TV TALK SHOWS
INTERVIEW BEGINS:
David Susskind
What is your movement about? Are you Americans?
Rupa Anuga
Yes I was born here in United States
David Susskind
and you had another religion once
Rupa Anuga
not all of us were born in United States, but most of us were
David Susskind
you were Catholic or Protestant. And what made you disillusioned about that religion? And what made you come to Krishna?
Rupa Anuga
Because Krishna gives us a taste that satisfies us. It makes us happy chanting Hare Krishna.
David Susskind
But what does it do in productive terms? I mean, you sing and dance in the streets, To what purpose
Rupa Anuga
to inform people to remind people about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, in this age, everyone is forgetful of God, it's a godless age. And people come into the material world in the first place to forget God
David Susskind
but can you serve God by functioning by growing crops, but doing doing something purposeful. you to sing
Kalindi
We are doing something. the root of all problem. The lack of foodstuff, the war and strife and the hypocrisy that exists in the world today is a lack of God consciousness. So simply, if you cure the disease in Biafra, then you have a Pakistan. After You have a Pakistan you have something else. So therefore, there's no cure, no material cure to the problem. The cure is spiritual?
David Susskind
What do you stand for? I know you don't. You don't eat meat, fish, eggs. You don't gamble. You don't believe in sex, except on a very limited basis. You don't believe in intoxicants. You don't take tea, or drugs or coffee. What does that add up to? What? What? purposeful? But what thing do you do
Bhadra Raj Das
It purifies us
David Susskind
But now you're purified. For what purpose?
Bhadra Raj Das
To Love God. Love Krishna. Because Krishna is the supreme pure.
David Susskind
Would you love God as a Catholic or Protestant? but why didn't you do it in those terms?
Bhadra Raj Das
I don't know. But Krishna has come. And it's the message of Krishna has come and it's movement. It's come so pure. That it is changing the faces of all the youth all over the world
David Susskind
Well how did Krishna's message come to you. You bought a book
Bhadra Raj Das
a spiritual master.
David Susskind
What were you doing when Krishna came to you?
Bhadra Raj Das
I was playing harmonica in a blue band.
David Susskind
And one night you were playing and where did Krishna appear?
Bhadra Raj Das
I was playing in an opening of a temple, because I wanted to do some good we were doing everything for nothing. And so by chance that happened to play for an opening of the temple in Montreal
David Susskind
the Jewish temple?
Bhadra Raj Das
no, Radha Krishna. universal temple come from Love of God. They needed some money in order to help
David Susskind
at that time they were Protestant.
Bhadra Raj Das
No
David Susskind
What were you, athiest?
Bhadra Raj Das
Yeah they were playing and they were chanting. They said, Let's chant.
David Susskind
What were they chanting? something about the chant inlisted you?
Bhadra Raj Das
I didn't know at the time. But it stayed with me. For two years
David Susskind
Why I watched it, and it seemed like another form of revivalism or something
Bhadra Raj Das
We are revital
Jia Adoyta Das
yes, that's, that's a correct description. But it doesn't it's not limited in its definition. When we chant Hare Krishna, this is not any kind of an artificial imposition on anyone. By nature, we are all spiritual living beings. But because we come in contact with material nature, therefore this original consciousness is covered. And as a result, we're constantly engaged in waging a hard struggle for existence against this material nature. But that original dormant Krishna or God consciousness can be revived by this chanting Hare Krishna, this is the recommended means
Yoga Maya Dasi
This chanting spiritual sound. And because we're spiritual beings, it's attractive to our soul as well as to our ear. When we hear mundane sound vibrations, our ears pick it up, and it sounds pleasant or unpleasant.
David Susskind
Do you feel euphoria?
Yoga Maya Dasi
oh, yes, it's called transcendental bliss. So transcendental ecstasy,
David Susskind
Were you in bliss, I was watching you,
Yoga Maya Dasi
this is a much higher, much higher ecstasy than any material pleasure that you can experience because it's ever increasing. It gets nicer all the time, as you chant Hare Krishna, the more you chant, the more you want to chant. It's,
David Susskind
why is that ecstasy producing,
Yoga Maya Dasi
because you're being put in direct association with God. God is actually present in his name. He God incarnates in many, many different forms millions of different forms. And this is the sound, incarnation of God. God invests all of his energies in his name. He's not different from his name. If we have names, you're David. If I call you, David, you're different. Your body is different from David, the person, you're different from your name. But God is not different from his name. And he's not in person. We don't call him just God. We call him by his name, just as we don't call you, man. We call you David Susskind, or Mr. Susskind. And so we call God Krishna, because that's his name. That's one of His Names.
