As I was walking down the strip near the campus the other day attempting to distribute books a young lady named Alicia stopped me. Since I can relate how it is to try and stop people while they are going about there business to petition them for a few minutes of their time to explain to them about an important cause, as a general practice I give whoever it is a chance to speak their piece. After all as Hare Krsnas we are seekers of the Truth, always open to take worthwhile advice from wherever/whoever may have it. Anyway, turns out Alicia was a recruiter for Greenpeace whose main purpose was to get me to become a member which entailed me giving a monthly donation. Her whole spiel was politically charged about how Obama or Corporate America is doing this or that and not doing this or that.

Politics on all levels tend to flip a switch in my head that just wants to not hear about it. Seems like it takes too much energy, gets you all fired up, and nothing is changed. After having several goes at the politics within the Hare Krsna movement I found that the most sensible plan to make the changes I wanted to see happen was to start with myself, as Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

So once she had spoken for some time. I interjected, “So what do you want from me?” Hence the membership donation plea since “they don’t take money from the Man” which imo is kinda funny as who is printing the money, where does the money get it’s value? At any rate, I responded that I’m a missionary who attempts to live a low impact lifestyle and already dedicates whatever spare money I have to pushing forward this Krishna Consiousness movement. I explained to her about how I have adopted a cow out in New Vrindavan via ISCOWP’s program and why we do such things. I went on further to explain that while what Greenpeace is doing is a very good thing, caring for the environment, it’s important that we educate people as to why we should do these things. After all blindly doing something just because people tell you it’s the cool thing to do does not make for a very solid foundation for change.

With the philosophy in Bhagavad-Gita we can understand how we are intimately connected with all living beings from the ant, to the tree, to the water, to the Earth as our beloved mother. By understanding this connection naturally we will develop a feeling of love and respect for the Earth and be careful about what we do to her, and how we treat other living entities regardless of their bodily designation. Until we understand this connection we cannot have genuine peace nor can we make any tangible progress towards developing a more sustainable way of life.

She very much appreciated the philosophy and was eager to read Bhagavad-Gita. At the same time she really wanted to make me a Greenpeace member. So what to do?She proposed that she would give me $20 for a Gita if I would join Greenpeace. So my next argument for that was that I was afraid by donating to such a cause I would be indirectly supporting animal cruelty in the form of meat eating employees of Greenpeace. To this she called over a colleague who assured me at all Greenpeace functions they must have a strictly vegetarian or vegan menu but, that Greenpeace could not force all employees to be vegetarian as that would be unconstitutional. So after going back and forth we reached a standstill. She wanted the book, but I didn’t want to join Greenpeace because I felt it to be a band-aid solution in comparison to the holistic solution to all the world’s problems as outlined in Bhagavad-Gita. So I proposed, that she give me $20 for a Gita and I’ll give her $10 back. To this she accepted and happily went to spend whatever was left or her break (as most was spent talking to me) to read Bhagavad-Gita.

Anyway the purpose I write this is that I was reflecting back upon this point about the solution to environmental problems this morning. Preaching is a double edged sword. Not only does it bring other jivas closer to Krishna it also helps to increase/deepen ones own Krishna consciousness and realizations as well. Prior to this day such a thing (re: the holistic solution to environmental problems) had never occurred to me but, the more I think about it the more I can understand it’s true. This goes to show that I have no ability to preach as most of the time nonsensical ramblings awkwardly flow from my mouth upon trying to stop a person to distribute a book. Yet, every once and while when I realize my helpless position; realizations, arguments, words, etc. come straight from the heart to give the receiver what they need to hear to take a book as well as, leave me with nuggets of wisdom to reflect back upon and understand more about how I am not the doer and about my actual position as an insignificant servant of a servant of a servant of Krishna’s devotees. All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga!