BY: SUDARSHAN DAS
Jan 10, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, UK — The ecstatic Birmingham Rathayatra has just finished and the last grand finale kirtana is taking place – we are all dancing around the audience blissfully. As soon as the kirtana finishes I will leave with the Scottish devotees for a 5 hour drive to Karuna Bhavan – their temple in Lesmahagow, Scotland. Happily we return to their camper van having kirtana on the way.
As we reach the van Caitanya Ballabha notices the side window is wide open. How is that? He opens the door and lo and behold. Someone has broken in. Just around one hour earlier my luggage had been put inside. Whilst we were dancing in the last kirtana thieves have taken everything away. Not quite – they left Gaura Nitai and their paraphernalia. What a relief.
Well here is proof that by kirtana everything will be taken away. I didn’t realize till now this is another aspect of the names mercy. I feel quite relieved in more ways than one. As there is nothing we can do about it why lament or groan. I was carrying a brand new $2000 US computer from the USA, for another someone and it’s gone, together with my little one. Case and contents all gone – more or less everything.
I go back to the square to tell my friend Ravi the good news. Standing next to him, by chance of course, is a policeman who immediately accompanies me to the van to make a report. We fill him in. Well this happens all the time around here. Usually drug addicts he says. They look for the Tom Tom (navigator) in the car and if they see something else worth pinching they go for it.
A good hit here. We look around the block to see if they have dumped stuff they don’t want but all to no avail. Although I don’t particularly care in one sense, it is after all Krishna’s and not mine. Our business here is not to become detached form things of this world but rather to attach them to Krishna and become attached to Him. So we do our part although it is like looking for a needle in a hay stack in a big city like Birmingham.
The police make the report and we are about to move along when a phone call to one new Bhakta who has just joined us, comes in on his mobile. He also got all his stuff nicked. It’s Constable Jones-Webb of the Aston police station. Out of the blue he asks if the young man has lost anything. We have found some things and your phone number was in there so we are calling you to let you know. It’s in the station. Surprise! Surprise! We drive to the station and wait. Eventually the constable turns up and tells us what happened.
He and his lads were driving around the city checking on things and they just noticed in a hidden land underneath the highway a group of suspicious looking characters milling around with some luggage. They circled around and then came closer and the suspects started to run. The police quickly apprehended them and took them in together with whatever was there. At least the valuable stuff.
At the station were all the valuable items –computers, navigator, ipods and so on. Not everything though – no clothes and devotees stuff. Well said the constable we did not pick up everything since it was spread all around and mixed with probably their stuff as well. If you like we can take you back there. Two of us go with the constable to the dim, dingy smelly alley. It’s the pits. Stinking of urine and stool. Drug needles everywhere.
Dirty clothes. We fish our stuff out, at least most of it. Surprisingly some things are just not there. All of our toiletries are gone. The tilaka, karatals, kettle and cups. Even the gamchas T shirts and a kurta. How strange. Perhaps they have decided now to try to reform and come to the mode of goodness. Whatever people say about the police these days they sure did an amazing job in this case. Returning Krishna’s property back to Him.
The chances of such recovery are less than one in a thousand and within one or two hours of the crime. It is very rare that they are able to apprehend the thieves in such cases. He must be looking after you guys says one of the policemen.
Back at the station we are kept for hours filling in forms and identifying the stuff . The cops are just great as they joke and ask questions about Krishna consciousness. We realize they are real candidates for Krishna consciousness and extraordinarily friendly and open. At last with all formalities complete they return our things. Its two in the morning and so much for our drive to Scotland.
Well an interesting experience. Credit to the cops in every way. Krishna is certainly teaching us lessons at every step and if we continue to perform kirtana then there will be lessons at every step. Let us always remember that everything belongs to Krishna and really we have nothing of our own except Krishna consciousness to lose. All the more reason to be careful in looking after things since they are Krishna’s. It’s a big responsibility.
On our own part we just take shelter of the holy names and Krishna will look after everything – we have no other shelter. We can only pray that such unfortunate souls as the thieves, addicted to their drugs, living in hellish conditions, will receive the mercy of Lord Nityananda. Oh Lord please have mercy on them.
Speak Your Mind