Hare Krishna,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I am just finishing up a North American tour, on which I did book distribution and conducted seminars. It has been very enlivening. While traveling I had the good fortune of Jayadvaita Maharajas association in New York City. He gave a very nice class the evening before I left. He spoke about book distribution (it's always nice to hear our leaders speak about it). Here's a little of the nectar: "I was traveling from New Jersey in a train when a Muslim sat next to me. After awhile he turned to me and asked what my religion is. That started a whole conversation about God and spiritual life, and he was very interested. When I travel I always like to carry books with me for people like this. So I and the devotee traveling with me were trying to find where we had put them. Finally we found a Perfection of Yoga, and I gave it to him. He asked if he could give something for it and gave a very nice donation. It was very nice to see someone of another faith so interested in what we have to offer."
Maharaja went on to say, "Earlier in the year I was in South Africa. While I was there I asked a devotee how he had joined. He told this story:
When I was very young my father visited France, and while waiting in the airport in Paris for his plane back to our home in the Congo, he saw a Bhagavad-gita on a table. Someone had apparently left it there. It was there for a long time, so at last he picked it up and started reading it. No one came looking for the book, so he took it with him on the flight. He found it very interesting.
Later, whenever he was home he would often quote from the Bhagavad- gita, saying, Krishna says this and Krishna says that. I began thinking, Who is this Krishna?
When I grew up and was on a visit to South Africa, I met some devotees distributing books, and they told me about Krishna. I put the two together and said, My father knows all about Krishna! They invited me to the temple and I really liked it and eventually joined. My father is also a devotee and chants sixteen rounds.
Maharaja concluded: There is a saying in India: 'There is a name on every grain of rice.' Similarly, there is a name on every book that goes out, and only Krishna knows whose hand it is going to end up in, just as only Krishna knows to whom every grain of rice will go.
Your servant,
Vijaya Baladeva Das
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