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Srila Prabhupada's Mission To America CAST: Abhay Charan / Srila Prabhupada, Narendranath, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Captain and Mrs. Pandia, Devotees. SCENE ONE Srila Prabhupada Meets His Spiritual Master (Scene opens with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and disciples in the background. Enter Narendranath, pulling Srila Prabhupada as a young man named Abhay Charan)
Abhay: Narendranath! I'm not going! Narendranath: Oh please, Abhay, I'm sure you will like him... he is a wonderful sadhu! Abhay: Oh yes, I know all these sadhus! Most of them are simply beggars and ganja smokers in the dress of mendicants! Narendranath: But this one is different, Abhay. He is a pure and powerful Vaishnava. Abhay: Narendranath! I wish you wouldn't behave like this! I told you I'm not going... Narendranath: Look, Abhay, I tell you he is extraordinary. He is such a learned scholar, and a great devotee of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. You must meet him! Please! Abhay: Oh, I... Narendranath: At least you should see him and judge for yourself. Abhay: You're so persistent! All right! Narendranath: You won't regret this Abhay, I promise you. Abhay: Well, we shall see. Bhaktisiddhanta: There has not been, there will not be, such benefactors of the highest merit as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His devotees have been. The offer of other benefits is only a deception; it is rather a great harm, whereas the benefit done by Him and His followers is the truest and greatest eternal benefit... It is not for the benefit of one particular country, causing mischief to another; but it benefits the whole universe... The kindness that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has shown to jivas absolves them eternally from all wants, from all inconveniences and from all distresses... (Abhay and Narendranath enter, they pay their obeisances and are still rising) Bhaktisiddhanta: You are educated young men. Why don't you preach Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's message throughout the whole world? Abhay: (taken back) How can we spread Indian culture if we are under British rule? First India must become independent, otherwise who will hear your Chaitanya's message? Bhaktisiddhanta: Krishna consciousness does not have to wait for a change in Indian politics, nor is it dependent on who rules. It is so important, so exclusively important, that it cannot wait! Abhay: How can you dismiss the cause of independence, as if it were of no importance, when so many of our spiritually minded leaders and saints — even Gandhi himself — are stressing national pride? Bhaktisiddhanta: Whether one power or another rules is a temporary situation; the eternal reality is Krishna or God consciousness, and the real self is the spiritual soul. Therefore no man-made political system can actually help humanity. This is the verdict of the Vedas. Everyone is an eternal servant of God, but if one takes himself to be the temporary body, and if one regards the nation of his birth as worshipable, then he is in the greatest illusion. The leaders and followers of the world's political movements, including the independence movement, are simply cultivating this illusion, and therefore they are no better then cows and asses. Real welfare work, whether individual, social or political, should help prepare a person for his next life and help him to re-establish his eternal relationship with Krishna. Abhay: Yes, that is true, but oppression of the people is a reality... and the British slaughter of innocent citizens is a reality. Surely, at the present time, the people's cause is the only relevant movement, and spiritual life is a luxury which can be afforded only after independence. Bhaktisiddhanta: Lord Sri Krishna is the highest
Vedic authority, and in the Bhagavad-Gita he declares: sarva-dharman
parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami
ma sucah — that one should give up all so-called dharmas and religious
duties and surrender unto Him, the Personality of Godhead. The Srimad-Bhagavatam
confirms this: dharmah projjhita kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsaranam satam
— all other forms of religion are impure and should be thrown out;
only Bhagavata-dharma — performing one's duties to please the Supreme
Lord — should remain. The problem is that the people have become
faithless. They no longer believe that devotional service to God can
remove all anomalies, even on the political scene. How can someone claim
to be a leader of the people if he is ignorant of the soul and
identifies with this dead body as the self? He is simply a fool, and yet
they are all following... blind men led by another blind man into the
ditch. There is no scarcity in this world... the only scarcity is of
Krishna consciousness. But all these men — Subhash Chandra Bose,
Bannerjee, Lajpat Rai, Gandhi — they have all failed to solve the real
problem of society; rather, they simply added to the chaos and
confusion. This whole world is simply a society of cheaters and cheated.
