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(Name of the muslim girl has been changed to protect her identity)

I met her on a leading social networking website, her name was Nazia Mujeeb and she had a picture of Krishna in her profile, it surprised me that how a young muslim girl living in Mumbai had Krishna’s picture on her page. I sent her a friend request which she accepted as even I had Krishna in my profile, I started telling her more about Krishna and ISKCON on that website. She gave me her mobile number and invited her to ISKCON Mumbai (Shri Radha Rasa Bihari ji mandir located at Juhu).

We met in the temple courtyard, she was accompanied with her female friend who was a hindu, Nazia was dressed very soberly in salwar-suit.This is one great quality which I admire in muslim women that they are the ones who ‘cover themselves up’ and dress up in a  very respectable manner.

I walked to Nazia and asked her how she became a devotee of Krishna being a muslim, she told me that one day she saw the Television program ‘Dwarkadheesh’ and loved to watch all its episodes, this is how she came to know about Dwarkadheesh Shree Krishna and she started liking Krishna a lot. I was wondering how many people come to know about Krishna, Ram and Lord Shiv just by watching these TV programs as people in general have lost all interest in spirituality completely. One muslim in my office once told me that his whole family used to sit and watch Ramayana by Ramananda Sagar  even at the time of a very important ‘niqah’(muslim wedding) in their family. Though these TV programs are dramatized and many parts may not be even bonafide yet many millions came to know of the great epics just by watching these programs.

I was extremely pleased to see a ‘young muslim girl’ taking so much interest in Krishna. I decided to preach to her to the best of my capacity. I showed her three copies of the English Bhagavad Gita and she took all of them (I told her in advance that she needs to bring ‘laxmi’ with her so that I could give her the books) then I also gave her two small books in hindi by His Holiness Radha Govind swami maharaj— one was on Hari naam Diksha and the other one was on Srimati Radharani.She bought five books from me.

Then I took them to khichdi Prasad counter and requested her to honor as much Prasad as possible(I was wondering how many of her sins will be washed away, how fortunate she was and how much ‘sukriti’ will she be getting).She had many plates of Prasad and had to stop when she could not take it anymore.I then showed her way to the deities and started telling her about the Lord, then we moved on to Srila Prabhupada quarters, The Bhaktivedanta library and different sections of the temple.Nazia also went to the chanting section where she and her hindu friend chanted one round of the Hare Krishna mahamantra. She chanted with commitment and determination, her concentration was such that even initiated devotees would not match her. I was amazed to see her character and the faith she had in the holy name. She told me that she saw a temple for the first time in her life and that she even got initiated by a ‘famous godmen’ of India after she saw Dwarkadheesh. In the evening we had darshan of a very ‘special boat festival’ in the temple, it was really amazing for her to see that the Lord was sitting in a boat and enjoying with his associates. How could God sit in a boat if he would be impersonal! (I asked her politely)

As we went on I told her many pastimes of Krishna and Srila Haridas Thakur.I wanted her to spend more time in the temple (I thought that she might never be able to come back to a hindu temple in her life again!).I told her about Krishna as much as possible as this was one of the greatest preaching opportunities I would ever he told me that had lost her father and was living with her mother in a small house in Mumbai, both of them were doing small jobs and managing their livelihood somehow. I had to ask her to marry a devotee as she won’t be able to practice in case she married in her community, I was really concerned for her future and practice of Krishna Consciousness, she was also being disturbed and harassed by her so-called relatives as she for worshipping a ‘hindu God’ and was on her way to become a qafir(an infidel), but she was sure of what she was doing and was never going to change the path she took.She was really worried for other muslims of how will they get away with so many sins? She spent about three hours in the temple, thanked me for the books and association and they moved as it was getting dark. Later she talked to me on phone and told me that she even distributed the Gitas to her friends also and had tears in her eyes while she read the book on Srimati Radharani.May God bless her and protect her on her journey of pursuing the absolute truth.

by Premanjan Das (Pranjal Joshi)
Please your feedback at pranjal280@gmail.com