In Russia a thirteen-year-old received one of Srila Prabhupada books, became attracted to the philosophy, and went to the temple and loved everything. The devotees gave him beads and more books.
He became more interested and became a devotee. But he knew his parents wouldn't approve, so he secretly continued his Krsna consciousness. He heard about a three-day festival a few hundred miles from Moscow. He really wanted to go, so he told his parents that he was going camping with a friend. He had all of Prabhupada's books hidden in his room, but if he went away they might come into his room and find them. So he locked them in a chest. They gave him permission to go, and he went to the festival confident that there would be no problem.
However, when he returned there was no one home, and he found that the lock on the chest had been broken. Now he was nervous.
His father later asked him, "Why didn't you tell us about these books? All this time we didn't know what you were up to, but when you left we decided to find out what it was. We opened the chest and found your books. We were shocked to find so many books. Then we decided to find out what these books were about, so we read and read and read. Both of us were happy to find these treasure-houses of knowledge. Why didn't you tell us about this?
The boy was surprised and happy. He said, "I thought you would not approve."
The father embraced him and said, "Not only do we approve but we want to know more." Then he said to his wife, "We're so fortunate to have a saint as a son."
They became devotees.
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