Two Stories from Acharyadeva’s Life as a Preacher


A few months after taking sannyasa, I was doing Harinama, sitting down, with Bir Krishna Goswami and another brahmacari in the town square of Victoria, Texas (Southern Texas).
A huge Texas cowboy, with a very large Mexican friend, came up to us, as we sat and chanted, and began to mock and harass us. I angrily told him that if he didn’t stop, Krishna would kill him. He hesitated, but then continued to harass us. Then he left, tripped in the square, hit his head and died. What I told him was spontaneous, without any premeditation. I think Krishna made me say it. When Prabhupada heard this story, he said, “Hridayananda das Goswami has great faith in Krishna.”


Another story:
As a grhastha in Houston, a few months before I took sannyasa, we were doing Harinama in downtown Houston and a huge Texan entered the sankirtan party, and began whirling around and swinging his arms in a menacing way. The devotes had to avoid being hit. I angrily rushed into the street, stopped a policeman on a motorcycle and demanded he arrest the man which he did. We all went down to the police station. The policeman in charged asked me if I would drop the charges if the man apologized and I did.

On the way out, we passed a room of plainclothes cops who began mocking and laughing at us. I charged into the room and began lecturing them on the real duties of police in regard to devotees, etc. They all kept quiet and listened. Then we went home.

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H.D.Goswami