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NOTE: The dialogue for this play has been directly extracted from the transcriptions of Srila Prabhupada's spoken words in the following lectures:

* Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture — 1.15.20, L.A., November 30, 1973* Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture — 7.12.2, Bombay, April 13, 1976* Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.10.13, purport

CAST: Narrator, Saintly Person, Mouse (Dog, Tiger).

Narrator: The living entities are promoted and degraded by the laws of nature, but if one is very, very fortunate, by association with saintly persons he gets the seed of devotional service, and his life becomes successful. In this connection there is an instructive story called Punar Mushiko Bhava, which means "Again Become a Mouse."Once upon a time, a mouse was very much harassed by a cat, and therefore the mouse approached a saintly person with a request. People generally go to saintly persons for some material profit. That is the nature, animalistic nature. Why should you go to a saintly person for some material benefit? No. You go there to learn what is God. That is the real business. Anyway, saintly persons sometimes receive such requests. Just like Lord Shiva, his devotees are all like that mouse — they want something.

Mouse: Sir, I am very much troubled. I have come to you for some favor.

Saint: What is that?

Mouse: Now, I am a mouse. The cats give me much trouble. I cannot live peacefully on account of the cats.

Saint: So what do you want to become?

Mouse: I want to become a cat.

Saint: All right, you become a cat.

Narrator: So by the saintly person's mystic power, the mouse became a cat. Then after a few days, he again came back.

Cat: Sir, I am still bothered.

Saint: Why is that?

Cat: The dogs, they bother me very much.

Saint: Then what do you want?

Cat: Now I want to become a dog.

Saint: All right, you become a dog.

Narrator: Then after a few days, he again came back. One after the other... That is nature's arrangement — one is weak, one is strong. That is nature's arrangement. Thus after some time, he again came back:

Dog: Still they bother me, sir.

Saint: Who is that now?

Dog: The tigers are giving me much trouble.

Saint: What do you want?

Dog: I beg you to make me a tiger.

Saint: All right, you become a tiger.

Narrator: So after all, he wanted to become a tiger. By the grace of the saintly person, he became a tiger. And when he became a tiger, he began to stare at the saintly person in a particular manner, so the saintly person asked him:

Saint: What do you mean by this?

Tiger: I shall eat you!

Saint: You want to eat me?

Tiger: Yes!

Saint: Oh, you shall eat me? All right — Punar Mushiko Bhava: then you may again become a mouse. If by my grace you have become a tiger, and you simply want to eat me, so I will again condemn you to become a mouse.

Narrator: So you American people, you have become tiger now. But if you don't feel obliged to the higher power that has made you powerful, then you will again be degraded. It is proper acknowledgement if the tiger feels obliged that, "By the grace of the saintly person, I have come to the stage of becoming a tiger. I must be very much obliged to him..." But instead of becoming obliged, if you simply want to eat him, then again you become a mouse. If the saintly person has got the power to make you from mouse to tiger, then he can convert you again from tiger to mouse. You must always remember this. So by the grace of God, Krishna, you have become so powerful a nation — rich, beautiful, educated. By the grace of Krishna you have become such, but if you forget Krishna, then you are again going to become a mouse. Remember that. Nobody will care for you. Just like the Englishmen. The Englishmen, they established the British Empire — great, powerful, the most powerful nation in the world. But now they are not so, because they misused their power. So you get power and opulence by the grace of Lord Krishna. And if you misuse it, then you become again degraded. That is happening. That is the nature's law. Nature's law.

The End