Bhakti’s Strange Guises

Sometimes we think Christians, Jews and Muslims are meat-eaters who will never understand Krsna consciousness. And Srila Prabhupada does write: “Therefore if people are to be educated to the path of Godhead, they must be taught first and foremost to stop the process of animal-killing.” (SB 1.3.14/purport). But there is also a verse Srila Prabhupada often spoke about. It’s Srimad Bhagavatam 11.2.46 in which it is stated that a preacher, “…shows mercy to ignorant people who are innocent…” We may remember that most of us “crusties” (older generation) were meat-eaters at one time and that many of those who become devotees today are erstwhile flesh-eaters. I raise this because sometimes people of other faiths are genuinely attracted to Krsna consciousness and the devotees, and yet we tend to rule them out. As Prabhupada is once reputed to have said, “There are devotees on every street corner. We have only to find them.”