The Urantia Book in India:
A Report on The 2008 World Book Fair

by Paula Thompson

 

After years of dreaming and months of planning a team of experienced and dedicated Urantia Book evangelists exhibited The Urantia Book at the World Book Fair in Delhi India . I was blessed and honored to be a part of that team ably led by Buck Weimer and including Arlene Weimer, Charlene Morrow, Agustin Arellano and Mario Trevino.

When I left for home on Friday the 8^th, an Indian reader, Mr. Garfield Jansen, arrived several hundred miles by train to fill my place. It was a fantastic team and the joy, camaraderie and love at our booth attracted other exhibitors and attendees to us. Many came back and visited with us daily for the 10 days we were there. We made many friends among the Muslims, Hindus and Christians who were there.

Months of preparation culminated and, at least for me, the adventure began at about 12:30 PM on Wednesday January 30^th when Buck and Arlene arrived at my house. Our first mission was to fit 48 hard back Urantia Books, hundreds of brochures, thousands of spiritual vitamins, dozens of Urdu Sampler and Jesus books, UB Audio DVDs and numerous other booth outreach materials into our luggage along with our clothes. We were allowed to check only two bags, each weighing 50 pounds or less, and entitled to one carry-on bag which (as Buck reminded me) had a size limit but not a weight limit. For a little over an hour we worked in my garage wrapping each Urantia Book in bubble wrap and meticulously fitting them all into our bags. Buck is a maestro at this so Arlene and I wrapped and he loaded and re-loaded. We used an old bathroom scale to determine if we were in the ballpark but we knew we would have to do some shuffling of materials at the airport to maximize each bag’s weight and avoid additional weight charges. Each Urantia Book weighs nearly 4 pounds so let’s just say we got very creative. Buck reminded us all to leave out any non-essential personal objects and over the course of our time there my room buddy Charlene and I had occasion to miss and laugh about the “non-essentials” several times.

Our next step can only be called the long, long schlep. We met Charlene at Denver International Airport and spent some time weighing and shuffling the content of bags. When the shuffling was done, 7 of our eight checked bags were stuffed to the hilt with books and effects and maxed out at 50 lbs. There was only one bag that contained 15 books and since the other bags were maxed out and there was nowhere else to put even one more book, we paid the $50.00 charge and counted our blessings. After all, we got 64 Urantia Books (256 lbs.) and numerous other books and literature to India for just $50.00. Having shipped these books around the world for two decades now, I can assure you, even I was amazed.  

Buck personally carried on a bag that contained 11 books and weighed over 40 pounds. We all had at least three books in our carry-on bags. We had a good laugh at the airport when we saw people giving Buck a wide berth and realized that his bag, which was found in my garage and used, displayed the words, “Black Belt Karate School,” prominently on the side. The angels were indeed with us. After the long schlep of 8,843 miles, with one stop in Frankfurt, we arrived at the New Delhi International Airport, India at 2:30 AM on Friday the 1^st of February. Buck had previously secured for us decent and reasonable accommodations at The La Sagrita Tourist Home, which he found in the book Lonely Planet – India . Their driver was waiting at the airport to take us there.

We were exhausted but grateful to be in India in one piece with all of our various pieces in tact. We unpacked and got a few hours of sleep and then headed to the Pragati Maidan (a huge exhibition complex in Delhi ) to set up our booth. We were not there long before all kinds of people swooped in wanting to sell us everything from personal guide service to poster hanging service to booth sweeping service to bottled water for the booth service and even Domino’s Pizza came by. Buck joked that word must have spread that, “there’s fresh meat at booth 11.” We passed on the pizza but Arlene did negotiate for a guide for us which proved invaluably helpful. Lotus and Bhawna Verma, a married couple, drove us everywhere we wanted or needed to go during the entire time we were there and took fantastic care of us for just 500 Rupees a day, which is less than $20.00.  

It took the better part of the day to set up the booth, but we got it done and were ready to roll the next morning. Buck was our fearless leader, and we soon became Buck and the Buckaroos. Well, Arlene actually took on the affectionate Indian designation of “Mrs. Buck” but the rest of us gladly became the Buckaroos.

Saturday the 2^nd of February was the first full day of the fair. Charlene and I decided it took us less than a day to fall totally in love with the Indian people. Their big sparkling dark eyes and beautiful smiles were only eclipsed by their sincere interest in us and our book. In a word, they melted our hearts. They have a unique head gesture, in which they swivel their heads from side to side. It’s graceful and beautiful, but it looks a lot like someone shaking their head in the negative. Since they would read the Spiritual Vitamins and then do this gesture, we weren't sure if they liked us or thought we were crazy. Agustin, being the student of world cultures that he is, learned for us that it is actually an affirmation, a sort of Indian thumbs up.  So, for the rest of our time there we basked in the sweetness of their positive and lovely energy.

As sweet as the people are, the environment is deplorable and desperately polluted. The air is heavy with smog, smoke and a dust that daily coats everything. Coming from Colorado and the crisp mountain air, the air conditions there were shocking. Being a mom, and seeing barefoot 4-year-old children in the middle of crowded busy intersections begging, even at night, with no parent in sight really had an impact on me. Riding in a car in Delhi is a life altering experience. Even so, all things considered, it’s nothing short of miraculous that India ’s one billion people work and live together as well and happily as they do. Delhi , India is certainly a tribute to the indelible human spirit as well as the human ability to adapt, survive and even thrive.

