Vijaya das: In Lithuania, there was a young man who had done a crime. More than one.
And he was wanted by the police. So he thought I should probably leave this country because eventually, they might catch me. So he left.
As he was traveling around Europe he got on a spiritual quest. He started questioning about life. Why am I here? What’s the goal of life? Why am I going through this? What’s the purpose of it all?
So he would talk to people and discuss: What’s the goal of life? Why are we here?
And many people said you know, you should go to India. Because in India, there’s so much wisdom. There’s spiritual knowledge.
You’ll get some nice guidance. He heard that so many times and he decided, alright, I’m going into it. So, he went to India.
He’s in India traveling around and again he’s asking questions. He’s seeing gurus and sadhus and saintly people.
But then he got one of Srila Prabhupada’s books. The Science of Self Realization. And when he read that book, he said, alright, this is it. This is the highest. This is what I want. So, then, shortly after that, he met some devotees and he started visiting the devotees in Iskcon Chowpatty (Mumbai). And eventually, he was able to move in.
Now, after he had been away from his mother, for about four years, he decided to call her and let her know what was happening.
He’s talking to her on the phone. And he said, oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I’m a monk now. And she said, “What? You’re a monk?? I can’t believe it. You’re a monk?
He said, "yeah. Believe it or not.”
She said: “What kind of a monk are you?”
“I am a Hare Krishna monk,” he said.
And she said, “Haribol!.”
And he said, how do you know Haribol?
She said I’m a devotee too!
And he said, how did you become a devotee?
“These devotees are going door to door. They offer me the Bhagavad Gita and it looked interesting.
So I bought it from them and I liked it and now I’m initiated.
And he was still a bhakta. So they both got a nice surprise!