chase the rhinoceros

I could see he was a little skeptical, but he encouraged me, told me to “chase the rhinoceros,” and I was more determined than ever. I could sense that some devotees considered my big plans just another of “Shyamasundar’s wild schemes.” I also sensed that most of the devotees just wanted to stay in Prabhupada’s company and travel with him around India. I did too, of course – personal association with our spiritual master was blissful – but I had experienced an even higher bliss when Prabhupada looked into my eyes after I’d done some big service – once I’d captured a rhino – and said, “You have done very well.” There was no bliss higher than this. Prabhupada himself had set that example; just see all the impossible rhinos he had bagged for his own spiritual master! From my experiences in San Francisco and London – the Mantra Rock Dance concert, the Ratha-yatra festivals, Bury Place, the Beatles (“My Sweet Lord” right now the #1 song in the world) – I knew that the sky was the limit and anything could be done. I had already realized the super-most bliss of seeing Krishna’s hand removing obstacles to service so “impossible” that He must personally interfere. I wanted to show Prabhupada off to a bigger audience, the movers and shakers of India, and these people lived and worked in Bombay.