Pabhupada’s First Visit to Australia — Sydney, 1971
Subtitles
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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…
