(Above: Sabhapati das)
Schwarzenegger and Hare Krishna.
Sabhapati das ACBSP: I​ met with​ Arnie in Melbourne in​ 1974. ​I​ was​ standing as a devotee for​ the​ Australian​ Federal​ elections. (Inspired by​ Balavanta’s program in​ the​ USA)​
I​ received a lot​ of​ TV​ coverage. Arnie saw​ the​ TV​ news​ report.​ At​ this​ time​ he​ had just won the title of Mr. Universe for the third or fourth time. ​That happened before​ his​ movie career.​ He phoned the​ next​ day. ​He​ was​ after​ his​ own​ press coverage​ and suggested that​ we​ team​ up​ and​ get​ some​ joint​ publicity. ​At​ that​ time​ he​ had​ no​ management​ and​ no​ PR man.​ He​ was​ his​ own​ PR​ man.
So​ the​ next​ day​ I​ and​ Caru das (from Utah)​ met​ with​ him.​ You​ will​ be​ to​ see​ the​ half hr​ conversation​ in​ my​ upcoming​ autobiography.
After​ Caru​ argued with​ Arnie​ for​ a​ while, Caru​ stormed out.
But​ Arnie​ and​ myself​ had​ a​ cordial chat.
He​ had brought​ along a​ local​ newspaper photographer.
The​ next​ day​ this​ photo appeared on​ page 3​ of​ “THE MELBOURNE​ ​SUN”, Australia’​s​ biggest​ daily at​ the​ time.
Arnie​ was​ expert at​ getting​ his​ own​ publicity. (His​ ego being​ much​ bigger than​ his​ body). The​ caption above​ the photo​ said.​ THE​ MAN​ OF​ THE​ BODY​ MEETS THE​ MAN​ OF​ THE​ SPIRIT.
Arnie​ spoke the​ holy name​ HARE KRISHNA​ a​ couple​ of​ times.
—-
“The man of the body meets the man of the spirit”
Sabhapati: Each evening Srila Prabhupada would give a lecture, and a couple of lectures he spoke on how society should be organized according to the varnasrama-dharma and how it was the duty of the leaders of society to rule properly.
So I was very impressed by these sort of lectures because previously I’d been to university and I’d studied economics and politics, and I was interested in how society should be organized.
Previously in 1974 after coming back from the Mayapur Festival, some devotees in America, Balavanta prabhu in particular, were running for Congress.
So in elections in Australia, I was put up to be the representative of the In God We Trust Party, the political party of the Hare Krishna Movement.
From this we got so much wonderful publicity–interviewed on so many of the leading current affair TV programs, on the Mike Willesee Show, on In Melbourne Tonight.
When I was on the Mike Willesee Show, he asked me what my policy was.
And I was explaining to him how we weren’t so much interested in so many political ideologies, but actually we were more interested in the quality of the politician, of the morality of the politician.
The politician should have good spiritual qualities because in the past so many politicians were so corrupt and involved in so many different types of scandals and corruption so they were of no good quality.
One of our platforms was that if we got elected, we would close down the two bars in Parliament House where the politicians would go and they would drink so much alcohol.
And then after deciding to have the vote, they would ring the bell so that all the politicians were forced to leave the bar and to leave their drinks and to go back into the House and make the vote.
So we made a big point that so much legislation was passed in the Parliament by intoxicated leaders.
So we thought that this was actually quite disgusting.
Our political platform was actually based on Harinam.
We would go out and we would chant on the streets of Melbourne, and we would stop in a particular place and perform the kirtan and, of course, hundreds of people would come around.
Then we would stop the kirtan, and I would stand on a soapbox and get up and talk about the philosophy of Krishna consciousness.
We would talk for three or four minutes and everyone would listen, and I would finish and they would all clap in appreciation.
Then we would continue chanting on down the street and stop at the next corner and get up and give another talk.
So actually we went around the suburban streets where there were just houses.
Then we would have kirtan up and down the suburban streets.
So in this way, not only were we participating in a political process, but it was all based on the Harinam of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
So in that way, we were spreading Krishna consciousness.
So as we engaged in the electoral campaign, we got quite a lot of publicity.
One evening we were on a show called Melbourne Tonight, which was a big variety show in Melbourne; and one man came to Australia, and his name was Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He had just won the title of Mr. Universe for the second or third time, and he was doing a tour of Australia.
So he was a very smart guy, and he saw me on this political show.
So he wanted to get publicity for himself.
So the next day he rang up and he suggested that we have a meeting together and he could bring along a cameraman, and we would have publicity for him and publicity for the Hare Krishna political campaign. So we agreed to it.
So the next day Arnold Schwarzenegger came and we met with him, and we had a big discussion and we were explaining to him that we’re not this body, we’re the soul.
But he was flexing his muscles and telling us how good and how big and how powerful he was, and he was fit and healthy and we weren’t fit and healthy because we were doing meditation.
But we challenged him to come out on an eight-hour kirtan with us and see if he could keep up.
You have to be very fit. Anyhow, he declined.
Then finally he brought a photographer along, and he took a photograph of myself and him shaking hands.
The next day it appeared in the paper, and it had “The man of the body meets the man of the spirit” and a very, very nice favorable article underneath that caption.
—Sabhapati
——-
The article is written by Michael Ryan:
” Body and soul met in a match of minds.”
” The perfect body met with a perfect soul yesterday in the city of Melbourne and got into a brain fight. A man from the movement of Hare Krishna Das (Philip Scott) in his election campaign to Parliament wants to make us all aware of God. His guest was the conscious body Arnold Schwarzenegger, who became the owner of Mr. Universe for the fifth time.”
Next will translate only the dialogue that the journalist captured:
– “You are in the dark of the physical concept of life” said the monk of the cult. “You think you’re this body”.
– “I am this body” answered quietly Mr. Universe. ” And I am ready to quote my Austria land Dr. Sigmund Freud, that all spiritual beliefs are just a sublimation of personal pleasure.”
– ” No,” the devotee said, “Bhagavad Gita makes us understand that the soul is reality, and the body is only dust.”
He then called Mr. Universe to come to the street to chant for many hours in a row. 😃🤗 😃🤗
Schwarzenegger showed a gym-card saying, “I’ll come to hang with the Hare Krishnas for three hours if you spend the other three hours with me”. 😂
However, history showed that Arnold didn’t come to sing, and Sabhapati didn’t go to the gym 😊
In conclusion, though Arnold, unfortunately, did not go to chant with the devotees, but recently he has been very much against the meat industry and has become a vegetarian.
Source: https://is.gd/4KhW87