Sarva Kanti beams with pleasure as she hands over change to the man who just bought a Bhagavad-gita from the temple’s book table. Despite her advanced age and poor health she loves spending most of her time at the temple, welcoming guests and handing out transcendental literature and devotional gifts to the visitors at the Hare Krishna temple in Phoenix, Mauritius. Before coming to Krishna consciousness some twenty years ago, Sarva Kanti, then known as Saraswati, was a pious Hindu lady who was widowed at the age of thirty-five. Not considering remarriage as an option, she singlehandedly raised her eight children and painstakingly ensured that they received an education and did not end up illiterate like her.

Coming to Krishna

In the summer of 1988 one of Saraswati’s daughters, Sunayna came in touch with the Hare Krishna movement in Mauritius. Shortly thereafter, Sunayna went on a vacation to England where she spent considerable time associating with devotees at Bhaktivedanta Manor, the headquarters of ISKCON UK. This visit was a major turning point for Sunayna and when she returned to her native country she made a firm conviction to dedicate her life to serving Krishna. She consequently joined the temple as a resident devotee, despite her mother’s disapproval. Sunayna had recently graduated from university and the fact that she was voluntarily renouncing a promising future and was instead pursuing a spiritual path as a missionary was distressing to Saraswati. She could not understand why her daughter had to forsake a career and was confused why she could not live at home and practice spiritual life at the same time.

From then on began a verbal tug-of-war between mother and daughter. Saraswati came repeatedly to the temple and tried to convince her daughter to come back home. Sunayna, on the other hand, did her best to gently impart the message of Krishna consciousness to her distraught mother and tried to make her understand that this was her calling in life. Nevertheless, this was not proving to be successful as both parties staunchly stood their ground. Neither of them gave in as both were equally set in their convictions.

Hailing from a Hindu background, Saraswati was already familiar with Lord Krishna. She and her husband used to argue sometimes about who was Supreme. Saraswati’s husband believed that Lord Shiva was superior while she always maintained that Lord Krishna was the Supreme, although she could not articulate why. Somehow Saraswati had faith in Krishna, but unfortunately she lacked knowledge to substantiate her conviction. However, being influenced by common family traditions, she continued worshipping the demigods together with Krishna and took part in rites and rituals that were the norm for most Hindus.

With time, however, subtle transformations began taking place in Saraswati: she gradually and imperceptibly started becoming more favourably inclined towards Krishna consciousness. She found the devotees respectful and welcoming whenever she visited the temple to meet Sunayna. She felt happy when her daughter came to visit her and she even started buying Srila Prabhupada’s books from Sunayna to give them as gifts to relatives! If she accidentally bumped into her daughter distributing books in town, Saraswati would walk up to her and purchase one. Out of affection for her daughter and by these simple acts she was unknowingly performing devotional service and Krishna was reciprocating by slowly relieving her of her apprehension and misgivings. Soon she started visiting the temple regularly, not to coax Sunayna back home but to spend more time with the devotees.

What Saraswati previously knew at heart, that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, she now began to understand in truth. It now became clear to her that all other deities are subordinate to Krishna and that they should be offered due respect but not considered on the same level as Him. Furthermore, she understood that the supreme religious practice for this age is the simple chanting of the maha-mantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Slowly she began chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and since then she has not looked back! As she became more convinced about Krishna consciousness, she became increasingly inspired to give back what she had learnt and she thus decided to take up book distribution herself.

Young devotees selling transcendental literature in public was quite a common sight but it was rare and almost unheard of to see an elderly lady, in a widow’s white sari with a book-bag, enthusiastically distributing books on the streets and door to door. She would also visit relatives, friends, neighbours and acquaintances telling them about Lord Krishna and appeal to them to buy a book. Although she could not read the books herself, she had firm faith in their potency. She understood the good fortune and happiness it could bring to peoples’ lives if they read them and took to the practice of Krishna consciousness. She would also unhesitatingly visit professionals like doctors and lawyers and was effective in influencing them. She lived up to the meaning of the verse:

mukam karoti vacalam
pangum langhayate girim
yat-krpa tam aham vande
sri-gurum dina-taranam
(Cc. Madhya 17.80)

“I offer my respectful obeisances to my spiritual master by whose mercy a dumb man can become a great speaker and a lame man can cross mountains.”

