Hare Krishna.

I was reading with interest the debate on Fearless Preaching.

It reminded me of my first Harinamas in Paris and other towns of France. I felt so sad and humiliated when people threw tomatoes and eggs at me. What I thought to be the greatest thing on Earth was considered dangerous and crazy. French people still see the devotees as crazy people and Lord Caitanya's movement as a dangerous cult.

I was thinking that we should just find an alternative to this preaching and have something more underground. I felt confused: How can Krishna and His dear servant Srila Prabhupada send us to such an ocean of humiliation?

Then I met a young boy and his mother on a train. They noticed my japa beads and came to sit next to me. They started asking questions and talking to me.

The lady mentioned that for years she had seen the devotees on Harinama passing by her house and she used to swear at them. Her husband and son used to throw eggs and tomatoes at the devotees. And they would just talk the whole evening about these crazy Hare Krishnas. Month after month, year after year, they heard them and saw them, and one day they started to actually appreciate them and wondered where they found the strength to go out and chant these Names of a God they didn't know, despite the constant humiliation they received from everyone— spitting on them, pushing them, laughing at them.

They decided to find out more about them and somehow got two little books and then the Bhagavad Gita.

I met them about four years ago, and they told me that the father waves at the devotees every time he sees them, the mother reads the Bhagavad Gita every time adversity comes into her life, and the son chants on beads and has visited a few temples in Germany, Switzerland, and France.

I am convinced that street chanting is the most important way of preaching. It touches all living entities. No matter what reaction you get from them, they hear the Holy Names of Krishna and in anger or appreciation meditate on Them.

It is better to have 10,000 people meditating on the "crazy Hare Krishnas," than one chanting quietly at home.

We have to give everyone a chance and an opportunity to hear the Magnificent Names of our dear Lord Krishna. We have to go out and chant without fear. Krishna protects us, and this service is very dear to Srila Prabhupada.

Sri Harinama Sankirtana ki jay!

© dipika.org April 23, 2003