Prabhupada arrived, accompanied by a large group of devotees who danced and swayed in kirtana procession.
It was obvious from the beginning that it was not a submissive audience -- Webster from The Domain was there, accompanied by many of his raucous associates. During the fervent kirtana, Prabhupada sat on the small dais playing karatals and encouraging the members of the audience to chant. But most appeared unmoved. Some could not even refrain from smoking.
After the kirtana, a devotee stood and asked if those smoking could extinguish their cigarettes. Webster turned to his companions with a sneer, "You can't smoke, but they're lighting incense."
Srila Prabhupada sat patiently as the Reverend Ted Noffs gave a long, drawn-out introduction. Then Prabhupada spoke. He began by thanking the audience for giving him the opportunity to place before them his views on the sankirtana movement. Prabhupada drew the distinction between religion and dharma. Krsna consciousness, he explained, was not a religion. Religion, especially when understood as "a kind of faith", could change. "Today, you are Christian; tomorrow, you can become Hindu." Dharma, however, "the permanent occupation of the living entity", did not change.
The permanent business of the living entity, Prabhupada explained carefully, was service. Prabhupada's preaching was bold. "Is there anyone here who can say that 'I am not servant of anyone'? No, that is not possible. Everyone is servant. That is the definition given by Lord Caitanya. Jivera svarupa haya nitya krsna dasa: A living entity is eternally servant of God."
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"We have already published at least 12 books .. You try to understand. If you want to understand this movement through science and philosophy, we are ready. But if you can take it as a simple method without any expenditure, without any loss, then chant Hare Krsna .. You will be benefited. That is our request. I don't wish to take much of your time, but our method is very simple, and your life will be sublime. There is no loss. The gain is very great. So if you like, you can take it. Thank you very much."
During question time, people didn't raise their hands and wait to be recognised, but rather shouted out their unsubmissive questions. Finally, Webster shouted cynically: "What good is this chanting?"
"It saves you from death!" Prabhupada answered forcibly.
Taking advantage of the shocked silence, Srila Prabhupada indicated for the devotees to start kirtana. A basket of "Simply Wonderfuls" were distributed, and the program was over. Prabhupada posed for a photograph with the Reverend Ted Noffs, who then escorted Prabhupada to the car. "So, what do you do here?" Prabhupada asked him. "We help kids with drugs," answered the Reverend.
In the car, Prabhupada turned to Bali-mardana with wide eyes. "They give them drugs?", taking the Reverend's comment to mean that the Chapel supplied drugs to the addicts.
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Caru: The thing that really struck me with the two programs at Sydney Grammar School and the Wayside Chapel was Prabhupada's expertise in judging time and circumstance. To the Kings Cross people at the Chapel he spoke in a very elementary way, as if he was speaking to twelve-year-olds. But at the Sydney Grammar School when he was actually speaking to twelve-year-olds, he spoke as if he was speaking to mature adults. So materially, it seems like a miscalculation -- that he should have reversed it -- all these middle-aged sophisticates at the Wayside Chapel should have been addressed in a very sophisticated, cosmopolitan way, and the children should have been addressed in a very basic, elementary way that "you're not this body". But Prabhupada did it just the opposite because he saw the nature of the soul. He saw that the children, because of their lack of so-called sophistication, were actually much more pure and receptive to higher concepts of spiritual life. Thus he was able to speak to them from the 13th Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, dealing with technicalities of the body, the field, and the knower of the field. On the other hand, the people at the Wayside Chapel were very spiritually undeveloped, offensive and unsubmissive, so therefore he gave them as much as they could understand, which wasn't much.
- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu
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