by Anita dasi
The beggars and sadhus crowded round as one charitable lady gave out ten rupee notes. We watched as one sadhu tucked the note away in his inside safe-keeping pocket, and made his way to the cloth we had laid out with books and posters while we sang morning bhajans. This sadhu sat down next to our books. He carefully selected a Hindi Secrets of the Undiscovered Self. Often when we tell the price of the books to sadhus then they either return the book or try to convince you should give it for free, but he pulled out this ten rupee note he had carefully tucked away.
Someone who was upset with the contents of the book he had taken came back and was getting real aggravated. This sadhu tried to pacify him and send him away. In the end we start chanting harinama and the upset fellow gave up and left. The sadhu was quite enthusiastic shaking his bells and singing along. Others joined in, and the uncomfortable moment was transformed completely.
In the evening a camera crew from the national Dish TV station was curious what we were doing and stopped us for an interview. They asked us question about why we are here, what we think of Kumba Mela, Indian culture and our experience here. We did our best to glorify Srila Gurudeva, explain about book distribution and the beauty of such a large religious gathering. You never know, maybe we got on the air.
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