ON DAYS SET ASIDE FOR SELLING Back to Godhead magazine, he packed copies in a cloth sack and boarded the morning train to Delhi. With nowhere to stay in Delhi he had to return to Vrindavan by evening, which gave him only a few hours of daylight. Sales were minimal and he did not always collect enough to cover costs. Some days, he made appointments with wealthy men to request support. A few responded with token donations for his cause. He befriended an Ayurvedic doctor who promised assistance. One day, Bhakti Dayita Madhav Maharaj from the local Gaudiya Math was bicycling by and saw Abhay standing at the gate of the doctor’s large house.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I am waiting to get a five rupee donation,” Abhay called back.
After some hours, Bhakti Dayita Madhav Maharaj again passed by on his bicycle. Abhay was still standing there. “Did you get the five rupees?”
“No. The gentleman has not yet arrived,” Abhay replied, “but I will wait.”
“Let it go. I will give you five rupees.”
Abhay thought for a moment. “Every month?”
The senior devotee noted Abhay’s torn and weary clothes. “Let’s make it ten,” he said.
LIVING APART FROM HIS FAMILY freed Abhay to pursue support for his mission and the frequency of his letter writing increased. To a prominent Kanpur industrialist he wrote, “The leaders of India in the name of secular government have engaged themselves in everything foreign. They have carefully set aside the treasure house of India’s spiritual assets and are imitating the Western material way of life. So my idea of preaching in the foreign countries means that they are rather fed up with material advancement of knowledge. They are seeking the guidance of the Vedanta Sutra and Bhagavad Gita in an authentic way. And I am sure India will again go back to spiritual life when the principle is accepted by the Europeans and Americans.”
Abhay’s letters demanded much from their readers. What would a businessman in 1950s Calcutta make of such a petition, sent by a stranger, written in awkward English, arguing that Westerners were seeking guidance from ancient Sanskrit scriptures, and concluding that Hindus would revert to their spiritual roots if Westerners did so first? The whole idea was illogical, unreasonable. Then again, so were most revolutionary ideas.
The Kanpur industrialist did not answer.
Source http://www.dandavats.com/?p=65677
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