It is not a fit place for a gentleman. Therefore one should simply
aspire to leave this material world and go back to home, back to
Godhead. The urgent need is to render the highest good to humanity by
educating people about the eternal soul and its intimate loving
relationship with Krishna. This is Lord Chaitanya's instruction to
everyone born in India: bharata-bhumite haila manusya-janma yara, janma
sarthaka kari kara para-upakara. So, do not hesitate... take up this
important preaching mission and become an instrument in fulfilling Lord
Chaitanya's prediction. And what is that prediction? Prthivite ache yata
nagaradi grama, sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama — that one day the
Holy Name of the Lord will be known in every town and every village of
the world. Hare Krishna! Narendranath: So, Abhay, what was your impression? What do you think of him? Abhay: He is wonderful! The message of Lord Chaitanya is in the hands of a very expert person! Narendranath: I knew you would like him, Abhay. Abhay: Yes, he is a very nice saintly person. Narendranath, I think, were it not for my wife and family commitments, I would immediately join him. (pause... then thoughtfully) Still, in my heart, I have accepted him. Yes, I have accepted him! SCENE TWO Srila Prabhupada's Journey To America (Scene opens with Srila Prabhupada sitting behind a
makeshift desk — his trunk — on board the steamship Jaladuta during
the long journey from Calcutta to Boston, U.S.A... A few large volumes
of Srimad-Bhagavatam are visible. He is sitting in the light of a
lantern, wearing glasses, and he looks weak in health. As he is writing,
he pauses occasionally to think. He seems to be very thoughtful and
grave, and at same time there is an unmistakable mood of determination,
victory, ultimate happiness and peace about him. As he writes, his
thoughts are heard) Prabhupada: Today the ship is plying very smoothly. I feel today better. But I am feeling separation from Sri Vrindavan and my Lords Sri Govinda, Gopinath, Radha-Damodara. I depend fully on Their mercy, so far away from Vrindavan. I have left Bharata-bhumi, just to execute the order of Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, in pursuance of Lord Chaitanya's order. I have no qualification, but have taken up the risk, just to carry out the order of His Divine Grace. By his strong desire, the Holy Name of the Lord Gauranga will spread throughout all the countries of the western world. In all the cities, town and villages on the earth, from all the oceans, seas, rivers and streams, everyone will chant the Holy Name of Krishna. Although my Guru Maharaja ordered me to accomplish this mission, I am not worthy or fit to do it. Therefore, O Lord, now I am begging for your mercy so that I may become worthy, for you are the wisest and more experienced of all. Today that remembrance of You came to me in a very nice way. Because I have a great longing, I called to You. I am Your eternal servant and therefore I desire Your association so much. O Lord Krishna, except for You, there is no other means for success... (there is a knock on the door. Captain and Mrs. Pandia enter) Prabhupada: Captain Pandia... Mrs. Pandia! Hare Krishna! Cpt. Pandia: Maharaja, how do you feel now? Has your health improved? Prabhupada: Oh yes, yes. Do not worry! The chest pains have gone now, and but for a slight headache, I am feeling much better. Mrs. Pandia: Oh, this is good news. We were really worried about you, you know, Swamiji! Prabhupada: If the Atlantic had shown its usual face, perhaps I would have died. But Lord Krishna has taken charge of the ship. Cpt. Pandia: Yes, I believe you are right. I have sailed these waters a hundred times, but never in my entire career have I seen such a calm Atlantic crossing! Prabhupada: It is Krishna's mercy. Cpt. Pandia: Yes! Mrs. Pandia: Swamiji, perhaps you will come back with us, so that we may have another crossing such as this one! (they all laugh) Prabhupada: Yes, yes, surely I would return with you. But I have my mission to fulfill! Cpt. Pandia: Yes. I would like to help you, Maharaja. Is there anything we can do before you go? Prabhupada: Mmmm? Yes... you take these copies of Srimad-Bhagavatam — this is the First Canto in three volumes — simply try to understand it, chant Hare Krishna, and you will be happy, that's all. This is the best thing you can do for me. Cpt. Pandia: This is... most kind... Mrs. Pandia: Oh Swamiji, we cannot possibly thank you enough... Cpt. Pandia: Maharaja, here's twenty dollars. Please accept it as a donation for the books. It's not much, but it may help you. Prabhupada: (touching the money to his head) Thank you very much! Mrs. Pandia: Your future looks very bright, Swamiji, I can tell these things. That you have passed beyond this crisis shows that you have the blessings of Lord Krishna. Prabhupada: Hare Krishna! Cpt. & Mrs. Pandia: Hare Krishna! (they leave. Srila Prabhupada rises, and with the help of his stick he walks to the front. Leaning on the ship's rail, he peers out across the ocean to Boston's bleak and dirty skyline) Prabhupada: My dear Lord Krishna, You are so
merciful upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought
me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me. But I guess You have
some business here, otherwise why would You bring me to this terrible
place? Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of
passion and ignorance. Absorbed in material life, they think themselves
very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no taste for the
transcendental message of Vasudeva. I do not know how they will be able
to understand it. But I know Your causeless mercy can make everything
