This morning, after a harinam on a Diwali procession here in Durban, South Africa, I waited with the other the devotees in the party in front of a busy supermarket for Vibhu Caitanya Prabhu to pick us up and take us back to the temple. I noted that there were a lot of shoppers entering and leaving the store. While the devotees went in to get some cold drinks, I stayed outside and distributed books to people waiting in their cars and to the shoppers.
I approached a young lady who had just pulled up and used my regular mantra for people who smoke -- but this lady was just not going to take a book. So I gave her an invitation card and asked where her friend was from, the one who had just a moment earlier gotten out of the car and gone into the store. She told me his name was Brian, he was from Johannesburg, and he was purchasing some charcoal. I asked her what type of work he did for a living. She said that he was an engineer. I said goodbye and told her it was a pleasure meeting her.
I went into the store to see if I could find Brian, but I couldn't. After about five minutes I saw him at the checkout counter. So I went outside and waited to approach him as he came out of the store. As he came out I stopped him and said, "Brian, is that you? Goodness gracious me! I can't believe I'm seeing you again. It's been such a long, long time. How are you?"
He looked at me with puzzled amazement. I said, "You're an engineer, right? And you live in Johannesburg."
"That's amazing," he replied. "How did you know that?" he asked with extreme astonishment.
"Oh, I knew you many lifetimes ago. This isn't the first life we've lived. We've lived many lives before this one."
He couldn't speak a word. I told him I had something to give him that would explain what I'd just told him. I dug into my sankirtan bag and handed him a "Coming Back." Just then from the car his girlfriend honked for him to hurry up. He asked me again how I knew him.
"It was your friend in the car over there," I admitted, as he gave me a nice donation. "I just wanted to see your reaction. Well, now that you have the book, don't forget to utilize the knowledge in it."
He turned around, holding in his hands a bag of charcoal, a liter of Coke, the weekend newspaper, and "Coming Back."
"Thanks for taking the book, Brian. Till I see you next time in another life."
Srila Prabhupada ki jay!
Yours in the service of Lord Sri Krsna and His devotees,
Hare Krsna,
Madhumangala das
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