By Bhakta Rock
“I was standing in Union Square park, in downtown San Francisco, with a little box of books. There was an art festival going on, so I slipped in and out of the park so the security wouldn’t bother me.
“At around 10:30 a.m. I noticed a very familiar face walking through the show with his family. It was Robin Williams, a leading American actor and comedian. To get his attention creatively, I fanned out the books I had in my hand and waved them near his face as he walked toward me.
“Startled, he smiled at me. ‘Quickly,’ I said, ‘tell me what you see.’
“‘Books—but that’s not what you’re going to say, right?’
“‘True. What I am showing you is the key to the past, present, and future. And with this key, you can dissolve all anxiety.’
“‘You have good improvisational skills. You should be an evangelist.’
“‘Nah, I’m just here to be your friend. I’m a huge fan of your work and was really impressed with What Dreams May Come. It had a real cool vibe, and I appreciated its depth. Did you enjoy doing it?’
“‘Yes. It made me start to see the world in a different way.’
“Well, this is the next step, my friend. I have the feeling that making that movie made you thirsty for more.”
I then showed him five books: Beyond Birth and Death, The Higher Taste, A Second Chance, the Bhagavad-gita, and Your Ever Well-Wisher. He was fascinated by the pictures and wanted to know how much the books were.
“‘Whatever you think they’re worth,’ I said. ‘I personally don’t put a price tag on transcendence, so I don’t know. Just go with what your heart tells you.’
Apparently, he liked my answer, because he then said, ‘I appreciate your honesty. You have a real genuine quality about you, so I’ll take what you’ve got.’
I handed him the five books and he gave me a fifty-dollar bill.
I thanked him for his interest and he said, ‘Thank you. Hopefully, this will get me some good karma. Say a couple of mantras for me, okay?’
As he shook my hand I said to him, ‘That’s what my life is about, so I’ll say some for you too.’”
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People in general think that gratifying their senses will lead to happiness, but Krishna points out in Bhagavad-gita that that kind of happiness is temporary and leads to ultimate misery. In this verse he gives another paradigm for attaining a happiness that is eternal – concentration on the Supreme.
bahya-sparsesv asaktatma
vindaty atmani yat sukham
sa brahma-yoga-yuktatma
sukham aksayam asnute
“Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness, for he concentrates on the Supreme.” (Bhagavad-gita 5.21)
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