While on sankirtan in Hamilton (New Zealand) recently, I met a familiar-looking couple. I had met them on traveling sankirtan in Rotorua during the recent marathon. They had taken a Bhagavad-gita for the husband's father. He is seriously ill, with a terminal disease. They reported that he had been in ecstasy to receive the book for Christmas and had wasted no time in starting to read it. It was very encouraging to hear that a housebound invalid near death had received and embraced Prabhupada's mercy!
On another recent sankirtan excursion in central Hamilton we connected with Bhakta Ari. I stopped him, and after a seemingly average exchange he left without taking a book. He claimed he had no money. Later he returned with a few coins -- enough for a small book (Raja Vidya). Then he walked to a nearby park and started reading. Soon, by Caitanya Mahaprabhu's arrangement, a harinama party entered the park and stopped near him! After observing the chanting for awhile, Ari approached the party and spoke with the devotees, who invited him to an evening program that same day. After wavering a bit, Ari decided to attend and relished the evening. The next day in central Hamilton we met him again, wearing japa beads around his neck. He took another book and asked about Krishna
House, our center here in Hamilton. Since then he has been coming to Krishna House practically every day to associate with the devotees and engage in devotional service. He's chanting eight rounds a day. Last week he made a generous donation and took many more books, including the Bhagavad-gita, which he is now reading. He is already leading kirtans during the Krishna Fest programs and is in ecstasy to have re-connected with Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada's transcendental sankirtan mission!
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