yoga studio, and he had some questions for me. I sat next to him and just listened to what he had to say. He opened his heart to me; he started describing how he started practicing yoga to escape the pain in his heart from failed relationships, from the pain of disappointing his family. He expressed that he thought of suicide once. He was in tears as he was revealing this to me. He wanted to know if yoga is such a peaceful way of using your energy, then why does he feel that something is missing. He has been practicing for over six years and feels no difference in his heart.

I sat back and just listened, I could understand that this mans heart was heavy with the burdon of material life. When he finished, I asked him what does he want from life. He looked off into the distant lights and just shook his head. He said man; I just want to become happy. Can you help me please, can you show me happiness. I said Of course, that is my duty to help you. The reason your yoga has not worked is because you are missing the key ingredient, that ingredient being God. The object of yoga is to reconnect to Krsna. But better than practicing hatha yoga is to practice bhakti yoga, bhakti meaning serving Krsna with all your heart, with all the love you can muster.

The man just looked on, with tears swelling in his eyes, by now some others gathered around, and someone made a comment about this gentlemen being too emotional. I corrected the one who made the statement and said " he is only revealing what is in all of your hearts, because all your hearts are sad because you have forgotten your original relationship with Krsna. You should thank this boy for making you realize how sad your lives are without Krsna. The person just looked down. Everyone else nodded. For the next twenty minutes I answered questions and exchanged email addresses. When everyone walked away, I left alone with this man, and he said how could I thank you for your help, how can I thank you for your time. I pulled out Perfection of Yoga. Please take this book, read this knowledge and apply this into your life. If you ever need help please give me a call. With a big smile on his face, he thanked me and gave a donation.

"Go on spreading the sankirtana movement more and more. I am only one person, but because all of you have kindly cooperated with me, this movement has now become a success all over the world. Be assured that there is no more direct way to preach than to distribute Krsna conscious books. Whoever gets a book is benefitted. If he reads the book he is benefitted still more, or if he gives the book to someone else for reading, both he and the other person is benefitted. Even if one does not read the book but simply holds if and sees it, he is benefitted. If he simply gives small donation towards the work of Krsna consciousness he is benefitted. And anyone who distributes these transcendental literatures, he is also benefitted. Therefore sankirtana is the prime benediction for the age: krsna varnam tvisa krsna sango vangastra parsadam yajnaih sankirtana prayair yajanti sumedhasah [SB 11.5.32] - SP Letter May '77

"The living entity is the cause of his own suffering, but he can also be the cause of his eternal happiness. When he wants to engage in Krsna consciousness, a suitable body is offered to him by the internal potency, the spiritual energy of the Lord, and when he wants to satisfy his senses, a material body is offered." (Purport SB-3-26-8)

Partha Sarathi dasa

I exerted a little extra effort one night at the Coachella music festival (stayed out till midnight) in California. I got up at 4am to finish my rounds and do a morning program to have a charge for the day. When I finished my rounds I took a little rest and had this "dream".

Prabhupada's murti was there and I affectionately touched him on the shoulder. He moved in a surprised way and looked at me. I was stunned that he (the murti) moved and I asked Prabhupada if everything was all right. He said, "Yes." and got up off his chair. I was in ecstacy, I took advantage of this opportunity and asked him how I could serve him. There were people all around, like on sankirtan.

He said "Could you please stop someone so I can preach to them". He said this with such innocence and purity, almost like a cry from the heart. I tried stopping a couple of people with no success. I told Prabhupada that it easier for me to approach people that are already stopped. So we went to someone standing around. This person saw me, recognized me from before, and said "I want your 'Quest For Enlightenment book.' He gave me some change and I gave him the book. I then asked him if he would like to talk with an incredible spiritual master. He looked at me funny. I then looked around to find Prabhupada and couldn't find him anywhere.

From this "dream" I realized that Prabhupada is in his books. That he is in his words. And that above everything (at least for me) he really wants me (us) to distribute these books.

