Determined to Give the Mercy

In a Pak ‘N Save parking lot in Hamilton, New Zealand…

Despite the frigid temperatures, wind chill and light rain, Ramadas Prabhu and myself were persistently presenting Srila Prabhupada’s books to the exhausted Hamiltonians, some of whom were just getting off work at 9:00 PM. A fortunate few dropped into their local supermarket, Pak ‘N Save, on the way home, completely unaware that Srila Prabhupada’s unlimited mercy was following through the parking aisles.

I approached a tall Gujarati fellow while he was loading groceries into the back of his car. Frozen chicken samosas, coca cola, cereal… Not very sattvic.

I said, “Hello sir, have you got everything?”

“Yes.” He glanced at me apprehensively. (This isn’t the safest part of town to be doing late-night sankirtan).

“Actually, you’ve forgotten this Bhagavad Gita! Haribol!”

My clever joke and bright smile failed to inspire him so he tried to deflect me with the classic “I am already knowing” lecture. I had my counter-attack ready:

“Therefore you know how important it is to take this Bhagavad Gita and give some charity for Krishna’s seva.”

His ugly side made it’s unencumbered appearance as he raised his voice aggressively: “What am I going to get from this Bhagavad Gita!!??”