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Bilvamangala Thakura (#1) * * * * * * * * *
CAST: Bilvamangala Thakura, Chintamani, Devotee Girl,
Brahmana, Brahmana's Wife, Gopal (Bilvamangala's servant), 2 Friends of
Bilvamangala, Sri Krishna. SCENE ONE Bilvamangala's house (Bilvamangala is with two friends after attending his father's funeral)
1st Friend: (shaking Bilvamangala's hand vigorously and warmly) Your father was a man of great repute, Bilvamangala. His memory will not quickly disappear. As his dearmost son and heir, you could do no worse than to follow his example. 2nd Friend: Be an upright son, make good your father's name, and trust in the will of Providence, who levels all men, it seems. 1st Friend: We must depart, Bilvamangala; already there are signs of a storm appearing in the evening sky. Take rest early tonight. Your mind must be very tired from the day's affairs. (the two friends exit) Bilvamangala: (sits wearily, runs hands through hair) Withered by the cruel winds of time we are so paltry in our insignificance! Controlled by cosmic forces, we are powerless to act! Where is there a haven from this mire of sorrow? Where to rest this very brow on this night of grief and sadness? Chintamani! Chintamani! So long have I tarried from your soft-eyed glances; my heart is even now aflame with longing just to touch you! In the midst of the darkness of my distress, you are as the cooling moonshine — a soothing balm to my aches and pains! Wait no longer, my love... Gopal! Gopal! Where is that servant of mine? (Gopal, a house servant, enters) Come here immediately. Fetch my cloak and walking shoes. The time for lamentation and despairing words is gone. Gopal: My Lord, dearest master, you command and I must obey, but what are these words I hear so hastily spoken? Today there is due cause for reverence and respect upon your father's sad demise. We cannot so impinge upon the law of custom that is held so sacred. Bilvamangala: (thinks) Your sentiment is founded truly on the pillar of tradition. And yet I say I will follow this formality no more. There are no rites, no rituals that can hold me now. Gopal: Dear Lord, there is no good that can come of this! Master, there is a terrible storm outside! (pulls back curtains to reveal storm outside) To wander out in such a tempest would tempt the very hand of Death himself to tear you limb from limb! This turbulence is an ill omen! It would be folly... Bilvamangala: Enough! Enough! I will have no more of
this insurrection! A servant must follow the instructions his master
provides. Be gone! Do as I say! (claps hands. Gopal exits in a hurry)
Tonight I will be in the lap of my love, my lady, my life — Chintamani! SCENE TWO Outside in the storm (Storm effects. Enter Bilvamangala, breathing hard)
Bilvamangala: This darkness engulfs my very soul! It seems the very heavens have torn asunder and pour forth a vale of torrents! Just hear the angry voice of Indra bellowing his fury, giving warnings in the sky! Tonight the very earth is reeling, bemoaning her position! That I commit some wrong I cannot deny. My action is
questionable by some. But... Chintamani is waiting... for one who is
thirsty for affection, she is the source of all sustenance. Amidst all
the darkness of this wretched world, she is the beacon of our hope! But
wait... (breathing hard) Yonder rushing stream has burst its narrow
banks, and now has spread its flowing waters across my path! What was
yesterday a dusty road is now a deep and dangerous pool — a lake too
wide to wade across in safety!Ah! A log is here... some branch from a
tree, come to assist me in my journey! O Chintamani, there is no
elemental force to match my desire for you! There is no storm that can
prevent our meeting! Part your waters, Varuna-deva, Chintamani is
waiting! (leaps astride "log")I am coming, Chintamani! My
love! My... This log gives off a foul stench in truth. There are some
vermin abundant in these waters. Of that, my nostrils do not doubt.
(screams) AAAHHH! What bloodied fiend from hell is this which confronts
my vision?! His eyeballs like red coals are hanging from their sockets!
It is some carcass of a human form that I embrace as a carrier!!!
Chintamani, when will this nightmare finish? When shall I reach your
sweet bower and deliverance from distress? Chintamani... (reaches
Chintamani's house)At last my journeys end approaches. This garden wall
may seem a block to one who is of less resolve than I; but even as I
view the light of the lamp in Chintamani's room, I feel the strength of
an army of men surging through my limbs. This creeper will provide an
easy ladder to the top. There... I would climb Mount Meru itself to
reach you, my love... Just one more step! This creeper feels most
strange... (hiss of a snake, he screams) AAAHHH!!! The very creepers are
snakes and serpents! But, I cannot be defeated now! My heart is
pounding! My mind is reeling! My senses are on fire for Chintamani!