possible, because You are the most expert mystic. Somehow or other, O
Lord, You have brought me here to speak about You. Now it is up to You
to make me a success or failure as You like. SCENE THREE Srila Prabhupada's Preaching In America (A slide show should accompany the Narrator's praise of Srila Prabhupada's accomplishments)
Narrator: Srila Prabhupada arrived in America, practically penniless and hardly knowing in which direction he should go. For a while he wandered here and there... to Butler, Pennsylvania, then to New York, where he stayed with Dr. Mishra (a Mayavadi yogi), and then to the Bowery — Skid Row, full of bums and drunkards. There he shared a loft with a drug-crazed hippie, till one day the boy finally went mad and Prabhupada was on the street with nowhere else to go. In this way, alone, for one year he was preaching — through the bitter New York winter — impoverished and a stranger in a city so degraded...Then, at last, on the Lower East Side, one by one, bedraggled refugees of Kali-yuga — hippies, fed up with materialism, and disillusioned with the so-called "flower power movement" — came to him for answers and for shelter from the rain of confusion. So he simply gave them kirtan and, out of curiosity or looking for some kind of mystical experience, they chanted Hare Krishna — although unknowingly, they began their path home to the spiritual sky. With great patience and compassion, Srila Prabhupada gave the message he had brought, and though the first students were so crazy, he spelled the truth out to them all, just like a kindly father: "You are not these bodies, you are spirit souls," he said. "We are all God's servants, so just chant Hare Krishna and be happy!" Many were just too far gone to hear him, but a few were sincere seekers of the truth, and they stayed, listened, learned and followed. Soon the Swamiji (as he was then affectionately known among his followers) had gathered around himself a faithful band of boys and girls, who gradually began to take to Krishna consciousness. Won over by kirtan, prasadam and Prabhupada's devotion to Lord Krishna, they gave up illicit sex, drugs, meat and gambling, and he, in turn, accepted them as his own disciples. But as soon as a few of them were strong enough to carry on in New York, immediately he left and went on to San Francisco, where with chanting, dancing, prasadam and philosophy, so many hopeless souls were attracted and saved from the web of material life. In just a few years, the seed had been planted in New
York, San Francisco, Montreal, Los Angeles... and across the sea to
England, France, Australia and Russia. And Srila Prabhupada went traveling
on relentlessly — preaching and taking the world by storm. And
wherever Srila Prabhupada went with his disciples, people were
astonished, journalists were excited, religionists dumbfounded and
scientists were smashed! But above all, the peoples' hearts were
changed. In just twelve short years — from Srila Prabhupada's arrival
in the West until his triumphant return to Goloka Vrindavan, the Supreme
abode — this world was benefited with so many of his gifts: more than
one hundred beautiful temples, farms, castles, restaurants and palaces,
full of thousands of ecstatic Vaishnava sons, daughters,
grand-disciples... Sri Mayapura-Chandrodaya Mandir, Vrindavan's
Krishna-Balarama temple, West Virginia's New Vrindavan, and the
Bhaktivedanta Manor in London, England, to name but a few. He gave us
worship of Their Lordships Sri-Sri Radha-Krishna, Sri-Sri Gaura-Nitai
and Jagannath-Subhadra-Balarama. And festivals like Gaura-Purnima,
Janmashtami and Ratha-yatra flooding this world with nectar. He gave us
transcendental dramas, art, music, dioramas, schools to teach our
children, farms for developing cow-protection — but above all else, he
gave us his books! "They are the basis," he would say, and he
gave every single breath for writing them — seventy volumes, in fifty
languages, printed in the hundreds of thousands and millions,
distributed world-wide. He gave us the foundation for a golden age, a
blue-print for the future; but more than that, he left his own example
— a lifetime of surrender and devotional endeavor, for us to take our
strength and inspiration from. SCENE FOUR Srila Prabhupada's Arrival
Narrator: It is a few minutes before Srila Prabhupada's arrival. The occasion is the celebration of Vyasa-Puja held at the Bhaktivedanta Manor in England in 1973. Devotees are running around panic-stricken and ecstatic, trying to get everything ready. The Temple Commander appears in overalls, blurts out a few instructions to the devotees around him, who run off in different directions, and then proceeds to bang some nails in the wall. Just then, the telephone rings and the Temple Commander answers it. Srila Prabhupada is on his way and will be at the temple at any moment! The devotee's anxiety reaches a climax. Then suddenly the arrival kirtan is heard and Srila Prabhupada has arrived! Srila Prabhupada's small but commanding figure walks regally into the temple amidst bowing disciples and uncontrolled chanting of "Jai Prabhupada!" The Deity curtains are opened and Srila Prabhupada bows down before Their Lordships Sri-Sri Radha-Krishna and then rises, standing reverentially before Them, his first fingers tapping together lightly, in time with the "Govindam" prayers. After a few minutes, Srila Prabhupada turns and walks majestically to his vyasasana where he sits and begins to chant "Jaya Radha-Madhava." With his karatals ringing sweetly, and the mridanga following, Srila Prabhupada takes the devotees out into a deep sea of chanting... After only a few minutes, the kirtan ends and his Divine Grace begins to speak...
