Port Coquitlam, British Columbia
Nelson Mandela Etc.
“Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein all got impacted by this book.” I was listening very carefully to these words, a selling point for the Bhagavad-gita. Banka Bihari, a woman that I have known for thirty years since she first discovered the powerful message of Krishna, was relaying to a small group of us how she gets people to stop and hear her spiel at the mall. She was young at the time, hailed from Brantford, Ontario, and she was so eager to know about life. Now years later, she reigns supreme in the Gita distribution category for the greater Vancouver area. Around the dining room table, with her husband Ramanuja to my side and Hadai, a family friend and a student of mine, we heard Banka Bihari tell of her success and challenges with sharing the knowledge of the Gita to the Christmas shoppers. Every year a marathon is held world-wide for a pleasant push to acquaint the public with this treasure of knowledge. The marathon referred to is the Prabhupada marathon, an initiative by ISKCON which has been running since the early seventies. We were intrigued with Banka Bihari’s magic, what she says and how she says it when approaching pedestrians to or from the shop. “They take the Gita,” she said, “and often come back for a second book related to bhakti.” She sometimes mentions that this book influenced Gandhi, but there are mixed feelings as people then relate to the book as some religion.
On that note she defends it by saying the information is about life challenges and how to overcome them. It’s not for any particular denomination.
Banka Bihari volunteers her time and as a sacrifice. She has a young handicapped son, Nicholas. Between Nicholas’s father and mother they juggle time between home and work in the most co-operative spirit. It is quite commendable that she extends herself to share the science of the self in the form of the Gita.
The family served me in their Langley home a grainless meal honoured every two weeks on what is a Vaisnava tradition called ekadasi. The quinoa with veggies mixed in was mouth-gratifying. My second visit to a household was in Port Coquitlam. The family, who run a security business, have been in Canada from their native India for a decade. They are taking to bhakti yoga so naturally. They had so many questions on how to apply self-realization in their lives. Naturally I obliged.
A final victory for the day was staging “The Little Big Ramayana” at Vancouver’s ISKCON centre. The youth I worked with on this project did a bang on job as an offering to Krishna. All in His service.
May the Source be with you!
8 KM
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