Scene 1

RAGHUNATH: I see a book in your hand, a special book. May I know what it is?

CHAITANYA: Oh, it is nothing. It is something silly.

RAGHUNATH: What is silly about it? Let me see.

CHAITANYA (hesitates): You won’t like it. If you want, I can read out a few pages to you.

RAGHUNATH: No, no. Please allow me to read it myself.

(Chaitanya hands him the book. Raghunath scans a few pages, then closes his eyes.)

CHAITANYA: Raghunath, what is the matter? Why have you closed your eyes? Is anything wrong with you? (Raghunath starts to cry.) Why are you weeping? Why are you weeping, my friend?

RAGHUNATH: Indeed, I am your friend. I am your friend, alas.

CHAITANYA: What is wrong with you? Please tell me. What have I done? Did you find some mistakes in the book? I am willing to correct them. Tell me. You know I care for perfection.

RAGHUNATH: Mistakes? No mistakes, but perfect Perfection. Alas, I also wrote a book on logic, and I thought that it would bring me immortal name and fame. And now I see your book. When people read your book, my book will pale into insignificance. Nobody will even touch it.

CHAITANYA: Ohhhhhh, is that why you are weeping? Is that why you feel miserable, my friend? Is this book of mine causing such suffering for you?

(Chaitanya grabs the book from Raghunath and throws it into the Ganges.)

RAGHUNATH: What have you done? What have you done? Such a precious and valuable book you have thrown into the Ganges?

CHAITANYA: Friendship comes first. I value my friendship with you infinitely more than I value my book. Raghunath, you need name and fame. God will give it to you. I need only one thing: the presence of Lord Krishna in my heart. I need only his presence, his feet in my heart.

(Chaitanya sings.)

Se je-gan geye jai gan geye jai amar hriday dhware
dake amar ashar prane premer parabare
se je-gan geye jai gan geye jai amar hriday dhware
bhuban amar raibe na ar moher karagare

(Ah, there He goes, singing around my heart’s door.
He calls my heart of hope to enter into His Ocean of Love.
Ah, there He goes, singing around my heart’s door.
My world will no longer remain in the prison-cell of attachment and self-delusion.
Ah, there He goes, singing around my heart’s door.)

CHAITANYA: Lord Krishna, Lord Krishna! My life can remain on earth without everything except Sri Krishna.

RAGHUNATH: But the world will curse me! You have made such a tremendous sacrifice for me.

CHAITANYA: No sacrifice. It is my love for you. My love for you has played its role. If God feels it necessary, He will make me known. If He wants me to be His instrument, He will make me His instrument and thus give me the opportunity to serve Him. With your book you will serve, you will illumine mankind. And with my love of God, I will illumine mankind.

RAGHUNATH: You see everything according to your inner Light, according to your own realisation. There is a vast difference between you and me. I am an insignificant creature. But you are the chosen instrument of God. In you I see God’s infinite Love, God’s infinite Compassion. In you I see God’s Message of highest Truth. A day will come when the entire world will appreciate you. The entire world will appreciate the knowledge of your mind, admire the love of your heart and adore your ecstatic oneness with God, with Lord Krishna.