Not Even a Blade
of Grass
Bhagavad-Gita Saves a Man's Life
by Haripada dasa
I was distributing books on the street and saw a parked car. I took the opportunity that
nobody was coming on the street to approach the driver and showed him the book The
Science of Self-Realization, with a very ecstatic picture of Srila Prabhupada on the
cover.
While I was speaking, I noticed that in the seat at his side were a big knife, some
whiskey bottles and some strange stuff in silver-paper envelopes, like those packages they
use to sell illegal drugs. I did not give much importance to this, and with the index, I
explained the topics of the book and spoke about the Hare Krishna mantra.
The man seemed positive and gave me a good donation (20 dollars) for the book. Then he
drove off and I went on with my service.
Half an hour later the man drove back and told me he urgently wanted to speak with me.
"It's a matter of life and death," he said anxiously.
I tried to calm him down and told him to park the car. I sat down in the car, and he
started to reveal his mind. "When you saw first me," he said, "I was going
straight to kill a person. He owed me four hundred thousand pesetas [US$ 3000], and paid
only half of it. He said he would not pay me the other half."
He showed me the knife. "I got myself intoxicated," he continued, "so I
would have the courage to kill that person, but then I don't know what happened. I saw
this monk on the cover of this book and chanted the Hare Krishna song you taught me, and
suddenly someone was telling me from inside, 'You forget this two hundred thousand, and
don't kill this person.' "
He was very much moved. "I just came to thank you," he said, "because you
have saved my life."
Then I told him that not even a blade of grass can move without the sanction of God, or
Krishna, and that he had to give thanks to the Lord, since it was this very Lord
(Paramatma) who was dictating to him from inside to forget the money and the murder.
We became good friends, and I invited him to the farm so he could get deep into this
philosophy.
In this story, we can see the inconceivable potency of Srila Prabhupada's books, that they
are not different from Krishna Himself, and that Krishna is unlimitedly powerful and
inconceivable.
Your eternal humble servant,
Haripada dasa |