Merchant of Venice
Jayadvaita: Sometimes we think that everything Prabhupada said was about Krishna, but Prabhupada sometimes talked about other things. He'd talk about British history and there would be no apparent connection to Krishna consciousness.
Once Prabhupada went on a walk in Central Park in New York City, and when the devotees came back I asked them, "What did Prabhupada talk about?" The first devotee I asked said, "He told the story of The Merchant of Venice." I said, "What was the point?" He said, "He just told the story." I thought there must have been some point. I went to another devotee who had been on the walk: "What did Prabhupada talk about?""He talked about The Merchant of Venice and told the story.""What was the point?""He just told the story." What happened was that in Central Park Prabhupada had seen a statue of Daniel Webster, the famous American statesman, and had said, "Oh, Daniel has come," and there's a line in The Merchant of Venice, "A reritable Daniel," and then Prabhupada started telling the story of The Merchant of Venice. There was no purport, he just told the story, and that was it. Srila Prabhupada was conversant with English literature and English history, and sometimes he talked about those things. A pure devotee has the prerogative of talking about whatever he wants to talk about.
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 3 by Siddhanta Dasa
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