As
you all may know, in 1974 Europe we used records to
help distribute the books/BTG's. Prabhupada put a stop
to this in 1975, but allowed it again (emergency
measures).
So by 1977 I found myself travelling from town to town
in the Republic of Ireland in a brand new van, led by
the indefatiguable and inspirational Amita das (a New
Zealander of exceptional capacity). He would drop two
devotees off one end of the town and two at the other
(doing the shops), and when they'd meet up in the middle, Amita would
be there, engine ready to whizz off to the
next unsuspecting town. The momentum built up during
the day, and by the last town in the evening, the
shopkeepers were amazed and bewildered by the energy
mixed with harmony given out by the devotees.
George Harrison had given permission for the Radha
Krsna Album to be used by the by-now karmi-clad bhaktas.
So, to get to main story, it was a hot and dusty
day in the west of Ireland. This town was a big one,
and it was festival time, with accordian and fiddle
music playing from speakers all over the place. I came
across a shop and went in. Nobody about (quite normal
for 1970's Eire). But in the corner was a record player
hooked up to lots of wires and cables. Without
thinking, I took out my record album, took off the
record that was playing, and replaced it with the Radha
Krsna LP, placed the needle on the record and
promptly left.
Sure enough, a couple seconds later the
transcendental "Govindam Adi Purusham" was playing from
all the corners of the town. I remember going for
quite a few shops more before they managed to get the
accordians back on again, all the while noticing the
confused expressions on those gentle Irish folks faces
as they were listening to Lord Brahma's prayers to Sri
Krsna.
Much fun and laughter was to be had over the hot
milk in the van that night with the devotees as they
also told of their surprise upon hearing the whole
town pervaded with these Divine prayers.
TSKP 1974-79
Vamsi Vadana das
