Whenever Prabhupada visited the New York temple, the devotees there would perform a play. Once the devotees performed “The Kidnapping of Rukmini” and Prabhupada enjoyed the performance. He laughed when an envious prince, played by Nayanabhirama dasa, saw Rukmini and said he was going to faint. And when Balarama cut off Rukmi’s beard, Prabhupada said, “Oh, now he is more than dead.” When the play was over, Prabhupada said that seeing the drama was better than reading the book.
On another occasion Prabhupada asked the New York devotees to stage a performance of the Ramayana. The devotees had no time to memorize lines, so they arranged to have a narrator read the lines from offstage. The actors stood in a line and performed mudras while a devotee played a guitar.
After the performance, Prabhupada called for Nayanabhirama dasa and complimented him and the other actors for their good performance. He then suggested some ways the play could be improved. He said that in India, different people read the lines offstage according to the different roles the actors play. Prabhupada said he liked that style and he asked the devotees to practice it more. Nayanabhirama asked if it was all right to include guitar music rather than sitar. Prabhupada said a guitar played expertly is better than a sitar played poorly.
Srila Prabhupada’s airport arrivals were always ecstatic events, with the devotees performing kirtana and dancing (unless prevented from doing so by the airport authorities).
Whenever Prabhupada arrived in New York, Nayanabhirama dasa would always be ready at the airport with some fruit which he would offer to Prabhupada and then distribute to the devotees. When Prabhupada arrived in New York in April, 1969, Prabhupada himself danced along with the devotees, and the ecstatic kirtana attracted a large crowd of spectators.
After his visit to the New York temple, Prabhupada was to fly to Buffalo. On the day of his departure, the devotees accompanied Prabhupada to the airport, but this time the airport authorities stopped their kirtana. The devotees then began chanting japa on their beads. Again Nayanabhirama offered Prabhupada fruit and he began distributing the remnants to the nondevotees in the airport. Prabhupada then surprised Nayanabhirama by calling him back. He told his disciple to distribute his prasadam to the devotees first. “Charity begins at home,” he said.
Nayanabhirama dasa, interview.
– From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa Goswami Maharaj
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