Lord Nityananda and Haridasa Thakura approach Jagai and Madhai, the two degraded brahmanas and request them to chant Hare Krishna.
Scene 5: The house of a prostitute
Jagai and Madhai are sitting on diwans. Opposite them on another divan a woman is sitting in the midst of the tabla player & sitar player. She is singing a song that glorifies the pleasures available in this material world. Jagai and Madhai are enjoying the song.
Next to them there is an antique jug with liquor in it. They are pouring the liquor from the jugs into their glasses as and when the glasses are getting emptied.
Suddenly she hears the kirtana outside on the streets:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
The prostitute’s attention gets diverted. She becomes immersed in the melodious kirtana.
| Madhai | (hiccup) continue (in a deep voice shouts) Sing… |
| Jagai | ki holo? |
| Prostitute | (comes back to senses and sings; but gets diverted and sings Hare Krishna mantra. |
| Jagai | (shouts) Stop it… (she stops singing) Eh.. Jagai and Madhai are not here to listen to your bhajans lady… |
| Madhai | Life is for enjoying … don’t waste our time! |
| Jagai | Eh.. dont waste |
| Prostitute | (tries to sing; but automatically gets dragged back to the bhajan) No… it’s not possible. What can I do?
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Don’t you hear it? Oh, how sweet, how beautiful! |
| Jagai | Madhai, What is that noise outside? |
| Madhai | Let us go and see… |
Jagai and Madhai rush out of the house.
Scene 6: On the street outside the house of prostitute
| Jagai | (to the kirtan party) What are you all doing here? |
| Madhai | Jagai, they are coming to the prostitute’s house to do bhajans! (both of them laugh) |
| Jagai | What work do you have on this street where only prostitutes live? |
| Nityananda | (steps forward from the kirtana party) The names of Lord Hari can save all the sinful beings in this world. There is no distinction. Beggars, prostitutes, diseased ones and even those who have committed the worst of the abominable sins can absolve themselves just by chanting the holy names of the Lord. I request you to chant the names of Hari along with us |
| Madhai | Don’t try to teach us. You have no business here. Get away from here soon! |
| Jagai | Yes … get out … or you will suffer the consequences! |
| Mukunda | (Mukunda is holding a khol in his hand) (drags Nityananda) Prabhu… they are intoxicated. They are trying to pick up a quarrel. Let us go. |
| Jagai | Madhai, What is that noise outside? |
| Madhai | Let us go and see… |
Mukunda pulls Lord Nityananda and Haridasa Thakura aside; Jagai and Madhai go into the house.
| Nityananda | Mukunda… most of the population in this world are sinful. It is not their mistake. It is the evil influence of Kali. Are we not supposed to preach to them? (to Haridasa) Is it not the mission of our Lord? Let us not retract from it. |
| Haridasa | Yes… I agree. We cannot step back. |
| Nityananda | If we can deliver these two fallen souls, the name of Lord Chaitanya will be glorified. |
| Mukunda | But, my Lord, you do not know them… |
| Nityananda | Mukunda… Let us simply repeat the message of the Lord to these drunks. That is our only business. |
Lord Nityananda and Haridasa Thakura go to the doorstep of the prostitute’s house.
| Nityananda | Brothers … please come out. We have something to deliver to you. |
Jagai and Madhai come out of the house
| Jagai | You… again? Why are you still hanging around here? |
| Madhai | To teach morality to prostitutes? If you convert them all into saintly women, we will start hunting the women from your houses. Beware! |
| Nityananda | No… My dear brothers! We have something very important to deliver to you. |
| Jagai | … Going to deliver us? (laughs) We are already enjoying the pleasures of heaven! |
| Madhai | Heavenly pleasures are at our doorstep… |
| Nityananda | What I can give you is a priceless commodity that has descended from the spiritual world. Please chant with me: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare |
| Madhai | Jagai… enough of talk. Drive them away! |
| Jagai | No… Catch them and beat … (they are leaving the place in search of rods and the dialogue fades) |
| Haridasa | Prabhu… let us go |
Both of them search for some weapons …Jagai and Madhai go inside the house
| Mukunda | They do not even hesitate to kill people. Come on, we should go away from here! |
Jagai and Madhai come out with rods in their hands and try to beat whoever they can catch. But as they are drunk, they are not successful in most of their attempts. All the devotees scatter.
| Haridasa | Krishna… please save us! |
| Jagai | (calling after them) You cheaters… You cannot escape us! |
| Nityananda | (retreating from the place) Haridasa… Let us run! They are after us! |
Nityananda drags Haridasa and they leave in haste.
| Madhai | Where do you think you are going? We will not spare you. |
Jagai and Madhai chase them.