Sankirtan never is dry.

Wishing you all the best.

Your servant,

Paramesvara das (Text D:577024) --------------------------------------------

------- End of Forwarded Message ------

Bhakta Saurabh has joined the Brahmchari Trainee batch that has just begun in Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir. On his first day of book distribution he had a nice experience:

I was distributing books in the local trains. From 2:15- 3:45 pm I could only distribute 4 small books. Then I remembered the words of Balaji Prabhu, one of the top book distributors from the previous BT batch. "Book distribution is all about prayers," he had told me. "Srila Prabhupada is the one who distributes through us. Just pray to him." Remembering his words I casually prayed to Srila Prabhupada. When I went to the next compartment even before I had made my announcement, a man called for me. "Just a minute sir," I acknowledged him and then made my announcement. Then I went to him. I was carrying a set of eight books. He asked to take a look and I gave the set to him. He looked at each and asked, "How much?"

"This costs 15, this 20, and this" I began telling him the cost of each book. "What the entire set costs?" My jaw dropped. I mumbled out the price. He gave the money and took the set. In the next 10 minutes I distributed 24 books. I realized that Book Distribution is all about prayers.

I had to travel to Coimbatore India from Secunderabad to meet my parents over the weekend. I had to travel by plane due to last minute decision, but still I packed a hand baggage with my cloths and another carry-on with books.

After finishing the formalities at the airport counter, I was left with about 40 minutes for Hari Nama Sankirtan. I approached a lady explained Bagavad Gita but she was not interested. I moved away looking for other travelers but was headed in the direction wherein the waiting areas were empty. When I traced back the way the same lady helped me by pointing in the direction where more people were waiting. I showed her the Ramayana one more time and showed her all the pictures. She was still not interested but then I quoted the verse from BG (2.40) "Neha ..." and explained her why she should keep these books with her all the time. She quickly decided to buy Ramayana.

As I moved away to another area, I approached a person working on his laptop drinking coffee. Quickly he said he already has BG but when I showed him Ramayana, he could not resist any further and decided to buy.

The next 30 odd minutes was a big struggle to distribute even a single book and I heard the announcement for the last and final call for boarding. I decided to give one last attempt and went around the waiting lounge (pretty much the same place where I had tried in vain just few minutes back). I suddenly noticed someone was taking pictures with "some celebrity" (I thought) and just waited for the photo session to complete and approached the persons with Bagavad Gita. First I showed the pocket size Bagavad Gita, explaining the need to propagate this message all over the world, and asked him to donate some money to cover the printing and binding cost. Immediately the man (celebrity) opened his wallet and gave Rs. 1000 and said that he is taking this copy even though he already has another copy with him. All along this time I was hearing the airline staff announcing the final boarding call for myself and another person.

I rushed to the gate and boarded the bus ready to take just the two of us to the plane. The other person (who was late for boarding) entered the bus behind me and I showed him Bagavad Gita. He looked at it and said he will take the book after he gets down from the plane in Coimbatore. Indeed he took the book at Coimbatore airport but he also did not have the change for the book and had only Rs. 1000.00. It was around 9.00 PM and I was struggling to find the change since I only had 650.00 in change and then he asked me what else do you have and readily took the telugu Ramayana for the remainder of the money.

On my return flight back to Hyderabad, the only person who took the Bagavad Gita said he was an atheist but still he wants to learn from this book in any case.

I have heard many senior devotees sharing their book distribution realizations, that never to leave a stone unturned when it comes to distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. However this is the first time that I personally experienced and realized the need for me to put all my efforts and take no chances by ignoring people on face value or give up too soon when it comes to distributing books for Guru's, Srila Prabhupada's and Lord Krishna's pleasure. The nectar of Lord Krishna's, Srila Prabhupada's and Guru's reciprocations are inconceivable, so much so, that I realized my 2 hands are not sufficient to hold and receive all that mercy.

your humble servant, Sridhara Srinivasa das

I was doing door to door book distribution in Ireland. I was talking to one man who gave a nice donation but didnt want a book, I was thinking how to get him to take a book. He didnt believe in God. So I looked into his eyes and said, "I'm a fortune teller, would you like to know your future?

