My best Book Distribution experience
On one Sunday morning in Seattle waterfront, Veda Narayanan Prabhu and myself
were distributing books. We had a good number of books distributed in spite of
few stopping to take a book. By 3.00 PM we were tired and headed back to the
car. We continued to distribute books on the walk back to car. I reached the
curb side where our car was parked and was waiting for Veda Narayanan Prabhu
who was talking to two tall African American gentlemen explaining about Bagavad
Gita. I suddenly saw him rushing to the car telling me "Prabhu, let us
go to the parking lot where these gentlemen have parked their car, since they
have their check book in their car". This was a huge shock for me, since in the
USA you would hardly entertain talking to strangers leave alone giving a ride
to two African Americans who were twice as tall and heavy compared to both of
us. I asked VD Prabhu, "are you sure?" Seeing a big affirmative, I told that
him one person should sit in the front and that prabhu ji should sit with the
other in the back seat at a place where I can see his face on the rear view
mirror.
While we were driving to the place where their car was parked, we came to know
that the two African American gentlemen were strangers to themselves. The
gentlemen in the back seat was all the time glorifying Srila Prabhupada's books
and Veda Narayanan Prabhu, saying, "It's amazing that this person whom I've
never met will trust my words and my personal check." Which only drove my
adrenaline to its peak.
After reaching his car, these two gentlemen sat on the curb side reading the
book for 45 minutes. I was gesturing to Veda Narayanan Prabhu that we should
probably leave and finally we asked the gentlemen to give us some donation for
the book. One of them wrote a check and said "I should have donated more, but
this is all I can do for now".
I could not believe my eyes when I saw that he has donated $100.00 for the
book. We immediately gave a copy of all types of books that we had (SSR, JSD,
Krsna, Ramayana, Glimpses of Traditional Indian Life), We took his email
address and Veda Narayanan Prabhu has been in touch with him.
This has been and will be my most cherished and memorable Sankirtan experience,
since it opened my eyes and mind to strengthen my faith in my Krsna
Consciousness practice.
your humble servant,
Sridhara Srinivasa das
