We have a nice farm in southeast Germany called Simhacalam. Lord Nrsimhadeva is the presiding deity. While taking prasada there, I asked a book distributor, Advaita Simha Dasa, how he came to Krsna.
Advaita Simha said, “A monk in the street once approached me, and proposed to give me a book. I gave a donation and received a book with the title “Science of Self-Realization”. At first I thought it was about a cult, so I was curious to hear what they had to say. But after reading a few chapters I realized that this was very profound knowledge.
A year later I was looking for more books by the same author, Srila Prabhupada in a bookstore. I was with a friend in the shopping area, and somehow we got separated. He then called me to ask where I was. I told him I was in the bookstore looking for another one of those books like the one the monk had given me a year ago, but the store didn’t have any.
My friend said, ‘Well, if you go outside the bookstore you’ll see a monk there. Maybe he has what you’re looking for.’ I went out, and the same devotee that gave me the Science of Self Realization, Gaur Mohan Prabhu, was there! I asked him whether he had more books by Srila Prabhupada.
He had the Bhagavad-gita, so I gave a donation for that. He told me that there would be a talk on the Gita that evening and invited me. I went, and it was nice. Eventually I visited the temple and joined ISKCON. Now I’m also a book distributor.”
Jaya Srila Prabhupada!