Get High and Never Come Down
Dear devotees
Central Station, Sydney, 3 March 2010
I set out with Bhakta Oliver, a German devotee and another Auckland Loft success story. He had been approached by a sankirtan devotee but had declined the SB 1.1 — only to return to his hostel and find the same book on the shelf! At that point, being the wise soul that he is, he surrendered to the Loft programs. Every day for a few months he helped the devotees there, and then he moved into the Auckland/Sydney Brahmacari ashram.
Bhakta Oliver and myself went on sankirtan and….
Two young men approached me in a timid mood.
"Ahh . . . Do you know where to get any weed?"
(For all you pure devotees out there, weed is a street name for marijuana, an illegal drug known for its ability to cover the soul with smoke.)
Oh, so you want to get high? I said, full of confidence, knowing I had the real deal, the highest-grade gear available for them.
I come form Nimbin, I informed them with great authority. Do you know where that is?
Yes, they said with a look of astonishment. We are going there tomorrow!
(Nimbin is a little hippie town in the hills of northern N.S.W. (Aus), only a few hills away from the New Govardhana farm, where I grew up (a little too close, unfortunately). Sadly, I know the tama scene too well from my juvenile delinquent days. But this was another chance to dovetail.)
Well, I smoked dope for too many years to count. I tried all the different types and styles. And I'll tell what: There's no satisfaction! Only lung contraction!
Accepting my qualifications, they began to listen with rapt attention.
Yes, I continued, you smoke dope and get some temporary illusion of stress relief. But ultimately you come crashing down, confused and demented, with your black-tar-plugged lungs fighting for breath and your wallet empty from being ripped off by the local street thugs.
Why do we need it, anyway? Is life that bad that we need to make it worse by over-endeavoring to accumulate money to support our drug habit as well as the dealer's?
Not if you got knowledge, my pleasure-seeking friends!
If you wanna get high and never come down, then this book is where it's at!
And I ran them through an interesting presentation of the pictures in the BG, explaining how we're not the body, we're the soul, and one who understands this lives a life of ever-increasing spiritual bliss, etc.
Throughout the whole spontaneous presentation, I had my doubts that they would be convinced, due to their one-pointed focus on finding some moldy old flowers that smell like and resemble stool. But, as the Supersoul always does, He surprised me by inspiring one of them to say:
Wow! That was a good speech. Ok, I'll take one.
And he pulled out $15 — which would've certainly been wasted on some chemically-infused marijuana on the streets of Sydney — and gave it to Krsna while expressing his gratitude for the awakening presentation. Haribol!!!
I gave him details to keep in touch and, offering my respect to the Supersoul within their hearts, waved good-bye.
Bhakta Oliver witnessed the whole underground operation going down in the back streets of Sydney with amazement.
Oliver and I both concluded that we should take every opportunity to connect people to Krsna and use all our experiences, good and bad, to aid that goal. After all, Srila Prabhupada turned hippies into happies, right?
Getting high off the transcendental dust from Krsna's lotus feet ki jai!!!
Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!!!
Your servant,
Dhruvananda Dasa