Chintamani! I am yours! (knocks and pounds on door) SCENE THREE Chintamani's Apartment (There is a fire, some chairs, a couch, a mirror on the wall. Bilvamangala is seated with a blanket around him)
Chintamani: (opens door) Bilvamangala! What a surprise! You must have travelled through the storm. Come inside! Come! You must be so cold! The warmth of the fire must be very pleasing to you after your night's ordeal! Bilvamangala: Chintamani, it is the fire of love in my heart which is raging. Your sweet face is itself the fuel... Chintamani: Bilvamangala, I have no wish to dampen your enthusiasm, but reason commands it! (looking in mirror on wall) A woman within this material world is just a dead body. In fact, this body is subject to disease, old age, and death. It is the cause of suffering to the eternal living being, who is never born and never dies — your immortal spirit soul. Bilvamangala: (aghast) Chintamani, I have journeyed through a great darkness just to see you tonight! I saw you as the sweetest panacea to all my ills and miseries! Do not elude me now... Come, sit by me. Chintamani: Dear friend, please give up this anxiety which is caused by ignorance of the self. This body is a covering, a bag of painted skin. Under the skin one finds bunches of muscles, bundles of bones and pools of sticky blood — mixed with stool, bile, urine, mucus and rank polluted air. Enjoyed by crawling worms and germs, this body is accepted by a foolish man as his beloved. In sheer, unfounded misunderstanding, he accepts such a body as his dear companion. Bilvamangala: Chintamani, my love, you are a shelter from the storm and throes of this miserable world of dying men! Whose arms can I embrace but yours? Chintamani: Do you not see that these arms are made of elements five-fold, controlled by eternal time as well as by the modes of this material nature? How then can I, being already in the jaws of the serpent, be a source of sustenance to others? My dear Bilvamangala, it is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, in his form as eternal time that approaches us all. Bilvamangala: What you speak flies as shafts of truth! They illuminate my shame! But what acts must I perform to remove this illusion? (desperately) What must I do? Chintamani: "He is certainly a first-class man who awakens and understands either by himself or from others the falsity and misery of this miserable world, and thus leaves home and depends fully on the Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, residing with his heart." (S.B. 1.13.27) Please, therefore, leave for Vrindavan immediately and humbly offer all your misdirected feelings of devotional affection to the Lord! Bilvamangala: I will go now to Vrindavan!
Bilvamangala: "There is no man on earth as fortunate as I, who am no more attracted by the lure of Cupid's glance. The cruel chains of fear and lust, which bound this heart so hard, are broken by the hallowed name of Krishna, so sweet and nectarine." (sweeping his arm) Just see the perfect artistry of Krishna's great creation, so properly maintained and managed by His magical design. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. He is all-pervading and everything is situated within Him, but He is still present in His own abode! How this heart is swiftly soaring to reach that holy place and there surrender fully in the grace of Krishna's lotus feet! But now there is some time to sit and rest and taste of Him, the complete essence in the water of this stream. (he drinks. While drinking, a woman walks up from behind him. He sees her reflection in the clear water) But wait! What form is this, attracting my eyes so? Is this some trick of nature? Some illusory display? Or is it some remembrance from a dark and dismal past? Does some young girl I did profane return to cause me anguish? Holy Name, protect me from illusion! Girl: (singing) Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare... Jaya Radhe! Jaya Radhe!... (she collects water from the stream, while Bilvamangala speaks as follows while looking at the girl every so often in a lusty way. She disappears after a few moments) Bilvamangala: O traitor mind, what horror now lies
lurking in your deep abyss! These senses, like some snakes from hell,
are eager for their prey — and I am caught, bewildered, enveloped in
their coils. But wait! There is no cause for undue sorrow! Vrindavan can
wait. I must pursue this elegance which tantalizes so. I will follow her
a while. (they exit) SCENE FIVE A Brahmana's house (Very simple home scene. The Brahmana sits alone reading scriptures)
