ISKCON devotees distributing books for the end-of-year Prabhupada marathon got an unexpected boost on December 4^th when Dr. Eromosele S.A, a highly influential chief in the Bini Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria, invited them to preach at his Trado-medical Herb Healing Home.

Members of the Healing Home, who work with indigenous traditional medicines, have their own spiritual practices.

But the members, dressed in their traditional red robes, gladly received over fifty copies of different titles of Srila Prabhupada’s books and posed for photos with book distributor Tribhuvanath Das.

“Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, a 19th Century Vaishnava Saint, observed that interfaith involvement strengthens one’s faith in one’s own tradition, while helping develop a greater sense of respect for the sanctity of other faiths,” Tribhuvanath  comments.

He added that in accordance with these instructions, he assumed a respectful mood while amongst the healers in their place of worship, remembering Bhaktivinode’s words in his Chaitanya Shikshamrita:

“When we have occasion to be present at the place of worship of other religionists at the time of their worship, we should stay there in a respectful mood, contemplating thus: ‘Here is being worshiped my adorable highest entity God, in a different form than that of mine. Due to a different practice of a different kind, I cannot thoroughly comprehend this system of theirs. But seeing it, I am feeling a greater attachment for my own system. God is one. I bow down before His emblem as I see here and offer my prayer to my Lord who has adopted this different emblem so that He may increase my love toward Him in the form that is acceptable for me.’”