With time many of the people whose lives she touched with Srila Prahupada’s message, took to Krishna consciousness. Many others who had looked at the movement as some new cult and who had been wary of its followers changed their impression and started showing appreciation for ISKCON and the devotees because of the impact of Saraswati’s example and preaching.

Soon Saraswati began to understand that to make spiritual progress one had to accept the shelter of a spiritual master. After listening to and meeting various spiritual teachers, she decided to accept His Holiness Giriraja Swami as her spiritual master. Deeply inspired by Maharaja and attracted to his humble disposition, she resolved to request him for spiritual initiation. In 1992 Saraswati became Sarva-Kanti devi dasi in a ceremony proudly attended by her whole family including her daughter Sunayna who was now Satyabhama Dasi.

Sharing Krishna with Others

After initiation, following her Guru’s instruction to continue preaching, Sarva Kanti became even more earnest in her efforts to enlighten others through book distribution and preaching. Almost every day, after quickly finishing her household duties, she would go out by public transport or by foot to visit people, spend time with them and leave them the gift of Krishna consciousness. For many years she steadily maintained this pace. She participated with full energy in the intense Maha-Shiva ratri book marathons, which last for four trying days, on the island of Mauritius. During the festival which is held at the Ganga-talav, a sacred lake for the 630,000 Hindus on the island, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims throng the site to offer worship to Lord Shiva. Devotees usually take this opportunity to flood Ganga-talav with transcendental literature. Sarva Kanti, despite her advanced age would display uncommon zest and blissfully relish the chance of meeting as many people as she could to bestow them with srila Prabhupada’s books. Sometimes the younger devotees would feel the strain and succumb to exhaustion but Sarva Kanti would inspire them by her personal example! Her enthusiasm was contagious.

Along with book distribution Sarva Kanti has also been engaged in worshipping and cooking for sri sri Radha Golokananda, the presiding deities at Phoenix. She loves making breakfast for the devotees too. She sometimes brings prasada for the devotees from home or invites them to her house and serves them prasada of her beloved Gaura-Nitai deities. She is a mother figure for all devotees and is very affectionate to everyone.

When asked what motivates her staunch faith in distributing srila Prabhupada’s books, she responds, “Srila Prabhupada’s lectures and books have changed so many peoples’ lives, including my own in such a significant way. The only minute way I can express my gratitude towards him is to do what he requested us to do: distribute Krishna consciousness to others through his books. Also, my Guru Maharaja has requested me to preach, so I am trying to follow his instruction the best I can.”

This is what her daughter, Satyabhama Dasi, who has been and still is a top book distributor in Mauritius, feels about her mother. “My mother is an inspiration to me. One devotee once advised me not to exert myself because I will not be able to continue book distribution when I get older. When I heard this I thought of my mother who was still doing sankirtan in her advanced age and this made me persevere. Once when I was ill my mother came to see me at the temple and when she was leaving she said, “I pray that you get better soon so that you can continue your book distribution.”

Ajay Caitanya Dasa, the co temple president of ISKCON Phoenix, has the following to say about Sarva Kanti: “She is an inspiration to all. I have seen her going out door to door at 6 pm in the evening and also doing book table when her health was bad. She is very caring and treats everyone like her child. If someone is leaving without prasada she calls after them and makes sure they get some.”

Sundarlala Dasa the other co temple president recalls how once Sarva Kanti saw someone who looked like a poor man, so she offered him a small book from her bag. The person then enquired what else was in her bag so she showed him a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. He was inspired and took the Bhagavad-gita!

Now at age eighty-one, Sarva Kanti’s health is deteriorating considerably but she still continues to be an example to others by her determination to preach Krishna consciousness. Although it is a struggle for her to walk or move about, she perseveres in going to the temple almost every day to take care of the book table. The story of how she took to Krishna consciousness and how she has dedicated her entire later life to sharing it is wonderful. Her eagerness and love to share what she has learnt and realised will always be a part of the history of Krishna consciousness in Mauritius.

Vrnda devi Dasi is a disciple of His Holiness Giriraja Swami. She joined ISKCON in 1986 and has been involved in book distribution along with some deity service. She currently lives in Rugby, a town in the midlands of England, with her husband Vrndavana Candra Dasa and their two children.