Johnny Rotten
Dear Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
When I was at Terminal 4, LA Airport last Friday, doing books, saw a bright yellow tracksuited guy go in the Starbucks Coffee joint to my left; on his back he had a number '1' and the name 'ROTTEN' over the top. I thought "Is that HIM?" and went a little closer to check his face. He was in the queue and looking all around, self-conciously. He looked a bit like Johnny Rotten, so I had an idea to approach him when he came out.
I was just finishing giving a book to one guy when he walked past. So I said "'Scuse me, sir, is your name 'Lydon'?"
He sneered "What if it is?", and obviously we had scored a goal. I said "Here, this is for you", and handed a nice hard-backed 'Science of Self-Realisation' Hare Krishna book to him. He carried on walking, without even looking at me and said "Not a chance." Typical.
He went and sat in the waiting lounge with a woman, I guess his wife, Norma. I was going to go over and have a chat about things but somehow didn't get round to it before he came sailing past again.
Immediately I went over, put my hand on his shoulder, all pally-like (!), and said "Hey John, I used to be a big fan of yours." He said "And now you're a Hare Krishna; Jesus, where did I go wrong?"
"It's not your fault. But you're religious anyway aren't you?" I ventured, to no reply. So I told him 'Metal Box' was my favourite of his material. "And there's still two copies in existance" he said, with a wry look and smile, the first time he actually looked at me. By the way he never stopped walking; I was chasing him down the terminal 'mall'. I told him "I also liked the stuff your brother Jimmy used to do, you know with the 4"be2"s."
There was a reply, but I didn't catch it. Such is life with famous people, they never have time for you, only time for themselves. Mukunda Maharaja was a musician, and he liked to talk to famous musicians on the Lower East Side in New York, to find out what they were like. He said the same thing. But what attracted him to Srila Prabhupada was this; Prabhupada GAVE him time. He listened to what he had to say and answered his questions. The exact opposite; with Prabhupada, Mukunda Maharaja ran out of things to say very quickly, which astonished him. He wasn't used to that. (ref: Abhay Charan video.)
The difference between spiritual and material I suppose…
Your Servant,
Vraja Kumara Das
