I had to visit a relative who's in the hospital. These hospitals are very intimidating places. There's a whole hierarchy from the doctors down to the nurses…the attendants and there's the specialists and the surgeons and then there's the administrative people. It's like a whole little world in these places and the people are very, very busy. Everyone is running and scurrying here and there trying to take care of people whose bodies aren't working properly. And some of the people are in critical condition. They may be leaving their bodies because it's become nonfunctional. Maybe they were in an accident or they have a disease or a heart attack or for whatever reason. And so everyone is trying to fix the bodies of these people.
And it is all about the body…the material body. When, in fact, none of these people can really do anything to help anyone without the sanction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And a lot of the maladies, actually we can say all of them, are the results of karma. The results of something the person did that violated the natural laws and so now suffers reaction in the form of an accident or a disease or something.
It's quite an atmosphere in there. It’s intimidating. They have all big fancy equipment, the latest technology, everything is computerized and immediately into the bodily concept of life. Needless to say, I wasn't happy with this.
And my poor relative, also completely absorbed, "I am this body." I had to do something because if I didn't, I'd get sucked into the bodily concept too and I certainly didn't want that. So I went out into the hallway near the elevators and made believe I was waiting for an elevator. But I was actually chanting on my beads. I was quite visible standing there chanting. Everyone was running all around me with stretchers and blood samples and dinners for people. But I was chanting Hare Krishna, "Where is Krishna?" "Krishna please help, this environment is so materially surcharged with we are these bodies."
One of the employees, maybe a person who takes blood samples, was there waiting at the elevator and a visitor was trying to find a certain room. They asked this person, "Where is room such and such?" They told them, "Down the hallway."
I thought let me ask them, "Where's Krishna?" I'm going to do it. I'm going to break the silence about Krishna here. I've got to get Krishna's Name out there somehow. Connect with someone here about Krishna. I have to, I just have to. It’s my own personal survival. So I asked her, "Where's Krishna?" Just like the person that asked, "Where's room such and such?"
So I asked, "Where's Krishna?" Like she was supposed to know and say, "Oh down the hallway to the right." She looked at me and smiled very nicely, eyes wide open and said, "Krishna?" So nicely, she said. Innocent! And that was it! The silence was broken in that whole gigantic hospital. Krishna had appeared in the form of His Holy Name.
I know that sounds like "Well, you're really exaggerating." No it isn't ... It's not an exaggeration! Krishna's Holy Name is as powerful as Krishna himself because He is incarnated in Holy Name. He's there.
She said, "Krishna?"and I held my beads up and chanted so she could hear, "Hare Krishna." She smiled. I didn't have to explain. Somehow she knew, "Oh this is something to do with God."
Things progressed from there. From then on out it was like there had been a solid wall that nothing could get through and then that little incident and the whole thing shattered. More opportunities opened up to say something about Krishna or to bring up spiritual topics. So it became a very good afternoon.
I don't know if this has anything to do it or not but when they brought the relative that I was visiting their dinner my relative all of a sudden decided they didn't want the meat that was in their dinner. Now this relative is an avid meat eater. They can’t go for even one meal without meat. Out the blue, they wrapped up the piece of meat in a little piece of plastic and told the attendant they didn't want it. I told the attendant, "Maybe someone in the kitchen has a dog…glancing at my relative on the word dog (like this is not proper food for humans)…that would like this." My relative smiled. He seemed to be glowing. He was glowing. He had somehow been able to sacrifice a little sense gratification and Krishna was pleased. So he had a vegetable plate and was very happy, with cookies and milk for dessert. To me these things are miracles.
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