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Sankirtan Story: “Saved by Nityananda”
by Maitreya Rishi Dasa Prabhu
One time we were distributing books at a wild place in London. I think it's pretty much like the wild west of London. It's called Camden Town.
It was towards the end of the day. And it was in the summer of last year. It'd been a very nice day and all the Brahmacharis were very ecstatic. This story, I think goes to show that we also encounter many difficulties and potential dangers while going and distributing the books. The material world is not exactly a place for saintly people.
So there's one guy, he came to me at the end, a very tall man, about seven foot tall, huge guy, African English guy. And he seemed normal at first. I asked him if he was spiritual. And he said, “yeah, I do some meditation”. Eventually it came to the point where I asked him, as we do, for a donation for the book. At that point, he became very agitated that we were asking for money. He said, “you're spiritual, you're meant to be monks, so you shouldn't ask for money.” You know, a classic line.
Apparently these people don't understand how printing works. If you print books, you have to pay money for that.
So anyway, he became agitated. And he took the book from my hand, and he refused to give it back. And he just began to walk away. Then, our Nityananda Prabhu ran after him, very heroically, to reclaim Srila Prabhupada's book. Now, I don't recommend that anyone try this at home, unless you have the martial arts skills of Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda caught him, and the guy pinned him up against the Camden bridge, pinned Nityananda Prabhu against the wall and
raised his fist as if to punch Nityananda Prabhu in threatening, but the way he locked Nityananda Prabhu's arm was in such a way that Nityananda Prabhu could very easily use a Wing Chun manoeuvre and he switched who was on top in the grip, he flipped the table on the guy.
This guy, his eyes widened and he threw his head back in surprise and realised who he was dealing with. Then he backed off. Nityananda Prabhu has a Wing Chun past. He was trained in the martial art of Wing Chun. He's basically like Bruce Lee. So we have a Bruce Lee in the temple and it's very helpful for dealing with situations like this. He knows many moves.
So yeah, Nityananda Prabhu got the book, he recovered it. He threw it back to me as he was wrestling the guy, just imagine, you know, he threw the book. I caught it. That was my contribution. I managed to catch the book. At least I didn't drop it, like a fool. And then two people came and they broke up the fight.
But then the guy came back half an hour later to start trouble. And he confronted us again. He actually appeared to be apologising, but he wasn't apologising. Nityananda Prabhu offered him some Prasadam, some laddu. And the guy just smacked it out of Nityananda Prabhu's hand, destroying the whole laddu. Then he
came over to me because I was filming the whole thing. Which I have, by the way, maybe we will make it available on Facebook. And he came over to me, and I said “if you come closer, I will kick you.” And then he decided not to come any closer. He swore at us for a couple more minutes and then walked away.
This is just one of the many confrontational pastimes we've had on book distribution, dealing with people, especially when it comes to asking for donations. Just imagine, we distribute the most amazing transcendental literature of Srila Prabhupada to save people from all sufferings. And then when we ask for a little donation so that we can help more people, they want to kill us.
So anyway, I have to say, all glories to Nityananda Prabhu! He saved the book, and myself. Very exciting. Hare Krishna.
