Pabhupada’s First Visit to Australia — Sydney, 1971

Subtitles

[00:39]: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
[00:44]: A spiritual master who knows the absolute truth arrives on time in a blue Volkswagen combivan.
[00:50]: For members of the Hare Krishna movement it’s the first coming.
[00:54]: For the press, just another Indian mystic, and for the Paddington mob, another curious visitor.
[01:00]: His Divine Grace founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1966.
[01:05]: But it is said that his disciplic succession can be traced back directly for five hundred years.
[01:11]: According to his followers he is the divine representative of God and he is completely pure.
[01:17]: Basically the movement he heads is austere and exclusive.
[01:21]: Alcohol, tobacco and sex, other than for procreation, are frowned upon and diet is strict and simple.
[01:27]: Disciples surrender everything they own when they join the movement
[01:31]: and they survive on money from publications, donations and they say, “Krishna.”
[01:38]: God, or Krishna, is all-pervading. From His energy the five elements, material elements…
[01:54]: The history of the movement they say can be traced back five thousand years
[01:58]: when Krishna first spoke the truth in India.
[02:01]: These days the headquarters are in Los Angeles where, according to one member,
[02:05]: there are more frustrations.
[02:07]: But today they say the most perfect person in the world is in this Paddington flat
[02:12]: and the fifty members of the Sydney branch are ecstatic.
[02:15]: Today, say the disciples, is a day of rejoicing and of peace, love and humility.
[02:20]: But behind the facade there is some conflict and some sadness.
[02:24]: Sheryl Zimmerer is eighteen, she tried university and a job in Treasurery
[02:30]: before leaving both to join the sect a few months ago.
[02:33]: Today, after her initiation by the spiritual master, she says she has found true happiness.
[02:38]: But her mother and her aunt are not so sure. For them the ceremony represents
[02:43]: an alienation from the type of life they hoped Sheryl might lead.
[02:47]: Well I’m not happy with it, I don’t go along with it, but it’s her life, it’s what she wants.
[02:51]: So my husband and I make the best of it.
[02:54]: What worries you about her being initiated? –Her future.
[02:57]: Her whole future and the fact that they are teaching them not to have sex.
[03:02]: I came here last night and the spiritual master was telling them that to have sex is like animals.
[03:09]: Well this isn’t the way I’ve brought my children up.
[03:12]: When I hear this sort of think I wonder what her future is.
[03:15]: She has given up university to do this, she’s given up everything, she’s not working
[03:20]: and I can’t see any future in it at all. What’s going to happen in ten years time?
[03:24]: And what religion are you, can I ask? –Church of England.
[03:28]: And do you feel that…
[03:30]: She’s been christened, she’s been confirmed in our own church
[03:34]: and she’s suddenly turned to this in a matter of two months.
[03:37]: What do you think has attracted her most of all about this?
[03:40]: Well she’s been looking for something, she’s and introvert,
[03:43]: and she’s felt that she’s wanted more out of life than she’s been getting.
[03:47]: She’s obviously getting it isn’t she because she seems very happy since she has been here.
[03:53]: Her ideas coincide with these peoples’ ideas and I think they are very good living people.
[04:00]: They are very sincere in their ideas, but they are not my ideas.
[04:04]: This is one of the things you don’t particularly appreciate is the prostrating…
[04:08]: No, I can’t see the point of doing this.
[04:10]: Sheryl why do you in fact prostrate yourself like that.
[04:13]: Well, it’s a sign of humility. The spiritual master, he is a messenger from God,
[04:19]: an associate of God. He’s actually Krishna’s friend, God’s friend.
[04:23]: This is why we bow down to the spiritual master
[04:26]: because the spiritual master is giving us this knowledge,
[04:29]: how to go back home, back to Godhead, back to Krishna.
[04:32]: It’s so potent in the world.
[04:37]: We have fifty-two temples all over the world today.
[04:40]: Your mother is worried that all the things you are saying are largely due to brainwashing.
[04:47]: Are you worried that she is worried?
[04:49]: Well, yes, I’m worried that she is worried but I don’t think that she should be
[04:53]: because you can see that there is peace and happiness there.
[04:56]: Everybody has one goal. There’s no bad relationships in the temple.
[05:06]: People realize that we are all spiritual souls, all part of Krishna.
[05:10]: Do you feel that she could have spiritual happiness and peace with herself without doing this?
[05:16]: Of course. I thought that’s what she was getting at home.
[05:20]: I mean we love her very much at home. She’s been brought up to the Christian religion.
[05:26]: But there just seemed to be something lacking somewhere.
[05:30]: This is a very hard question but if your parents wanted you to come home
[05:36]: and to perhaps ignore all this and to perhaps get married like most normal
[05:42]: eighteen year old girls, what would you do?
[05:44]: I’d say I can’t because we are all spirit soul and were only on this lifetime…
[05:53]: This lifetime is like an eye-wink in the eternal time so we have to try to go back home,
[05:59]: back to Krishna as soon as possible.
[06:01]: There’s no other bona fide spiritual master, this spiritual master is pure.
[06:05]: You can tell just by association that he is pure.
[06:08]: You can find out for yourself just by association. We don’t ask you to believe…
[06:13]: Just because he is such a pure soul, a lover of God. He’s completely devoted to God.
[06:19]: So Krishna says if you serve the spiritual master then it is better than serving Me.
[06:26]: Krishna would rather you serve the spiritual master than He would to serve Him.
[06:32]: Because the spiritual master is the friend of Krishna.
[07:18]: This kind of objections are always made by the atheist class of men.
[07:23]: Even Jesus Christ was crucified.
[07:26]: So, this is material world, you’ll find always such nuisance class of men.
[07:34]: It must cost you a lot of money to go traveling around the world all the time.
[07:38]: Yes. We have got about one hundred and two branches all over the world.
[07:43]: Where do you get the money?
[07:44]: We get money from God. We especially get money from selling our books.
[07:53]: You have seen our books? We are selling, according to Indian exchange,
[07:59]: we are selling about twenty-five to thirty thousand rupees worth of books daily.
[08:41]: We can spend all of the money of the world. Unfortunately you do not give us the money.
[08:49]: Well how do you spend it your grace?
[08:52]: We are spending at least, at the present moment, eight hundred thousand dollars per month.
[09:05]: Our religion does not say asceticism. Our religion teaches to love God.
[09:10]: You can love God in your, this dress, there is no harm.
[09:13]: But it is a self-denying…