Jagabandhu das: Dear Nrsimhananda Prabhu;
Many thanks for your very kind comments about David Carradine! I am very happy to know of your friendly/affectionate exchanges with him at Pyramid House and would very much like to hear more of this! Please give my warmest regards to his family. I can hardly express how much he meant to me.
I never met David personally, but his TV show Kung Fu was the most positive influence I can remember as a teenager (I was only 13 years old when it debuted) growing up in 1970s Minneapolis—years before I ever even heard of the Hare Krishnas. And my wife Krishnaashrita dasi’s and my own very favorite TV show of all time. I can still fondly remember rushing home to watch it at 8PM, Thursday nights on ABC in 1972. For years we wished it would become available on DVD so we could acquire it.
When I joined the Chicago (Evanston) Iskcon temple in May of 1976 it was actually in some part because I couldn’t find a Shaolin temple like the one depicted in Kung Fu, so in my young mind I “settled” for what I thought was the next closest thing. If I hadn’t seen the dramatic depictions of Eastern monastic life portrayed on the show (which made me amenable and open-minded to Eastern influences and philosophy) I don’t know if I would have been able to take the great leap of faith which was required when I quit high school and ran away from home to join the Hare Krishnas at 17 years old. Before ever having prasadam or ever even visiting a temple previously. I still remember naively thinking that the temple’s “guru” would automatically be the oldest, balding member of the temple who most closely resembled the benevolent elderly masters portrayed on the Kung Fu TV show.
Of course I knew that Kwai Chang Caine was just a role that he uncannily made his own with great expertise, but I was sort of disappointed anyway in my fickle adolescence when David made Bound for Glory and he wasn’t playing Kwai Chang Caine but Woodie Guthrie instead.
A few years ago when Kung Fu the series became available on DVD we bought it and ever since have peacefully spent many hours with our two teenaged daughters watching what we affectionately call “Caine.” Because of the intense challenge of daily life with our severely autistic daughter (who loves Caine very much) we are largely forced to live our lives in virtual isolation with hardly any human contact whatsoever. “Caine” has been like a close friend of the family by proxy who is often invited as an honoured guest in our living room. The gentle bravery, humility and introspection portrayed by Caine have doubtlessly had an indelible positive effect on our lives. And has also frequently been a great solace and comfort at the end of another extremely trying day of completely experiencing the utter futility of material existence.
Well-knowing my innately spiritual disposition which remains mostly hidden in the Wild West type raucous atmosphere of construction sites where I’ve made my living as a construction worker for years on end, my wife has often compared me to Caine because I was so different from the “regular” construction workers and therefore “didn’t really fit in.” Like Caine in the Old West. I would often surprise co-workers at lunch and break times when they would notice that like Caine, I too “…did not eat meat.”
A few nights ago I can remember my wife exclaiming from the other room as she logged on to the Internet, “Oh no!” Before she told me about the tragic news about David’s passing away. It made us very sad to hear—while simultaneously wishing him a better life next time with all our heart and soul.
I always feel very small, meek and insignificant in the spiritual presence of my Divine Masters. Like a teenaged “Grasshopper” humbly seated for lessons at the feet of my impossibly wise and benevolent Teachers. Hoping that I might eventually really learn without being a cause for disgrace to Them. Or an inconsiderate burden. Somehow. Someway. Someday.
Good-bye Grasshopper. Fare thee well! In my life at least your artistry has had a very powerfully profound positive effect which I will always cherish as I remember a personal extrapolation inspired by Mahaprabhu’s Third Beautiful Precept combined with the sweet mood wonderfully demonstrated by David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine. To give dishonour, honours no one.
Humbly with affection,
Jagabandhu das