From Beckham to Bhagavad-gita: How a Tattoo Trend Turned Into Bhakti
There’s an old saying in the Hare Krishna movement: “Give someone one of Srila Prabhupada’s book, and you’re actually giving them Krishna.”
Not just a story about Krishna — not even a souvenir related to Krishna — but Krishna Himself, packed into every syllable like a divine USB drive. Srila Prabhupada would say that Krishna is fully present in every word of His books. Which means, by this logic, distributing a Bhagavad-gita is only slightly less intense than handing someone a deity for their altar!
And here is where our story begins.
Years ago, a young Brazilian man bought one of these books from a devotee. At the time, he probably thought it was exotic, mysterious, or at least stylish enough to impress someone. When he took it home, he didn’t read it. He didn’t even open it. He simply placed it on a shelf, where it sat patiently for a full decade — like a spiritual time bomb waiting to go off.
Now, if you know anything about Brazil, you know they take football seriously. Very seriously. It’s practically a scientific religion with its own high priests, one of whom (in the early 2000s) was David Beckham — known worldwide not only for his free kicks but also for the Sanskrit tattoo on his back.
Our Brazilian friend saw this tattoo and thought, “I want one too! Sanskrit looks amazing! And hey… don’t I have a book somewhere with those funny curly letters?”
A lesser man would have googled “cool Sanskrit tattoo.”
A wiser man would have consulted a Sanskrit scholar.
But our hero? He went to his bookshelf.
He dusted off the ten-year-old book, opened it — and instead of flipping straight to the index of Possible Tattoo Ideas, he began to read. The plan was simple: find a phrase that looked deep enough to put permanently on his skin. Something like:
“Fear no man.”
“Trust no one.”
Or the classic: “My mom says I’m special.”
But Krishna, as you know, has a sense of humor — and impeccable timing.
As he read, something happened. The words weren’t just words. Remember: Prabhupada said Krishna is present in every word of His books, which basically makes every page a theological surprise box. And the moment this man opened the book, it wasn’t simply Sanskrit letters anymore — it was Krishna’s mother speaking, because the scriptures are the Vedic mother who introduces us to Krishna.
So he read. Then he read some more.
And then… he didn’t want a tattoo anymore.
He wanted Krishna.
Within months, he became a devotee.
Within a short time after that, his whole family became devotees.
And today, more than ten years later, they are still living in the temple — all because a book distributed long ago finally decided to activate itself.
That is the power of Srila Prabhupada’s books.
As the old devotees used to say, especially in those incredible early days of preaching:
“Just give someone a book. Krishna will take care of the rest.”
And sometimes… He takes care of it in very unexpected, wonderfully humorous ways.
Like starting with a tattoo.
The video below shows Srutakirti Prabhu narrating this story:
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