The man said, "Yes.OK."

I said, "You're going to get old, diseased, and then you're going to die. If you want to do something about it then read this Bhagavad-gita."

He then took the book.

Hare Krishna, Ananta Nitai das

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

We were on travelling sankirtana in a small town nearby Helsinki. Before beginning a day I always chant one round extra. After chanting I saw a fat lady walking on the street.

I opened the conversation by saying: ÒDear Madam, we are looking for aristocratic people in this town today. I must say you look exactly like the Queen.Ó (This is one of the mantras I use while distributing Teachings of Queen Kunti.)

To my surprise she replied: ÒHow did you know I am related to the Queen. My son was elected the Drag Queen if Finland 2008.Ó

I put two books (TQK and Caitanya-caritamrta) in her hands. She accepted them and started telling the story of her life. I thought her life had a little semblance to that of Queen Kunti, i.e. she had gone through many difficulties, and she was raising her children alone. She mainly spoke about the special children she had.

Her elder son was the Drag Queen, a man who dresses as a woman. He was a regular face in the TV, in charge of a late-night music program. He was earning nicely (over 100 an hour by doing that job).

Her younger son was just ten years. He had some neurological disease called the Asperger syndrome. This means he is very introverted, but still very intelligent. She told every now and then her son would become interested about something and become totally absorbed in it. In my heart I was praying to Krsna he would some day become interested about Krsna consciousness in this way.

She was an extremely softhearted lady and eventually she took both the books, although she had very little money.

Later that day she had phoned the temple. She was in happy moods and said she had already read some of the books. She was wondering how on earth I could have known she was related to the Queen. She asked whether our monks have mystic powers. Our temple president Tattvavada Prabhu replied it is not something mystical. It is a matter of understanding oneÕs relationship with God. When we know our relationship with Krsna, we can also know something about the other living entities as well.

Your servant, Avadhutacandra das (Text D:562199) --------------------------------------------

------- End of Forwarded Message ------

In the last issue we discussed how Ticket Collecters (TC) in the train harassed the devotees and by one man's help all the TCs stopped interfering. That man has an interesting story:

Mohan is a very senior officer in the railways. Earlier if he would catch a devotee doing wrong he would heavily fine the person and if the offender could not pay, he would put him behind bars or detain him till the family members came and paid the fine, for which he almost never issued receipt. With the bribe money he nearly every day ate meat and drank in hotels. But all these years, he says, he could never sleep peacefully.

One day, he got a heart attack, but survived. He was advised complete bed rest for three months. While recuperating, his daughter gave him a Krishna book. "God has saved you," she said, "please read about Him in this book." Mohan read the entire book. "God is so beautiful and nice," he discovered and from then on began to pray regularly. "I felt much more peaceful after reading Krishna book," he says.

"I read Bhagvad Gita and found that all my suffering was a reaction of my bad karma."

The reading of Bhagvad Gita and Krishna book completely changed Mohan. He gave up his bad activities, and began to associate with devotees. He formed an organization that performs final rites for the unclaimed dead bodies of the destitute in Mumbai. Sometimes people call him in the dead of the night to claim dead bodies.

Every one is amazed to see such a turnaround in him. He says it's the effect of reading Krishna book. In the December Marathons he makes sure the devotees get all the permission needed.

In the next issue: "Stop this nonsense!" the man shouted. "Whatever you say is all bogus." As the amazed crowd stopped to look at the heckler, the devotee prepared to meet this new challenge. What happened next? Find out in the next letter, "The Soul is not in the Heart."

your servant Murari Gupta das (Text D:638239) --------------------------------------------

------- End of Forwarded Message ------