David Susskind
Yet people have called him. Jesus. People call him Buddha, people call him Mohamad
Yoga Maya Dasi
These are incarnations
Jia Adoyta Das
We're saying that people should call him. millions of names.
David Susskind
But why couldn't you call him through the religions of your birth
Jia Adoyta Das
You can,
David Susskind
but you didn't,
Jia Adoyta Das
right? Because no one's teaching us to do that.
David Susskind
Didn't your father mother teach you? not your priest?
Jia Adoyta Das
No. what we're teaching that we say
David Susskind
well, how did you come to it? So we can
Jia Adoyta Das
I can explain it to you. Right, everyone, right. That's why when we speak, we always offer respects to our spiritual master. Because originally, we're in the darkness of ignorance. And he comes with the torch light of knowledge and opens our eyes. We're thinking, our spiritual master, a spiritual master means the person who's a representative of Krishna, who comes and preaches the message of Krishna.
David Susskind
Where did you meet him
Jia Adoyta Das
in New York City,
David Susskind
where?
Jia Adoyta Das
Well at the temple there, I came to the temple first I bought, we have many records, and I heard a recordof our spiritual master. And I was just chatting. I was working for my father in a store, and I push boxes around and chant Hare Krishna,
David Susskind
and he must have been very upset.
Jia Adoyta Das
No, because I was working nicely.
David Susskind
Did he know what you were doing?
Jia Adoyta Das
Oh, no, because even I didn't know what I was doing.
David Susskind
Did he say, "what are you doing son? You're singing strange."
Jia Adoyta Das
No I just chatted softly to myself.
David Susskind
Did you cut your hair?
Jia Adoyta Das
No
David Susskind
Did you paint your
Jia Adoyta Das
that was later. Because by chanting. Of course, later, I gave up working and so many things happen.
David Susskind
How do you eat?
Jia Adoyta Das
Excuse me now? Well, we eat our temple. We offer all our food to Krishna. And then we take the remnants we collect donations from people
David Susskind
Any of you work
Jia Adoyta Das
some of us, yes, we have people who are accountants. We have people who are electrical engineers.
David Susskind
You go to work with this costume on
Jia Adoyta Das
No no. Most of us are not, we don't go to work. We go out chanting, and we got preaching to people. Please don't forget God. Remember your relationship with God. Chant the name of God.
Bhagavad Das
That's an important part. The social body just like you have a Body there's also a social body. The head of that body is considered the priestly class of people who instruct the others about offering everything back to God. It's the basic principle of one who is spiritual, you understand nothing as his. As soon as you claim something is yours, whether it's your watch, or your shoes, or your wife, your wife is your child. It is Krishna. I am Krishna and you are Krishna
David Susskind
is your wife, your wife?
Bhagavad Das
My wife is Krishna
David Susskind
is your child.
Bhagavad Das
Your everything belongs to God, you can't substantiate your claim.
David Susskind
Well, then what is your relationship to your wife and child?
Bhagavad Das
We're all serving Krishna
David Susskind
What does that mean
Yoga Suara Das
it's one of love. But that love is not ill founded. Krishna is at the center, therefore that love endures. I think if you look at the statistics, we'll find that today most relationships terminate rather quickly. And even if they are prolonged, at most, they can last till the end of one lifetime.
Rukmini
Actually love is based on the spirit. So when someone's lying dead, his mother is crying over him. John is gone. John is gone. My boy is gone. So that means she's loving the spirit.
Yoga Suara Das
Body is still there. But John is gone
David Susskind
You Marry? you do marry? So you, you two are married.
Rukmini
we are married
David Susskind
Right. So you did take one to the other? You did have a
Rukmini
But in Krishna consciousness.
David Susskind
What does that mean?