Scene 7
Mukunda, Haridasa and Nityananda enter.
| Haridasa | (gasping for breath) I am an old man… I cannot run like this. |
| Nityananda | Haridasa, we are lucky to come out of this alive! The Lord saved us. |
| Haridasa | What do we do now? I cannot run any more… |
| Madhai | (from behind the curtain) There they are … Jagai, this side! |
| Haridasa | O Krishna… they are here! |
| Nityananda | Run… they are behind us! |
Nityananda drags Haridasa and goes away, Mukunda also runs behind them…
Jagai and Madhai enter and look around. They search for the devotees. They decide to go in different directions to catch them. Both of them, in their search for devotees, move backwards (with their back to each other), collide with each other and mistaking that the other person is an attacker they hit each other, and fall down unconscious.
Silence for a while. Yamaraja, Chitragupta and the Yama-kinkaras enter. Yamaraja looks very angry.
| Yamaraja | Who are these drunkards? |
| Citragupta | Maharaj … They are the perfect representation of degraded brahmanas. The elder one is Jagadananda and the younger one is Madhavananda. They are known as Jagai and Madhai. They are the most fallen. Drunkards, meat-eaters, woman-hunters, debauchees…. there are no words to describe these lowly creatures. |
| Yamaraja | Ignorant and foolish men!. How dare they behave like this to Lord Nityananda? |
| Citragupta | Their sins are innumerable. If my assistants were to sit down and calculate the sins of these two, they will never conclude even after a month. The records of their sinful activities are kept in bottomless pits. |
| Yama-kinkaras | Maharaj… Order us… We will immediately do the needful. At long last we have found some persons in this village of Navadvipa, on whom we can lay our hands! |
| Narada | (Enters) Stop O servants of Yamaraja, do not hurry! |
All of them offer obeisance to Narada
| Narada | They are still not under your jurisdiction. |
| Yamaraja | (angrily) But they should be punished for their misdeeds. |
| Narada | Of course… they should be. If they come under your jurisdiction after their death. |
| Citragupta | Why not? They are definitely under our jurisdiction. We are spending hours noting down each and every sinful act of theirs. |
| Narada | But… Lord Nityananda has already cast his glance upon them. |
| Yamaraja | I do not understand. |
| Narada | (with a smile) Wait and see… what happens next… |
Scene 8: The House of Srivasa Pandita, Navadvipa
Lord Chaitanya is sitting on an elevated platform in front of the house of Srivasa Pandita. Srivasa sitting next to him is reading from a book. Advaita, Gadadhara, Vasudeva and a few more devotees are listening to it with rapt attention.
| Srivasa | The great devotee of the Lord, Maharaja Ambarisha, was waiting for Durvasa Muni’s return, to break the Ekadashi fast. Durvasa Muni did not come back. On the advice of learned brahmanas, Maharaja Ambarisha took little water to formally break the fast. Durvasa Muni understood this by his mystic power. He was very angry. He chastised the king. And created a demon by his mystic power to kill the King. |
| Chaitanya | (gets up with great anger) Anyone who hurts my devotee should be punished. Durvasa… Your mystic powers cannot hurt my devotee. |
All the devotees become wonderstruck and stand up.
| Advaita | Mahaprabhu! Mahaprabhu! |
| Srivasa | Mahaprabhu! |
Lord Chaitanya recovers slightly from his ecstatic mood (as protector of Ambarisha).
The sound of Nityananda and Haridasa shouting Krishna… Krishna… (they enter gasping for breath) Behind them comes Mukunda.
| Advaita | Oh.. you are back! |
| Haridasa | (still gasping) Yes … and by mercy of Krishna, we are alive! |
| Chaitanya | What happened? |
| Haridasa | My Lord, something strange happened today. As ordered by you, we were going door to door, preaching to people, asking them to chant the holy names of Krishna. Today, we came across two drunkards – Jagai and Madhai. |
| Srivasa | (shocked) Jagai and Madhai? Those culprits? Why did you go to them? |
| Haridasa | (turning to Srivasa) Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy is so deep for the fallen souls of this world that he is prepared to do anything to spiritually uplift them. He approached Jagai and Madhai and requested them to chant the holy names. |
| Mukunda | (enters with a khol in his hand) And we almost lost our lives in their hands. |
| Chaitanya | I will destroy them at once. |
| Nityananda | My Lord, why do you want to destroy them? If you start taking up your weapon to vanquish the demons, you have to wipe out this entire world; because in this fallen age of Kali, most of the people are demoniac. These two are the foremost of the debauchees… If they are delivered then Your name will be glorified. Your fame will reach unlimited bounds. |
| Chaitanya | (with compassion) They are already delivered, Nityananda. |
| Nityananda | What do you mean? |
| Chaitanya | I said they are already delivered. |
| Haridasa | But… how? |
| Chaitanya | Haridasa, they were delivered as soon as Nityananda cast His glance upon them. Krishna will take full care of them now. |
| Devotees | Hari bol! |
| Chaitanya | Srivasa… please call Murari and Vakresvara. Let us all go to the banks of Ganga, singing the holy names of the Lord. |
Mukunda and Vasudeva lead the kirtan.
hari hari hari bol hari hari hari bol
mukunda madhava govinda bol
govinda bol jaya govinda bol
mukunda madhava govinda bol
hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
Devotees arrange fire torches; Kirtan team moves towards Ganga.
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