The Punch Line
BY: ANTARDWIP DAS
Jul 22, 2011 — UK (SUN) — Dear R.A. Sadhudasa Anudas, I would like to clear up some points in your article about Praghosa prabhu’s joke, which contains inaccuracies. First, although putting what Praghosa Prabhu said in quotes, those are not his words. Praghosa never once used the word “butt”. Neither did he use the phrase, “duct of your butt”. NOR did he mention “some big carrots, and cook them with red hot chillies and curcuma... (It was cooked subji, actually, not carrots), introduce them one by one into your anus” – Praghosa never used the word “anus”. Nor did he look lasciviously over his shoulder!
A not-very-good-joke has been turned into a phallic fantasy by your informant. And the worst offense is that the punch line is missing. The chewing-gum bit. That was why he was gyrating, not because of the carrot! You left out the chewing gum entirely. Well, I suppose you had your fun with the carrot-anus-lascivious-homosexual bit and weren’t bothered that the readers might want to know the punch line.
The only word used by Praghosa Prabhu throughout was the term for one’s posterior, called “bottom”. It is like you probably call the bonnet of a car a “hood” or the boot a “trunk”, we in the UK and Ireland call a butt a “bottom”. It is not considered a dirty word, just a bit naughty. However, it was agreed unanimously that it was an (highly) inappropriate joke, and the GBC reacted appropriately.
That is what matters, not that mistakes are not made, but that mistakes are made right. You made a mistake mis-representing Praghosa in quotes, putting words in his mouth he didn’t say. It takes character to admit one’s mistakes, and Praghosa Prabhu did so in this case.
Who the unidentified person this inaccurate report came to you from I do not know, but my real name is at the bottom – sorry – butt duct – of this letter. I stand publicly by my account. I saw the incident live in Mayapur at the time. And then I watched it replayed on video four times.
To finish off, I thought I would cheer you up by letting you know of the dynamic service being done by disciples of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples – Birmingham Rathayatra is on this Sunday, followed by Leicester Rathayatra on the 31st July – it is wonderful to see Srila Prabhupada was successful in training disciples to continue the parampara. That is another extraordinary achievement of Srila Prabhupada.
I don’t think he failed on any level.
And clarifying stories such as the one above can only help devotees appreciate this, is it not?
On this happy note, I remain,
Your most obedient servant,
Antardwip das