Rukmini
That means that we married in order to better facilitate our serving Krishna
Bhagavad Das
That is in everyone's interest.
David Susskind
Did you date before we married? No, we
Rukmini
No, we met in the temple.
David Susskind
Well, does one. Go on a date. You know, date. Did you go to the movies
Rukmini
We have movies made by our devotees about our spiritual master?
David Susskind
Did you hold hands?
Rukmini
No, it wasn't necessary. The idea is
Bhadra Raj Das
We desire to we know what our responsibilities are. You see,
David Susskind
How did you know you should marry?
Bhadra Raj Das
This marriage is not bad. It's not bad.
David Susskind
Did somebody ordain the marriage.
Bhadra Raj Das
Yes our spiritual master
David Susskind
who's your spiritual master?
Bhadra Raj Das
is divine grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of this movement,
David Susskind
this chap and this holiness, ordained your marriage. He called you and said, I want you to marry this woman.
Rukmini
He said it would be a perfect marriage.
David Susskind
How did he know? Had you ever met?
Rukmini
Yes.
Bhadra Raj Das
We met just a little while before
David Susskind
Do you go through any
Bhadra Raj Das
courtship?
David Susskind
courtship. Yes, thank you.
Bhadra Raj Das
No, no,
David Susskind
no. He said, Marry. So you married?
Bhadra Raj Das
Well, more or less? No one is forced to marry.
David Susskind
Could You have said no
Bhadra Raj Das
we could have said no. But we had some desire to.
Yoga Suara Das
I think what we're trying to get at is this, that the marriages that take place in Krishna Consciousness aren't based on one's attraction for the other in terms of common interest or sex life or something like that. Releasing books? Well, if you want it to be a short relationship, that's fine. But in Krishna consciousness
Rupa Anuga
If that's the case it will be temporary, but actually,
David Susskind
Why will it be eternal?
Rupa Anuga
we all eternal as it is. We all are eternal living beings. spirit souls is simply temporary bodies. So we don't marry for some temporary bodily relationship. We married to help each other become more Krishna conscious more consciousness, have more consciousness of God. And then when the body drops, that's just the beginning, actually, because we can change these bodies and another material body, we can take a spiritual body, it's not difficult
David Susskind
You will have a child when he bids you to
Rukmini
Yoga Suara made a very nice point. Just know that if you really love someone, then you'll help them become really happy and find out who they are. Just like you asked the beginning. What what do your parents think of this? Well, my parents said they love me. So because they see that I'm becoming very happy, then they're pleased, because they know that previously I wasn't
David Susskind
But could this be another phase that you're in
Rukmini
It could be just like, Hupa Nuga Pravou has been chanting Hari Krishna for over four years, I've been chanting for three and a half years, so many devotees here for such a long time. And we're feeling rather than a decrease rather than some stagnation. We're feeling ever increasing transcendental bliss, ever increasing bliss?
Sats Varupa Das
If you take it out of the Sect, this is a this applies to everyone these things we're talking about that we're going,
David Susskind
what do you paint this thing for?
Sats Varupa Das
Because it's marks us as devotees of Krishna. The whole thing is to remind our brothers and sisters, this is your brother, brotherly love is based on the fact that God is our Father. We want to remind everyone the relationship to the One God, we're preachers is this dress. This marking is all to remind you, oh, there goes a Krishna person. And then he has to think of his own relationship to Krishna or God.
David Susskind
What is the tuft of hair? Each of you has? This is
Sats Varupa Das
This is called a sikha. This has done for the pleasure of our spiritual master it's the same thing spiritual markings to make one. Make one understand that here is a devotee and I can ask him about my relationship to God because when one dresses like this it means that 24 hours he's serving Krishna and trying to spread this very nice
David Susskind
Aren't you over dressing to explain your selves to God I mean, with the little thing of hair and the paint on the front
Sats Varupa Das
God know he knows very well but
David Susskind
But doesn't the average civilian walking down the street reading the Daily News?
Sats Varupa Das
He doesn't know about Krishna. What does he say in the Chicago Tribune? Birth, death disease, old age, then he looks up and he sees a devotee and there's Krishna
David Susskind
it's quite a sight. We'll be back in a minute.