Prabhupada: Sons and daughters — I am so much obliged to you that you have become so enthusiastic for offering Vyasa-puja. When Krishna sees that a living entity is very anxious to understand Him or to revive his Krishna consciousness, then Krishna gives him all opportunity, especially by manifesting himself as the spiritual master... antar bahih... the spiritual master is therefore Krishna's manifestation, Krishna's mercy manifestation to help a person to develop his Krishna consciousness... Therefore, to advance in Krishna consciousness, we require two kinds of help — one from Krishna and another from spiritual master. It is stated in the Chaitanya-Charitamrita... You'll be glad to know that the 17-volume book, Chaitanya-Charitmrita, is now published! Devotees: Jai! Prabhupada: Kiba vipra kiba nyasi sudra kene naya, yei Krishna tattva vettha sei guru haya. I am sometimes criticized by my godbrothers, that I have become a "marriage-maker," but they do not know why I take this risk. I have got many disciples, they are married couples, but all of them, husband and wife, they are helping this movement. I am very much hopeful that my disciples who are now participating will continue to advance, so, even if I die, my movement will not stop. I am very much hopeful. All these nice boys and girls... Bhaktivinoda Thakura wanted that European and American people may understand the philosophy of Chaitanya cult, and take part in it. That was his desire... My guru maharaja, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Prabhupada, he also attempted to send his disciples to preach Chaitanya cult in the western world. First meeting, perhaps you know, he asked me to preach. So at that time I was young man, only twenty-five years old, and I was also householder. So I should have joined and executed his desire immediately, but due to my ill luck, I could not immediately execute his order. But it was in my heart, that it is to be done. So it is better late than never, I executed his order at the age of seventy years, not at the age of twenty-five year. So actually I wasted so much time, I can understand that. From twenty-five... The message was there when I was twenty-five years old, but I begun at the age of seventy years. But I did not forget the message, otherwise how could I do? That is a fact. I was simply finding out the opportunity to do it. So anyway, although I began very late at the age of seventy years, so by the help of my disciples this movement is gaining ground and is spreading all over the world. So therefore I have to thank you. It is all due to you. It is not my credit, but it is your credit, that you are helping me in executing the order of my Guru Maharaja... So this movement, Krishna consciousness movement — that you already know, that it is the most essential, most important movement in the human society — so this movement will go on... Nobody can stop... You, all my disciples, everyone should become spiritual master. It is not difficult. It is difficult when you manufacture something. But if you simply present what you have heard from your spiritual master, it is very easy... One may be rascal number one from material estimation, but if he simply strictly follows whatever is said by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or representative spiritual master, then he becomes a guru. So, it is not very difficult... Amara ajnaya guru haya... And what is the difficulty? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says don't feel any difficulty, because as spiritual master, what you have to do? Yare dekha tare kaha Krishna upadesa... Whomever you meet, you simply speak to him the instruction which Krishna gives. What Krishna... The instruction He gives? That is also very easy. What is that? Krishna says: Man-mana bhava mad-bhaktah mad-yaji mam namaskuru. Krishna says, "Just become My devotee, always think of Me, offer Me obeisances and worship Me..." And at last Krishna says: Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. So if you simply preach this cult... "My dear friend, my dear brother, you surrender to Krishna," you'll become spiritual master. Become spiritual master! You go door to door. No other talks, simply say: "My dear friend, you are great sadhu!" Although he may be rascal number one, still you call him: "He sadhava." "Yes, I am sadhu, yes. What is your proposal?" Then you say to him, "Kindly forget all nonsense that you have learned! That's all. I am flattering you because I want that you forget everything... All this yogis and this and that, meditation... Please, kick out all this!" "Then what, after this?" "Chaitanya candra carane kurutanuraga... Just adhere yourself to the lotus feet of Lord Chaitanya!" Then you become spiritual master. That's all. So, if you want to become recognized by Krishna very quickly, you take up this process of becoming spiritual master and present the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, your life is perfect. Thank you very much! Devotees: All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Srila Prabhupada: Chant Hare Krishna! (Devotees begin chanting and Srila Prabhupada stays for a few minutes before rising and leaving the temple room. Kirtan continues and becomes very ecstatic)
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