Bilvamangala: Most noble sir, all blessings be upon you. Can this weary pilgrim beg shelter from the chilling evening air? Brahmana: (ushering him in) O holy sir, it is indeed a wondrous web that is woven that brings you here this eve! Pray be seated, you are our honored guest. Good wife, bring fresh water! This traveller should slake his thirst. His throat is dry and parched, no doubt, from dust upon the road. Bilvamangala: (to himself) Such charming hospitality — such a handsome couple! Brahmana: O venerable sage, you are embarked on the godly path, it seems from your attire. I am compelled, therefore, to respectfully inquire how we can assist you on your solitary quest? Bilvamangala: Dear sir, I am alone and yet my cup is full; it overflows the brim. I have enough and more. But to comply with your request, I will express one claim: depart this room and leave me with your wife. (he drinks water) Brahmana: Extravagant remarks I have not known from such as you! Is this some joke you play? Bilvamangala: I am determined, sir, upon this point and hold to scripture as my judge. It will support my request: "Those who are encumbered by the burdens of familial affairs must offer all assistance to those who are ventured on the renounced order of life." Brahmana: (aside) This is some test from Providence, come to prove my faith. A mendicant is above contempt; his position holds secure. I must surrender to his will and not incur his enmity. (to Wife) Dear Wife, you best bear bravely with me. Do whatever he says. (he goes out) Wife: (to husband as he exits) My lord, this is not just! Delay such action, I implore! (looking at Bilvamangala) This meeting is not proper! (Bilvamangala walks to her, places finger underneath her chin) Bilvamangala: You are a pretty creature — finely-formed, dark-eyed. But let's remove your silken veil. (unraveling her head dress) Don't hide your precious curls. Your features, smooth as pearl, golden as the rising sun, bewilder my intelligence. (he turns away from her) There is only one, perhaps, who could surpass such countenance... Chintamani. Chintamani... That name echoes deep within my mind! Her words are tolling even now: "Dead body, bones, blood, bile! Go to Vrindavan!" But wait, is this a madness that overcomes me? Let loose your raven locks, O Devi — I will no more detain myself! Wife: My lord, I... I cannot. Bilvamangala: (firmly) Give me your hairpins! (she does so and he turns away from her and toward audience, holding up the pins) A plague upon my eyes, these pits of lust! They are a curse upon my soul! Their torment now is finished! Their false deceit I will no longer bear witness! (he puts out his eyes with the pins. Agonized scream. Wife screams, Brahmana runs in and they panic) Brahmana: What calamity is this which befalls us now? Wife: God help us, Lord, he did himself inflict this ghastly wounding... I cannot... (she bursts into tears and holds onto husband) Bilvamangala: (slowly) This is no cause for grief. That these base orbs of bulbous slime are smashed, brings freedom from a most gross tyranny! Timelessly entrapped within some passing form, choking in its murky depths, the loving spirit soul is dragged, cajoled by jackals of desire. What degradations, sour and soiled, have they not performed? Infamous I am, a worthless fool, a thief whose wits themselves are stolen by illusion. (pause) But there is no contemplation of this temporary work which will suffice now. No more I'm doomed to leer and pant through these dark, windowed holes, that were not made to understand or see, but to own. I am released from misery! Now I may actually go onwards to Vrindavan!
(Bilvamangala is sitting in a grove in the forest, singing Hare Krishna)
Bilvamangala: (he stops singing and sighs) Atop the waves of a myriad worlds lies the lotus of Gokula, where Krishna is the whorl. Here alone lies solace, after aeons of distress. Gopal Govinda Rama, Sri Madhusudana. (sings twice, then sound of a flute, enter Sri Krishna) Sri Krishna: (aside) There sits My dear friend, Bilvamangala Thakura. He sings My names with great devotion. Let me offer him some sweet, fresh milk and please him in that way. (approaching Bilvamangala) Excuse Me, sir, My friends and I like your singing very much. Please accept this milk I've brought for you to taste. Bilvamangala: Whose voice is this, so light and fresh? It lingers in the air. Come close, please, O gentle soul. Describe Yourself to this old blind fool. Sri Krishna: (hesitating) I'm just a clumsy boy that idles in the fields. I tend the village cows and lark with friends in Gokula's meadows... But look! The sky is crimson gold. It's dusk. I hear My father's voice — he calls Me home to bed. More milk I'll bring later. (He disappears) Bilvamangala: Is this a boy who attracts my mind? What sacred spell He's cast? Hanging on the forest breeze, His flute bestirs my soul and pierces through this dismal heart in ripples of sweet bliss! Is this my Lord present here? That primal source of all, whose fount of love is not measured, His virtues not yet told? Dare I dream that despair is at its last, that countless wounds from nameless deeds are healed by His great grace? Is this my Lord, this spirited lad that stands before me now? (sound of Krishna's flute, enter Sri Krishna) Sri Krishna: My dearest sir, I have more milk — fresh, full of cream. Please take it if you will. (He holds out cup to Bilvamangala, who catches hold of His wrist) Bilvamangala: Come closer, let me know You more. (he puts his hands out towards Krishna's face, but Krishna sneaks away, dodging Bilvamangala. Krishna runs around him smiling) Bilvamangala: Hah! I know who You are! Sri Krishna: (laughing) Dear sir, I am just a simple youth! Bilvamangala: I know You, Lord! You may escape my withered hands, but You'll not elude my heart! Ohhh, ohhh — my heart! (Bilvamangala has a heart attack and dies before Nandulal. Krishna's small cowherd boyfriends enter, singing Govinda Jaya Jaya) Sri Krishna: Come, Bilvamangala, it's time to go
home now. (kirtan) The End Home Page Table of Contents Next Play
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