Scene 1

CHAITANYA: Sribas, Sribas! Where is my flute? Where is my flute? Give me my flute.

SRIBAS: My Lord, the Gopis have stolen your flute.

CHAITANYA: The Gopis? Where are they? Where are my Gopis? Where is my Radha? Where is she? Where is she?

(Enter Shachi, Chaitanya’s mother. Seeing his divine consciousness, she immediately bows down and touches his feet.)

SHACHI: O my son, O Nimai, you are no longer Nimai. You are no longer my son, Nimai. You are Lord Krishna, Lord Krishna Himself.

(Shachi sings.)

Jibana nadi tire dhire dhire
oi ase mor priyatama
benu hate madhur prate oi ase
praner jata asha
jata bhalobasa
ranga oi sri charane
sapi aji tomai nami

(Behold, with His Flute in His Hand,
My Beloved slowly is coming
to the bank of my life-river
In today’s morning sweet.
All my life’s hope,
All my life’s love,
To Your Power-red Feet divine I offer,
And to You I bow and bow.)

CHAITANYA: Mother, I am so proud of you. This is the first time that you have touched my feet on your own. Previously I used to ask you to come and touch my feet when I was in Krishna consciousness. But today you have come and touched my feet spontaneously. Mother, I am so proud of you. You have seen me in my highest consciousness, and you know what I am.

SHACHI: My son, I know, I know what you are. You are God. But still I will never forget even for a moment that you are also my son, my darling. You have blessed me by coming into my family, and immortalised me by being my son. I know that one day you will leave me. You will renounce the world. You will take to sannyasa. You will follow the path of renunciation. I tell you, my son, the human in me will miss you and suffer, but the divine in me will be proud of you, knowing that you are liberating mankind from ignorance and giving men a new life. You are putting an end to their life of suffering and granting them the life of Bliss.

CHAITANYA: Mother, the human in you will not miss me either, because I will transform the human in you into the divine. Wherever I am, Mother, your physical consciousness will feel my presence. I shall eternally remain within you and around you. You will feel my physical presence too, Mother. My subtle physical presence will be around you all the time, I assure you.

SHACHI: My son, I know you are God. You can do everything and you will do everything, not only for me but for all of humanity. You are not only my joy and my pride; you are also the joy and pride of the entire universe. You and your creation are inseparable. When I look at your creation I see how great you are. And when I look at you yourself, I see how compassionate you are. In your creation I see the miracle of your indomitable power. In you I see the endless flood of compassion.