Spreading Loving Seeds
in Southern Peru and Bolivia

By Brother-initiate Julio Cardenas Pelizzari, Arequipa, Peru
(Originally in Spanish)

Tacna, Peru

The first city I visited to distribute the “Alternative Living” flyer was Tacna, which is in the south of Peru. Before arriving at that city, something happened to the bus, but fortunately the driver and his assistant managed to repair the damage and we continued our trip without any other inconvenience. 5,000 flyers were distributed on the main streets of Tacna and at the Universidad Estatal de Tacna and the Universidad Privada.

When there was no more sunlight, I stopped to buy some grapes and figs from a couple who were selling fruit on the street. The man asked me for a flyer and inquired of its purpose. He tucked the flyer into his pocket and it was completely wrinkled. When I saw his hands, I assumed he was a hard worker. He told me that he came from Majes, a beautiful valley in Arequipa, where he worked as a farmer. After we exchanged some words, he suddenly stared at me with bright eyes and said, “Give me some, so I can hand them out.” So I gave him some flyers and he stood up and started distributing the flyers as if he were giving something very significant and valuable, a treasure to share with others; he was even insistent if someone wouldn’t accept a copy. I felt very inspired by his good disposition. He didn’t even know what gluten or tofu was; nevertheless, he offered himself voluntarily to do Master’s work.

Also, in Tacna, when handing out the flyers on the main square, a man repeatedly called to me to ask me about the flyers. When I explained the purpose of the flyers , he showed a great interest and we started to talk about some spiritual subjects. He voluntarily said, “Give me some flyers, please”, and started calling passersby, explaining that these flyers were something important for them to notice. “Get acquainted with this good news,” he said. Among the many things we talked about, he said that he used to pray before dawn and pointed out that the best hours for praying were around 3:00 o’clock in the morning. We conversed about some parts of the Bible and to my contentment, at the end of the conversation, he said that with the few words we had exchanged, many of his doubts were cleared. I was surprised to see how easily he understood the precepts, especially his acceptance of the concept that, being the children of God as we are, we cannot say that we are good if we kill Hiers creatures, the animals.

Then I showed him a photograph of Supreme Master Ching Hai and told him that we also meditate early in the morning and that we keep the five precepts in order to progress spiritually. He repeatedly asked me what kind of meditation we practiced. As I perceived that he felt our meditation was the one, I finally told him that, if he wanted, I could teach him what we call the Convenient Method of meditation. Since we were not near his house, we went to a nearby cathedral, where I explained in detail the conditions necessary to practice the Convenient Method. Then we started to meditate. When half of the meditation had passed, the choir of the cathedral started to sing. I thought how silly I had been to take him there to meditate, because of the noise and other disturbances. But to my surprise, when we finished our meditation and asked him how was his experience: he told me he had seen Master in his inner vision! I also asked him if he had heard the noise and the chanting of the choir and the child who was moving around and hitting the bench behind us. He told me that he had heard nothing; “You told me to concentrate here, and that’s what I did,” he answered. When we left the building I felt very happy to have come across this person and thought that perhaps our meeting was predestined and arranged by God.

Moquegua, Peru

The next city was Arica, Chile. But because of the many regulations required to distribute any kind of flyer on the streets in that city, it was not feasible to carry out the task. Since there were 5,000 flyers destined to Arica, I thought it best to take them to Moquegua, a city between Tacna and Arequipa. In that little city 2,500 copies were distributed in the main square, some side streets, and the main avenue. Actually, this city has only one main avenue, so it was not difficult to reach a great variety of people. Among the people that received the flyers, one was a young lady about 20 years old who walked away reading the flyer. After going about half a block, she returned, very excited by its contents. She remarked that, even though Moquegua was a small town, people there had a strong habit of eating meat, and this undertaking in favor of vegetarianism, would be of great help to broaden the dining habits of the populace. This young lady was trying to give up meat consumption and perhaps with this help she would be able to succeed. Since one of the products mentioned in the flyer is wheat gluten, and as this product is not very well known in many of the provinces of Peru, I tried to explain to her how she could prepare homemade gluten according to the instructions Master gave to prepare that very nutritious food.

Something else happened in Moquegua. In the morning, when handing out the flyers on the main square of the city, I met a man who, as soon as he received the flyer, said to me: “Oh, you are the one who is distributing this material. I wou

ld like to have a broadcast interview with you tomorrow at 13:00.” I told him that it would be impossible, because next day I was leaving for another city. To that he answered that there was no problem; the interview could take place this very day. So, later we met for the interview and he told me that the name of his radio program was “Alternative Radio”! His way of interviewing was very fluid and we were able to talk about a wide range of topics. At the same time, he commented on some of the points described in “Ten Reasons for Being Vegetarian”, the web site that is at the bottom of the flyer. So thanks to Carlos Vera Manárriz of Universal Radio of Moquegua, we had a live interview.

Arequipa and Puno, Peru

Handing out “Alternative Living” flyers at the gates of the Universidad Nacional de Puno

The 2,500 flyers that remained were destined for Arequipa. While in this city, we resorted to another kind of distribution: The flyer would be printed on the last page of an esoteric magazine, “Fantástico”numbers #81 and #82, which has a weekly issue of around 4,000. After that we printed another 10,000 copies and the trip continued to Puno, in the southeast of Peru. There, working with the contact person of that city, along with her husband and daughter, we handed out 5,000 copies on the main streets and at the State University of Puno.

 

La Paz, Bolivia

After that, with the other 5,000 copies, my trip continued to La Paz, Bolivia. I started the distribution of flyers mainly on Prado Avenue and in front of the State University of San Andres. At the university, some young people stopped to talk about the vegetarian diet, leaving their e-mail addresses to be notified of activities or future possible lectures in La Paz.

In many cases, it was evident on the faces of the people who received the flyers, that they perceived in some way, that the information did not come from a common source. Some of them had the intuition that, behind the flyer, there was another kind of support that went beyond the basic dietary data and mere information; it is what they were longing for deep inside their hearts. The next day, the distribution proceeded at a private university and on some crowded streets of that city.

After finishing the last 5,000 copies of the Alternative Living flyer, I returned to Arequipa. Thanks to God that I had such an opportunity to offer my humble service to spread some seeds with God’s blessing and love to so many people.

Many people reading the Alternative Living flyer at a square in La Paz.

 

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What can human beings do to deal with repeated outbreaks of epidemic diseases? To address this question and save the lives of countless animals, Master has personally compiled a concise article complete with colorful illustrations entitled “Alternative Living”, providing basic information about vegetarian alternatives to the meat-based diet and a list of the “Vegetarian and Vegan Elite of the World.” Please refer to http://AL.Godsdirectcontact.org.tw for details. The print version in various languages will be available later. You are welcome to forward, reproduce, reprint or set up an Internet link to this flyer.