Over the course of the next 10 days in Delhi , we made life long friends. There are so many, but a few stand out for me. Yuyutsu Sharma, a poet and book seller from Nepal had a booth right across from us. I can only describe him as a beautiful Asian Red Man. He came over on the first day and greeted us with warmth and friendship, glad to be our neighbor. In the course of a week we got to know him well. We learned of his family at home in Nepal and that his 12-year-old daughter is strongly drawn to Jesus. Yuyutsu encourages her to follow her heart and learn all she can about Jesus but he explained with a gleam in his eye that his wife thinks he’s crazy to tell her that. Of course, we traded our magnificent story of Jesus for one of his books of poems and he sent it to his child the next day, via express mail. Imagine being 12-years-old, inexplicably drawn to Jesus and being able to read Part IV of The Urantia Book. Well, lets just say, it delights my imagination.

Yuyutsu is a very successful poet and he’s coming to Boulder soon to read his poetry and promote his book. Of course, I offered him a place to stay. He hopes we Urantians will come to Nepal and be his quests. At dinner one night he said, “I will take you all over the mountain trails, to all of the villages, and you can hand-out your spiritual vitamins, translated into Nepalese of course.” We all smiled and replied, “Of course!.”

Visiting with Yuyutsu Sharma

I had an encounter with two young Muslim brothers, Fraz and Kashif Hasan Khan. Fraz was the older of the two and clearly the boss, doing most of the talking. They came in and took issue with us as they were clearly fundamentalists. However, they were much more polite than some other fundamentalists I've encountered. We had a wonderful and lively exchange and after at least an hour of intense conversation on subjects like Hell (which they did believe in) and Jesus being born of a virgin (which they do not believe in) we came to a place of mutual respect. I learned that Fraz is majoring in comparative religions at the university there and he very much wanted a copy of the UB. So I promised him that if he will read the entire UB I would read the entire Koran. He assured me that both he and his brother will read it. They took my email so that they might ask me questions and share insights and I have theirs. Such encounters are like the pinnacle of outreach for me.

Incidentally, the Muslims we talked to there all reiterated to us that they accept and recognize Jesus as a true prophet and believe that he is the one prophet that is coming back. As I spoke to these two young men, I would often preface my words with, “Well, as I said, Jesus is my prophet, and he teaches that….” I found it to be an effective way to engage them but it is important to note that, just as with Christians, the New Testament is their only source for his teachings.

I had an encounter with a pharmacist, Noor Ul Hussain, from Kashmir . Noor (which Agustin said means “river”) told me he was drawn to our booth and very much interested in Jesus, although raised a Muslim. Noor said he felt that he was led to us there and that God was guiding him and answering his prayers. He of course has the book now. He took off of work to come back to our booth and came back every day. After a few days, he was working with us and it was great to have him there to explain things to people who speak mainly Hindi. He works in Delhi and commutes home periodically to visit his family in Kashmir . He was headed there for an eight day visit at the end of the week. Noor spoke very good English, and said many times over the course of the week in his wonderful Indian accent, “Yes, def-in-nately, it is a revelation, I am conveenced.”

While we were there, people who have had the book since 2000 (the last time the book was exhibited there by Urantia Foundation representatives) came into our booth. Some expressed difficulty in understanding the manner in which it is written and its concepts and we assured them that this is difficult for everyone even those for which English is their first language. Several of the publishers we spoke to said they felt it would do better in Indian markets as a trilogy of books. They felt that the size and cost could make it prohibitive for most Indians.

We originally decided to sell the book there for 300 Rupees, which is less than $12.00. But we soon learned that this amount is equivalent to an average day’s wage. Charlene’s comment was, “That’s like paying $80.00 for it by US standards.”  So we asked several people what they felt would be a fair price for such a book. The comment that stood out for me is, “Lower the price to 150 Rupees and you start to see the books move out.” This we did and the books began to move.

When I called Buck on Saturday to tell him that I made it home safely, he said they had nine books left and were all but out of everything including Spiritual Vitamins (which people absolutely loved) and brochures (having had to print 1000 there for 1500 total) and the busiest day, the last day, was still ahead.

Buck, Arlene and Charlene were headed to Jabalpur on Monday to visit with Dr. Chauhan. He has read the book in India for more than 25 years. He may be the first real Indian Urantia Book reader. He translated 2,000 quotes into Hindi (the Hindi Sampler) and we got it just in time to take there with us. We had just one printed copy, which Buck bound in a notebook as a booth copy. This was picked up and read so many times we couldn’t begin to count. One fellow exhibitor came back every day to read it a little more. Each time he read it, his eyes would tear up. Agustin quickly started keeping a list of people who want a copy with a promise to each that one will be sent as soon as it’s available.

In conclusion, I feel deeply satisfied that 64 more whole seeds of revelation have been planted in India, along with hundreds of lesser seeds in numerous other forms, including audio DVDs, Urdu Samplers, Jesus books, Life After Death Magazines, Inhabited Worlds brochures, select excerpt brochures and introductory brochures and soon the Hindi Samplers will be sent. In a word, we conducted splendid and effective outreach there. This is our work, the work of the revelation and the work of the Fellowship. I hope our efforts will only grow in this way and that such will be supported gladly and I pray that we not let another eight years go by before we go back to India and Asia in general.

I give my personal heartfelt thanks to Buck Weimer, who worked tirelessly to arrange this trip. Thanks Buck for your stalwart dedication! I also thank all of you (if you made it this far in a long report) who have supported the Fellowship and our work over the years. Thank you for your support, without which, efforts like these would not be possible.

In Faith and Friendship…..Paula