Pabhupada's First Visit to Australia — Sydney, 1971
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- His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
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- A spiritual master who knows the absolute truth arrives on time in a blue Volkswagen combivan.
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- For members of the Hare Krishna movement it’s the first coming.
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- For the press, just another Indian mystic, and for the Paddington mob, another curious visitor.
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- His Divine Grace founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1966.
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- But it is said that his disciplic succession can be traced back directly for five hundred years.
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- According to his followers he is the divine representative of God and he is completely pure.
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- Basically the movement he heads is austere and exclusive.
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- Alcohol, tobacco and sex, other than for procreation, are frowned upon and diet is strict and simple.
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- Disciples surrender everything they own when they join the movement
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- and they survive on money from publications, donations and they say, “Krishna.”
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- God, or Krishna, is all-pervading. From His energy the five elements, material elements…
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- The history of the movement they say can be traced back five thousand years
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- when Krishna first spoke the truth in India.
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- These days the headquarters are in Los Angeles where, according to one member,
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- there are more frustrations.
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- But today they say the most perfect person in the world is in this Paddington flat
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- and the fifty members of the Sydney branch are ecstatic.
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- Today, say the disciples, is a day of rejoicing and of peace, love and humility.
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- But behind the facade there is some conflict and some sadness.
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- Sheryl Zimmerer is eighteen, she tried university and a job in Treasurery
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- before leaving both to join the sect a few months ago.
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- Today, after her initiation by the spiritual master, she says she has found true happiness.
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- But her mother and her aunt are not so sure. For them the ceremony represents
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- an alienation from the type of life they hoped Sheryl might lead.
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- Well I’m not happy with it, I don’t go along with it, but it’s her life, it’s what she wants.
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- So my husband and I make the best of it.
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- What worries you about her being initiated? –Her future.
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- Her whole future and the fact that they are teaching them not to have sex.
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- I came here last night and the spiritual master was telling them that to have sex is like animals.
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- Well this isn’t the way I’ve brought my children up.
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- When I hear this sort of think I wonder what her future is.
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- She has given up university to do this, she’s given up everything, she’s not working
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- and I can’t see any future in it at all. What’s going to happen in ten years time?
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- And what religion are you, can I ask? –Church of England.
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- And do you feel that…
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- She’s been christened, she’s been confirmed in our own church
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- and she’s suddenly turned to this in a matter of two months.
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- What do you think has attracted her most of all about this?
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- Well she’s been looking for something, she’s and introvert,
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- and she’s felt that she’s wanted more out of life than she’s been getting.
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- She’s obviously getting it isn’t she because she seems very happy since she has been here.
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- Her ideas coincide with these peoples’ ideas and I think they are very good living people.
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- They are very sincere in their ideas, but they are not my ideas.
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- This is one of the things you don’t particularly appreciate is the prostrating…
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- No, I can’t see the point of doing this.
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- Sheryl why do you in fact prostrate yourself like that.
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- Well, it’s a sign of humility. The spiritual master, he is a messenger from God,
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- an associate of God. He’s actually Krishna’s friend, God’s friend.
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- This is why we bow down to the spiritual master
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- because the spiritual master is giving us this knowledge,
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- how to go back home, back to Godhead, back to Krishna.
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- It’s so potent in the world.
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- We have fifty-two temples all over the world today.
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- Your mother is worried that all the things you are saying are largely due to brainwashing.
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- Are you worried that she is worried?
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- Well, yes, I’m worried that she is worried but I don’t think that she should be
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- because you can see that there is peace and happiness there.
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- Everybody has one goal. There’s no bad relationships in the temple.
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- People realize that we are all spiritual souls, all part of Krishna.
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- Do you feel that she could have spiritual happiness and peace with herself without doing this?
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- Of course. I thought that’s what she was getting at home.
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- I mean we love her very much at home. She’s been brought up to the Christian religion.
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- But there just seemed to be something lacking somewhere.
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- This is a very hard question but if your parents wanted you to come home
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- and to perhaps ignore all this and to perhaps get married like most normal
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- eighteen year old girls, what would you do?
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- I’d say I can’t because we are all spirit soul and were only on this lifetime…
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- This lifetime is like an eye-wink in the eternal time so we have to try to go back home,
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- back to Krishna as soon as possible.
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- There’s no other bona fide spiritual master, this spiritual master is pure.
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- You can tell just by association that he is pure.
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- You can find out for yourself just by association. We don’t ask you to believe…
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- Just because he is such a pure soul, a lover of God. He’s completely devoted to God.
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- So Krishna says if you serve the spiritual master then it is better than serving Me.
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- Krishna would rather you serve the spiritual master than He would to serve Him.
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- Because the spiritual master is the friend of Krishna.
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- This kind of objections are always made by the atheist class of men.
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- Even Jesus Christ was crucified.
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- So, this is material world, you’ll find always such nuisance class of men.
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- It must cost you a lot of money to go traveling around the world all the time.
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- Yes. We have got about one hundred and two branches all over the world.
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- Where do you get the money?
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- We get money from God. We especially get money from selling our books.
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- You have seen our books? We are selling, according to Indian exchange,
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- we are selling about twenty-five to thirty thousand rupees worth of books daily.
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- We can spend all of the money of the world. Unfortunately you do not give us the money.
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- Well how do you spend it your grace?
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- We are spending at least, at the present moment, eight hundred thousand dollars per month.
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- Our religion does not say asceticism. Our religion teaches to love God.
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- You can love God in your, this dress, there is no harm.
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- But it is a self-denying…
Who is Krsna? — Boston, 1971
Arriviving in Australia — Melbourne, 1974