Professors help with book distribution.
At a university in Los Angeles, a student with a walker came straight away to my book table and declared, “I know the Bhagavad-gita, and let me tell you this is not a book of rainbows and fairy tales. Arjuna wanted to save the bodies of his family members. He did not know that Krishna would teach him the real truth: that no one can kill the soul. So Arjuna fought his best. No one should think that this is a sentimental book to promote peace. Krishna creates and dissolves the universe over and over, so don’t let anyone tell me He’s about love and peace.”
He had learned about the Gita in an English class. He told me that his personal religion of choice is Celtic. I recommended that he have this Gita, because he would really enjoy Srila Prabhupada’s commentary. I showed him the comments by the professors. He bought the Gita.
I asked, “What makes you so spiritual?”
He said that when he was about to come out of the birth canal the monitor of his heart flatlined. Soon the Russian doctors declared him dead and wrote a death certificate. Then somehow he started breathing, to their amazement.
This was the third time this semester that I met a student influenced by a professor to get one of Srila Prabhupada’s books.
These are four other times:
(1) I was trying to sell a book to a girl, and the girl had no money, so a professor came up and gave twenty dollars and told her to read the Gita.
(2) A boy told me that he had made friends with his professor, and at the end of the semester she gave him a Srimad Bhagavatam as a gift. So he wanted more books.
(3) A professor and three elderly friends were touring the campus to see the sights together. They stopped at my table, and they were delighted to see me there. Each bought a Gita for ten dollars. (4) A Japanese biology professor recently purchased a Gita from me, and I made sure that he also got “Easy Journey” since he is science minded. He became very attracted seeing “The Perfection of Yoga” in Japanese.
Your servant,
Karuna Dharini Dasi