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Since the truck I just bought last Sunday was totaled the day after I bought it, I had to hitchhike downtown to my favorite pub to watch the Cup. USA vs. Italy. Ended in a tie, but great game.

After the game I was walking around downtown and an Indian man with paint on his forehead went out of his way to get me to stop. He wanted to give me a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. A little girl who was his helper came up to me and gave me a couple of Krishna bookmarks along with a cookie wrapped in plastic.

I told the fellow that it is a good book and I read it in college. He still wanted me to have it and began to talk about his philosophy. I said, I appreciate that you want to give me the book. I’ve been Buddhist for the past 10 years and don’t have any interest in converting to another religion. He said that God does not convert anyone.

So, we started to discuss things. He sai “as you know, Buddha was an incarnation of Krishna…” and he showed me a picture of Krishna surrounded by all of his incarnations. I then asked him if he believes that God is an individual, separate from us. He said yes.

I said, “So you believe that God is a blue man somewhere out there that we could meet and have a conversation with him like you and I are talking now.” He said yes.

Then I said, “What about other religions? They all have their own versions of God which they believe to be absolutely true.” He said that Jesus was not God and Mohammed was only a prophet of God and that there is only one true God and that is Krishna. I asked him if he had actually seen Krishna as depicted. He said, “Yes, but we cannot discuss these things.”

He began to speak in metaphors, God cannot be known through the senses… Okee dokee. How come God is depicted as a blue man? We talked a little more and he started to become agitated. He began to return to his booth. I told him that it was a pleasure to meet him and offered to shake his hand. He looked at my hand and then looked at me as if I was contaminated and said, “Thank you for your time.”

Good fun. Hare Krishna!

I continued on my way. Soon, a young homeless guy was walking next to me. I asked him if he wanted a cookie. He said sure, and then examined it closely to make sure nothing was wrong with it. He then said, “I’ve been thinking about 12 a lot recently.”

I replied, “Oh yeah. Why is that?”

He continued to explain. He had found 19 pennies this morning. He already had a penny and a nickel. That makes 25. He told me that he believes God is like a penny, heads and tails, good and evil. Also, something about 12 Apostles, 12 months in the year, 12 hours in the day plus 12 hours in the night makes 24.

He also explained what he did with those pennies. He put 12 pennies on one side and 12 pennies on the other side. Then he put one in the middle representing God. I began to wonder which side got the nickel. Then he said, “But I found a rock in my pocket and put that in the middle too.” The rock represented chaos. He started to talk some more, but someone he knew interrupted and greeted him. I waved goodbye and walked all the way home, truckless but no yet homeless…

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